News
Open wide
By Alex Zielinski, Staff writer Sitting in a reclining chair in Multnomah County’s newest dental clinic for the first time, Kenneth can’t help but smile. Despite his crooked, gapped grin, he’s beaming today for a chance to start afresh, a chance to take back years of dental neglect and to finally feel confident in the…
Public safety comes to Salem
By Joanne Zuhl, Staff Writer In the past 10 years, Oregon’s prison population has grown by nearly 50 percent, and while it remains lower than that national average, it has grown four times faster than that average since 2000. According to a recent report by the Pew Center on the States, Oregon offenders are staying…
Growing up Panther
By Rosette Royale, Contributing Writer In the era of Androids and iPads, it’s easy to forget that 45 years ago, people used rotary phones and typewriters. Anyone who lived in Seattle in 1969 and picked up a phone and dialed EA5-8794 would have been greeted by the smooth baritone of Aaron Dixon, captain of the…
City rallies to help homeless veterans
By Robert Britt, Staff Writer After five years of federal buildup and more than six months of focus from community partners, the nation’s largest program to house homeless veterans seems to be getting chinks out of the armor in the Portland area. Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) is the flagship federal program to address homelessness…
City looks to cut the safety net
By Jake Thomas, Staff Writer Raymond Thornton turns 48 this month, but there was a time he wasn’t sure he’d see another birthday. He spent three years on the streets, battling alcohol and substance addictions before he arrived at the Clark Center in 2011. It was a graduated process – from Hooper Detox to the…
Obituary: Barbara Ann Lescher
Barbara Ann Lescher, aka “The Sock Lady” died January 27, 2013. She was well known in Old Town and China Town as the director of Our Peaceful Place, a day shelter that closed in 2006. Since then, she has often been seen walking downtown handing out necessities to the homeless, especially socks. She was a…
Opinion
Many communities, one beautiful song
By Donita Fry, Contributing Columnist Portlanders may be aware of the city’s reputation for being progressive, one that infuses sustainable theories and practices in all aspects of economic and community development. Portland also prides itself on tolerance, social equity and diversity. Yet, as I became informed and active in social justice and equity issues facing…
Getting real on the dental healthcare front
Street Roots editorial We need to get real about dental healthcare in Portland and around the state. We see these problems every single week at Street Roots. It’s mostly emergency circumstances that require a visit to the emergency room (ER). In many cases, individuals simply try to deal with the pain and agony. Last year,…
Do prisons make us safer? The numbers suggest not
By Denise Welch and Sonny Lerma, Contributing Columnists This year, Oregon’s Legislature will examine whether to pass reforms that reduce our reliance on incarceration as the primary public safety strategy. There is growing support to pass comprehensive corrections reforms that flatline prison growth, which has been skyrocketing in the past 20 years. A small number…
Creating an Oregon where we all have the chance to succeed
By Andy Smith and Alison McIntosh, Contributing Columnist On Monday, March 4, the co-chairs of the Ways and Means Committee in the State Legislature presented their budget for Oregon for the next two years. This is the beginning of the second step in the process that will determine how the state spends its dollars and…
We need a balance between parking policy and Portland’s housing needs
By Jennifer Brager, Housing Land Advocates Housing Land Advocates (HLA), a nonprofit organization, encourages land use policies supporting affordable housing and the development of sustainable communities. Our organization has grave concerns about the proposal to increase parking requirements for new buildings near transit. The process for increasing parking requirements has sped forward without sufficient input…
Director’s Desk: We are all part of Portland’s safety net
By Israel Bayer, Staff Writer The city is faced with having to ensure that basic serves for the safety net continue at a time of great need. The city faces a $25 million dollar budget gap. The feds continue to cut services for the elderly and people experiencing poverty. The services that are on the…
Vendor Profiles
Vendor Profile: Portlander likes her vantage to a changing city
By Ann Derrick Gaillot, Contributing Writer If ever you walk past the OnPoint bank at Northeast Ninth Avenue and Broadway, you may notice a grinning woman set apart from the crowd by her sizeable, fluffy, blond mullet. That woman’s name is Sherri Banning and she has been wearing her hair in a mullet for over…
Poetry & Art
Soup Can Sam: March 15-28, 2013
Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20) Boss caught you looking at ESPN again? Woops. At least you’ll be able to rattle off statistics about his favorite sports teams. You can brown nose and catch up on your sports news, too. Aries (March 21-April 19) Forget the iPhone today. Dust off your palm pilot: pens and…
