7-31-07
Dear Mayor and Commissioners,
Street Roots fully supports the City of Portland’s goal to keep downtown safe.
We respect the Portland Business Alliance, the City of Portland and groups like Street
Roots working together to create a healthy downtown for all Portlanders. We are
concerned that a private interest group will be paying for the salaries of three police
officers working on behalf of the general public.
We are also concerned about the directive given to Portland police officers working in
conjunction with private security guards in the downtown region.
Currently, private security guards working for the Portland Patrol Inc. have the capacity
to issue park exclusions. More than 1,100 exclusions have been given out to Portland
citizens by the private agency since November.
Street Roots is concerned that any police officers paid for by the Portland Business
Alliance would be working in conjunction with an agency that enforces public policy
with no public directive or oversight.
Sincerely,
Israel Bayer
Director, Street Roots
211 NW Davis
Portland, Oregon 97209
503-228-5657
streetroots@hotmail.com
www.streetroots.org
Mission: “Street Roots is a nonprofit newspaper assisting people experiencing
homelessness and poverty by creating flexible income opportunities. Through education,
advocacy and personal expression, we are a catalyst for individual and social change.”
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Willamette Week swings and misses
The Willamette Week, a paper that Street Roots has always had the utmost respect for, published an article this week that was misleading and inaccurate. Under a photo taken in February of 2006 a caption read: Portland's street paper vendors don't plan to attend a national conference of execs planning their industry's future this week in Portland.
The article says, “Representatives from 17 "street newspapers" are converging in Portland this weekend for their biennial conference. But if you're imagining planes packed with homeless scribes landing in Portland, bringing color to local hotels and banquet halls, don't.
In the world of street newspapers, the homeless don't run the show. Instead, the North American Street Newspaper Association conference, being held this Friday, July 27, through Sunday, July 29, will be attended primarily by about 50 directors and editors paying $150 each.” Read the article here:WW article
Although the article states that Street Roots had in fact invited vendors we believe the WW only talked to three vendors, one of which says, “They (vendors) don’t have much of a stake in the paper.” Another who says “A conference. I haven’t heard anything about it.” The other vendor who told us he had nothing but good things to say about vendors and the participation in the organization was not quoted.
Nineteen vendors attended the NASNA conference this weekend with vendors in attendance in eleven of the twelve workshops. Vendors took part in discussions at workshops, networked with vendors, editors and directors at other street papers, and were in attendance at both of our evening social events sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalist among others.
Here’s what we don’t understand. Street Roots talked to the reporter about a variety of things happening with Street Roots, while the Executive Director of both Street Sense in Washington DC and Tim Harris with Real Change in Seattle had talked in depth with the reporter about the North American Street Newspaper Association and gave her the organizations strategic plan.
During our many conversations I had talked about the idea of creating an atmosphere for homeless and poor writers that didn’t differentiate in print who is housed and who is not.
It’s very easy for people on the streets to be tokenized. We talked about how it’s important to us to not refer to people as being homeless or not homeless in the context of a byline. If a writer is homeless and wishes to share those details through their commentary or poetry or as a journalist than the reader will be able to pick that up. Street Roots is not going to say, “Hey, read this because it’s by a homeless person.”
People on the streets and low-income people shouldn’t be held to a lesser bar because they are homeless. Street Roots chooses to publish the works of people that are advancing their writing skills or who are telling a genuine story about their experience. Some of these individuals are mentored and some already have those skills.
We also talked about being an organization that had one staff person a little more than a year ago, but now have four individuals working with the paper – one a formerly homeless vendor. We talked about the growing pains of being a small organization and constantly coming from a place of scarcity.
We shared SRs recently finished strategic plan that lays out the three major goals of the organization - to empower vendors, improve the quality of the newspaper (so vendors can make more money) and build a sustainable fundraising platform. We also shared the organizations 2005 and 2006 Annual Reports.
Street Roots 2006 Annual Report
We also talked about the relationships that are created between vendors and the community and how those relationships are helping breakdown stereotypes about homeless individuals.
The article was written in a way to make it seem that Street Roots is a small business and moving towards broadening our content and readership, but somehow lacks the integrity or the knowledge to publish a professional newspaper and to be upstanding to people on the streets – specifically our vendors. They use the word “street newspaper” in quotes as if to say it’s a novel publication. In our minds it was meant to do nothing more than damage our image in the community as professional publication and an empowerment project for poor people.
We also believe that the WW was flat out wrong to report that vendors were not going to be a part of the NASNA conference.
We want to assure our supporters and readers that we love Portland, and we believe in people – homeless and housed a like and that together we can make a difference through community journalism, creative writing, building relationships and offering people dignity through the sales of the newspaper.
- Israel Bayer
The article says, “Representatives from 17 "street newspapers" are converging in Portland this weekend for their biennial conference. But if you're imagining planes packed with homeless scribes landing in Portland, bringing color to local hotels and banquet halls, don't.
In the world of street newspapers, the homeless don't run the show. Instead, the North American Street Newspaper Association conference, being held this Friday, July 27, through Sunday, July 29, will be attended primarily by about 50 directors and editors paying $150 each.” Read the article here:
Although the article states that Street Roots had in fact invited vendors we believe the WW only talked to three vendors, one of which says, “They (vendors) don’t have much of a stake in the paper.” Another who says “A conference. I haven’t heard anything about it.” The other vendor who told us he had nothing but good things to say about vendors and the participation in the organization was not quoted.
Nineteen vendors attended the NASNA conference this weekend with vendors in attendance in eleven of the twelve workshops. Vendors took part in discussions at workshops, networked with vendors, editors and directors at other street papers, and were in attendance at both of our evening social events sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalist among others.
Here’s what we don’t understand. Street Roots talked to the reporter about a variety of things happening with Street Roots, while the Executive Director of both Street Sense in Washington DC and Tim Harris with Real Change in Seattle had talked in depth with the reporter about the North American Street Newspaper Association and gave her the organizations strategic plan.
During our many conversations I had talked about the idea of creating an atmosphere for homeless and poor writers that didn’t differentiate in print who is housed and who is not.
It’s very easy for people on the streets to be tokenized. We talked about how it’s important to us to not refer to people as being homeless or not homeless in the context of a byline. If a writer is homeless and wishes to share those details through their commentary or poetry or as a journalist than the reader will be able to pick that up. Street Roots is not going to say, “Hey, read this because it’s by a homeless person.”
People on the streets and low-income people shouldn’t be held to a lesser bar because they are homeless. Street Roots chooses to publish the works of people that are advancing their writing skills or who are telling a genuine story about their experience. Some of these individuals are mentored and some already have those skills.
We also talked about being an organization that had one staff person a little more than a year ago, but now have four individuals working with the paper – one a formerly homeless vendor. We talked about the growing pains of being a small organization and constantly coming from a place of scarcity.
We shared SRs recently finished strategic plan that lays out the three major goals of the organization - to empower vendors, improve the quality of the newspaper (so vendors can make more money) and build a sustainable fundraising platform. We also shared the organizations 2005 and 2006 Annual Reports.
We also talked about the relationships that are created between vendors and the community and how those relationships are helping breakdown stereotypes about homeless individuals.
The article was written in a way to make it seem that Street Roots is a small business and moving towards broadening our content and readership, but somehow lacks the integrity or the knowledge to publish a professional newspaper and to be upstanding to people on the streets – specifically our vendors. They use the word “street newspaper” in quotes as if to say it’s a novel publication. In our minds it was meant to do nothing more than damage our image in the community as professional publication and an empowerment project for poor people.
We also believe that the WW was flat out wrong to report that vendors were not going to be a part of the NASNA conference.
We want to assure our supporters and readers that we love Portland, and we believe in people – homeless and housed a like and that together we can make a difference through community journalism, creative writing, building relationships and offering people dignity through the sales of the newspaper.
- Israel Bayer
Contract for PBA to pay for Portland police up this Wednesday
This Wednesday City Hall will be voting on an ordinance to reauthorize a contract between the Portland Business Alliance and the city to provide police servcies for the Clean & Safe Program. 
According to city hall the Portland Business Alliance paid the city $210,000 last year for those services.
This continues to bring up the debate on who's interests the police, and security guards, are acting under when they enforce public policy on Portland citizens.
Meanwhile - Larry Norton with Old Town blogs backs up Street Roots call for oversight of private security by saying, "There are many issues where reasonable people could reasonably disagree - but it seems that there should be no disagreement by anyone that accountability and transparency is missing when a private security firm can enforce city laws without same accountability and transparency required of the city police.Old Town blog/private security
Call or e-mail the Mayor and ask for oversight of private security -Act Now
According to city hall the Portland Business Alliance paid the city $210,000 last year for those services. This continues to bring up the debate on who's interests the police, and security guards, are acting under when they enforce public policy on Portland citizens.
Meanwhile - Larry Norton with Old Town blogs backs up Street Roots call for oversight of private security by saying, "There are many issues where reasonable people could reasonably disagree - but it seems that there should be no disagreement by anyone that accountability and transparency is missing when a private security firm can enforce city laws without same accountability and transparency required of the city police.
Call or e-mail the Mayor and ask for oversight of private security -
NASNA conference a smashing success
The North American Street Newspaper Conference was a smashing success. Vendors, directors, and editors visited us from cities like St. Louis, Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria, DC, Boston, Cambridge, San Francisco, Edmonton, Montreal, and Denver, to name a few. We had reps from 17 newspapers in all. Workshops on Friday included a newspaper round table led by Street Roots managing editor Joanne Zuhl and Dave Tomaro from the Statesman Journal in Salem about how to broaden newspapers curb appeal to help vendors, a breakthrough strategic planning session led by consultant and SRs vice-chairperson Bruce Anderson, and a workshop on Fundraising 101 by Real Change director Timothy Harris. Other workshops on Friday included the popular Fair and Biased: Walking the line between objectivity and advocacy led by Portland Mercury Editors Amy J. Ruiz and Scott Moore and a panel discussion about street paper innovations around the world. Friday night we had a barbecue in the park blocks with Street Rooters and NASNAnians.
On Saturday, NASNA officially created a strategic alliance with the International Network of Street Papers (INSP) – becoming a regional model for other regions throughout the world. Both organizations created a due structure that allows one payment into both organization. Workshops led by Portland Tribune reporter Nick Budnick and Cydney Gillis with Real Change explored how to use your underdog status to our advantage. They presented tips on how to develop "sources" and creatively use public records laws and other tools at your disposal to do impact journalism while building credibility and readership. Other popular workshops on Saturday included Vendors! Vendors! Vendors! and Stuck Small: Expand your capacity for greater impact along with a workshop on the Street News Service, a wire service for street newspapers around the wold. 
We elected some new faces to NASNA’s Executive Committee – including Andy Freeze from Street Vibes in Cincinnati, Rick Barnes, businessman and publisher of the Denver Voice, and Bryan Pollard, Managing Editor of the Cherokee Phoenix. Both Street Roots Joanne Zuhl and Israel Bayer were re-elected to the Executive Committee. The committees focus this year will be creating a new strategic plan, technical assistance and obtaining staffing for the national organization. Saturday night SRs board chairperson Marvin Mitchell and Paul Boden with the Western Advocacy Project brought the house down with inspiring presentations on the role of street newspaper in a larger movement.
Street Roots was honored to host the NASNA conference and looks forward to continuing to bring readers an opportunity to build relationships, support vendors, get educated and to take action!Photos by Chelsea Clark-James
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
We're all NASNAnians now
So we said to ourselves, a mere five months ago, if there’s going to be a convergence of alternative news freaks, wild-eyed radicals and social justice junkies, it ought to be in Portland, right? Really, we kidded ourselves, how hard could it possibly be to make 40 journalists happy and fulfilled — for 72 hours and change?
The answer will come July 26-29, when members of the North American Street Newspaper Association converge on the City of Roses for its 2007 annual conference, which, in keeping with media mathematics, hasn’t occurred since 2005 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
It is an event to bring together the people and mission of the street newspaper movement, represented regionally across North America by NASNA, and around the world through the International Network of Street Papers. Papers from Cincinnati, Seattle, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, Boston, Washington, D.C., Denver, San Francisco, Las Vegas and many more will be attending, in addition to people not affiliated with papers, including an historian from Columbia College who is writing a book on the street paper movement.
Paul Boden, director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, or WRAP, will be the keynote speaker for the event. WRAP is a coalition of west coast social justice-based homelessness organizations, and it’s report, "Without Housing" documents how more than 25 years of federal funding trends for affordable housing have created the contemporary crisis of homelessness and near-homelessness. The report, which draws a direct correlation between the decline in housing funding and the rise in homelessness, has been disseminated to the public through street newspapers across the country.
Education is key for street newspapers, externally and internally, and the conference serves to help papers at all levels develop as media and businesses. For two days, participants will be attending workshops that cover such topics as design, reporting techniques and the rights and obligations of the media. Fortunately, we have some amazing local talent helping us out.
Portland Mercury news editors Amy J. Ruiz and Scott Moore will host a workshop on walking the line between objectivity and advocacy. And Nick Budnick, a reporter who has worked with the Willamette Week and is now with the Portland Tribune, is hosting a workshop on guerilla journalism, with tips on how small newspapers can leverage greater strength through good sources and public record laws. (Doesn’t hurt that Nick was an intern for legendary muckracker Jack Anderson.)
These days, however, it’s as much business as bylines, and street papers are learning that to stay viable as an advocacy and employment model, they’ve got to operate as smart businesses. Street Roots is lending the expertise of board member and business strategist Bruce Anderson to help papers create and implement a breakthrough strategy. Tim Harris, the founding director of Real Change newspaper in Seattle will teach people the basics of fundraising, and Bonnie Olsen, a consultant to nonprofits and community organizations will teach participants how to build effective partnerships and coalitions and how papers can grow. Tere Mathern with Portland’s own Technical Assistance for Community Service will help on the fundraising front as well.
City Commissioner Erik Sten will be opening the conference, along with Laura Thomspon-Osuri and Street Roots Director Israel Bayer, NASNA chairman and vice-chairman, respectively.
At their core, though, these conferences allow us a moment to unbridle ourselves from deadlines and obligations, and mingle with the rest of the herd, to sup at the trough of experience and ideas, and drink in the passion and energy of people just like us, only from somewhere else.
We’re honored this year to have Lisa Maclean, the network director for the International Network of Street Papers join us. She’s traveling all the way from Glasgow to work with NASNA members on the Street News Service and on the partnership between NASNA and the INSP, as we develop regional and global campaigns that will undoubtably change the world.
In fact, the tagline for the conferencce is “Changing the world, one street paper at at time.” But that’s really not the case. What’s really happening is that the world is changing one reader at a time. Together, readers and papers employ thousands of low-income and homeless people, with dignity and mobility, through sales and journalism. Vendors meet opportunity through their readers, get jobs and make connections. And equally important, their voice is being heard and having an impact, literally, around the world.
So, welcome, NASNAnians, to Portland, Ore. We shall do our best to keep things weird, inspiring, fullfilling and somewhere close to budget.
By Joanne Zuhl
Staff writer
Monday, July 23, 2007
DC 10-year plan to end homelessness in limbo
Slow Progress on DC’s Homeless Plan
Three years into the District’s 10-year strategy to end homelessness, interviews with public representatives and local advocates revealed that the plan has made little progress in its goal of adding 6,000 units of permanent housing with support services for the homeless.
“Right now [the plan’s] in limbo because we just haven’t had time to work on it,” said Cheryl Barnes, the only formerly homeless member of the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness, a council established by Mayor Anthony A. Williams in 2005 to implement the plan.
The District’s 10-year plan, drawn up in 2004 by Williams, aimed to end chronic homelessness by adding 6,000 new units of affordable housing, increasing preventative efforts and providing support services to people on the streets.
More than 90 communities across the country have drawn up 10-year strategies to eradicate homelessness in their communities, encouraged by a blueprint released by the National Alliance to End Homelessness in 2000 that focused on preventative measures and an increase in permanent affordable housing with mental health, medical and other support services for the chronically homeless.
Areas like Portland and Multnomah County, Ore., and Columbus, Ohio, have dramatically reduced their numbers of homeless as a result of long-term strategic partnerships between public agencies, businesses and nonprofits. (See sidebar on Portland’s success on page 5.)
However, the plan in Washington, D.C. has not seen much progress in part because of the change in administrations from Williams to new Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, advocates said. Overwhelming concerns such as improving the city’s public education system have led the city to put eradicating homelessness “on the back burner,” Barnes said. And the city is losing affordable housing units every year to high-priced developers, pushing the goal of 6,000 net additional units farther out of reach.
Tasked by the mayor to create strategies across agencies to end chronic homelessness, the Interagency Council on Homelessness held no meetings during the transition between the Williams and Fenty administrations earlier this year and only met under the Fenty administration for the first time in June.
“We need to be meeting every month,” Barnes said. The city’s 2014 deadline to end homelessness may not be realistic, Barnes said. “I think it might take another 10 years.”
The D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development funded the rehabilitation and construction of more than 4,000 affordable housing units in the last two years. But this funding was not the result of inter-agency collaboration under the 10-year plan, department spokeswoman Najuma Thorpe said.
“We certainly work with the plans that are dictated to us but we are always looking for more ways to increase affordable housing,” Thorpe said.
However, the department has set aside $12.5 million for building permanent housing as a result of long-term planning with the Deputy Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, which oversees the 10-year strategy.
But that earmark does not include funds for any support services like medical or mental health, said Thorpe. Under the 10-year plan, the 6,000 new affordable units must offer permanent supportive housing.
“The city’s commitment to dollars is definitely a good step forward in the right direction, and shows that the city believes in the concept of preventing people from becoming homeless,” said Michael Ferrell, director of the nonprofit D.C. Coalition for the Homeless. “The responsibility lies with the District government.”
Ferrell said that bringing affordable housing is the biggest challenge D.C.’s government faces and that the plan will take time to implement.
“That’s why it’s a 10-year plan and not a five-year plan,” Ferrell said.
Father Jon Adams, the director of one of the largest providers of homeless services in the District, said he believes the plan is making progress. As head of So Others Might Eat (SOME), he noted that providing funds for housing is a step in the right direction to ending homelessness.
“I think [the plan] is going [forward] and I think for one thing the city itself has had enough foresight to have established the Housing Production Trust Fund,” Adams said.
The trust fund was established in the late 1980s to fund the building and rehabilitation of affordable housing. More than 5,000 affordable housing units have been completed or are under development from direct support from the Housing Production Trust Fund, according to a joint report by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute and the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development.
The number of affordable housing units added to D.C. under the trust fund has “grown dramatically” since 2001 to more than 1,500 units in the 2006 fiscal year, the report said.
However, these additions may not include supportive services for mental and medical health and are not the result of inter-agency collaboration for more permanent supportive housing under the city’s 10-year plan. Most alarmingly, these additional units coincide with the District’s loss of thousands of affordable rentals and homes each year.
The city has also not met its own deadlines under the 10-year plan for rehabilitating various homeless shelters. Although the 10-year plan called for mass renovations at Parcel 26/La Casa, Gales School and an unidentified men’s shelter by October 2006, no major renovations have taken place and no men’s shelter has been selected for renovation.
Meanwhile, Franklin School Shelter for men, located downtown, does not have air conditioning for the summer and is scheduled to shut down at the end of the year.
With funds available for construction and further implementation of the 10-year plan, progress should be on the horizon. But the patience of some of District’s homeless and their advocates is wearing thin.
“I’m appalled. They don’t understand the importance of this issue,” Barnes said, expressing her frustration at the pace of work at the Interagency Council. “There are folks who have been in the shelter system for the last seven to ten years. We’re tired of waiting for our piece of the pie.”
Despite numerous attempts to contact representatives from the mayor’s office, they were unavailable for comment on the status of the 10-year plan by press time.
By Daniel Johnson and Kaukab Jhumra Smith
Reprinted from Street Sense
Three years into the District’s 10-year strategy to end homelessness, interviews with public representatives and local advocates revealed that the plan has made little progress in its goal of adding 6,000 units of permanent housing with support services for the homeless.
“Right now [the plan’s] in limbo because we just haven’t had time to work on it,” said Cheryl Barnes, the only formerly homeless member of the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness, a council established by Mayor Anthony A. Williams in 2005 to implement the plan.
The District’s 10-year plan, drawn up in 2004 by Williams, aimed to end chronic homelessness by adding 6,000 new units of affordable housing, increasing preventative efforts and providing support services to people on the streets.
More than 90 communities across the country have drawn up 10-year strategies to eradicate homelessness in their communities, encouraged by a blueprint released by the National Alliance to End Homelessness in 2000 that focused on preventative measures and an increase in permanent affordable housing with mental health, medical and other support services for the chronically homeless.
Areas like Portland and Multnomah County, Ore., and Columbus, Ohio, have dramatically reduced their numbers of homeless as a result of long-term strategic partnerships between public agencies, businesses and nonprofits. (See sidebar on Portland’s success on page 5.)
However, the plan in Washington, D.C. has not seen much progress in part because of the change in administrations from Williams to new Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, advocates said. Overwhelming concerns such as improving the city’s public education system have led the city to put eradicating homelessness “on the back burner,” Barnes said. And the city is losing affordable housing units every year to high-priced developers, pushing the goal of 6,000 net additional units farther out of reach.
Tasked by the mayor to create strategies across agencies to end chronic homelessness, the Interagency Council on Homelessness held no meetings during the transition between the Williams and Fenty administrations earlier this year and only met under the Fenty administration for the first time in June.
“We need to be meeting every month,” Barnes said. The city’s 2014 deadline to end homelessness may not be realistic, Barnes said. “I think it might take another 10 years.”
The D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development funded the rehabilitation and construction of more than 4,000 affordable housing units in the last two years. But this funding was not the result of inter-agency collaboration under the 10-year plan, department spokeswoman Najuma Thorpe said.
“We certainly work with the plans that are dictated to us but we are always looking for more ways to increase affordable housing,” Thorpe said.
However, the department has set aside $12.5 million for building permanent housing as a result of long-term planning with the Deputy Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, which oversees the 10-year strategy.
But that earmark does not include funds for any support services like medical or mental health, said Thorpe. Under the 10-year plan, the 6,000 new affordable units must offer permanent supportive housing.
“The city’s commitment to dollars is definitely a good step forward in the right direction, and shows that the city believes in the concept of preventing people from becoming homeless,” said Michael Ferrell, director of the nonprofit D.C. Coalition for the Homeless. “The responsibility lies with the District government.”
Ferrell said that bringing affordable housing is the biggest challenge D.C.’s government faces and that the plan will take time to implement.
“That’s why it’s a 10-year plan and not a five-year plan,” Ferrell said.
Father Jon Adams, the director of one of the largest providers of homeless services in the District, said he believes the plan is making progress. As head of So Others Might Eat (SOME), he noted that providing funds for housing is a step in the right direction to ending homelessness.
“I think [the plan] is going [forward] and I think for one thing the city itself has had enough foresight to have established the Housing Production Trust Fund,” Adams said.
The trust fund was established in the late 1980s to fund the building and rehabilitation of affordable housing. More than 5,000 affordable housing units have been completed or are under development from direct support from the Housing Production Trust Fund, according to a joint report by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute and the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development.
The number of affordable housing units added to D.C. under the trust fund has “grown dramatically” since 2001 to more than 1,500 units in the 2006 fiscal year, the report said.
However, these additions may not include supportive services for mental and medical health and are not the result of inter-agency collaboration for more permanent supportive housing under the city’s 10-year plan. Most alarmingly, these additional units coincide with the District’s loss of thousands of affordable rentals and homes each year.
The city has also not met its own deadlines under the 10-year plan for rehabilitating various homeless shelters. Although the 10-year plan called for mass renovations at Parcel 26/La Casa, Gales School and an unidentified men’s shelter by October 2006, no major renovations have taken place and no men’s shelter has been selected for renovation.
Meanwhile, Franklin School Shelter for men, located downtown, does not have air conditioning for the summer and is scheduled to shut down at the end of the year.
With funds available for construction and further implementation of the 10-year plan, progress should be on the horizon. But the patience of some of District’s homeless and their advocates is wearing thin.
“I’m appalled. They don’t understand the importance of this issue,” Barnes said, expressing her frustration at the pace of work at the Interagency Council. “There are folks who have been in the shelter system for the last seven to ten years. We’re tired of waiting for our piece of the pie.”
Despite numerous attempts to contact representatives from the mayor’s office, they were unavailable for comment on the status of the 10-year plan by press time.
By Daniel Johnson and Kaukab Jhumra Smith
Reprinted from Street Sense
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Street Roots is calling for public oversight of private security
Welcome to the new Street Roots blog! We will be delivering readers announcments, giving people a sneak peek of the new paper, publishing longer pieces from individuals on the streets, offering breaking news, vendor profiles and getting people involved in action items that can make a difference.
The new blog will be accessible on the Street Roots website next week. In the meantime - enjoy!
Staffers at City Hall have said they've been receiving e-mails requesting oversight of the Portland Patrol. Now is the time to let City Hall know public oversight is needed!
Nearly 1,000 park exclusions have been issued in Portland public parks since November by private security guards without the public’s oversight.
The idea that a private institution, in this case, Portland Patrol Inc., has the capacity to enforce public policy that is upheld in a court of law without the public knowing their training procedures or what discretion security guards are using is unacceptable for Portlanders. Public parks and sidewalks belong to all of us and should not be controlled by private institutions that hire a private police force to patrol Portland.
Private security oversight could be rolled into the current Independent Police Review (IPR) — minimizing the bureaucracy that would be created by inventing a whole new system. The infrastructure for the IPR is in place, and could be the channel for people to reach the city and citizen oversight groups with regard to policing the private police.
This is different from private guards on private property. And it’s different from the city directly employing security, accountable to the city and ultimately to elected officials. This is private security employed by private business interests. Any measure of public questions and concerns are now ricocheted between private entities, without transparency and clear oversight by the public they monitor.
Portland is known for its green spaces and phenomenal park system, accessible and belonging to all. It is not known for being a police state, yet the numbers of uniformed patrols seems to grow year by year. Let’s keep this expansive rent-a-cop system in check, and let’s begin with the public’s property.
To e-mail or call the Mayor and commissioners go the Street Roots website andAct Now!
The Portland Mercury also ran a short this week calledRent-A-Cop
Pick up the new issue at locations throughout Portland and find out the shape of Oregon's grassroots environmental movement and Blackwater, a private militia working around the world!
The new blog will be accessible on the Street Roots website next week. In the meantime - enjoy!
Staffers at City Hall have said they've been receiving e-mails requesting oversight of the Portland Patrol. Now is the time to let City Hall know public oversight is needed!
Nearly 1,000 park exclusions have been issued in Portland public parks since November by private security guards without the public’s oversight.
The idea that a private institution, in this case, Portland Patrol Inc., has the capacity to enforce public policy that is upheld in a court of law without the public knowing their training procedures or what discretion security guards are using is unacceptable for Portlanders. Public parks and sidewalks belong to all of us and should not be controlled by private institutions that hire a private police force to patrol Portland.
Private security oversight could be rolled into the current Independent Police Review (IPR) — minimizing the bureaucracy that would be created by inventing a whole new system. The infrastructure for the IPR is in place, and could be the channel for people to reach the city and citizen oversight groups with regard to policing the private police.
This is different from private guards on private property. And it’s different from the city directly employing security, accountable to the city and ultimately to elected officials. This is private security employed by private business interests. Any measure of public questions and concerns are now ricocheted between private entities, without transparency and clear oversight by the public they monitor.
Portland is known for its green spaces and phenomenal park system, accessible and belonging to all. It is not known for being a police state, yet the numbers of uniformed patrols seems to grow year by year. Let’s keep this expansive rent-a-cop system in check, and let’s begin with the public’s property.
To e-mail or call the Mayor and commissioners go the Street Roots website and
The Portland Mercury also ran a short this week called
Pick up the new issue at locations throughout Portland and find out the shape of Oregon's grassroots environmental movement and Blackwater, a private militia working around the world!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
