Last night, Saturday, Oct. 1st at 3:30 a.m. I witnessed the Portland Police using a loud speaker with Richard Wagner's “Ride of the Valkyries” to wake the homeless sleeping on the West-end of the Burnside Bridge near the river. Seems to me this is a bit of Nazi like behavior; I mean if the shelter is full, and you do not win the lottery for a bed (the women do not even have that option with the closing of Salvation Army to them and no winter over-flow for some weeks yet) where in hell are we to go?
Is this part of the 10-year plan to eliminate homeless through harassment? Hey, they killed Jimmy Chasse for “thinking he was urinating in public” (and this City closes the restrooms available to us at night because a few do drugs in them; but is a road or freeway shutdown because a few drunk drivers have been “caught” upon them? NO!) Hypocrisy! Housing is the solution but these citizens are too damn greedy, thinking they are enabling abuse! Marijuana is less of a problem than is alcohol when one factor's out the draconian judicial court system. But society would rather waste money ($36 million City of Portland “Homeless Project”; $400 billion Federal Faith-Based-Initiative; $400 billion on a failed drug war) than “love they neighbor as thyself.” Yes, a few are a problem out here, but when mental illness is ignored by society, then the whole community will suffer.
Addiction is real and is a medical condition; ignorance is not bliss, it is a curse. Fear is not a value. To be afraid of the terrorists and the homeless is down right ignorance. And we all pay more when common sense is not applied to the solution. Semper Fidelis.
I was recently fined $200 for playing music on our streets under an obscure state ordinance; unlawful production of sound equipment. I cannot be clearly audible from 100 or more feet away, regardless of whether there are trains, buses, trolly cars, king all kinds of racket. Apparently, the partnership with Portland Street Musicians doesn't protect us all that much anymore when we come downtown to fly our freak flag. They finally got their man. After playing and entertaining folks for over five years here, I am now feeling a little queazy about going downtown to perform.
It used to be you would be given a warning before being issued a ticket for noise, which accompanies a phoned in direct complaint. The Clean and Safe people, now, just feel it is more expediant to just ticket us, no warning given, and then lump street musicians into their fish net of undesirables, panhandler and public nuisance types, who urinate in public, are openly drunk, combative and disorderly. Their role as protectors of us all have now been expanded to include any innovation or creativity which may spontaneously occur. This has developed into a turf war.
As for me, I live here. I can't and won't just pick up and run off to another city. I believe in Portland. I hope not to have any more trouble with the magistrate or the cops. I play music, a profession older than the Ten Commandments and Moses. Very old is the art of music, song and dance. Court officials need to understand about Western History, art, dance, and realize what the second oldest profession is,and it ain't prostitution. Ok, it's money lending. But, all kidding aside, when artists and aspiring musicians are silenced, banished to the wilderness, censored for the public good, there is something gone bad and rotting in Denmark. To lobotomize the village in order to save it hasn't worked as a legal option in any free society. That said, I will probably do what I can to appeal the ruling, which will amount to playing where I am clearly audible from 99 feet away adjacent from the court house. Maybe I will really break the law and fly a sign and put out a big old rusty tip jar,and let these public officials who judge and condemn me help pay off my fines.
The holidays are approaching; and shopping is the American way to celebrate. I read recently how buying red is a way to give to your loved ones as well as those suffering in Africa. This, thanks to Bono, will save lives, probably millions of lives. I suggest buying red to keep our homeless from turning blue. With this extra zing to our dollar, let’s not forget as the nights grow longer and colder there are people and their pets, right here in Portland, Oregon, who will freeze to death this winter.
So, as we shop consciously for presents to put under our Christmas trees or for the eight-day celebration of life/light that is Hanukah, let us consider; the color of death by hyperthermia, a bluish purple, as I remember. Buy red, and purchase for blue. Blue as in blue blankets, boots, hats, coats, sleeping bags, tents, blueberry power bars, socks. Imagine the spin on your dollar: Buy red, an immediate help to our brothers and sisters in Africa, but donate the red you purchase to the blue, the homeless here in our back yard.
Bracelets, plastic bracelets are reminding us that we can make a difference. We can be little Bonos; he gets to save millions, maybe we can help a few, that’s good Karma. When you zip up your coat and dig out your gloves for winter, don’t forget your conscience.
Donation sites can be found in Street Roots paper, The Rose City Resource pages