Media rhetoric in Old Town undermines public health debate

By Israel Bayer, Executive Director

Last month I tagged a story in my Director’s Desk titled, “Old Town Chinatown relations misguided.” The article argued that bad press and a major push to create political change by the neighborhood could have a negative impact on business in the area.

The Portland Tribune published a series of articles that in my opinion are sensationalized journalism for a political means. One article (above the fold) appeared with a photo of what appears to be an individual on the streets smoking crack cocaine with the headline “Crack Alley.”

I called the Tribune editors and the writer, Peter Korn, to ask them if they actually had proof that the person was smoking cocaine after people on the streets brought it to SR attention that there’s no way it could be cocaine due to the manner in which the drug is smoked. SR talked to more than a dozen addicts and former addicts, and they all believed it was marijuana, a very big difference.

Extra! Extra!

The days are filling up with events, concerts, festivals and even a splash of sun here and there. So make a note to get your Street Roots first thing Friday morning and you’re weekend will be free to embrace Portland in spring! Here’s what’s rolling on the press right now:

 All in their heads: Traumatic brain injuries are often misdiagnosed, especially on the streets. Kate Cox researches the prevalence of TBI among the homeless, and how little we know about how these injuries contribute to, and are caused by, life on the streets.

Witness for the revolution: Stacy Brownhill profiles Ken Hawkins, a former conflict zone journalist, about revisiting the site of the 1979 San Salvador Metropolitan Cathedral where he was almost killed. Hawkins has gone on to launch EverySecondChild.org, which brings photojournalists together to raise awareness about child poverty.

Loretta Smith: Multnomah County’s District 2 commissioner is taking stock of the needs of her constituents, beginning with a groundbreaking forum for African-Americans.

Plus, news from Commissioner Nick Fish on the agenda for dealing with discrimination in Portland’s rental housing, an update on the cuts to needy families in Salem, and a report on a new hate crime law in Seattle. You’ll also find commentaries from Western States Uniting Communities and OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon, with a proper dose of poetry to keep things light and heavy all at once. Get your copy bright and early and share a smile with your friendly neighborhood vendor!

Homelessness increases dramatically throughout State of Oregon

by Alison McIntosh, Contributing Writer

Homelessness has increased in Oregon again. The State of Oregon Department of Housing and Community Services released the annual Point In Time Counts yesterday, showing homelessness has increased 29% since the count conducted in 2009, despite federal stimulus funds designed to prevent increases in homelessness due to the recession. The State of Oregon can and must do more to protect those among us most affected by the economic downturn.

“In Oregon, we believe everyone needs a place to call home. As we work together to solve the current budget crisis, the Legislature needs to prioritize providing basic needs to those most impacted by the ongoing recession and should consider an increase to the Emergency Housing Account,” said Janet Byrd, Chair of the Housing Alliance, “The on-going recession, high unemployment and continued wave of foreclosures in Oregon continues to make it more difficult for hard working Oregonians to find a safe, decent and affordable place to call home. Far too many of our friends, neighbors and children are experiencing homelessness today in Oregon.”

The princess of pot

Canada’s Jodie Emery takes over her imprisoned husband’s fight to legalize marijuana

By Sean Condon, Contributing Writer

For years Jodie Emery was a constant at the side of her husband Marc Emery at Vancouver press conferences and marijuana rallies as he fought his extradition to the United States for selling cannabis seeds across the border. While Marc worked to inform Canadians that their government had arrested him in 2005 on behalf of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as part of its controversial war on drugs, Jodie’s presence seemed to remind people what his loss of freedom would mean on a personal level.

However, since Marc started serving his five-year sentence in the U.S. last year, Jodie has become the face and voice of the marijuana legalization movement in Canada. While taking over the mantle from Vancouver’s ‘Prince of Pot’ may have seemed daunting, Jodie has quickly proven to be a natural leader and has picked up where her husband left off.

Along with being the editor of Cannabis Culture magazine, Jodie ran for the BC Green Party in the 2009 provincial election and continues to fight for marijuana legalization and to bring Marc back across the border to serve out his sentence.

Just a few days before the federal election, Megaphone sat down with Jodie at the Cannabis Culture head office and talked about Marc’s case, what a Conservative majority will mean for marijuana users and about how she feels about becoming Canada’s ‘Princess of Pot’.

Megaphone: Marc was recently denied transfer to Canada and was moved from a minimum to medium security prison. How do you feel he’s being treated by the U.S. justice system?

Jodie Emery: It’s really unfortunate that they refused his transfer application because he did qualify under all the criteria for transfer, and we had the support of 23 previously and currently elected representatives from all levels of government in Canada. We also had support from U.S. politicians and thousands of letters from supporters across North America. The sentencing judge also recommended that he be transferred, so the only objection would be from the DEA, who considered Marc a major threat for his political activism.

I think the DEA wants Marc to serve the five-year sentence because he was facing 30-years-to-life and his plea deal was for five years. We had hoped that most of it would be served in Canada, but it will be served in the U.S. He’ll apply for transfer again in two years but it takes about a year for that to be processed and I’m not sure if they would approve it or not then. But in three years he’ll be able to get out on early release if he’s had good behavior the whole time. But if not, he’ll be out after the five-year sentence in early 2015.

S.C.: Do you think he was denied transfer because he has been so outspoken on his blog about the conditions inside U.S. prisons?

Marcy Westerling, founder of Rural Organizing Project, reflects on community organizing in Oregon, as her own life takes a new direction

By Joanne Zuhl, Staff Writer

After 30 years, Marcy Westerling recently returned to Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,” the famous and controversial book on community organizing used by both the Left and the Right. In those years between, however, the book and its principles never gathered dust under Westerling’s stewardship.

After years with ACORN, and later creating a rural women’s crisis network, Westerling founded the Rural Organizing Project, or ROP, taking her brand of grassroots organizing and turning it into a galvanizing force among pro-democracy groups operating in small towns across Oregon. ROP created a structure through which groups from all backgrounds could organize around common causes. It created human dignity groups in 50 rural communities throughout the state that brought divergent perspectives and agendas into political discussion.

Its first target was 1992’s Proposition 9, the anti-gay ballot measure put forward by the well-heeled conservative group Oregon Citizens Alliance, which claimed its roots in rural, right-wing Oregon. ROP organized the opposition, and the measure was defeated. In the nearly 20 years since, ROP has addressed farm workers’ rights, immigration issues and economic justice, organizing strategic caucuses   to move forward.

In 2009, Westerling accepted a fellowship with the Open Society Institute to take the tactics of community “mapping” nationwide; to create a toolkit in essence that people could adapt for their community. She was just getting started on the work when in the spring of 2010 she was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer. She has had to scale back her work with the Open Society Institute, and she and her husband Mike moved from their beloved farm in Scappoose to Southeast Portland to be closer to her health care. She continues working on the mapping project and with ROP, working to keep the dialogue going from all sources. She remains committed to bridging false cultural divides, as she has called them, and staying healthy, even though she is quite frank about the odds. She embodies the progressive movement in fighting the right-wing takeover of rural America, and she can handle just about anything someone wants to dish out — just don’t call her a liberal.

Marcy Westerling: Liberal has never been a word I’ve been comfortable with.

Joanne Zuhl: Why not?

M.W.: I’m more interested in the content of the belief system. We believe in the words of every human being. We believe that every zip code no matter where it’s located is important. We believe that every issue is connected. And we believe that no rights supersede the rights of others. It’s a little more nuanced and value-based, but we’ve been able to have a lot of members who maybe are not comfortable with the next issue we will approach or the last issue we did approach. Our umbrella has to be big enough.

Fair Housing Council of Oregon flubs portion of high profile report

Last week Street Roots reported on a myriad of landlords that had been sited in a Fair Housing Council of Oregon report concerning discrimination.

The Fair Housing Council of Oregon sent out the following statement today saying,

The purpose of this statement is to acknowledge some errors in the list of property management companies our office tested for housing discrimination, and which we provided to the City of Portland.  Three of the companies identified under “respondent” were incorrect.  We did find discrimination at those rental properties, but we identified the wrong property management companies.  The companies erroneously listed were Guardian Real Estate Services, LLC, Carefree Property Management, and JB Equities.

The Fair Housing Council of Oregon has contacted the affected companies with an official apology and has corrected the information in our records and revised the information provided to the Portland Housing Bureau for its records.

Despite these clerical errors, the results we originally reported to the Portland Housing Bureau are an accurate description of how our testers were treated at the properties they visited.

Look for more in the up and coming Street Roots coming out on Friday.

Posted by Israel Bayer

SR director writes forward for new Write Around Portland book

Write Around Portland is set to release its 35^th anthology titled Still the Days Grow Longer. The anthology includes writings from the 2011 writing workshop participants along with introductions from Jeana Eldelman, co-owner of HOTLIPS Pizza, and Street Roots Executive Director Israel Bayer.

“I’m a proud supporter of Write Around Portland, and honored to be able to write the forward to the new book Still the Days Grow Longer,” says Bayer. “The organization is an essential voice in our community that brings people together to write, and be published. The new book is beautiful.”

Write Around Portland runs community-building writing workshops for people who are living in poverty, dealing with illness, facing isolation or experiencing other barriers.

Portlanders can attend the up and coming reading from people published in the new book on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 6:30pm at Collins Hall in the back of the First United Methodist Church at 1838 SW Jefferson St. (Goose Hollow TriMet MAX stop).

Admission to the reading is free, but donations of any amount are accepted to support the work of Write Around Portland. ADA-accessible. Childcare available – please call ahead if you need it (503-796-9224). Anthologies will be available for purchase for $12.

You can also purchase the new book later in the week at Reading Frenzy and Powell’s downtown.

For more information about Write Around Portland, please visit us at www.writearound.org.

HUD awards PDX $18.5 million for affordable housing project

Via the Housing and Urban Development…

PORTLAND, OREGON– The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today competitively awarded an $18.5 million HOPE VI Public Housing Revitalization Grant to Home Forward, the housing authority serving Portland.  HUD awarded just 8 HOPE VI grants nationwide today.

This is the third HOPE VI Revitalization grant Portland’s housing authority has won.  It won a $16.9 million HOPE VI grant in 2005 to build Humboldt Gardens and a $35 million HOPE VI grant in 2001 to build New Columbia.  Both projects have been completed and have leveraged more than $250 million in other investments in the two neighborhoods.

BTA Column: By remembering one we lost, we celebrate those we have

By Rob Sadowsky, Contributing Columnist

On May 12th, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and community partners held a special tree planting ceremony to remember loved ones lost on the roadway and recognize those who are committed to creating a safe environment for all people on the road. The event was an opportunity to both commemorate loved ones who lost their lives through traffic tragedy and also an opportunity to celebrate their lives by showcasing improvements in the street environment that will prevent future fatalities.

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance, the Portland Bureau of Transportation, the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES), Friends of Trees, Willamette Pedestrian Coalition and the Beaumont Wilshire Neighborhood Association all cosponsored the tree planting.  The tree is the first tree planted as part of the Susie Forest in Portland.  The Susie Forest honors Susie Stephens. Susie was a bicyclist, an environmentalist, an activist, and a world traveler. She was dedicated to educating others about bicyclist and pedestrian safety, and she was killed in 2002 after being struck by a bus while legally walking across the street in St. Louis. The Susie Forest is a living, growing, legacy to Susie and her commitment to creating livable communities. 

The hypocritical mind — A talk with the man who understands our two-faced tendencies

by Julia Cechvala, Contributing Writer

Why do people say one thing yet do another? Scientist Robert Kurzban believes the reason is all inside your head

It’s getting so common for anti-gay-marriage Republicans and conservative Christian preachers to turn out to be gay it’s becoming cliché. How can they be such hypocrites?

Cognitive scientist Robert Kurzban has an explanation. He sees evidence that inconsistencies are inherent to how our brains work. What people say and what people do may be directed by entirely separate parts of the brain. This goes way beyond right and left hemispheres. According to Kurzban our brains are made up of many different components or “modules” responsible for different functions. Here’s the kicker: Not all of these modules can talk to each other and not all of them can talk at all because they’re not connected to the modules that allow us to verbalize. With all these modules in our brains contributing sometimes contradictory information, even how we think of our “self” becomes problematic. Kurzban explains all of this in his entertaining new book, “Why Everyone (Else) is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind” (Princeton University Press, $27.95).

One man’s war: mental illness and the intersection with art

Photo: Mark E. Hogancamp. Courtesy of The Cinema Guild. A medic rescues a wounded major after an ambush by the SS in this miniature creation by Mark E. Hogencamp. He created a 1/6 scale model of a World War II Belgian town as a way to deal with his mental illness. His pursuit is the subject of a new documentary, “Marwencol.”

A new documentary tells the story — or rather the true-life fantasy — of photographer Mark Hogancamp. It’s also a story about the human impact of lack of health insurance, mental illness and addiction on America’s at-risk populations. “Marwencol” is a tribute to the regenerative powers of art.

On April 8, 2000, Mark Hogancamp went to a bar in his town of Kingston, New York. After being harassed inside, Hogancamp left, but was followed and attacked by five men who kicked and beat him without mercy. His face and brain were so severely damaged that Hogancamp remained in a coma for nine days.

Upon regaining consciousness, Hogancamp had to start from scratch-learning how to eat, talk and walk as if for the first time. Although he made fast progress in the first 40 days after his coma, his real challenge was only just beginning. After just over a month of therapy, Hogancamp was informed that because he was uninsured he was no longer eligible to receive further treatment.

Breaking News: Nick Fish releases names of fair housing test offenders

By Joanne Zuhl

Portland Housing Commissioner Nick Fish’s office has released the locations cited in a recent fair housing audit as testing positive for racial housing discrimination.

The announcement comes following a spate of reports on a survey that 32 out of 50 fair housing tests on Portland rental units showed evidence of discrimination against race and national origin. The survey was commissioned by Nick Fish’s office and conducted by the Fair Housing Council of Oregon.

“Today we are releasing the names of the landlords where there is a positive test,” Fish said. “We have previously notified the landlords that they were subject to an audit, and there was a positive test. Landlords have been notified.”

Fish said that next week his office will be forwarding all the information on the Fair Housing audit to the civil rights division of the Bureau of Labor and Industries, the lead state agency for processing HUD fair housing complaints, for them to initiate enforcement action.

“I made a commitment to our community,” Fish said. “First I expressed outrage at the results. Second, I said that we would pursue a comprehensive action plan that would include enforcement of the law. We are taking aggressive steps to hold landlords accountable for alleged violations of our fair housing law. In the weeks ahead, I will be announcing a bold plan to address discrimination in housing in our community. I will be the first housing commissioner who has framed housing discrimination as a bureau priority, and we intend to take a number of very strong steps to end bias in rental housing.”

Commissioner Kafoury: In this economic crisis, County must make wise investments

By Deborah Kafoury, Contributing Writer

On a cold night last winter, I took my 10-year-old son with me to serve dinner at the Winter Warming Shelter. By the time we arrived, families were already lined up outside.

The evening flew by. While I helped dish out servings of lasagna, salad and roasted vegetables, my son played with the children who were staying at the shelter.

As we were driving home, I thanked my son for coming with me and asked him what he thought about the evening. He was silent for a minute and then, remembering the families waiting by the door, said “it was really cold out tonight.”

Senate Republicans send letter to Attorney General, Avakian on Fair Housing

Senate Republicans in Oregon are calling for strict enforcement of Fair Housing Laws following evidence of racial discrimination in renting practices revealed by an audit put together by the City of Portland.

The audit by the Fair Housing Council of Oregon found that 32 out of 50 test interviews with landlords revealed different treatment for test applicants who were African-American or Latino. The audit was part of the city’s work to prepare its Analysis of Impediments report mandated by the federal government. It was the first such audit the city has commissioned.

In a strongly worded letter (Republican letter for Fair Housing) sent yesterday, state  Republicans in Oregon asked Attorney General John Kroger and Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian to begin aggressively investigating and prosecuting violations of Fair Housing Laws.

“Oregon was a trailblazer in the civil rights movement, adopting fair housing laws before it was a national trend,” said Senator Jackie Winters (R-Salem) in the press release. “News of this prejudice in Portland is disturbing, and proof that the battle against racism must be waged aggressively today as it was in the 1960s”

Updated: You can read Avakian’s response here.

“For the last three years we have worked closely with Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI), and most of the cases around fair housing have been resolved,” says Moloy Good, the Executive Director of the Fair Housing Council of Oregon. “Unfortunately, currently the only funding BOLI gets to do fair housing work in Oregon is from the Federal Government. If the legislature really wants to see strong enforcement across the board than the state should find a way to fund BOLI concerning fair housing.”

“We’re going to be working with landlords and their associations and the advocacy community to do outreach and education,” Portland Housing Commissioner Nick Fish told Street Roots yesterday. “At the same time, we’re going to do some targeted enforcement of the law.”

Fish said that since the city received the audit back in February, he has been talking with various parties, including the Oregon Law Center and Attorney General John Kroger, about developing an approach to addressing the disparities. The violations exposed in the Fair Housing Council’s audit were to state and federal laws, and enforcement is triggered through an essentially complaint driven process, according to Fish. Fair housing complaints are not processed through the city, he said.

Fair Housing Council of Oregon also found housing discrimination taking place in Polk County in April.

By Israel Bayer

Fish pledges enforcement, education against housing discrimination

By Joanne Zuhl
Staff Writer

An audit of the city’s fair housing practices completed nearly four months ago has recently set tongues wagging over what the city is going to do with the high rate of reported discrimination.

The audit by the Fair Housing Council of Oregon found that 32 out of 50 test interviews with landlords revealed different treatment for test applicants who were African-American or Latino. The audit was part of the city’s work to prepare its Analysis of Impediments report mandated by the federal government. It was the first such audit the city has commissioned.

Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish

“When we got the results we were alarmed by the high incidence of discrimination, particularly among people of color,” said City Commissioner Nick Fish, who heads up the Portland Housing Bureau. Fish said he and Portland Housing Bureau Executive Director Margaret Van Vliet are taking a dual track approach to rectify the situation, which was first published by The Oregonian.

“We’re going to be working with landlords and their associations and the advocacy community to do outreach and education,” Fish said. “At the same time, we’re going to do some targeted enforcement of the law.”
Fish said that since the city received the audit back in February, he has been talking with various parties, including the Oregon Law Center and Attorney General John Kroger, about developing an approach to addressing the disparities. The violations exposed in the Fair Housing Council’s audit were to state and federal laws, and enforcement is triggered through an essentially complaint driven process, according to Fish. Fair housing complaints are not processed through the city, he said.

However, Fish said he is talking with the attorney general about partnering with other forces, either through administrative or with a lawsuit, to push enforcement on some egregious violators.

“There will be something tangible we can point to,” Fish said.

The audit comprised 50 tests – 25 test tenants based in race (African-American renters with white), and 25 based on national origin (Latino compared to white). Of the race tests, 15 showed different treatment. Of the national origin tests, 17 showed different treatment and 6 were inconclusive. Among the disparities in treatment were African-Americans and Latinos being quoted higher movie-in costs and higher rent, and additional costs that were not applied to white applicants.

Fish’s father, Rep. Hamilton Fish, was a champion of the Fair Housing Act of 1988, which expanded protections to families with children and people with disabilities. It also expanded options for redress on grievances through private means.