Past Issuse :: 2007 May 18 :: Contents
Cover Story
Privatized public safety
On a sunny afternoon in downtown a Portland Patrol Inc. (PPI) private security guard, wearing a uniform similar to those worn by Portland police officers, stands atop the bright red brick steps of Pioneer Courthouse Square screening the groups of people in front of him with a loaded semi-automatic handgun holstered to his belt. He spots a person lighting up a cigarette, and casually approaches the man, asking him to take his cigarette out of the Square.
Editorial
Who is accountable for your public safety?
Horoscope
Astro logic
Street Poetry
Poems
Columns
Director’s Desk
Street Roots is proud to be working with Portland State University along with local businesses and community organizations to host this year’s North American Street Newspaper Association annual conference Thursday, July 26, through Sunday, July 29.
Eran S. Kemp
Metal predators and prey
From the sky they comb the grounds for blood. Birds of prey register a detected victim as pure sustenance, and dive down. The unsuspecting quarry doesn’t even know their end is near. In a blink they are collected and consumed.
Marvin Mitchell
Urban churches put faith to work in the City of Roses
Have you studied The Rose City Resources, the center insert in Street Roots? Look at the entries under the headings of Clothing, Meals, and Food Boxes. Most of the locations listed are connected with a church or some other faith-based organization.
Alejandro Queral
Time for change in Portland's crowd control
This past May Day, the same day the Northwest Constitutional Rights Center released a report with a series of policy recommendations aimed at improving the Portland Police Bureau’s response to political demonstrations, the Los Angeles police attacked peaceful demonstrators rallying in MacArthur Park calling for reforms to immigration laws.
Megan Clearly
Great idea, unfortunately we don't have the money
The Oregon Health Plan has provided low-income adults and children basic insurance benefits they couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. This is a program that does good things for people who need it. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts, it is now doing good things for less people, at more of a cost.
Viewpoint
Open letter to Mayor Potter and City Commissioners
The new ordinance criminalizes sitting or lying on the sidewalk. The old ordinance prohibited blocking the sidewalk from the free flow of pedestrian traffic, which made more sense, even if it was complicated and overly broad. There has been no clear definition or proof of the so-called "street disorder" this ordinance is designed to alleviate.
Street Culture
Pangaea finds new Roots on the streets
Selling the paper with several well-known vendors in a service day set to connect with some of the homeless citizens of Portland, I expected people to be generous and caring; to try and connect like my group and I were. I was instead met with mixed regard.
Mental health, police interactions explored in theater
From the Inside Out offers highly participatory workshops and interactive theater performances exploring issues of mental health. The project lets people practice scenarios between law enforcement and people with mental health issues, raising awareness while improving our capacity to handle related situations.
Capt. Caveman (is) doing it in the wild
People look at me very strange when they see me at my selling location (Fred Meyer on NW 20th), when I take time to do some writing inside with my laptop. I think they wonder “what kind of homeless person has a computer?” I agree it is unusual.
News
A travesty of medicine: Medical apartheid in American history
In the African-American community, a mistrust of doctors and medical research is widespread and deeply rooted in a history of involuntary, abusive, and non-therapeutic experimentation on Blacks documented since at least the 18th century.
While Portland waits for more services, Julia West house offers dignity
On an early Monday morning, a crowd of people gather in front of the Julia West House, smoking cigarettes, talking to one another, and waking up. The air is crisp and cold but the sky is blue, and soon the sun will rise above the buildings and light up the small, gated courtyard adjoining the building.
Transition Project Inc. housing
A new, low-income housing complex on MLK Jr. Boulevard is scheduled for completion in mid-June. The building will have 22 units for people who have completed TPI's Glisan and Clark Center programs and need a place to live until they can get back on their feet.
News Briefs
Two homeless individuals killed in North Portland
Starbucks charged
Quixote abroad
Book Review
Portland's homeless voices hit the bookstores
This book is, simply put, a grassroots treasure. From the first page: “I never thought I'd be homeless.” Amen to that! Who among us is born with such an expectation?
