street roots
2
Jan 31, 2014
Make a big impact on the world, grassroots on up
Pi
Improvements welcome, but
new water bureaucracy is not
ortland’s water and sewer bureaus have an
interesting year ahead of them.
P
Alleged illegal use of ratepayer funds, controversial
expenses on projects seemingly beyond the scope of the
bureau’s mission, along with questionable public recourse
on rate decisions, have residents crying foul of the current
system that charges one of the highest combined sewer
and water bills in the nation.
So it’s no wonder Portlanders have taken to finding a
better alternative to managing our water. <
Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten there yet.
The movement io create a Portland Public Water District
has turned in more than 50,000 signatures — out of a
required
30,000
— to The
get
on the ballot
in May.
Nonetheless, this initiative
can have a major impact
in spurring on more
responsive and
responsible u tility
oversight, and some steps
have been taken in that
direction.
measure would create a
new, independent
bureaucracy, th e Portland
Public Water District, to
take control of the city’s
water and sewer
operations away from City
Council.
Part of the pitch is that the seven-member, all-yolunteer
board will be elected by zones, not at-large like City
Council, and in the absence of other political influences,
will be more accountable to the public. But the parameters
almost guarantee special interests will run, including
representatives from the corporate interests who have the
time and resources — and lack of water bureau experience
— to assume the volunteer position. The elections would
also be off-year races, which attract a small fraction of
attention and eligible voters to the polls.
But even more so than the concept of an independent
board, jt is the high rates that are the crux of the pitch,
and without making promises, so is the suggestion that
reining in control will reverse the trend and lower costs to
ratepayers. Perhaps^ but the bulk of those rate increases
can be traced directly to $1.8 billion for the federally
mandated “big pipe,” plus hundreds of millions in other
major projects to upgrade the city’s aging water and sewer
system in tune with the region’s environmental
sensibilities. The controversial spending on frivolous
projects, however egregious, isn’t the driver here.
Also, within the utilities’ costs are programs for low-
income ratepayers to help preserve their water service
during tough times, and for environmental projects that
pay it forward by keeping our natural resources among the
best in the world. No environmental group has come
forward supporting this initiative. This initiative is propped
up by corporate and industrial interests, not the general
populous — low-income or otherwise.
Yes, there are problems now, but this isn’t the solution.
Nonetheless, this initiative can have a major impact in
spurring on more responsive and responsible utility
oversight, and some steps have been taken in that
direction, We can improve the System from the inside out,
with transparency and accountability under a City Council
responsible for the full complexity of the city’s resources,
environment and social needs.
ftp
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
isfdel@streetmots. ofg
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
Staff
Street Roots creates income opportunities for
people experiencing homelessness end poverty by
producing a newspaper and other media that a re .
cataiysts for individual and social change.
Executive Director Israel Bayer
Street Roots
211 NW Davis St.
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax: 503-227-3117
streetroots.org
news.streetroots.org
Cl
DIRECTOR'S
ilfcan.
B y Israel Bayer
Our mission
Street Roots publishes every two weeks, launetting
on Fridays, arid is available exclusively through our
street vendors or by subscription. We are proud
members of the North American Street
Newspaper Association and the In te rn a ta !
Network of Street Papers.
eople often ask me, what motivated
ybu to get into this line of work and to
be engaged with politics.There’s a lot
of different ways I could answer that
question.
Growing up in rural-
indusfrial America, my
first relationship to
anything even remotely
political was being a
israel@streetroote.org
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl
joanne@streetroote.org
Vendor Coordinator Cole Merkel
cole@streetroots.org
Operations Director Sarah Beecroft
Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit Volunteer,
grace@streetroote.org
Development Director Sarah Cloud
Office Assistant Amber Sielman
Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan
Gilles, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Galliot
Photographers Kristina Wright, Christopher
Onstott
late teens, I was
arrested for marijuana
and spent a night in jail
in rural Missouri. I stood before a county
judge, telling him why L thought the ,
legalization of marijuana was critical to the
nation’s economy and that I Wasn’t hurting
anyone by smoldng pot (Something I stiU
believe.) He-laughed, gave me a fine and
told me never to come back to his county.
Fair enough.
In my early 20s, I accidently went to jail
for nearly a week in Seattle during the WTO
protests. When I say accidently, I mean, I
wasn’t exactly planning on going to jailthat
week. I’m glad I did. For six days, a colbrful
group of activists and many otiiers who had
intended to get arrested held hourlong long
teach-ins in the cellblock on a number of
important topics about social justice. Each
night when the lights went out, a rabbi told
the history and struggle of the Jewish
people. It was an important moment in my
life, It was during those nights, and listening
to the rabbi talk, that I decided to dedicate
my life to working towards creating social
change.
It took a long time before I actually found
my voice. At the time, I didn't really know |
how to write or to express myself. I had no
education past the 11th grade and my
existence up until that point has been spent
ort dr tig ihduced quests, trying to find the
meaning of life and working graveyards at
convenient stores in Cities.
I could have gone in many directions at g
that time. I questioned iny value as a human
being. What was (giving, what Was I taking?
How could just one person make a
difference? Like so many young, low-income
people, I was mad at the world and mad at
the injustices taking place in my community
and beyond. I wanted to do something about
it, but didn’t exactly know how that might
take shape.
At the time, the late '90s, there was a
retd charge in the air. The anti-globalization
movement had Wings. The labor movement
was growing. The environmental movement
was raging, organizations such as Dignity 1
Village and Street Roots were born. Young
people across the Northwest were becoming
politically engaged and believed together
that read change was on the horizon.
Then, like a flash before all of our eyes,
those planes plowed intp the World Trade-
Center, killing thousands of people. Wars
were launched and the rest is history.
We’re lucky enough m Portland to still ;
live in a place where political dialogue,
innovation and working to create social
change are a fabric in our community. While
the anti-globalization movement niay have
imploded, the idea Of worídng towards
creating real, grassroots change still has
legs.
More importantly, many of the questions
that I believe young people ask themselves,
like where is my place in all of this and how
do I work to create lasting change in the
community, aren’t answered in a vacuum. It
takes having life experiences along with
many mentors and if you’re lucky enough a
support system.
In short, it takes a village.
So when did I turn into my father
rambling on about the sixties and Reagan
the whole thing beingcompletely rigged?
Apparently, right now. .
When social work students ask me for
advice about the social service field I often
tell them that unless you’re taking an
administrative track, want to be a career
bureaucrat and/or you have a family to feed,
than you’d be better off by starting your own
venture of working for a small grassroots
organization.
Your friends might think yóüVe^gf?ízyfr~~
You’re family will most likely question your
motives, and may not support you at all. You
may make a foql of yourself on more than
one occasion and possibly fail. I have many
times.
. So when people ask me why I got into
this line of work or engaged in politics, I
realize that they aren’t really asking me, but
actually themselves. And since they’re
asking the question, deep down they
probably already know the answer.
B en eath th e Bridges
by D on H ynes
Tell me your story arid I’ll listed,
I’ve stopped thinking
To make you whole,
Your patched cloth
Enough for the day,
The mended seam
Your strength.
You will speak
And I will hear
The broken hopes
Of your tin can home,
Your ruined dreams -
Beneath the bridges
And many places I
You wander alone.
Board of Directors
Bruce Anderson (Chairman), Michael Anderson (Vice-
chairman), Headier Stadick (Troas.), Eddy Barbosa (Sec.), -
• Rich Rodgers, Brad Taylor, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon,' -
Darren Alexander, Amber Bielm an.
Volunteers
Jan Bayer, lisa Waldo, Sizabeth Tierney, R d)
Shyrock, Ann-Derrick Gailtot, Stacey Heath, Vinnie
Kinseila, Michelle Breslau, Paula Cracas^Sharron
Thompson, John Barker, Mary Locke, Lucas Marifield,
Jessie Carver, Cherie Vedal, Sam Bouman, Alana
Kansaku-Sarmiento, John Yohne.
Street Roots Rose City Resource
Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a
comprehensive booklet o f services for people
experiencing homelessness and poverty.
To inquire about getting guides, call 503-228-5657.
Resources are also available online at
www.rosedtyresource.org.
Vendors
Street Ro o ts ve n d o rs b u y th e newspapers for 25 cents
each and sell them for $1, keeping the 75 cents in - - -
profit for themselves. In order to keep the cost low to
our vendors, we receive additional support from
donations and in-kind contributions.
75
goes directly to the vendor
who sold you the paper
25 c
goes toward
printing costs
Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office.