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street roots
Jan 3, 2014
EDITORIAL
Friendship and generosity abound
Salem needs to deliver small,
but critical bump for housing
The latest Street Roots reports that “when
legislators convene in Salem for the Legislature’s
month-long session, scheduled to begin Feb, 3, they
are likely to focus on economic development, job
growth, continuing to fund and reform education,
and pass legislation that didn’t quite make it during
the 2013 session.” (See, “Poverty issues to mostly
take a back seat in Salem,” page 3).
Street Roots is excited to know that many people
experiencing homelessness and poverty will now
have the opportunity to access health care. It’s our
belief that if health care reform maintains its course,
homelessness could be curbed dramatically in the
\
years to come. Time
"Housing Is fundamental will tell.
It’s also true that
to accomplishing so
prioritizing economic
many of the goals the
development and job
state has set — health
growth is a step in
care reform, education,
the right direction.
jobs growth, etc."
________________________ Access to living-wage
jobs would have a
dramatic effect on individuals and families
experiencing poverty, including homelessness. It’s
yet to be seen if a focus on job growth and a
projected economic recovery actually offers relief for
low-income people, or if it’s smoke and mirrors.
The reality is we need more living wage jobs to
bring people out of poverty. Without strategically
engaging blue-collar workers and people
experiencing poverty — we will fall short in Oregon if
the only job growth we see is service industry jobs
and jobs that people without an education can’t .
obtain.
On the housing front, advocates are hoping for
small gains.
Elected officials have the opportunity to offer a
measly $2 million increase for the second half of the
biennium into the Emergency Housing Account and
State Homeless Assistance Program to prevent and
end homelessness ($4 million over the biennium).
We know that isn’t enough to solve the local
problems plaguing many communities.
We’re cautiously optimistic that elected officials
can put politics aside and give working individuals
and families a small bump in the up-«and-coming
budget. It’s the least the legislature can do.
Oregonians around the state continue to struggle to
maintain a safe place to call home.
Street Roots knows housing is fundamental to
accomplishing so many of the goals the state has Set
- health care reform, education, job growth, etc.
Without housing for Oregonians with low incomes,
none of that can happen successfully.
Legislators have a real opportunity to deliver on
the emergency housing account — signaling to
Oregonians that Salem does care for its most
vulnerable citizens and are willing to go to bat for
those less fortunate.
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him a t
israel@streetroots. org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
George has been a Street Roots vendor
for more than a year. He sells papers in
front of a local coffee shop in Northeast
Portland. George is well
known and respected
by the businesses
DIRECTOR'S owners and shoppers in
the neighborhood.
DESK
Last week, one of
B y Israel Bayer
George’s regular
——
customers gifted him a
$500 gift certificate to
a local grocery store.
This kind of generosity is not uncommon
for Street Roots vendors around this time of
year. Vendors come in and tell us story
after story of readers kindness. It’s these
outstanding acts of friendship and
generosity that give vendors and Street
Roots hope.
These stories lift us up and inspire us,
and remind us of the incredible community
we call home. This coming year, there áre a
few things readers can do to help Street
Roots grow.
The first thing is simple: keep purchasing
and reading the newspaper. In January and
February sales drop for vendors, but the
winter continues. Your support will go a
long way in giving people on the streets
selling the newspaper a hand up.
You can also help spread the word. For
die hard Street Roots fans don’t
underestimate the power of getting a
newspaper and leaving it in a break room,
or at your local coffee shop and/or bank.
Introduce Street Roots to your peers.
Street Roots has grown over the years
through word of mouth and by having
people simply stumble upon the newspaper.
Introducing new readers to Street Roots
means introducing your peer network to
helping vendors improve their quality of life.
It’s a win-win.
From all of us at Street Roots, we thank
you for the love this holiday season. We
were blown away by the amount of support
we received and continue to receive.
We thank the many individuals and
families that gave to us over the holidays.
We thank you for joining the Street Roots
team and making this year a special year for
Portland and for grassroots media.
We thank you for giving back. Have a
great new year and we look forward to
building towards our goal of going weekly
over the next year.
Your lasting support means the world to
all of us at Street Roots. Cheers.
LECTER
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
Your lengthy interview with Audubon
Society Conservation Director Bob Sallinger
contained One major error and many odd
assumptions.
The interview is about the proposed
“Portland Public Water District” ballot
initiative, but it is instead labeled with the
title of the OTHER ballot initiative running
later in 2014 — the “Portland People’s
Watèr Trust”. This is a major reporting
error.
From reading Bob’s words, you would
never know that this ballot initiative would
do most of thé things that environmental
groups like his would normally support!
This initiative would ban the corporate
takeover of our public water supply and
transmission system. This initiative would
ban the co-mingling of our currently pure
Bull Run watershed water supply with not-
so-pure Willamette and Tualatin River
waters, which is a plan that has been on the
table now for a long time among regional
planners. This initiative is being co-directed
by Floy Jones, a neighborhood activist who
has been fighting incompetent and illegal
city government decision-making about our
water for many years.-Though you wouldn’t
learn any of this from Bob Sallinger.
Finally, the new water utility board would
be elected by zone. Seven seats, each
representing l/7th of the city’s population.
To win, you would
residents of your zone to elect you, which
means that lower income folks who don’t
have access to rich people’s money would
have a greater chance of whining these
seats. This is more democratic than the way
the city council gets elected. Public water
utility boards have existed in Seattle, Los
Angeles, and elsewhere for many years, and
serve the public well..
All Bob Sallinger seems to be able to
focus on is the fact that the initiative is
being funded by large companies. Is it
possible that they’re doing so simply
because they, like most residents, are sick
and tired of unethical and stupid decisions
being made by the current city government
structure, which has driven water rates
through the roof? I believe we should follow
the money, but sometimes large companies
want the same thing the public wants, but
for different reasons.
I am not yet certain that I will vote for
this ordinance, but I do know for certain
that Bob Sallinger is barking up the wrong
tree, acting as if this ordinance is evil. I
urge everyone to read the ordinance, and z
then decide.
— Paul Cienfuegos
Our mission
Staff
Board of Directors
Vendors
Street Roots creates income opportunities for
people experiencing homelessness and poverty by
produting a newspaper and other media that are
catalysts for individual and soda! change.
Executive Director Israel Bayer
Bruce Anderson O a irn ia n ), Michael Anderson (Vice-
diairman), Heather-StadiekfTieas.), Eddy Barbosa (Sec.),
Rich Rodgers, Brad Taylor, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon, •
Darten Alexander, AmberBielman
StreetRoots vendors' buy the newspapers for 25 cents
each and sell them, for $1, keeping th e 75 cents in ,
profit for themselves. Io order to keep the cost low to
our vendors, we receive adcOftonalsupport from
donations and ro-kind oontributions.
Street Roots publishes every two weeks, launching
on Fridays, and is available exclusively through our
street vendors or by subscription. We are proud
members of the North American Street '
Newspaper Association and the International
Network of Street Papers.
Street Roots
211 NW Davis S t
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax:503-227-3117
streetroots.org
news.streetroots.org
c
Id
israel@streetroofc.org
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhi
panne@streetroots.org
Vendor Coordinator Cote Merkel
cole@streetroofc.org
Operations Director S a ra h B e e c ro ft
Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit Volunteer,
grace@streetroots.org
Development Director Sarah Cloud
Office Assistant Amber Bielman
Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan
Gilles, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Gaillot
Photographers Kristina W right, Christopher
Onstott
Volunteers
Mary Patios, Jan Bayer, Ann Ereline, Vinnie Kinsella,
Ann-Derrick Gaillot, Joe Thick, Stacey Heath, Taurin '
Skinner-Macginnis, Bethany Hague, Michelle Holbert,
John Lisifka, Raven Canoles, Michelle Breslau, Paula
Cracas, Sharron Thompson, John Barker, Mary Locke
Street Roots Rose City Resource
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.
75c
goes directly to the vendor
who sold you the paper
25c
goes toward
printing costs
Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office.