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street roots
Nov. 21, 2014
EDITORIAL
Walking beat a positive impact on the streets
I
n a time when many urban environments
are becoming more draconian in their
approach to banning people
experiencing homelessness from public
spaces, Portland may be on the verge of
bucking that trend.
This summer, the
Portland Police Bureau
Portland needs a centralized
storage facility for camp sweeps
T7^or nearly a year, Street Roots has been
W
A.
advocating for a more centralized location for
homeless campers who have their possessions
confiscated during camp sweeps.
A recent article in the Portland Mercury outlines
just how ridiculous the entire situation has actually
become. Not only is the facility located in outer
Southwest, away from the city’s core, but until the
Mercury’s reporting, it didn’t even have an address
on the odd-looking facility tucked away off of
Southwest Barbur Boulevard.
There’s not even a
pretext of trying to
If the goal is to get
facilitate the items
people off the streets
return.
and accessing services
Street Roots
and housing, then
recommends creating
creating practical
a kind of one-stop
resources for people's
shop that would allow
belongings is part of
people experiencing
the solution.
homeless to store
their gear (personal
belongings, shopping carts, sleeping bags) in one
centralized location. This location could serve as an
access point for people on the streets and social-
service providers to connect to services. It would
also solve the problem of not having a location to
provide people who have had their belongings
confiscated.
If the goal is to get people off the streets and
accessing services and housing, then creating
practical resources for people’s belongings is part of
the solution.
Likewise, the city and anti-poverty advocates,
including Street Roots, need to work to bridge the
gap between the environmental impact people on
the streets have with neighborhoods and in our
natural areas. We believe that together we can find a
way to be better stewards of the land and to deter
littering. That can’t happen without some creative
thinking and coordinated efforts to address about
these issues in a new way.
It’s a slap in the face for people experiencing
poverty — people without resources — to have to
travel to outer Southwest to recover their
belongings. It makes it extremely difficult to build
trust and long-lasting relationships.
The city has done a great job with finding a
breakthrough formula to deal with public spaces
downtown and on sidewalks. There’s no reason to
think we can’t do something great when it comes to
camp sweeps. We have to move beyond creating a
short-term solution to a long-term problem. Moving
people from park to park and neighborhood to
neighborhood doesn’t solve homelessness. More
targeted harm reduction camping policies will result
in better outcomes.
jgfT
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.
DIRECTOR'S
on the streets in
downtown Portland and
along Hawthorne
B y Israel Bayer
Boulevard with the idea
11 of building authentic
relationships with
businesses, the larger community and
people on the streets.
The police officers were a part oi a
walking beat strategy put together by the
Mayor’s office and the bureau with the idea
of moving away from heavy handed policies
that have historically failed time and again
not only in Portland, but throughout the
United States, as well.
Think about this: With more than 2,000
interactions with people experiencing
homelessness and the general public, the
10 police officers only wrote 21 citations
this summer. The officers made just over
200 arrests, mostly for outstanding
warrants. We will take those odds any day
of the week.
Being able to find the right formula that
doesn’t criminalize any one group of people
in public spaces is a real breakthrough for
Portland.
We know people experiencing
homelessness are vulnerable. On one side
of the gun is a broken criminal justice
system that leaves Americans with very
little opportunity, and on the other a
criminal element that preys on people in
poverty. There’s nothing about surviving on
t h e oterooto »that io-bl a c k and w h ite .
—
different shades of grey that requires
human beings to make impossible choices
DESK
Sleeping on Portland City
Sidewalks Unprotected
by Sandra Harmon
I search the crowds each day
For my son in hopes
Ben’s smell and touch
Stronger than a memory;
Overshadowing the fear of my new brain tumor.
I pick up my backpack and sleeping gear;
Exhausted again.
When I see a boy eating a PB&J on a park bench
More emotions arise.
I fight the choking vomit;
The vomit is not from the tumor this time.
Wasn’t I told walking away from domestic violence
was the right thing to do?
Our mission
Staff
Board of Directors
Street Roots creates income opportunities for .
people exp
homelessness and poverty by
producing a newspaper and other media that are
catalysts for individual and social change.
Executive Director Israel Bayer
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
Street Roots publishes every tw o weeks, launching
on Fridays, and is available exclusively through our
street vendors or by subscription. W e are a proud
member o f the International Network of Street
Papers.
israel@streetroots.org
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl
joanne@stfeetrtxjts.org
Vendor Doordlnator Cole Merkel
cole@streetroots.org •„
Operations Director Sarah Beecroft
Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit Volunteer,
grace@streetroots.org
Development Director 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
hews5treetroots.org
Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan
Gilles, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Gaillot
Photographers Diego Diaz, Kristina W right,
day after day to survive. The trauma of
homelessness and poverty is a cruel one.
Does this mean that we should simply
celebrate and call it day? No way.
Street Roots hopes that the walking beat
strategy can be extended in different parts
of the city with the idea of building
authentic relationships between the police
and Portland residents.
Does that mean we believe we should let
up on our efforts to create transparent
police accountability, or to encourage
changes at the bureau that encourages
officers to live inside the city limits and to
reflect the community it serves? Absolutely
not
In my mind, part of the evolution in
creating a better police force is to inspire
Portlanders themselves to become police
officers, or at the very least to engage with
officers in the community and not feel
threatened. There’s no better way to do
that than by having a transparent bureau
and maintaining authentic relationships.
If we as a community can come together
to approach the issue of homelessness from
a harm reduction model and move away
from heavy handed policies that target the
homeless and often times people of color
then I believe we are on the verge of
collectively doing some great things. Time
will tell.
For far too long we’ve been arguing over
public sidewalks instead of working toward
solving the housing crisis in our community.
I believe in my heart that given the
opportunity, people want to do the right
thing when it comes to the issue of
homelessness. That’s businesses,
concerned neighbors, law enforcement and
more. Together, we can do far more good
than we can by tearing one another down.
The police walking beat was a step in the
r ig h t dii-eehuii. Mum, l uM lUillWu e
together to give all people the opportunity
at a better life and housing.
Volunteers
Vendors
— .......
Street Roots vendors buy the newspapers for 25 cents
each and sell them fo r $1, keeping the 75 cents in 7 ' '
profit for themselves. In order to keep the cost low to
our vendors, we receive additional support from
donations and in-kind contributions. '
Jan Bayer, Elizabeth Tierney, Rob Shryock, Ann- '
Derrick G aillot, Stacey Heath, Vinnie Kinsella, M ichelle
Breslau, Paula Cracas, John Barker, M ary Locke, Lucas
Manfield, Jessie Carver, Cherie Veda!, 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
75-
goes diroctly to the vendor
w ho sold you the paper
Christopher Onstott, Adrienne Burkett
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.rosecityresource.org.
Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m . every Monday,
W ednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office.