Past Issues :: 2007 March 16 :: Contents
Cover Story
Young & restless
It's Tuesday, March 13, the day before the rally, and an engaged group of six young men from the streets are learning their rights when it comes to free speech and civil disobedience.
“So we can say, ‘fuck the police?’ asks Toney, testing the waters — amid a few giggles — on how far free speech floats these days. The attorney from the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center affirms that the language is OK, but she lays the groundwork for the other perils that lie in wait. When to hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em kind of information; what your rights are when questioned by police, and understanding the fuzzy lines that border physical resistance and reasonable suspicion.
Editorial
It's time to calculate the real cost of war
Horoscope
Astro logic
Street Poetry
Poems
Columns
Director’s Desk
Last year’s U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in favor of six homeless persons challenging Los Angeles’s sit-lie law may have a bigger impact on quality-of-life laws targeting homeless people than first thought.
Marvin Mitchell
A time to remember
Join us as we remember our friends from the downtown community who died during the past year. Each year during Holy Week, Operation Nightwatch holds a memorial service to honor their memory and celebrate their lives.
Alejandro Queral
City's inefficiencies compromise Racial Profiling Committee
Racial Profiling Committee co-chair JoAnn Bowman has learned the hard lessons of working with the city and its bureaucracy. This time, the Racial Profiling Committee’s work will be backed by a community campaign to pressure the city to implement whatever policy changes the committee recommends.
Viewpoint: Russell Weiss-Irwin
Mikayla meets the president
Mikayla Damon does not seem like the sort of person who meets presidents. I met her a few months ago at summer camp, and we stayed in touch. One day, my phone rang. It was Mikayla, voice full of proud mischief.
Street Culture
To all those who gave in a time of need
When a family member or loved one dies, your heart is heavy and it brings you down to your knees. When you’re homeless and don’t have the money to get to the funeral, that brings you to your knees.
Ghosts in the Flophouse, Part I
If you can forsake me with just a few minutes of your time, I will relate to you the story of my first few days spent in this rainy city of roses. Through a series of incidents that I will not at this point in time relate, I found myself as the lone resident of an old flophouse in one of the finer sections of the northwest.
White Train, Part IV
I diverted from my customary 12-Step meeting to a stoop concealed near the liquor store. Drained some bracing 100o straight from the bottle, as was my wont. Quickest avenue to the buzz — depleted uranium-tipped bunker buster. What was the last thing you'd feel as the bomb hit and your mind raced? That's what I felt.
News
Gresham loosens its grip on park exclusions
The city of Gresham has modified its parks exclusion ordinance following a class-action lawsuit from three homeless men. The new code requires specific criminal offenses before exclusions are given, and limits the locations where those exclusions apply.
Housing declines as need rises
The number of low-income families with severe housing affordability problems increased 33 percent between 2000 and 2005, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. However, funding for federal housing assistance in 2006 was $3.3 billion, or 8 percent less than in 2004, adjusted for inflation.
San Diego now lets the homeless sleep in peace
Police in San Diego will no longer be allowed to issue “sleeping tickets” to homeless people sleeping outside on city property at night.
Women's film festival offers a powerful platform
The organizers of the Portland Women’s Film Festival are seeking to increase the participation of women in film. According to a 2005 report by National Public Radio, of the 250 top-grossing films in 2004, only 5 percent where directed by women.
Street News Service
New bill aims to include couch surfers among "homeless"
Most couch surfers do so because they can’t afford a home of their own. But as long as they have a place to stay for the night, the federal government has not considered them homeless. That could change soon.
The Plunge: Students spend Spring Break on the streets
This March, college students in the U.S. are skipping the beach to spend their spring break on the streets of Washington, D.C., among homeless people.
Film Review
Digging deep in Pyeongtaek, South Korea
It would be cool if all the U.S. military bases around the world were there to protect people, but they’re not.
