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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2017)
Street Roots • Feb. 24-March 2, 2017 Page 3 O p in io n Write in ■' ' If you would »ke to te e J something that you’v e ' written published in our pages, or would like to get involved as a I : 503-228-5667, ^M W stm e tro e ^.o rg , We ask that all submissions include the author’s name and wotaet information, ifavaiiable. Street Roots 211 NW Davis a Portland, OR 97209 503-228*5657 Fax:503-227-3117 www.streetroots.org www.news.streetroots.org Right 2 Dream Too too valuable to lose ight 2 Dream Too, the five-year-old rest stop that serves more than 100 people experiencing homelessness offers critical services in Portland’s Old Town/ Chinatown. Some people don’t want to admit it, but the camp has offered a calm in a never-ending R storm of mental health and homelessness. Prior DIRECTOR'S HRP is o la ted an d alone By Israel Bayer throughout th e neighborhood. Israel Bayer is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach him at israel@streetroots. org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. Without the camp, elected officials, the neighborhood and businesses are naïve to think that the hundreds of people won’t return to their doorsteps. Which of course, will set off a chain- reaction of powerful interest groups calling for the criminalization of people on th e streets. It will also push advocates and others on the streets to setu p shop in front of City Hall -- demanding that R2DToo find a permanent location. R2DToo’s current lease is set to expire on April 7. That’s not a lot of time to find a permanent location for the camp. The reality is letting R2DToo disband without a plan would be a nightmare, both practically and politically. It’s true that R2DToo has been at the center of controversy for years. Obviously, developers and the neighborhood association believe that the current location on Fourth Avenue and Burnside is not reasonable. They’ve thought so for years. Now, the land owned by the Portland Development Commission, is needed to support development at the Grove Hotel. The politics surrounding R2DToo are many. Everyone seems to point fingers in a different direction when it comes to the question of trying to find a permanent location for the camp. Everyone has a different opinion on what needs to happen. Some believe the city has exhausted its options when it comes to finding land for the camp to be sited. I happen to believe that s ridiculous. If the city all worked together collectively to find a location for R2DToo, they 8 Hours: 7:30 a.m-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri„ 7:30 a.m.-2 plm. Sat and 7:30-1 p.m. Sun. outside of your traditional shelter network — offering people on the streets a welcome and safe environment. More so, the camp works with local social service providers to help give individuals a safe place to call home. Since the R2DToo was created in 2011, they claim to have supported and stabilized more than 400 people while Interested in advertising in Street Roots? Contact Israel Bayer at israel@$treetroots.org Staff Executive D ire cto r M anaging E d ito r Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.Grg fo r h o u sin g fo r m an y p e o p le e x p e rie n c in g N o t ev en th e m o s t s o p h istic a te d n o n p ro fits in th e city are able to house people on th e dime. It’s a long, hard slog. No one has the answer, Modern day homelessness is a conundrum. For nearly 40 years local governments have been carrying the water for what was historically a federal priority. Homelessness in Portland and throughout America isn’t going away anytime soon. After years of homeless advocates fighting with government official about the need to decriminalize people on the streets for their own existence and to allow tent cities to be a viable option - government officials throughout many urban environments began to reluctantly understand the complexity of the situation on the ground. They began toJ understand the tent cities do play a critical role in supporting the human rights of people without a safe place to call home. The reality is that R2DToo plays a critical role in helping people access a community with love and tru s t Without the camp, hundreds of people on the streets will be isolated and on their own. That’s simply unacceptable. Whatever the outcome is for R2DToo, it shouldn’t end in disbanding the camp. The fate of R2DToo shouldn’t get wrapped up in the current politics surrounding City Hall. It should be reflective of the camp itself - a community that comes together and works to create a better tomorrow for people experiencing homelessness. Now is not the time for us to lose faith in local government. We are behind the many the officials working to create a safe place for people on the streets. We expect officials to do the same: to find a way to support both could. They should. R2DToo and others working to give people a R2DToo provides vulnerable individuals and safe place to call home. couples experiencing homelessness a safe We must find a way. place to rest and sleep. The camp operates Israel Bayer israd@stxeetioots.org they waited to access housing. In case you w eren’t aware, th e average wait ' Vendor P rog ram D ire c to r .... . ' Cote .Merkel. O p eration s D ire cto r Sarah Beecroft D evelopm ent D ire cto r Sarah Cloud P ro g ra m A s sis ta n t Meghann Van Pelt Jesuit Volunteer Patricia Romero Emily Green, Suzanne Zalokar, Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Jared Paben, Amanda Waldroupe, Stephen Quirke P ho to gra phe rs Diego Diaz, Joe Glode Editorial Assistant Monica Kwasnik Desmond Hardison Development A s sista n t R e p o rte rs Board of Directors Chairman Brad Taylor Vice-Chairman Rachel Langford Treasurer Heather Stadick S e cre ta ry Dan Jones Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Leo Rhodes, Sandra Hahn, John Brown, Marcus Volunteers Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjaji Rathore; Zoe Klingmann, Dan Jones, Dennis Hogan, Monica McKune, Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Yasmin Amirsoleymani, Jason Cohen, Tom Ray, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond; Diana Richardson, Cherie Manning, Paul and Madeline Gefroh, Mary Anne Joyce, Anne Reif, Gillian Floren, Mark Oldani, Meg Holden, Bridget Brown, Cody Travels, Bianca Butler, Robb Hengerer, Alex Cherin, Tom Vandel, Grace Gallagher, Jenny Farres, Evan Firsick and Helen Hill. If you're interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at streetroots. org/volunteer. Or you can call for more information at 503-228-5657.
