Page 6
New Prices
Effective
May 1, 2014
Martin
Cleaning
Service
April 1, 2015
O PINION
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG.
$45.00
$VPDOOGLVWDQFHWUDYHO
charge may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or
more $30.00 Each Area
3UH6SUD\7UDI¿F$UHDV
(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$40.00
,QFOXGHV3UH6SUD\7UDI¿F$UHD
(Hallway Extra)
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services)
Area/Oriental Rugs
$25.00 Minimum
Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool)
$40.00 Minimum
Heavily Soiled Area
Additional $10.00 each area
(Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying)
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
6RID
/RYHVHDW
6HFWLRQDO
&KDLURU5HFOLQHU
$25 - $49
7KURZ3LOORZV (With
Other Services)
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Area & Oriental Rug
Cleaning
$XWR%RDW59&OHDQLQJ
• Deodorizing & Pet
2GRU7UHDWPHQW
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
SEE CURRENT FLYER
FOR ADDITIONAL
PRICES & SERVICES
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949
A National Crisis of Household Debt
Demanding
solutions to
help families
L EE A NN H ALL
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Potter’s husband
passed away from
pancreatic
can-
cer, debt collec-
tors in her state of
Washington were
still
relentless-
ly hounding her
about his hospital bills.
Andrea Anderson, a young
student in Oregon, has been sad-
dled with $150,000 in college
loans as she pursues her dream
of becoming a social worker.
She knows she’ll be paying the
loans back for decades, threaten-
ing her other dreams of buying a
home or starting a family.
Linda Mock of Idaho was
trapped by a payday loan that
quickly grew from the original
$300 to more than $900 in inter-
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the debt, she took out a title loan
on her car and ended up losing
her only transportation.
Family debt is no personal
failing — it’s a national crisis.
Even as unemployment de-
BY
clines, the debt crisis is holding
back a full economic recovery
and pushing more people into
poverty.
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Obama announced recently that
he’s
instructed the De-
h
partment
of Education
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and
a other federal agen-
cies
c to do more to help
borrowers
afford their
b
monthly
loan payments.
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It’s a step in the right
direction.
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go
g further and rein in
the lenders, banks, and collec-
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from Americans’ debt. It’s time
to stop blaming borrowers and
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ests that created the crisis ac-
countable.
When hospitals give big price
breaks to insurance companies
but refuse to work with a widow
struggling to make ends meet,
something’s not right.
When a federal student loan
provider charges young stu-
dents nearly twice the interest
it charges homeowners, some-
thing’s not right.
When payday lenders can get
away with charging 300 percent
interest on a short-term loan to
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their car so they can get to work,
something’s not right.
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lenders hurts families and si-
phons money out of local econ-
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payday-lending storefronts for
every Starbucks coffee shop in
the United States.
Meanwhile, more than 70 per-
cent of students who graduate
with a bachelor’s degree leave
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student loan debt totals almost
$30,000 today, up from $19,000
a decade ago.
For many Americans, there’s
no way out.
Student loans can’t be dis-
charged in bankruptcy. Some
states will take your driver’s
licenses and professional cer-
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your student loan repayment.
And if you can’t afford your
legal fees, you could go to jail
— just for being poor.
It’s time to break the shame
around debt and start putting
the responsibility for solutions
ZKHUHLWEHORQJVRQWKRVHSURI-
iting off struggling families.
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on interest rates, ending preda-
tory practices that push people
further into debt, and creating a
path out of debt for people who
are struggling.
Recently, folks from different
communities across the country
came together for a national
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Debt,” hosted by my organi-
zation, the Alliance for a Just
Society. People from Seattle to
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moving stories — not to gain
sympathy, but to erase the stig-
ma that further burdens families
trapped in debt.
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should investigate all forms of
predatory lending, including
student loans, payday loans,
medical loans, mortgages, and
credit cards. On the White
House website, you can sign a
petition asking the president to
create a pathway out of debt so
families can reclaim their fu-
tures.
Our children, our neighbors,
our parents, the sick, and the
struggling aren’t cash cows for
bankers and lenders to milk.
It’s time to demand solutions
that help families move up from
debt.
LeeAnn Hall is the executive
director of the Alliance for a Just
Society, a national policy and
organizing network that works
on racial, health and economic
justice issues.