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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2013)
Opinion Equity Bureau: It’s About the People “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor T ED B ANKS Advertising Manager J ERRY F OSTER Account Executive L ISA L OVING News Editor H ELEN S ILVIS Multimedia Editor B RUCE P OINSETTE Reporter D AVID K IDD Graphic Designer M ONICA J. F OSTER Seattle Office Coordinator J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers I n 2011 we watched as Port- land City Commissioner Amanda Fritz put her reputa- tion on the line to create a real tool to address the inequities that have made Portland such a white, privileged city. Many Portlanders of color lined up to support the pro- posed Equity Bureau, offering examples of discrimination, school failure, police violence, and a general lack of options in this historically racist town. It was a tough fight, but Fritz – along with her allies across many communities, including the disabled – won a unani- mous vote to create the bureau. “It will work within City govern- ment and in the community, and include a strong Civil Rights component,” former Mayor Sam Adams wrote in 2011. ‘It will work with communi- ty partners in a way that sup- plements, complements, and supports the good work already under way.” We have some bad news about that: If you are being dis- criminated against in Portland, don’t expect anything from the Equity Bureau. Last Friday morning, an entire year after Dante James got his first paycheck as director of the Office of Equity and Human Rights, he sat down for the first F ROM THE P UBLISHER Bernie Foster time with the minority media to talk about his job. We had heard from many quarters that James has not reached out to ethnic communities – but now Advocate for communities of color? Not in my lane, James says. Could that be the reason why it looks like nothing is happen- ing there? One thing is for sure: James has certainly not made a signif- icant move to ask the help – or input – of communities of color in carrying out his agenda. We can only speculate that we are not part of it. Then who is James talking to? Equity issues play out all He wasn’t hired to serve the communities, Dante James says; he was hired to change the operations of City government we saw it first-hand. Where have you been, James? What have you been doing exactly? He was hired, James says, not to address the inequities that stretch across our city, but to address inequities only with- in the walls of City Hall. He wasn’t hired to serve the com- munities, he says; he was hired to change the operations of City government. over the city. How can you begin to address racism in East Portland if you only talk to poli- cymakers downtown? We appreciate being invited to meet with the Equity director, but we are not impressed by his work so far — which appears to involve filling shelves full of pol- icy binders and talking with bureaucrats. To his credit, James says he’ll know when he’s successful when there are more people of color in the top ranks of city leadership. But how many individuals – and institutions – in crisis have already appealed to James and his staff for support, only to be turned away with his comment of, “that’s not my job?” Since James wasn’t here for the fight, he didn’t have to make any sacrifices to create his bureau. We can only imagine that he never took the time to go over what was debated – and what is in fact actually needed. Again, who is James talking to if not the people most affected by the lack of equity and human rights? Amanda, is this what you almost sacrificed your political career for? We don’t think so. As a scrap- py, grassroots change agent yourself, we think you’re waiting for some kind of results from James’ efforts. We are too. You can post your comments on www.theskanner.com The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ- ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2013 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds Mortgage Fraud Settlement to Borrowers T he old saying, ‘the check is in the mail,’ is often consid- ered a ruse not worth heed- ing. But beginning April 12, checks will begin going into the mail for 4.2 million mortgage bor- rowers who were in the foreclo- sure process in 2009 or 2010 and who likely experienced robo-sign- ing or other deficiencies by their mortgage servicer. Initially, the Office of the Comp- troller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve required ser- vicers to hire consultants to do detailed reviews of borrower case files and determine specific harms that borrowers received to qualify for monetary rewards. This process ultimately became unwieldy, slow and expensive — without producing timely benefits to borrowers. Earlier this year, the OCC and the Federal Reserve negotiated a settlement with 13 mortgage ser- vicers. Parties agreed to pay a total of $3.6 billion in cash payments ranging from $300 to $125,000 to all affected borrowers. More than 90 percent of the payments due borrowers are expected to be paid by the end of April. Remaining borrowers will be paid no later than mid-July. Borrower payments will be based upon the stage of foreclo- sure and in some cases, gravity of servicer errors. The largest pay- ments will go to borrowers with completed and wrongful foreclo- sures. The vast majority of checks payable to borrowers will be for less than $1,000. The spring 2013 payments will include all but two of the servicers Page 4 The Portland Skanner April 17, 2013 R ESPONSIBLE L ENDING Charlene Crowell agreeing to the settlement. A sec- ond and separate announcement in servicers, affiliates or sub- sidiaries: Aurora, Bank of Ameri- ca, Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, PNC, Sov- ereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo. For example, $125,000, the largest payment to be shared, is reserved for one of two types of completed foreclosures: military families covered by the Service- members Civil Rights Act (SCRA) and loans that servicers foreclosed 90 percent of $3.6 million in payments to be disbursed by April 30 the near future will address pay- ments for the remaining ones, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stan- when borrowers were not in default. In cases where borrowers were completely foreclosed despite ful- Any borrower who believes he/she may be covered by the agreement should call toll free at 1-888-952-9105 to verify their inclusion and also update their contact information. ley. In the meantime for the other 11 servicers, a payment schedule includes eligible borrowers in any stage of foreclosure in 2009 or 2010 with one of the following filling all requirements during a trial loan modification plan, or if a servicer failed to convert borrow- ers to a permanent modification after successfully completing the trial period, a $25,000 payment will be issued. According to the schedule, addi- tional payments will be made to borrowers experiencing one of the following errors: • Modification request denied; • Modification request received; but no underwriting decision reached • Interest rates charged in excess of SCRA limits; • Foreclosures begun while bor- rowers were protected by federal bankruptcy laws; •Servicer failure to engage bor- rowers in loan modification or other loss mitigation. Eligible borrowers were recently notified of their eligibility for pay- ments under the settlement. Any borrower who believes he/she may be covered by the agreement should call toll free at 1-888-952- 9105 to verify their inclusion and also update their contact informa- tion. Payment acceptance does not remove any borrower’s right to private legal actions. The agree- ment explicitly denies servicers to ask borrowers to sign a waiver of any legal claims in exchange for payment. Any borrower needing foreclo- sure prevention assistance is encouraged to contact the Home- owner’s HOPE Hotline at 888- 995-HOPE (4673), or visit w w w . m a k i n g h o m e affordable.gov. Charlene Crowell is a communi- cations manager with the Center for Responsible Lending
