by Shannon Andrews
Perplexing solutions gone amass
Hope stands still
The guardian of chance
Brings us to an unconditional society
It’s either to go under or find success
Whether it’s by choice or out of control
Where does this infinite spiral go?
Be among those or be forgotten
It’s more a necessity for the sake of survival
Conjured ideas to agree upon, not to disagree
We got to put our country together
And set it free.
Posted in Street Roots
Street Roots is sad to announce that one of our regular vendors has passed away this month. Daphne Andrews was found dead in the Hollywood neighborhood in early August. She was 39 years old. SR is waiting to find out more about the cause of death.
Daphne was a gentle soul that lived a very hard life. According to the Eastside Vendor Coordinator Becky Mullins, Daphne had a warm spirit about her and was a victim of street life.
Street Roots doesn’t know a whole lot about Daphne’s life, other than she had been homeless for two years and was a regular seller at the Hollywood Library, and at the Farmer’s Market on the weekends.
Street Roots had been working for the past year to get her into treatment and into a more stable living environment. Street Roots will be putting together a memorial service in the near future. More information to come.
About 10 people experiencing homelessness set up a small tent community on a tiny triangle of land on North Wheeler Avenue just west of Dixon Street.
The camp has been in existence for two-weeks. This afternoon, a 24-hour notice for a illegal campsite was posted by the Portland Police Bureau.
“We’re homeless and we’re tired of being run off,” says Chrissy, one of a handful of people at the site Monday afternoon.
Paris, a camp organizer, says he thinks it’s wrong of the city to push them out. “No matter where we go, we’re going to get kicked out. Every night it’s the same thing. It’s the police, transit police, security; you name it. I don’t know where they expect us all to sleep.”
After two weeks at the location, the campers have cleared several yards of blackberry bushes and began planting crops for food. They say they need tools to get to work, but want to start building garden beds.
“All we’re trying to do is make it so people can feel safe,” says Rick, one of the campers at the site who has been homeless since he was 5. He’s now 25.
The City of Portland is currently in settlement negotiations with the Oregon Law Center on a year-and-half-old class-action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Portland’s camping ordinance. On Sept. 9, the City Council is holding an Executive Session on the camping lawsuit.
Nearly a year has passed since City Commissioner Nick Fish’s office unveiled proposals to loosen restrictions to the camping ordinance for people experiencing homelessness who sleep outdoors. No changes have been made.
by Israel Bayer & Joanne Zuhl.
Posted in Street Roots
Tagged Camp Pioneer, camping, camping lawsuit, Nick Fish, Oregon Law Center, Street Roots
Editorial from the August 20 edition
It’s a tough one. The alcohol impact zone issue. For months, the city has been messaging downtown businesses, particularly shop owners who sell alcohol, to get on board with its proposed alcohol impact zone. The zone, the first in the state if created, would encompass Portland’s downtown, Old Town and Goose Hollow, and would ban the sale of lower priced, higher alcohol products. And for as long as this has been a thrust of the city, Street Roots has been grappling with where we stand on the issue, like two sides of a brain trying to reason out a single position.
On one side, (let’s call it the left side) our collective brain gives merit to the arguments for this zone: that low-priced, high-octane hooch means easy access for “street drinkers” to imbibe to extreme, contributing to the declining health and morbidity of people without means to recovery. Not to mention the general unseemliness and enforcement burden of public drinking in the city’s business, tourist and social core. The argument extends to suggest that cutting off access to a drug will curb its abuse or encourage people to seek recovery – and make no mistake; alcohol is our nation’s most popular drug, rivaling only tobacco. Continue reading
Posted in Street Roots
Tagged alcohol impact area, Booze ban, Office of Neighborhood Involvement, Street Roots
By Amanda Waldroupe, Staff Writer
The City is continuing its push to create an alcohol impact area in downtown Portland, despite the dismal failure of a voluntary agreement between the City of Portland and downtown convenience store owners to not carry certain kinds of malt liquor and fortified wine.
On Thursday, Aug. 12, a public meeting was held between representatives of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement, the Portland Police Bureau and storeowners. The meeting was the first step in the process to petition the state and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to officially designate downtown Portland as an alcohol impact area. Continue reading
By Amanda Waldroupe, Staff Writer
The Portland Housing Bureau plans to solicit proposals from social-service agencies on Aug. 26 on how to spend a special appropriation of $1 million for homeless and housing services.
The money is earmarked for outreach and engagement services; placing homeless individuals directly into permanent housing from the streets, shelters, and transitional housing; providing rental assistance and eviction prevention funds to prevent people from becoming homeless, and programs designed to increase homeless or formerly homeless individual’s income.
Acording to City Commissioner Nick Fish, the goal is to permanently house 200 individuals or families, increase the incomes of 47 people, and open 105 beds in shelters and transitional housing for people currently living outside to move into them.
The priorities for the money were determined a group of stakeholders, including social-service providers, activists, law enforcement and business leaders convened by Fish’s office. It is a divergent group. The Portland Business Alliance, for example, has long advocated for the increase of shelter capacity in Portland, which is at loggerheads with Portland’s emphasis on spending resources on ways to place homeless people directly into housing.
“Not everyone knew as much about housing (and homelessness),” Fish says, as the people involved in those spheres. But he says the meetings created consensus on what are the most effective and efficient strategies to ending homelessness, such as rental assistance and freeing up bottlenecks in shelters, rather than investing in more shelters and other short-term solutions.
“If I’ve got law enforcement, the business community, activists, neighborhood partners and social service providers all on the same page, that’s a big win,” Fish says.
As it stands, the $1 million is a one-time infusion, and won’t necessarily be available next year. Fish hopes to leverage “more resources and bolder programs” as a result of recent discussions and increased involvement among business leaders and other stakeholders.
The No Soy El Army 2010 tour kicks off a multi-stop tour across Oregon, 6-8 p.m. tonight at Rotture, 315 SE Third Ave. The event will be followed by a benefit concert for the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee.
No Soy El Army in Portland will feature two guest speakers:
Jesus Palafox is a student and an organizer with the Youth and Militarism project and Truth in Recruiting program with American Friends Service Committee in Illinois. Maricela Guzman served in the U.S. Navy. Guzman now works for the Women of Color Action Center in the Los Angeles area. Her focus is working with women about the realities of military service and its effects on young women.
Additional stops for No Soy El Army are planned for Bend, Hermiston, Newport, Corvalis, Eugene, Medford, Forest Grove, Newberg, Independence, Woodburn and Salem. A second leg of the tour is planned to return to Portland in early October.
More information go here.
By Joanne Zuhl
Staff Writer
For years now, the U.S. military has made a concerted effort to recruit members of the Latino community to its ranks — seeing the growing population of military-aged youths a target-rich environment for enlistments. It’s a tactic openly addressed by the Army in particular, which has taken to enticing young Latinos with a tricked-out Hummer that blasts Spanish-language hip-hop as a way of drawing a crowd for the pitch.
While military tactics often draw the ire of counter-recruitment activists — Portland has the now famous Raging Grannies standing guard, among others — the Latino community has become particularly concerned because of a calculated vulnerability of its young adults, brought on by the rhetorical and literal dead-end that is U.S. immigration policy.
Posted in Street Roots
Tagged Joanne Zuhl, military recruting, No Soy El Army, Street Roots, vendors
by J. Thiemeyer
I consider
the folderol, the hurley-
burley and delight
in it, so in it, the chaos that drove me
carried me for what seemed
forever
or the forever that mattered
I forget
why I was invited
with my soul to be here
today
in this place for this
moment
and what matters, why?
who I am,
who we are,
and all the rest
that comes with it
the folderol, the hurley-
burley
Relief is here! Not just the cooler weather, but also the new edition of Street Roots, practically smoking with the heat of the press on its pages. Help a vendor out and take one off his hands this weekend, and enjoy cool interviews and important news. Here’s a sneak peek:
BTA: Rolling forward: Rob Sadowsky, Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s new director, looks ahead to the organization’s next 20 years. Israel Bayer interviews Sadowsky for a better understanding of what cyclists – and the city – really need.
The unfiltered lens of Mary Ellen Mark: Amanda Waldroupe interviews the iconic photographer who has recorded some of the most unforgettable images of celebrities, oddities, the poor and the pedestrian.
Peace, immigrant movements converge for ‘No Soy El Army’ tour: A report on efforts by community and Latino organizers to educate people about the realities of war and the efforts of recruiters to trade legal status for military service.
Proposals sought for $1 million for homeless programs: The city’s special allocation of $1 million for local services to help provide housing for people on the streets takes a turn away from shelters and moves toward transitional, long-term options.
Plus, news on the proposed alcohol impact zone, a new storage pilot project for the homeless, reviews and poetry, and commentaries by Art Garcia and Ruth Kovacs. And if you’ve still got game after all that, hit the Sudoku on the back page! Thank you!
Posted in Street Roots
Tagged Amanda Waldroupe, extra extra, Israel Bayer, Joanne Zuhl, Street Roots, vendors
By Joanne Zuhl, Staff Writer
None of the nine musicians in Dr. Theopolis would be considered funk or hip-hop artists. But when they come together as Dr. T, a fully-formed funkadelic groove busts forth, and the roster of Portland’s musicial who’s who forms a new fly creature altogether, embodied by the enigmatic and simply unavoidable Mr. Fabulous.
If Mr. Fabulous, above, is the face of Dr. Theopolis, Ezra and Jules Holbrook are the voice. They are the lyrical and managerial foundation behind what must surely rank among Portland’s best live performances. It started on a lark, with the musicians sitting in a green room considering the outrageous incarnation of folk and progressive rocksters as funk, hip-hop and rap artists. But like Mom said, be careful what you wish for.
Nearly a decade on, Dr. T is still keeping people moving, in a way that nine white guys from Portland, Ore., would seem unlikely to do (a condition repeatedly pointed out to them with just about every mention of the band). Nonetheless, Jules and Ezra insist that despite the over-the-top performances and the humor in their lyrics, this isn’t a parody. They love this music. And if you can get up on stage, play funk until 3 a.m. and have the whole room on the dance floor, why not throw on the polyester suit to boot?
On Aug. 20, Dr. Theopolis and friends are lending their support for a benefit for the Jeremy Wilson Foundation, one of several charities the group’s members are involved in. Wilson, who performs with Portland’s The Dharma Bums and Pilot, along with Dr. T, formed the foundation to help pay major medical expenses for uninsured and underinsured musicians in the Pacific Northwest. Wilson himself was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition. In addition to this project, Dr. Theopolis has worked on the Deep Roots project, which pairs student writers at Roosevelt High School with professional musicians to produce a CD. They also support the Ethos Music Center, a Portland nonprofit that promotes music-based education among youths in underserved communities. Dr. Theopolis has also helped raise money for The Rockstar Stella fund to help pay for a young child’s treatment for a rare form of leukemia.
On stage, though, Dr. T is all about the fun — that’s the reason the band exists. Go to a concert sometime, and you won’t have any doubt about it.
Jules: When we started it in 2001, there was a trend that was just starting, that a lot of venues that had had music previously were getting DJs on Friday and Saturday nights and catering to a dance crowd. And we were seeing just a changing of the guard in the music venues. And we realized that there’s a whole bunch of people out there who would come out and go dancing, and they’re not necessarily the same type of people who would go to a rock club and stand there and nod their head.
J.Z.: I also imagine it’s a little cheaper to book a DJ than a band. How is the economy and environment for musicians?
Ezra: Right about the time when we moved to Portland, in 1998-99, Portland was in its heyday, the music scene was at a boil. Unfortunately, I think partially because of the economy of the country, it’s become harder and harder for musicians to make real money. Most musicians can’t just play music for a living. Or if they do they have to have their hands in as many different pies as humanly possible. I play in four bands, but I also work in a recording studio and I book two clubs. I don’t have a day job, I have six part-time jobs. And not all of them are about getting on a stage and playing drums or a guitar. I think you have to be pretty versatile these days.
Unfortunately, what we’ve seen over the past few years is that clubs have really changed how they do business with bands. And really, to be honest, almost to the point of unethical behavior, where they’re taking almost 99 percent of the money that could possibly be made form a live performance to sustain what they want to do. Continue reading
Posted in Street Roots
Tagged Dr. Theopolis, Ezra Holbrook, Joanne Zuhl, Jules Holbrook, Street Roots
By Cassandra Koslen, Contributing Writer
Maneuvering through the airport illustrates the wide breadth of the general population quite clearly. Among people, one sees all kinds. Some are familiar-looking, some boisterous, some shy.
Alex Briggs is a talker. He requires little prompting to get going, is full of ideas and observations. Much unlike the (thankfully) silent older lady reading Nora Roberts to my right, and the larger, sleeping passenger-pilot to my left. It occured to me that if Alex Briggs were in either seat beside me this flight, there would be no isolating silence. Continue reading
By Joanne Zuhl, Staff Writer
Scott Ramsden’s life was normal for most of his 45 years. He was married once, divorced eight years ago, and is now single. He’s lived in Portland 10 years now. Originally from Boston, he’s lived all over the U.S. since 1992, traveling coast to coast for work. He originally came to Portland as part of an expansion job at the Willamette Paper Mill in Albany.
And then it all ended.
Ramsden had always had plenty of work, but his last job was seasonal, he says, and as the recession bit down, he couldn’t find another one quick enough to pay rent. Eventually, money trickled to a halt, and he had to sell his belongings. He invested in a sleeping bag and pad to survive. He has no family here, he says, and his friends are unable to help. He’s been homeless now for five months. Continue reading
By Robin Lindley, Street News Service
With an X-Acto knife in hand, Nikki McClure deftly cuts from a single sheet of black paper each of her iconic images that celebrate community, nature, sustenance, parenting, and activism. At a Ballard Library event in June, she displayed the focus of a brain surgeon and the skill of an expert drafter as she cut a beautifully intricate image in minutes for a throng of attentive admirers.
In her new children’s picture book, “Mama is it Summer Yet?” — inspired by a question raised by her toddler son during a long, cold spring (sound familiar?) — McClure movingly depicts clues of impending summer and a warm relationship between mother and child.
The book has been praised for its poetry and, as noted in Booklist review, artwork that “is captivating, capturing both the subtle seasonal changes as well as the love and shared joy between mother and son. Just when you wonder if summer will ever come, read this and make your heart happy.”
McClure grew up in Kirkland, Wash., and earned a B.S. in natural history at Evergreen State College. A self-taught artist, her work is fueled by her knowledge of nature and her skills of scientific observation.
Her first published book illustrations were bold linoleum block prints of nature scenes for “Wetland Tales” in 1991, a publication of the Washington State Department of Ecology. She published zines and small books after that, and embraced the art of paper cutting in 1996. McClure’s art became increasingly popular with her beloved calendars that have found an international audience.
In addition to her new picture book, McClure made a lavish book of her calendar art, “Collect Raindrops” (2007), and she illustrated “All in a Day” (2009) by Newbery-award winning children’s writer Cynthia Rylant. Her illustrations also have appeared in numerous publications, from The Progressive to Punk Planet.
McClure also was a prominent visual artist with Olympia-based record labels K and Kill Rock Stars, as well as a performance artist during the Riot Grrrl movement in the early ‘90s.
McClure recently discussed her art from her studio in Olympia.
Robin Lindley: Did you like art as a child?
Nikki McClure: I’d draw all the time, or watch ants march in the grass. I’d spend all day drawing fantastically huge, complicated scenes. I didn’t think you could actually be an artist because I didn’t have role models for that.
I didn’t know about an art major. At Evergreen there are no majors. I was in science, and knew you could do that as an occupation.
It may be a limitation to not have an art education, but I feel I understand art in a way that’s not so “arty.” My pictures are for people to enrich their daily lives, to provide nourishment. And (provide) hope for them for a positive future, and help get them there through positive action. Continue reading
By Amanda Waldroupe, Staff Writer
Unforeseen consequences of a state law designed to protect vulnerable citizens dependent on residential care is impacting people’s abilities to find a job in social work. The negative impact is spurring the SEIU and social service advocates to have the law changed.
House Bill 2442 makes it illegal for organizations that provide residential care treatment to the elderly, disabled, adults in foster care, and the mentally ill to employ people who have committed certain crimes. The organizations affected by the law are limited to those that receive state funding. Continue reading
By Heather Lyons, Contributing Columnist
The National Alliance to End Homelessness held its annual conference a few weeks ago. Usually, that conference is jam packed with smart people, good ideas, and plenty of learning and sharing. This year was no different, except that it was the 10th anniversary of NAEH challenging communities to do 10-year plans to end homelessness.
As many communities approach their five-to seven-year mark of implementation, some of us wonder about the future of 10-year plans. We’ve invested a lot of time, money, energy and risk. So far, a lot of that has panned out. Communities saw reductions of street homelessness, people that supposedly could never be housed successfully were, new housing dedicated to homeless individuals and families was created, services were redefined to actually serve people and not agencies, and government started becoming accountable with its resources.
Admittedly, times have changed since then. The economy tanked and homelessness began increasing again, political champions changed and in some places no longer cared (thankfully, that did not happen in Portland), operational staff changed, and training hasn’t been created on how to do this work, and frankly, in some places, the concepts never really caught on and folks went back to the status quo, with few improvements.
People on the local level had (and still have) some questions for the national folks. Would a new federal administration disregard the work of a previous one? Is the national interest in comprehensive systems change still there, or is it just about prevention and rapid re-housing? When will the federal agencies do what local agencies have been accomplishing in terms of systems collaboration?
For many folks (330 or so jurisdictions have plans), a lot was riding on what would be said at the NAEH conference.
Three things happened that give me a lot of hope about the future direction of 10-year plans.
1. Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, in her keynote to more than 1,700 people from all over the country and parts of Canada spoke directly and candidly about the 10-year anniversary of the 10 year plan. She reminded us of the original framework; she talked about the successes; she explained the external challenges that prevented some successes; and she described some of the work that could have happened differently and what we can do from this point forward to resolve that. I’m not sure if the transcript is online yet, but if it is, it’s worth reading.
2. There is a Federal Plan to End and Prevent Homelessness. It’s good. Really good. For the first time, there is a roadmap for federal agencies who hold funding and regulatory authority in mainstream housing, veterans, mental health, substance abuse, primary care, labor, education and justice agencies to work together to streamline regulations and provide funding to help end people’s homelessness. The people who are in charge of pulling it together at the federal level know what they are doing, and they didn’t forget about the local work that needs to coincide with the national work. I know this plan is online, so please check it out if you are interested.
3. There was a workshop for advanced 10-year plans, called “Habits of Highly Effective Plans.” In the spirit of self-disclosure, I got to moderate and present, and I thought it went really, really well. I have no idea how I did. In fact, I was one week into a three-week, severe bacterial infection, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I fell over backwards, tripped up the PowerPoint projector and set a small fire. Point is, the best part of the workshop was the discussion at the end. There were about 75-80 people, all of whom were involved in 10 year plan work, had interesting experiences to share, and wanted to keep their plan alive. They had good questions, like “How did you come up with your housing pipeline goal?” and “Were you able to get your mental health and corrections people involved, and how?” Others had good answers to support them. Some were concerned about using catchphrases too much and others were hopeful about the federal plan. What was rewarding was that people were engaged, sharing with one another, and there was a lot of note taking happening (including my own).
I talk about plans to end homelessness a lot. I think some people would like me to stop or to just have this thing go away. Here are two common concerns I hear:
Critic: You can’t really end homelessness, and you certainly can’t do it in 10 years.
Me: You can end people’s homelessness and you can start helping the systems work for people instead for themselves. A plan that is strategic, outcome focused and has a specific timeline is accountable to constituents. If you have solid goals, you have to try to achieve them. If you can’t achieve them, then you have to explain yourself. This is much more effective than anything we ever had to do before 10 year plans. If I were an advocate, I’d spend more time asking why certain goals weren’t met instead saying a 10-year plan is useless.
I acknowledge the title can be confusing. Because a 10-year plan does not mean that a community will be able to avert every crisis an individual or family suffers that might cause them to be homeless. But, a plan can make a community response to homelessness (which is so much better than what was happening before), and it provides the platform for responses to be even better in the future. Setting the stage for ongoing improvement in a chaotic world is a tremendous accomplishment.
Critic: Wasn’t this a Bush initiative?
Me: One, do you honestly think George W. Bush had personal and intimate knowledge about the 10-year plan to end homelessness? Two, oh never mind, this question is a red herring.
There are other critiques, some are useful and informative, but, frankly, others show a lack of vision and hope that we can make a difference. Here’s why I feel that way: done well, these plans are the only practical method to produce the kind of sustainable systemic change that is intended and in fact, needed to end people’s homelessness. There are a lot of technical reasons to do a plan, like blending funding, innovating programs based on research and data, reducing regulatory barriers, streamlining resources, changing perverse incentives and so on. But, if we cannot create a platform for all of us to work on ending homelessness as a city, county, state or country, then we only have ourselves to blame. 10-year plans are about all of us sitting around the table and recognizing our responsibility and agreeing to mutual accountability. No more blaming the shelters, no more blaming the mental health (or whatever) system, no more blaming the advocates, and please, please, no more blaming the homeless people themselves. It’s a lot harder to do that when we have to work with each other on a regular basis. 10-year plans to end homelessness, done well, can make that happen.
