March 23, 2016 The Skanner Page 3
News
talking but I don’t hear a
lot of people talking solu-
tions. So I’m here to talk
solutions,” he said.
Gresham officials say
they are trying to catch
up with help from Mult-
nomah County, which
is investing $130,000 in
new services through the
A Home for Everyone
program.
They also plan two-per-
“
Marilyn Keller
in Jazz Hall
of Fame
cont’d from pg 1
sleep on the sidewalk if
they don’t use any kind
of tent or structure,
only keep their bag out
between 9 p.m. and 7
a.m., “on rights of way
(other than sidewalks)
and remnants,” with
no group bigger than 6
people in any one loca-
tion.
• Groups camping to-
gether must obtain a
An estimated 2000 people
sleep outside in Portland
every night
son crews called “clean
teams” who, Gresham of-
ficials say, will clean up
dirty campsites as well
as offer services to peo-
ple trying to get off the
street.
Meanwhile, the city of
Portland’s housing cri-
sis emergency plan has
swung into place, with
new guidelines allowing
tent camping during cer-
tain hours and overnight
car camping in certain
church parking lots.
Portland’s plan also
features heightened so-
cial services outreach to
individuals who seem at
highest risk on the street.
The emergency rules
have been triggered by
the lack of affordable
housing across the metro
area; an estimated 2,000
people sleep outside in
Portland every night.
Mayor Charlie Hale’s
office issued the home-
lessness toolkit last
year, piecing together
resources for affordable
housing, and people al-
ready stuck on the street.
Hales’ chief of staff
Joshua Alpert did not re-
spond for a request for
comment. The new plan
is his brainchild and is
built around four basic
strategies:
• Allowing people to
permit from the City,
allow the City to select
or approve a “camp
host” for the group, cre-
ate and abide by a code
of conduct and must
provide restrooms and
sanitation.
• Groups banding to-
gether for vehicle
camping must obtain
a permit from the City,
allow the City to select
or approve the “camp
host,” create and abide
by a code of conduct,
and provide toilets and
sanitation.
Church
parking lots will be
allowed “when in part-
nership with City.”
• The fourth leg of the
emergency plan is al-
ready-existing
shel-
ters, and access points
including 211info.org
as well as calling 2-1-1
and texting 898211
Portland has also made
available
a
gigantic
shipping container for
houseless people to store
their belongings during
the day.
And lastly, Portland’s
plan offers a one-point-
of-contact
complaint
system that gives the
city flexibility in track-
ing complaints about the
campers and compiling
that info for analysis.
Last fall the city began rolling out its new approach
to housing starting with a stated goal of maximizing
permanent housing with an ambitious five-part playbook:
• Tenant Protections, including new requirements that
landlords provide 90-day notices for no-cause evictions
and potential rent increases 5 percent or greater over a
12-month period
• Scraping up $61.6 million in local and federal funds
for affordable housing development with the goal of
producing over 600 new affordable housing units
• Tax Increment Funding Set-Aside Increase from 30% to
45%, potentially bringing in an additional $66.7 million
for construction of affordable housing
• North/Northeast Neighborhood Housing Strategy against
displacement and gentrification with $20 million to fund
community-led effort to prioritize public investments
in affordable housing, home repair and retention, land
banking and down payment assistance
• Linkage of Short Term Rental Taxes to Affordable Housing
taxing short term rental companies like Airbnb for the
City’s Housing Investment Fund to bring in approximately
$1.2 million annually for affordable housing construction
—from www.Portlandoregon.gov/toolkit
After 35 years as a revered member of the
Portland music scene, Marilyn Keller was
inducted into the 2016 Jazz Society of Oregon’s
Hall of Fame March 16 at Jimmy Mak’s. She
started her career as a vocalist in ragtime and
Dixieland. Her style has morphed into a wide
range of interpretations including jazz, R&B,
pop, blues, and gospel. Her career has included
tours in Europe and Australia, and her vocals
have appeared on movie soundtracks, numerous
recordings, commercials and documentary
narratives. Keller also works with bands and
choirs at Jefferson High and many other schools
as well as The American Music Program. Keller
will perform with the Augustana Jazz Quarter
April 16 at the Inner City Blues Festival, a
fundraiser for Healthcare for All Oregon (www.
hcao.org). The evening is co-sponsored by KBOO
and the Cascade Blues Association.
PHOTO BY BRIAN KIM
Gresham
TriMet
cont’d from pg 1
smart cards instead of cash.
BRU organizers are concerned
about a host of recent changes
that create a greater burden for
low-income riders who depend
on public transportation. The
new budget doesn’t include an
increase in regular fares, but is
the first full budget to include
last September’s increase in hon-
ored citizen fares for seniors and
people with disabilities. The pro-
posed low-income fare would be
the same as the honored citizens’s
fare — $1.25 per ticket.
The agency currently provides
fare assistance and fare relief
programs in the form of grants or
discounted tickets to qualifying
nonprofits, according to TriMet
spokesperson Roberta Altstadt.
King County Metro offers a re-
duced fare for people living at
200 percent of the poverty lev-
el and San Francisco also offers
low-income fares.
BRU organizer Nic Phillips said
the elimination of the fareless
square zone in 2012 and a fare
hike that same year have placed
a substantial burden on low-in-
come riders, and a reduced fare
could mitigate that problem.
“With low-income fare, this
will provide a needed break for
SOUL
“
fore they make those changes,”
Phillips said. “With e-fare, it’s
been kind of backwards.” She said
the agency didn’t start soliciting
public comment on the change
until late last year — after it had
The elimination of the fareless square
zone in 2012 and a fare hike that same
year have placed a substantial burden
on low-income riders
nient way to pay for bus fare,
— since riders won’t use cash or
need to find exact change — BRU’s
organizers are concerned the sys-
tem will be less convenient for
some riders. While the reload-
able fare cards will be available
at retail locations, and riders can
reload cards every month using
cash or cards at a retail outlet
or online, organizers have said
the logistics of purchasing or
reloading a card will be difficult
for some users, like those living
in less developed neighborhoods
and those who don’t have bank
accounts.
“Normally when there is a ma-
jor change in the system, because
it is still a public service, they
have to speak with the public be-
already begun publicizing the
concept — and it has already be-
gun installing e-fare machines.
Phillips, who said she first got
involved with BRU about three
years ago, said the organization
has been considering propos-
ing a low-income fare for a few
years. With the implementation
of e-fare coming down the pike
and sharp increases in housing
costs burdening low-income peo-
ple throughout the metro area,
now seemed like the right time to
bring the idea before TriMet.
“A lot of people are struggling
right now. Many people are liv-
ing paycheck to paycheck. With
what’s happening with housing
and everything, every little bit
helps,” Phillips said.
Boulevard. Another member is
Anyeley Hallova, who recently
completed a 405-bedroom sus-
tainable apartment community
in Eugene, Ore.
This new proposed SOUL Dis-
trict is an area that spans from
Interstate-5 to Northeast 7th
Avenue, and from Broadway
to Northeast Rosa Parks Way. It
would encompass the Humboldt,
Boise and Eliot neighborhoods.
Talton says the group has a con-
tract with the Portland Develop-
ment Commission to create a sub-
stantive plan. The group plans
to focus on community cultural
offerings, such as ethnic food
markets and Black-owned enter-
tainment venues, as well as tech-
nology companies.
The combination would bring
together the past identity of
Northeast Portland communi-
ty with the future projected job
growth in Portland technology.
Plans for the SOUL District
cont’d from pg 1
Northeast Portland and a Jeffer-
son High School Graduate. He
worked as an executive at Port-
land General Electric and Pacific
Power and Light. Most recently
“
families and individuals who are
already paying a large burden of
the system operating,” Williams
told The Skanner.
While TriMet’s website touts
Hop FastPass as a more conve-
The group plans to focus on commu-
nity cultural offerings, such as ethnic
food markets and Black-owned enter-
tainment venues, as well as technology
companies
he was chair of United Fund Advi-
sors, which provides investment
capital and advisory services for
community development and re-
newable energy projects.
Talton joins development pro-
fessionals in BICEP such as Jeana
Woolley and Ray Leary, who cre-
ated the Vanport Square business
center on Martin Luther King Jr.
The group also has venture
capital expertise with Stephen
Green, the community direc-
tor at Elevate Capital, as well as
business incubation insight from
Dwayne Johnson, deputy direc-
tor of Innovate Oregon, and the
community activism experience
of Charles McGee from the Black
Parent Initiative.
See SOUL on page 12