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