Opinion | Street Roots’ West Burnside building, currently under construction, will be a space for civic engagement
“For those who can’t afford free speech.”
That’s been the Street Roots tagline since the first issue was published in December 1999 — a tip of the hat to the 1970s “Parliament” song, “Funkentelechy,” with the phrase “can’t afford free speech.”
Since free speech is constitutionally protected — and underpins a street paper vendor's right to distribute newspapers on the sidewalk — this line is jarring. Yet speech rights are more accessible to those with means, particularly in political spheres, and this is especially clear when the policy at hand impacts the lives of people who get their voices heard.
There’s so much about civic life that’s harder to access when you are homeless and when, ironically, people are paying big money to demonize your existence.
A stark obstacle to testifying in city hall is the metal detectors. If you are carrying everything you own, the process of emptying your bags is an enormous hindrance. Interestingly, the rapid pandemic shift to a digitally remote life opened up a new possibility. Street Roots now projects some hearings on a sheet in our Old Town office for a pizza party (‘must-see TV,’ I call it), setting up a computer where people can testify. This also takes communication with the city clerk since people aren’t appearing in the queue with unique email addresses and Zoom handles.
As soon as the sign-up link is up for an important agenda line item, staff at Street Roots open up computers to support people who want to testify. It’s important to capture an early slot because people can’t be out late if they need to find a place to roll out a sleeping bag or make a shelter curfew. This is another obstacle to civic engagement not experienced by people living indoors without a curfew.
In addition to setting up opportunities to testify, Street Roots hosts town halls and listening sessions with elected leaders. Before the pandemic, we would pack into our cramped office, such as when U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-OR, visited vendors for a listening session in 2019. Now, we partner with Blanchet House or borrow rooms. Within the last year, we helped host a town hall featuring Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Dan Ryan. We also hosted a town hall featuring Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pedersen and county Commissioner Susheela Jayapal.
When we began to look for a building that could accommodate our organization in early 2021, we needed a gathering space for town halls, candidate forums, listening sessions, press conferences and broadcasts. Why? While Street Roots certainly advocates on issues, we are quite concerned with process — i.e. that people impacted by policy have a say in the policy, whatever that ‘say’ is.
We approach this from other angles, too — most decidedly surveys. Street Roots ambassadors have conducted surveys for a number of Portland State University reports. This means people impacted by policy conduct surveys of other people impacted by policy — amplifying speech too often denied to them.
Ambassadors gathered experiences from people who survived the 2020 wildfires while already housed for the report by PSU professors Maude Hines and Janet Cowal, “Stories from the Outside: Oregon Wildfires 2020.” Early in the pandemic, they teamed up on “Preferences Assessment of Temporary Shelter/Housing,” a study led by PSU professor Marisa Zapata. Later in 2020, ambassadors gathered responses for “Survey on the Needs of People Living Unsheltered,” a study led by Zapata and Shannon Singleton, former Joint Office of Homeless Services director, to gain an understanding of what services people need, and how race impacts what services people receive.
A key survey was “Believe our Stories and Listen” with Greg Townley in 2019, which gathered information from people sleeping outside on what they wanted for first responders. This underpinned the city’s planning for Portland Street Response.
When renovations on Street Roots’ West Burnside Street building conclude in late 2023, we will be ready to host civic engagements. In this case, we are creating a building hospitable to unhoused people who can, in turn, be the hosts. When candidates run for office, they need to recognize their unhoused constituents. The new Street Roots building can be one significant stop.
From the looks of the three maps proposed by the city redistributing committee, the Old Town neighborhood will be part of a westside district that includes a small portion of the east side. So for people considering running, remember your unhoused constituents. About 30 people receive their ballots at our office, and every election, more people register to vote.
We will have a classroom on the rooftop of the Burnside Building called the “School in the Sky.” I’ll update you on this in a future column but know it will be another civic engagement space where Street Roots ambassadors can convene conversations between housed and unhoused people. Our most recent civic circle was with the American Leadership Forum. It will also be a space where ambassadors can offer trainings to housed neighbors — potentially de-escalation trainings and, hopefully, naloxone trainings.
Are you interested in supporting our capital campaign to construct the Burnside Building? Visit streetroots.org/hope or email Cody McGraw at cody@streetroots.org Street Roots staff is at the Barnes and Morgan tea house Thursdays at 5 to discuss the campaign, too (RSVP with Cody).
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly investigative publication covering economic, environmental and social inequity. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots . Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today .
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