Homeless camp being shut down and park exclusions skyrocket

The City of Portland and local businesses team up to shut down one of Portland's oldest homeless camps, and park exclusions given out by a private security group hired by the Portland Business Alliance continue to skyrocket. The latest figure Street Roots uncovered is 1,444 since November of 2006. Local attorney Adam Arms breaks his silence and gives his real opinion on the SAFE process and on the ordinance itself. An update from a Mercy Corps from the frontlines of Katrina, and so much more - all in tomorrow's issue of Street Roots.

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We've had hundreds of people respond to the Street Roots Readers Survey!

What are we finding out so far?

The majority of people reading the paper make between 30K and 100K, and they are very well-educated. We've found out nearly 40% of those surveyed read more than half of the newspaper, while another 30% read it cover to cover.

People hate Soup Can Sam or is that a sign they really love him? Readers love the vendors and think we are changing the face of the way people look at homelessness and poverty in our community.

What are people saying so far?

"The Vendors are the ambassadors of the paper, they have changed the hearts and minds of many Portlanders about the realities of homelessness, thanks and respect to them!"

"I love this paper for it's truth and for what it does to help the vendors. Buying the paper has changed me from a person who was not comfortable with all homeless people. Now, I strike up conversations and enjoy chatting with the vendors and they, in return, must be feeling better also!"

"I think the changes being made in the content of the paper are exceptional. The featured articles seem more in depth and the choice of stories (the environment, PBA/PPI, Hurricane Kat) are timely and engrossing."

"Quality of the paper has improved, but you've lost your edge!"

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Street Roots crew

Free the Oregon Three!

From: Western Regional Advocacy Project, Street Roots, Sisters Of The Road, Los
Angeles Community Action Network, San Francisco Coalition On Homelessness,
Real Change

HOMELESS People who witness crimes are being thrown into jail
because prosecutors want easy access to them

On June 3rd, three homeless people who witnessed a disturbance in Medford, Ore. that
led to a death and an arrest on manslaughter charges were themselves jailed—because a
prosecutor argued, and a judge agreed, that as homeless people, the witnesses might
prove too difficult to locate at the time of the trial. That trial is scheduled to start Sept. 25.
No charges have been brought against the witnesses.

On Friday, Aug. 24th, the three individuals will be going before a judge to fight for their
freedom from incarceration. But they are not the first homeless people to be jailed for the
crime of stepping forward to tell police what they witnessed.

"It should alarm everyone in this country, regardless of how you see the issue of
homelessness, that our courts are locking people up simply based on the fact that they
witnessed (not committed) a crime. Guantanamo Bay comes to Medford Oregon," says
Paul Boden, the Executive Director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project based in
San Francisco.

“An alarming trend has emerged in this country, one that criminalizes those that merely
witness a crime; a trend that has led to the jailing of witnesses for indefinite periods of
time. This trend has the chilling effect of silencing those who would otherwise be used as
tools in the pursuit of justice,” says Pete White, founder and Co-Director of the Los
Angeles Community Action Network

This incident comes on the heels of another case, in Scranton, Penn. On July 6th, Randy
Barr, a 41-year-old homeless man, saw a man slashed to death during an argument, called
police and waited for them to arrive at the scene in order to make a statement. He was
jailed for four weeks before being put on a house arrest program earlier this month, fitted
with a monitoring device and required to check in with house arrest officials once a week.
He is banned from using alcohol or drugs and must also submit to random drug tests and
pay $10 a day for the program.

Initially, Barr was thrown in Lackawanna County Prison where, he said, no one told him
about anything that was happening with the case.

As advocates for homeless people, we are outraged at this egregious violation of their
civil rights. Instead of giving the individuals in these cases a hotel room or other place to
stay, they have been thrown into jail and treated as any other inmate for the crime of
coming forward as good citizens, while not having a roof over their head.

“Just because an individual is without a home, shouldn’t mean you are stripped of your
rights as a citizen of the United States,” says Israel Bayer, the Director of Street Roots
newspaper in Portland, Ore.

It has often been said that the most precious thing we have in America is our freedom and
that government must be able to show good cause before our freedom can be infringed
upon. Protections were created that government must be able to prove “beyond a
reasonable doubt” that we have committed a crime before it can lock us up in jail in an
effort to preserve our individual freedom. Apparently, those days are over.

“If you've got money, you've got rights. Since when do you have to buy due process and
human rights in this country?” says Rachael Myers, Advocacy Director with Real Change
newspaper in Seattle, Wash.

Street Roots Readers Survey - take it!

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SRs Survey!

The survey will help the organization empower vendors, create a marketing and advertising plan and help the editorial team know exactly who is reading the newspaper.

We are counting on you for your perspective!

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Water Wars hits the streets

The new edition of Street Roots has hit the streets. The feature article "Water Wars" with John DeVoe, the executive director of WaterWatch, is about the intersection of politics and science and the future of Oregon's Kamath River Basin. Other news pieces include, "Leonard: SAFE group misses target in City Hall restrooms," and a piece on immigrants being detained in the Northwest Detention Center. We also have some great street poetry, a piece by Jay Thiemeyer on his travels across the country and a whole lot more.

Directors Desk:

Please take the time to go on-line to the organizations Web site, www.streetroots.org, and take the Street Roots Readers Survey. We’ve gotten hundreds so far, but with your help we can get at least 1,000 responses by the end of August.

The survey will help the organization empower vendors, create a marketing and advertising plan and to help the editorial team know exactly who is reading the newspaper.

Volunteer consultant Sarah Johnson is leading the research project, which includes the survey, but also includes working with a team of vendors out in the field and doing one-on-one interview’s with vendors and supporters. Street Roots is also leading a sales training for vendors that will help people better sell the newspaper in the community.
Over the next two months we will be having a healthy, free breakfast with vendors, exploring sales techniques and what’s working and what’s not working out on the beat.

Street Roots has more than 70 vendors in the community – each individual offers their own unique perspective and personality. We work hard to meet people where they’re at. We respect each individual for the skills and passion they bring to the table. We can in no way, shape or form make everyone happy on the streets, but what we can offer is a safe place for people to gather every morning, get a hot cup of coffee, some conversation and an opportunity to earn an extra buck, with dignity, in the community. We hope you know that as we grow as an organization it does not mean we lose our roots in being a voice and friend to all people on the beat, or lose our edge in being a provocative publication.

Street Roots received $25,000 from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation this month. The relationship being built with the foundation is exciting and allows us to continue implementing the organization’s strategic plan, which is to empower vendors, increase circulation to help put more money directly into the hands of poor people, stabilize infrastructure and to create a sustainable funding for the future.

We also recently received $30,000 from the City of Portland to reformat and publish the Rose City Resources. Look for the new format in September – it’s going to be hot!

The drama surrounding the SAFE Committee’s work to implement public restrooms, park benches and a day access center in exchange for banning people from sitting or lying on public sidewalks continues. Lines have become so blurry it’s hard to tell what is what. City Hall has opened its door for an all night restroom and has shown real leadership in the face of adversity for doing so. Still, like Utah Phillips has said more than once about human rights, “It’s not enough!” While not always popular or sexy, the rights of poor people are the rights of us all.

Is Street Roots being bought off by the city?

The Willamette Week called this morning.

They wanted to know about the Rose City Resources and if we had been bought off by the city.

The “alt-weekly” is possibly running a news story on the resources. The guide is an eight-year-old publication of Street Roots and Portland’s most comprehensive, updated list of services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty.

The current Rose City Resources consists of more than 300 listings of social service and government agencies working with people experiencing homelessness and poverty. The guide consists of listings for the following subjects: Clothing, Employment & Training, Meals & Food Boxes, Food Stamps, Health Care, Financial, Hotlines, Transitional Housing, Legal Services, Rental info, Meals, Recovery resources, Shelters, Youth Services, Utilities, Counseling & Mediation, and Animal care.

For years, Street Roots has been publishing the 4-page guide in the middle of the newspaper. The organization also sold individual copies of the resources to various social service and government agencies, including the Oregon Food Bank, Department of Human Services, Planned Parenthood, Department of Corrections, JOIN, and the Department of Corrections, to name a few. Orders were made in bulk for 25 cents a copy.

After doing outreach in the fall of 2006, Street Roots came to the conclusion that some agencies could not afford the guide, while most of the Street Roots readers did not use the resources themselves.

Street Roots approached the City of Portland to partner on a newly formatted wallet size guide with the idea that the resources would be subsidized to city and county bureau’s, social service agencies, hospitals, outreach workers and emergency responders that work with people experiencing poverty.

The City of Portland, specifically the mayor’s office and Erik Sten’s office, told Street Roots to do our research and to find out if we would be duplicating services. So we set out and talked to numerous groups, such as 211 Community Info, the Office of Neighborhood Involvement, social service agencies, etc., etc. It seemed several resource guides existed, but many were small and out of date – some dating back to 2004. We also found out that by creating a newly formatted resource guide, we would be saving numerous agencies hundreds of combined hours of staff time spent on running around trying to update information for their specific customers.

After doing the outreach, we worked with the mayor’s office to get the funding through money set aside for mental health services and the SAFE committee. We made it clear that our advocacy and editorial stance was separate from our direct service component and that we disagreed fully with the sit-lie ordinance attached to the SAFE committees recommendations. We agreed to disagree.

Editorially Street Roots never bent on the issues that we consider to be human rights violations by the City of Portland for enforcing laws against people experiencing homelessness. We strongly came out against the sit-lie ordinance – calling it unconstitutional and a violation of human rights. We opposed the passing of an ordinance that allowed three Portland Police officers to be paid for by the Portland Business Alliance and continue a campaign for public oversight of the Portland Patrol Inc., a private security company that has issued more than 1,100 park exclusions.

The newly formatted guide that is scheduled to come out in September will be an expanded guide with more listings and details about specific agencies, along with more than a dozen new sections, including how people can get involved through community organizing projects, a “know your rights” component, and a veterans section along with updated events such as Project Homeless Connect, where public restrooms are, and what to do in case of a drug overdose, to name a few.

We are proud of the Rose City Resources, and proud to be working with numerous organizations that strongly support the guide, including the City of Portland. We believe by offering people a durable, wallet-sized format of the resources and rights available to people on the streets, we are bettering the lives of not only poor people, but Portlanders as a whole.

We also believe Street Roots has shown a history of professional journalism, and advocacy and never bowed to the idea that you can’t work with someone on one hand, and battle it out on another.

We look forward to publishing the guide and look forward to serving Portlanders with a unique variety of news, direct services, empowerment and advocacy that you can’t find anywhere else in the city.

Has Street Roots been bought off by the city? The simple answer is, no!

Sincerely,

Israel Bayer
Director
Street Roots

PBA/PPI complaint protocol falls well short of oversight

Street Roots has obtained the Portland Business Alliance Downtown Clean and Safe Security Program Citizen Complaint Protocol. The protocol was apparently requested by City Hall, and is in response to months of inquiries by Street Roots and the Portland Mercury about Portland Patrol Inc., a private security group that has the capacity to enforce public policy. Street Roots has revealed that since November, the private security group has issued more than 1,100 park exclusions in downtown public parks.

Unfortunately, the complaint process is not much different than anything that existed prior to the request – it’s just centralized into one document. The Portland Business Alliance has remained silent on the issue for months by stonewalling the press, while spinning half-truths to City Hall about the extent of their relationship with the Portland Police Bureau.

Half truths

The changes that have occurred in the protocol include having “any citizen who wishes to complain about the conduct of any Clean and Safe security officer can request an informational card from the officer. The card will contain the officer’s identity, PPI phone number and address, and the phone number for the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST), the state regulating agency for certified security officers.” A complaint can also be lodged on-line through the PBA’s website.

The protocol says upon receipt of any complaint the “PPI management will conduct a thorough and complete review, investigate the allegations, and take corrective action as necessary up to and including termination, and will provide this information to the Alliance. It also states the Portland Business Alliance will provide a Citizen Complaint Summary Report to Council on a quarterly basis.”

Offering a card to someone who believes their civil rights are being violated and having the Portland Business Alliance offer a quarterly report is NOT public oversight and transparency.

The card is a step in the right direction, but the people of Portland deserve a direct line to City Hall for oversight and transparency of any private agencies that does business on public lands – especially in the case of the Portland Business Alliance who has shown a history of advocating for institutionalizing laws that violate the human and civil rights of poor people.

Police, private security too close for comfort

The passage of an ordinance that allows the Portland Business Alliance to pay for three police officers in downtown sends a clear message to citizens that if you have enough money, you can buy special services from the Portland Police Bureau. The city argues that it’s not a new thing, and that the Housing Authority of Portland and Tri-met pay for officers, too. Well, like grandma says, "Just because everyone is jumping off a bridge, doesn’t mean you do, too."

Maybe we should just approach any number of multi-billion dollar industries and ask them to fund our public police force. Why not find a way to pay for the nearly 1,000 police officers entirely through private funding?

In the contract obtained by Street Roots between the Portland Patrol Inc., a private security force (that enforces public policy with no public directive or oversight and the Portland Business Alliance) it states: "This program is the only program in the nation where a private security and police work together on the same program, under the same roof… Their primary area of responsibility is assisting PPI officers with enforcement type activities." A loophole has been created. The PBA and the police have found a way to exploit that loophole. Private police take its directive from a private interest group, the PBA, and the police assist in enforcement activities.

Can we say taxation without representation? We think so. 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 do not respect a private security force that has handed out 1,100 constitutionally questionable park exclusions with absolutely no public directive or oversight. Street Roots has been told in our call for public oversight of private security that we are representing our constituents and that the city fully understands.

We believe we are representing Portland and have the opportunity to set a precedent not only in Portland, but around the country where we see policing being privatized at alarming rates. This is not about politics or grandstanding, it’s about doing what’s right for Portlanders and keeping our law enforcement transparent and accountable to all citizens.

In a town that has a hard time coming to terms with being able to disagree on one hand and work together on another without being paranoid and childish, and refusing to talk to one another, it’s time for Portland to grow up and be the city it claims to be. That means finding a way to create an atmosphere to create a vision that consists of representation by the people for the people.

Street Roots Editorial from August, 1, 2007

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More questions arise about the relationship between PBA and city

Yesterday the City of Portland voted 5-0 to extend a contract with the Portland Business Alliance to pay for three police officers to be assigned to the Portland Patrol Inc., a private security agency that has no public directive or oversight and has handed out 1,100 park exclusions since November.

The city made it a point to note that the police do not work for the PPI, but according the contract between the Portland Business Alliance and Portland Patrol Inc., on page 102 dated 6/6/04 - it says, referring to Portland officers assigned to work with PPI, "This program is the only program in the nation where private security and local police work together on the same program, under the same roof. Our innovative service plan was proposed by PPI in 1997 and brought to fruition in 1998 when the Assocation for Portland Progress (now Portland Business Alliance) and the Portland Police signed a long-term contract. The contract provides (2) police officers, later increased to (3), to work directly with the PPI. These officers work in partnership with PPI officers, attending PPI roll calls and carrying PPI radios. Their primary area of responsibility is assisting PPI officers with enforcement type activities."

While this does not exactly say the police officers are working for the PPI, it does expose the relationship being closer than the city wants to admit. Attending PPI roll calls, carrying PPI radios and being described as being housed under the "same roof" seems to go against the train of thought that they aren't taking directive from one another.

Important - Street Roots Readers Survey!

Dear Street Rooters,

Street Roots is conducting a "Month of Inquiry."

For the next 30 days Street Roots will be conducting reader surveys in hopes to better understand the individuals and the communities which support us.

This Month of Inquiry is a critical step for Street Roots, as it lends insight into the likes, needs, dislikes and wants of our readers. We are ready for change and we need your help. Please take the time to assist Street Roots during our Month of Inquiry.

Please take five minutes to fill out our "Readers Survey" on-line at

Street Roots Readers Survey

You can also go to the Street Roots website to fill out the survey.

Street Roots

Please take the time to pass this on to as many people you know that read Street Roots!

Sincerely,

Israel Bayer
Director
Street Roots