Street Roots • June 16-22, 2017
Page 3
O p in io n
Keep fighting for what you believe in, Portland
n my time at Street Roots I’ve watched
readers do some amazing things for vendors.
Readers helping organize first and last
month’s rent for a vendor, doctors helping with
surgeries, dentists helping people get dentures,
people attending Alcohol Anonymous meetings
with their favorite vendor and offering up
presents during the
holidays. The list goes on
and on.
One of the more
r
beautiful things about
Street Roots is that while
By Israel Bayer
we experience the trauma
of homelessness
collectively, we also
witness the best of people
and our community.
Street Roots allows the larger community to
build authentic relationships with people on the
streets - to help people get a hand up and break
down the many barriers facing people in today’s
climate.
There’s so many ways to support vendors,
including giving a generous tip or simply offering
up a smile. Maybe it’s a nice meal, or flowers or
some cold water on a hot day.
That’s why I’m always surprised to hear people
say that Portland has lost its support for people
experiencing homelessness.
What a loaded statement, right?
I mean, the fact that people experiencing
homelessness are so woven into the fabric of
Portland’s culture that that kind of statement has
to be made in the first place is sad.
The reality is I don’t think for one minute that
the good people of Portland are sick of the
homeless. Maybe people are sick of
homelessness itself. But people aren’t sick of
human beings living without a home, so much as
they are sick of witnessing people suffering on
our streets without a home.
The reality is that talking about the solutions
to homelessness, much like climate change, has
become hard to quantify. How do we talk about
the need for more resources and political will for
ending people’s homelessness when we already
know we don’t have the resources or political will
to actually end homelessness? It’s a conundrum.
Our system knows how to provide people with
a safe and stable home. We are simply faced with
outside forces and marketplace realities that
I
MItECTOR'S
DESI
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
israel@streetroots. org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
make it almost impossible to solve the issues at
large.
Logical and successful outcomes are hard to
talk about when the reality is so much bigger
than any one person or strategy.
We all know that homelessness is not a normal
human condition. Yet, we live in a world that it’s
absolutely normal. It’s a reality.
Elected officials careers are made on the backs
of people experiencing homelessness. An entire
industry has been created to respond to it.
Almost every newspaper in town has assigned a
reporter to cover it. Yet people on the streets
continue to suffer.
Homelessness is both political and personal in
Portland. And unfortunately, the issue isn’t going
away anytime soon. There’s no place for
thousands of people to go, regardless of how
many resources we pour into dissecting the issue
and trying to respond with anything other than
housing, health care and employment.
Portland needs to continue exploring ways to
generate an ongoing revenue source to support
people in accessing and maintaining housing.
Walking away from the issue or simply trying to
manage it isn’t an option.
Today, more than ever, Portlanders need
something big to grab hold of - something that
gives both individuals and families on the streets
and the larger community something to believe
in.
It will take real leadership.
It starts with you and it starts with me.
Please take the time to write or call elected
officials both locally and at the state level to let
them know it’s not homeless people you’re sick of
— you’re sick of people having to live without a
safe place to call home and what you care about is
the human rights of all Portlanders and
Oregonians.
Together, Portlanders, we can rise above the
noise and work toward giving people a safe place
to call home. We can’t give up the fight, not today
and not tomorrow. It will take time. It will take a
village. It will take using our voice.
Real change in our community always starts
with relationships and Street Roots can’t thank
readers enough for being engaged in solutions -
one conversation and one newspaper at a time.
Your neighborhood Street Roots vendor thanks
you. Portland thanks you.
Street Roots
211NWDsM$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.-FrL, 7:30
a.m -2 p.m. Sat. and 7:30-1 p.m. Sun.
Interested in advertising in Street Roots?
Contact Israel Bayer at israel@streetroots.org
Staff
Executive Director Israel Bayer
israel@streetroots.org
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl
joanne@streetroots.org .
Vendor Program Director Cole Merkel
cole@streetroots.org
Operations Director Sarah Seecroft
Development Director Sarah Cloud
Program Assistant Meghann Van Pelt,
Jesuit Volunteer
Development Assistant Patricia Romero
Editorial Assistant Monica Kwasntk
Reporters Emily Green, Suzanne Zalokar,
Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Jared Paben,
Amanda Waldroupe, Stephen Quirke
Photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode,
Arkady Brown
Canvasser Desmond Hardison
Board of Directors
Chairman Brad Taylor
Vice-Chairman Rachel Langford
Treasurer Heather Stadick
Secretary Dan Jones
Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson,
Sandra Hahn, John Brown, Nets Johnson and
Alison Hallett
Volunteers
Street Roots vendors
pose with Timber
Jim , the former
mascot for the
Portland Timbers,
who stopped by the
office and delivered
a rousing speech
just before the May
12 paper arrived
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali 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, Del Shawn Davidson, Gillian Floren, Mark
OIDani, Bridget Brown, Cody Travels, Bianca Butler,
Robb Hengerer, Alex Cherin, Jenny Farres, Evan
Firsick, Camber Hansen-Karr, Miranda Woods, Henry
Brannan, Megan Smith, Luke Scheuermann, Annie
Aube 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.