street roots
2
July 4,2014
Summer has its challenges — and its rewards
3. Become a Street Roots ambassador
and help spread the word. Buy an additional
Street Roots and introduce the organization
to at least one friend or coworker this
Being homeless in the summertime
summer. Tim ing on your peer network to
isn’t any fun. Longer periods of daylight are
Street Roots is one of the best ways you can
a welcome sign for
support the but
organization and vendors.
many Portlanders,
4. If you are traveling out of towm with
for many people on the
family or friends, buy an extra copy of Street
streets it can mean
Roots for the road. Reading Street Roots at
going long stretches of
By Israel Bayer
time without adequate * the airport, train station, on a road trip or
by the campfire is bound to spur some great
sleep. Typical locations
conversation.
for people to sleep in
5. If friends or family are visiting from out
the winter are often off
of town. Let them know what Street Roots is
limits due to summer
and the concept behind it, and encourage
events or simply a more vibrant city
atmosphere. The dangers of heat stroke and them to buy a copy if they are visiting
Powell’s or other locations where vendors
dehydration are real on the Streets.
regularly sell.
Here are five ways to support vendors
Lastly, don’t forget about our upcoming
this summer.
Street Rdots auction. The auction starts on
1. Water. Water. Water. If you remember
it, don’t hesitate to share a bottle or glass of Friday, July 18. It’s the perfect way to
support Street Roots and get something
water with your favorite neighborhood
great in return. Find out more at www.
vendor.
streetrootsauction.org.
2. Stop and talk to your neighborhood
From all of us at Street Roots, we
vendor. Introduce yourself, and let the
appreciate your readership and support of
vendor know what you like and don’t like
vendors selling the newspaper. Giving a
about the paper. Stay engaged and help us
hand up and getting a great read in return is
build community. Street Roots provides a
otir goal. Thank you for making that
safe place for individuals to engage with
possible. Happy summer!
people on thè streets in a positive
atmosphere.
treet Roots vendors work hard in the
summer. It’s not easy.
B
Opportunity Initiative a good
investment in tomorrow
hat a weird and wonderful election system we
have here in Oregon. Myriad initiatives and
referendums spinning tens of thousands of
signatures into ballot measures in a seemingly endless
M
cycle.
This November, one of those initiatives comes from an
unlikely place: The Oregon State Treasurer’s office. The
Opportunity Initiative would establish an endowment
funded by state investments from borrowed money. Debt
payments would be made , out of the state’s general hind,
but thè prospectus is that the returns on the investment
will far Outpace those payments, with money to spare for
' •
■ •
'
student aid for higher
education and training.
Education can be a
The goal is that, over
passport out oi poverty;
time> as this endowment
an economic equalizer.
builds, more low-income
students will have a shot
at a higher education or
specialized vocational training. And consequently fewer
students will be left behind for lack of funds.
This i$ critical, wide-angie thinking that we should be
applying to many aspects of society. We’ve watched as
the cost of housing, food and simply living have
increased year after year, to both great profit of some
and the detriment of many others. Meanwhile, wages
have effectively declined, and middle-wage jobs have not
returned to Oregon even six years after the Great
Recession dug in its heels. In the absence of a
meaningful housing trust fund, supported by our state
legislature, safe, stable housing has slipped through the
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach h im at
israel@streetroots.org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
LETTERS
Suggestions to City Hall for better streets, democracy
“...all power is inherent in the people, and
all free governments are founded on their
authority... ”
fingers of thousands of Oregonians. Poverty'is rising with
<-o?in?yres59e^^
according to a new county report, and no am ount of
patchwork to the safety net will prevent more from
falling into the same trap.
That’s the bad news, but the good news is we can fix
it, and one example of what that might look like is the
Opportunity Initiative.
The Opportunity Initiative is an attempt to stem the
tide on the education gap before it’s too far gone.
Oregon ranks 47th in the nation in terms of our per
capita contributions to education, according to the state
treasurer’s office. Our statewide investment has declined
while individual costs have skyrocketed. Such an
imbalance can have a domino effect — inadequate
education, stagnant employment opportunities, a
declining labor market and on downward. The
opportunity to be trained and educated well for a career
and gainful employment shouldn’t be a luxury of the
wealthy. It can be a passport out of poverty; an economic
equalizer. But today, higher education is pulling out of
teach from even middle-class families, ever widening the
gap, with many graduating with a lifetime’s worth of
crippling debt.
This is not a perfect solution to the education funding
mess, nor is it thè only key to correcting the economic
imbalance we live with across this country. It’s one
proposal with great potential for years to come.
— Oregon C onstitution, Article I, Section Ì
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
8w mission
Street Roots creates income opportunities for
'
people experiencing homelessness and poverty by
produdnganewspaperandothermediathatare
catalysts for tndwkiial and social change '
Street Roots publishes every two weeks, bunching
on Fridays, arid is available exclusively through our
street vendors or by subscription. We are proud
members of the International Network of Street
o
E
-PATRICK KANE
Portland
Boari of Birectors
V end«
' israe^streetrooKorg
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl
Bruce Anderson (Chairman), Michael Anderson {Vice-
chairman), Heather Stadick (Treas.), Eddy Barbosa (Sec.),
Rich Rodgers, Brad Taylor, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon, - ;.
Darren Alexander, Amber Bielman
'
eachandsellthem for$1,keepingthe75cenfcin
Vendor Ceordinater Cole Merkel
Volunteers
Executive Director Israel Bayer
cole®$treetroots,org
Sarah Beecroft
Operations Director
Program Assistant Grace Ba di k, Jesuit Volunteer,
grace@streetroots.org
Development D irector Sarah Cloud
Office Assistant Am ber Bielman
Street Roots
211 NW Davis St.
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax:503-227-3117
streetroots.org
news.streetroots.org
Bgortiand’s streets and sidewalks are
crumbling. This indisputable fact has
recently consumed our city’s political
discourse, as pundits and policymakers
debate how best to tax we the people to pay
for critically-important infrastructure. As
I’ve watched this debate unfold, I’ve become
more convinced than ever that the debate in
City Hall totally misses the mark,, Portland’s
fundamental challenge is, as with Mayor
Hales’ and Commissioner Novick’s “street
fee” proposal, a top-down administration ,
that irresponsibly wastes taxpayer dollars,
while ignoring the needs and the will of our
communities.
What follows are a few commonsense
solutions to the challenges we face, which
not only use public funding in a more
responsible way, but also make our
democracy stronger:
1. To ensure that the city is repairing our
streets without breaking the bank, all street
repair projects must be subject to an open
bidding process, with the Portland Bureau
of Transportation competing with any
interested party to provide high-quality
repairs at a low cost This will make PBOT a
more accountable, more transparent
institution, and will ensure that we do not
waste a single cent of taxpayer money.
2. The city should perform preventative
repairs on our streets before a given
problem requires extensive repairs, which
,xaii^frfiiLtaksj^flsid££ahl£^xBe.and lead. Jo
significant inconvenience for communities.
Some jurisdictions have had great success
at repairing cracks and other minor
problems in roadways by pouring rubber or
similar materials into pavement gaps, which
can extend a road’s life span while cutting
costs.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly,
our incredible network of neighborhood
associations must be able to exert greater
autonomy over their own communities.
Specifically on streets with particularly low
traffic, neighborhoods and their community
representatives should be able to manage
their own neighborhood watch programs
outside of the city’s toxic public safety
bureaucracy. Further, neighborhoods should
have the power to decide how low-traffic
streets are utilized and maintained based on
their own community standards.
It’s long past time to reinvest in our
neighborhoods, and give our communities
the space, resources, and - most
importantly - the freedom to control their
own destinies. Only by bringing power back
to the people can we meet the needs of all
Portlanders.
Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan
Gilles, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Gaillot
Photographers Kristina W rig h t Christopher
Onstott, Adrienne Burkett
Jan Bayer, Elizabeth Tierney, Rob Shryock. Ann-
Dec rick Gaillot, Stacey Heath, Vinnie Kinsella, Michelle
Breslau, Paula Craces, John Barker, Mary Locke, Lucas
Manfield, JessieCarver, Cherie Vedal, Sam Bouman,
Isaac Hastings Hauss, Emily Green, Tom Ray, Sarah :
Hansell, Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento, Kyle Craven,
Audrey Benison, Crystal Elinksi
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 online at www.rosecityrèsource.org.
Street Roots vendors buy the newspapers for 25 cents
our vendors, we receive additional support from
donations and in-kind contributions.
75
goes directly to the vendor
who sold you the paper
2 § c
goes toward
printing costs
Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every M onday
Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots o ffice ’