Page 4
August 10, 2016
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Tribal Liaison Appointed
The position
marks a first for
Portland
Mayor Charlie Hales disclosed
Thursday that Patricia Davis Gib-
son will be the first ever Tribal Li-
aison for the City of Portland.
The Tribal Liaison position will
work out of the Mayor’s office on
relationship and policy develop-
ment with Native American na-
tions and governments, as well as Patricia Davis Gibson
Providing Insurance and Financial Services
Home Office, Bloomington, Illinois 61710
Ernest J. Hill, Jr. Agent
4946 N. Vancouver Avenue,
Portland, OR 97217
503 286 1103 Fax 503 286 1146
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with internal staff. Davis Gibson
will be the leading point person
for contact between City officials,
bureaus and members of the tribal
public.
Davis Gibson has immense
tribal expertise, having held posi-
tions in Indian Country as a tribal
attorney, Juvenile Justice Policy
Liaison and Chief Judge. She is
of the Comanche Tribe of Oklaho-
ma, a direct descendant of Chief
Ten Bears, and is also of the Sem-
inole Nation of Oklahoma and the
Muskogee Creek Nation.
“This position is long-overdue
for the City of Portland, and we
could not have found a better can-
didate to serve as our first Tribal
Liaison,” Mayor Hales stated in a
press release.
“Ms. Davis Gibson has an in-
credible record of representing
Native American interests across
the state. With her expertise, Port-
land will be able to better collab-
orate with tribal nations and the
tribal public.”
Davis Gibson will start as Trib-
al Liaison on August 15.
Mayor Wants Sanctioned Camps
C ontinued from P age 3
Hazelnut Grove from its current
site, because the site is extremely
difficult for sanitation services to
access in order to empty dump-
sters, portable toilets, and needle
containers,” says Hottman.
Officials and housing advo-
cates want to identify a more
serviceable site, and re-establish
Hazelnut Grove under a nonprofit
manager, per the city’s “Home for
Everyone” framework, she says.
Citywide, only one property
out of 120 scouted sites has been
identified as a potential sanc-
tioned camping site that could
meet the new requirements and
that’s the Kalbrenner property,
located at southeast 104th and
Reedway.
Hoffman says the city is work-
ing on preparing the property, in-
cluding removing vegetation and
contaminated soil, installing wa-
ter and electricity infrastructure
and establishing a nonprofit site
manager. Depending on zoning,
it could hold 100 to 200 campers.
In addition to existing shelters,
like one in Westmoreland that of-
fers 150 beds and the new 200-bed
Hanson Shelter that just opened
with the transfer of sheriff’s offic-
es in east Portland, Hottman says
about 200 more shelter beds are
on the way.
For the inevitable hundreds of
houseless persons that won’t end
up with a shelter bed following the
pending camp sweeps, where they
will end up is still a question Hott-
man can’t answer.
“That’s a big question and
that’s a tough question. It’ll be up
to them to find hopefully a dis-
creet place to get by.”
Empowered for Disasters
C ontinued from f ront
really have a concept of it,” Van
Keuren says.
Despite general apathy, the
program has seen an increase
in interest. Applications for the
program are on the rise but the
diversity of those enrolled falls
short of reflecting Portland’s pop-
ulation.
“We’re really trying to im-
prove diversity in the program.
It’s been challenging,” says Van
Keuren.
At present, only 10 percent of
Portland NET members classify
themselves as non-white, which
is a stat both Van Keuren and the
NET board are hoping to change
through reaching out to local or-
ganizations that work with com-
munities of color.
“It makes a huge difference
when you’re actually working
with those community leaders on
an ongoing basis, especially when
there’s not a crisis or a problem to
solve. Just hanging out with them
and getting to know them is very
important and frankly I don’t
think we’ve done that very well
in our bureau,”
Van Keuren says the NET
teams should see themselves not
so much as the people that are
going to be responding to every
single problem after a disaster
happens, but more like a force
multiplier to the effort by public
safety officials.
“We see very consistently in
disasters all around the world
that people come out of the
woodwork and want to help. We
call them Spontaneous Unaffil-
iated Volunteers (SUVs). They
can either very greatly enhance
the capacity of your response or
they can really diminish it, de-
pending on how well you man-
age them.”
Residents interested in joining
a neighborhood NET faction or
that have questions or concerns
regarding natural disasters, are
urged to visit the Portland Bureau
of Emergency Management web-
site portlandoregon.gov/pbem.
“It’s scary, but you can em-
power yourself and it does make
a difference. You can make a de-
cision for yourself of how you’re
going to be in the event of an
earthquake,” Van Keuren says.
“You just have to decide
whether you’re going to be the
person that’s unprepared and
needs help from everybody, or if
you’re going to empower your-
self and be ready for it. If you
empower yourself, which doesn’t
really take a lot of effort, you
don’t have to be afraid.”