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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 2018)
Street Roots • Nov. 23-29, 2018 O p i n io n Solution-minded citizenry deserves government support Page 3 Street Roots NW Davis St. ■ ■ t the Oregon Health Forum on Nov. 15, emphasizes the need for private solutions, Mayor Ted Wheeler’s comments about residents are left to their own devices to what the city - in collaboration with navigate the city bureaus and the permitting Multnomah County and nonprofit partners - has processes. But if showers are too expensive, if done to address homelessness were porta-potties are needed, if people want to open overshadowed by his frustration. The Joint their parcels of land to help - our city needs to Office of Homeless Services has coordinated hold out a hand. Support the hospitable thousands of responses, moving people from responses to unhoused neighbors - neighbors homelessness to housing, stabilizing people in who want to team up and supply porta potties in housing through rent assistance and'sheltering their neighborhoods, support trash collection, people. Everyone is better off from these erect villages on private and church properties, actions — that is a success. open up showers in neighborhood centers and But because the churches. problem is so pressing, all Couldn’t the same energy put into the One these actions are never Point of Contact system be put into a enough. Speaking before constructive equivalent? Given our layers of a crowd of about 300 government in Portland, people need help people at the Lund By Kaia Sand figuring out how to navigate numerous Report-sponsored Oregon bureaucracies. Maybe a neighbor does not seek Health Forum at the to displace campers, but rather, wants to better Multnomah Athletic Club, support them with regular trash collection, and Wheeler heard from this might take linking city contractors, or even people who raised necessary alarms. In Metro government, with these neighbors. We particular, members of the audience and the need something set up that navigates these reactor panel (which I participated on), raised different aspects of government that is one concerns about hygiene and sweeps - from the portal. So people don’t have to spend their time indignity of having no place to go to the jumping over these hurdles, bathroom to the health urgency of showers to Don’t just streamline processes for people to the trauma of removing camps. complain.. Streamline processes so people can The entire forum, though, was overshadowed figure out how people can help. Let them know in the aftermath by a comment the mayor what is legal and create liaisons uttered within earshot of through the permitting process. If an Oregonian reporter: “I neighborhoods, businesses and cannot wait for 24 months ; churches want to provide porta to be up.” Bul le t’s rewind the tape Q pufdpi.the sarpe potties or open up parcels of lands a bit. Yes, the M ayor is „.-energy put into , for villages or camping or usher frustrated, but I urge him people into showers or support to remember that people the One Point of unhoused people with garbage all across the city care services — how can the city assist? Contact system,.- What we need is the equivalent site about helping. That audience was pulsing with to One Point of Contact website be put into a, energy, an energy that he that creates ease for neighbors to and all Portlanders can find engage with our city with constructive hope in. People care. CaU constructive and compassionate on each and every one of responses to homelessness. equivalent? us to play a part. Because When we set up systems where that’s what I heard at this people only have the option of forum too: people coming calling the police or registering up with solutions. complaints, we are setting up systems of While the Mayor pointed out challenges with antagonism. Housed neighbors are positioned to many of The fixes, such as the expense of be adversarial with unhoused neighbors, rather showers, and called on people around the city to than collaborative. help, I argue that the city could better aid in If we structure antagonism, we get such constructive responses from community antagonism. If we structure compassion, we get members. compassion. And there are so many people Because right now, the city structures across this region who are compassionate and antagonism between housed and unhoused want to chip in. neighbors. The main way that people can People can also help by donating money or engage with the city around homelessness is time to the nonprofits and neighborhood efforts based on complaints. Hundreds of people in this city doing the work. That is what keeps register complaints each week on a city portal Street Roots going. The largest portion of our called One Point of Contact, and some of these funds comes from individual donors, and the result in “camp clean-ups” - in essence, sweeps. bulk of that happens at this time of the year. The One Point of Contact coordinates its And there isn’t a day that we don’t have key responses across the city government, and volunteer help. All nonprofits around the city across governments, nonprofits and private contractors. If someone wants to complain about need this support. There is so much happening worthy of community support, and in the a camp, they don’t need to figure out anything else. This system streamlines, removing barriers coming weeks, winter emergency shelters will also need volunteers; sign up at 211info.org/ for residents. donations, Many neighbors need ways to constructively Step into your best role. Give money, engage the city around homelessness, but they volunteer, dream up a project and make it are left to figure out how. While the mayor happen. Be kind to people suffering outside. understandably emphasizes the limits on what Mayor Wheeler, we’re all out here. he can do in any of these areas, and he ■ DIRECTOR'S DESS K a ia S a n d is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach her a t kaid@streetroots.org. F ollow h er on Twitter @ m kaiasand ■ ■ I Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 ■ 9 | www.streetroots.org news.streetroots.org Hours: 7:30 a,m.-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m, Sat. and 7:30-1 p.m. Sun. Submissions ; < ’ 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 all submissions include the author’s name and contact information, Advertising Interested in advertising in Street Roots? Email Andrew Hogan at andrewtstreetroots.org S taff Executive Director Kaia Sand Executive Editor Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.org Vendor Program Director Cole Merkel cole@streetroots.org - Development Director Andrew Hogan andrew@streetroots.org Senior Staff Reporter Emily Green emily@streetroots.org Vendor Coordinator DeVon Pouncey Administrative Assistant Kayla Jones Program Assistant Meghan Murphy, Jesuit Volunteer Vendor Assistant Alex Gillow-Wiles Development Assistant Nina Lee Editorial Producer Monica Kwasnik Reporters Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Emilly Prado, Ellena Rosenthal, Amanda Waldroupe, Helen Hill, Jason Cohen, Stephen Quirke, Libby Dowsett 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 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 Floren, 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. . ■
