2
street roots
Aug. 16, 2013
O
M
A
L
Turning a troubling event into a lasting lesson
City Hall plays the wrong hand
I
with street sweeps
unning the City of Portland is hard work. But being able
to work in a collaborative effort toward a common goal
shouldn’t be.
Mayor Charlie Hales boldly declared last week that enforcing
sidewalk laws against people experiencing homelessness — and
we assume the mentally ill — wasn’t about homelessness at all.
“This is about lawlessness,” the mayor proclaimed to the
media.
Not one mention of the public health crisis on our streets or
the lack of funding for homeless or mental health services.
Nothing was mentioned about how the business community,
residents, local government, advocates, social-service providers
and law enforcement can work together to tackle these tough
problems. Not a peep about an increased investment for rent
assistance to target some of the hard-to-reach folks on our
_ streets.
The message sent to the
Enforcement strategies
media and Portland was
happen a ll of the time
simple: We’re cleaning up
In Portland. What
lawless behavior that we’ve
tolerated for far too long.
doesn't typically occur
Street Roots and others
Is a media strategy that
devolves Into a feeding saw years of hard work
about how to frame this
frenzy over a debate
issue to get common
about lawlessness,
Portlanders to engage in
using the homeless as
working together to solve
homelessness flash before
scapegoats.
our eyes.
Then the police went out
and swept homeless camps.
That’s not to say some camps shouldn’t be swept or at least
addressed. People experiencing homelessness and poverty
have a responsibility to care for their property and the property
of others while maintaining an orderly environment. If there is
open drug use, violence or people not picking up their trash,
we expect the city to react.
The reality is these kinds of enforcement strategies happen
all of the time in Portland, based upon complaints from
residents and reports of crime. What doesn’t typically occur is
a media strategy that devolves into a feeding frenzy over a
debate about lawlessness, using the homeless as scapegoats.
Sitting quietly in the background are lobbyists for the
business community who are pushing an agenda to government
and the media that tourism is hurting and the business climate
is threatened because of the visible homeless downtown.
Meanwhile, anyone walking through Portland’s core would
see tourism and business booming.
What’s the solution?
The solution is to work together to develop strategies to
increase our affordable housing stock, to increase rent
assistance dollars for people on the streets, and to maintain
targeted enforcement on people who are clearly out of line.
The solution is not to enforce decades-old perspectives that
research and history have shown do absolutely nothing to solve
the problem of poverty and homelessness in urban America.
What Portland needs are leaders who listen to experts in the
field and in government that have been successfully housing
people for years.
Street Roots is ready to work alongside both traditional and
non-traditional partners to get the job done. What we can’t do
is sit on the sidelines and watch individuals and families in
poverty be demonized in our community.
Housing stability makes economic and social sense. Everyone
deserves to have a safe place to call home, regardless of
circumstances, and everyone benefits when they do.
’ve been an NBA fan for a long, long
time. I’ve also worked with homeless
people in Portland and Seattle for more
than 15 years.
When I read that
Houston Rockets
forward and Portland
native Terrence Jones
allegedly stomped on a
homeless man’s leg
only one block from my
office in Portland, my
heart sank.
The alleged incident
brought me back to a time several years ago
when a friend and I witnessed a teenager
kick a homeless man in a doorway in
downtown Portland. After making sure that
the man was OK, my friend and I chased
the kid four blocks before he gave up and
confronted us. We gave the kid two choices.
We were either going to call the police or
he was going to have to go back and talk to
the guy he kicked.
The teenager, scared and shaking, sat
with all of us for the next hour talking about
the realities of homelessness, including just
how vulnerable people actually are. The
homeless individual forgave the young man.
The kid apologized profusely. They
continued to talk and shook hands. It was a
learning lesson.
As for Jones, he admitted that he yelled
“Wake up” to a homeless man sleeping in a
doorway after leaving a downtown nightclub
early last Wednesday. Jones, through his
attorney, also said he tripped over Daniel
Kellerher’s leg and might have nudged him
but denied stepping on him intentionally.
Police said Kellerher sustained a minor
injury that did not require medical
attention. Jones, 21, pleaded not guilty to
harassment. His next court date is Sept. 6.
No d o u b t t ire press, and the public, will
crucify Jones. But waving a judgmental
finger at Jones will do nothing to address
the roots of homelessness and violence on
the streets.
If all that happens in this situation is that
a young man’s career is tarnished and a
homeless person is the victim of an
unnecessary act, then ultimately nothing
changes. Practicing non-violence takes
effort and discipline. It’s not just something
that happens without teachable moments,
especially for young men in America.
These unfortunate circumstances are not
only a teachable moment for Jones, but also
for the general public. It’s an opportunity
for anyone who may have similar kinds of
impulses to pause and think twice before
harassing a homeless person, or anyone
else for that matter.
Homelessness is a traumatic experience
that leaves people vulnerable to violence,
sickness and even death. Getting harassed
or possibly assaulted while sleeping is
something that no one should have to
endure.
R
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
israel@streetroots. org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
WHAT DO
YOU THINK?
Send letters to the
editor to the Street
Roots office, 211
NW Davis St.,
Portland, OR 97209,
or e-mail to joanne®
streetroots.org.
NBA PH OTO
Terrence Jones
“I didn’t do nothing,” Kellerher told
television station KGW on Thursday. “I was
laying there sleeping. It was a shock, you
know? Something like an electric fence
went through me at that point in time.
“You know it don’t feel good. It’s hard. I
just want to cry. It’s just hard to talk about
because it hurts. I didn’t think anybody
would ever do that.”
I don’t know Terrence Jones, but I do
know the streets. I know that the NBA
cares about the poor and I also know what
basketball means for people on the streets.
Many people without a home look to their
local basketball team as a vehicle of hope.
There’s not a day that passes during the
regular season that people on the streets of
Portland are not talking about the Trail
Blazers.
Basketball transcends cultural and class
lines and brings us together. We collectively
root for our favorite players and teams,
regardless of our economic circumstances.
We rise and fall together as communities
and sports fans, from the homeless man or
woman sleeping in a doorway listening to
the game on a wind-up radio to the family
enjoying the action courtside.
Jones, the 18th pick in the 2012 NBA
draft, can still have a long and fruitful
career. I would love to see Portland,
Houston and other NBA cities cheering for
him instead of rooting against him. This is
an opportunity for Jones to stand up and be
a responsible person. It’s a chance for him
to educate himself on homelessness in his
hometown of Portland and in Houston,
where he’ll face mounting scrutiny.
It’s a chance for all of us to stand up and
say that harassing homeless people is
wrong. Homelessness and violence should
never be accepted in our communities.
Everyone deserves a safe place to call
home.
Editors note: This column was originally
published online at Sports Illustrated.
Street Roots Rose City Resource
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax; 503-227-3117
streetroots.org
news.streetroots.org
Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a
comprehensive booklet of services for people
experiencing homelessness and poverty.
To inquire about getting guides, call 503-228-5657.
Resources are also available online at
www.rosecityresource.org.
goes directly to the vendor
who sold you the paper
Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office