Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2015)
Street Roots • Nov. 13-19, 2015 Editorial Page 3 Write in If you would life < / f to have . / ' \ ' ' something ' ~ A - — / that yotive . written published / \ / bour pages, or would Ike to get involved as a \ ; . member of our reporting staff, contact Managing' EditorJoanne 2uhf at 503-228-5657, joanne@streetroots.org. . We ask that all submissions include the , author’s name and contact information, . if available. Street Reels 211 NW Davis St. Portland, OR 97209 ' 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 www.streetroots.org - . www.news.streetroots.org Hours: 7:30 a.'m.-3 p.m. Mon.-Fit, 7:30 ■ ' irn,-2 p.m., Sat. and 7:30-11 a.m. Sun. Advertising Interested in advertising in Street Roots? An open letter to the President of the United States In Portland and in Multnomah County we’ve declared a state of emergency. We are committed to helping shelter all individuals By now, I’m sure you may have and families, while working to create more heard that Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles and housing to support an overwhelming need in the state of Hawaii have all declared states of These efforts take reaF our communities. emergency for housing investments. We need your help. and homelessness in their We do not pretend to speak for our communities. colleagues in other cities, but we do know Portland, Seattle, Los that local governments, residents and Angeles and Hawaii, like advocates are taking action. We many By Israel Bayer have no choice. communities With wages lagging and the in the United cost of housing skyrocketing in States, are Watching cities many communities around the dealing with up and down country, hundreds of thousands of thousands of men, women, the West Coast people continue to find children and elders sleeping outside without a safe place to call declare states of themselves without a place to call emergency for home. There doesn’t appear to be home. For decades local communities homelessness an end in sight. have been asked to carry the and housing Watching cities up and down majority of the burden of solving should be seen the West Coast declare states of homelessness in their as a rallying cry emergency for homelessness and communities. While we appreciate housing should be a rallying cry efforts to support ending veterans to our state and | to. our state and federal federal homelessness and investments made by local, state and federal government to government to support our efforts. governments to support homeless support onr Knowing that local and mental health services and efforts. communities are now taking housing opportunities, we have action by declaring emergencies, failed as a nation to give our we ask you, Mr. President and citizens-the tools they need to be governors across the country, to successful in life. The disinvestment in federally consider executive actions within your supported housing in the United Stated has capacity to help local communities - rural and been well documented in the past 30-plus . urban alike - restore lost housing and billions years. of dollars in lost revenue to help support For far to o long local communities have American citizens in having a safe place to been forced to answer the question - why call home. should we invest more in housing? In many Without state and federal intervention,. cases, the people have responded. Just last unfortunately, even with the best of intentions week, both San Francisco, Calif., and we fear we will not be able to scale up our Kalamazoo, Mich., voted to give their investments to solve the problem of neighbors experiencing homelessness and homelessness and to give individuals and poverty a fighting chance by supporting more families a safe place to call home. revenue options at the ballot to support housing and homelessness services. B ear Mr. President, governors and local mayors of the United States: : «ssctoirs Israel Bayer is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach him 'at israel@streetroots.org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. Contact Israel Bayer at israel@streetroots.org Staff Executive Director Israel Bayer israel@streetroots.org Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl - ; jqapne@streetroots.org Vendor Coordinator Cole M e rM coie@ streetroots.org - ... ' j .4 ... .. Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Development Director Sarah Cloud Program Assistant Scott Jackson, Jesuit Volunteer Development Assistant Ann-Derrick Gaillot Reporters Emily Green, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Gaillot, Sarah Hansell, Lenora. Ko, Sam Bouman, Jared Paben .. Photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode Canvasser Desmond Hardison Board of Directors Chairman Bruce Anderson Vice-Chairman Brad Taylor Treasurer Heather Stadick Secretary Amber Bielman Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Leo Rhodes, Mora Coon, Darren Alexander, Eddie Barbosa, Rachel Langford, Marcus Swift Volunteers Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Brian Ritchie, Anders Frederickson, Stephanie Holum, Anjali Rathore, Sam Bouman, Joanna Chase, Zoe Klingmann, Haven Herrin, Eliese Baker, Dan Jones, Rob Shyrock, Tom Ray, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamaia, Jessica Pollard, Lee Ko, Diana Richardson, Cherie Manning, Thomas Buell Jr. If you are interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application atstreetroots.org/volunteer. Or call our volunteer coordinator for more information at 503-228-5657.
