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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 2018)
Street Roots • Oct. 12-18, 2018 O p in i o n For housing, we must stand together, act regionally magine a high school sophomore who ire and the judgment. She wears a neat cap moves from a friend’s couch to an aunt’s and straight lipstick, but her mind is spare bedroom to a car. Her family is strained with stress, and the lipstick slides a split apart so they can all sleep under some bit more askew and shaky the more days roof, just not the same roof. It is always a she fights just to survive.' She needs the scramble. She can’t hold onto much, but security of stable housing so she can calm she does keep her her mind. homework planner Or imagine a couple who always worked close, neatly color IfiB C T O il but never saved. There never really was coded for each class. much to save, and they mostly thought they 3SS SB JBEs If she just stays could always work hard - until they By Kaia Sand organized she can get couldn’t. He didn’t expect the cancer. Now through, she figures, they are living in an RV, moving it from rest but sometimes stop to street corner, fearful of the day the something slips * transmission breaks and they risk getting through the cracks - a textbook left at the towed. last place she slept - and she doesn’t Plenty of fairy tales give us three wishes, explain why she’s not prepared to the but let’s grab 12,000 wishes this election. teacher, because she tries to appear as Let’s wish for a region that can provide safe, though everything is OK. stable housing for that many more people, Let’s wish for her to have an apartment because by passing the regional housing where all her family can stay together, with Measure 26-199 and statewide Measure a drawer to store her planner and a desk to 102, that’s what we can do. This housing write out her homework and an address must be permanently affordable, so many that doesn’t change. Let’s wish that for the more people will eventually be housed. thousands of kids who are unstably housed Measure 26-199 is scaled right - in this region - stability so they can dream. regionally. The need for housing doesn’t Or imagine the man end at county lines. And who’s working around the because there are more clock to keep it all people in three counties together, but travels out than in one, the taxes are , Let's wish for a region to Tualatin to double-up spread out, too. The with a roommate in order that can provide safe, average homeowner will pay $5 per mohth. to cover the rent, but still stable housing for that many more people, Let’s stand together and paying more than either can afford. H e sp e n d s * act regionally. From because by passing the Troutdale to Tualatin, more than half his regional housing Forest Grove to Fairview, paycheck to keep a roof Measure 2 6 -1 9 9 and Milwaukie to Hillsboro, over head, playing the statewide Measure 102, Beaverton to Portland, roulette of which bill to that's what we can do. people deserve a safe, pay when, and how to stable place to call home. keep the bill collectors at Last week, Multnomah bay. County elections officials Imagine the woman came into the Street Roots caring for pre-school children - a job she enjoys, but at minimum office to register Street Roots vendors to vote. You can bet that the vendors will be wage, she’d need to work 80 hours a week watching the mail for when their ballots to afford an average-priced apartment in this region. She’s 50 years old. She’s moved arrive at the office, making sure that their vote counts. Please make sure that yours in with her stepmother, but it’s tense, and does, too. she doesn’t know how long it can last. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. Imagine a man who is in his 60s, but the 16, and ballots will be mailed soon after. storms have marked him for older. His Watch your mail, and get your pen ready to safety is at risk each day he beds down on a vote for Measures 26-199 and 102. stoop. Most of what he owns gets stolen And in the next issue of Street Roots, eventually, but he keeps a notebook of look for a recap of all sketches in his coat pocket, drawing his our Street Roots “ memories before he loses them too. He’d take a single room as a Shelter, he says, a locked door to keep him safe while he sleeps and a place for him to store his possessions while he looks for work. Imagine a woman who makes herself up in the shelter mirror, striving each day to pass as housed, so that she can dodge the I K a ia S an d is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach her at kaia@streetroots. org. Follow her on Twitter @mkaiasand Page 3 Street Roots 211 NW Davis S t Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax: 503-227-3117 www.streetroots.org news.streetroots.org Hours: 7:30 a.nt-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 7:30 a.m,-2 p.m. Sat. and 7:30-1 p.m. Sun. Submissions If you would like to have something that you’ve written published in our pages, or would like to get involved as a member of our reporting staff, contact Executive Editor Joanne Zuhl at 503- 228-5657, joanne@streetroots.org. We ask that ail submissions include the author’s name and contact information, if available. Advertising Interested in advertising in Street Roots? Email Andrew Hogan at andrew@streetroots.org S taff Executive Director Kaia Sand kaia@streetroots.org Executive Editor Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.org Vender Program Director Cole Merkel coie@streetroots.org. Development Director Andrew Hogan andrew@streetroots.org Emily Green emily@streetroots.org' S e n io r S t a f f R e p o r te r ' Vendor C o o r d i n a t o r D e V o n P o u n c e y Administrative Assistant Kayla Jones Program Assistant Meghan Murphey, Jesuit Volunteer Vendor Assistant Alex Gillow-Wiles Development Assistant Rosemary Wilson Editorial Producer Monica Kwasnik Reporters Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Emilly Prado, Ellena Rosenthal, Amanda Waldroupe, Helen Hill, Jason Cohen Photographers Diego Diaz, Arkady Brown, Celeste Noche Canvasser Desmond Hardison Board of Directors Chair Rachel Langford Vice-Chair Dan Jones Treasurer Heather Stadick Secretary Alison Hallett Directors Michael Anderson, Sandra Hahn, John Brown, Nels Johnson Volunteers John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore, Dennis Hogan, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jason Cohen, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond, Diana Richardson, Paul and Madeline Gefroh, Mary Anne Joyce, Brooke Anderson, Gillian Fioren, Mark Oldani, Bianca Butler, Camber Hansen- Karr, Miranda Woods, Henry Brannan, Helen Hill, Mary Emerson, Brooke Anderson, Kathleen McFall, . Robb Hengerer, Maile Yeats-Rowe, Erin Parsons, Faye Powell, Danny Moran, Susan Maloy and Megan Pickerel-Winer. 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.
