William doesn’t mind the hot weather we’ve had in Portland lately. Summer is his favorite season, bringing back childhood memories of time spent with his family on the Jersey Shore. He regularly sells Street Roots outside Grand Central Bakery in Sellwood — a spot he refers to as his free personal tanning booth. He likes the heat and the sunshine, and he loves talking to his many regular customers there. He’s also very appreciative of the staff at the bakery, who make him feel welcome and give him free coffee.
What does William not love? Winter, Elon Musk’s Cybertrucks (which he gleefully compared to a vehicle from Buck Rogers), and a certain president who he refuses to call by name, referring to him only as Agent Orange and Public Nuisance 47.
“I call (the Trump administration) the Department of Jackasses, run by the Three Stooges,” William said. “If they were plumbers, I wouldn’t hire them to do any kind of job around the house. The house’d probably sink and they’d be like, ‘Nothing to see here!’”
William moved to Portland from New Jersey in 2008 to escape the harsh winters and high cost of living on the East Coast. He finds people to be friendlier and more welcoming here in Portland, and offered the Pride parade as an example of something positive that would have never happened in his hometown.
When he first started selling Street Roots in 2011, he chose a spot outside Safeway on Southwest Jefferson Street, but he wasn’t comfortable there. One particular run-in stands out in his memory.
“This guy was out there panhandling,” William said. “He had a fit because I was there. He started screaming and throwing things at (the Safeway) door. The big manager, he came outside, told me to go inside, go grab a coke inside. Said, ‘We’re gonna handle this.’”
In 2015, he found his vending spot in Sellwood, and never looked back. He likes that it keeps him away from downtown, but also appreciates the area for its old buildings and friendly bustle. He laments the loss of some neighborhood landmarks to developers, though.
“There was this old home that was there,” he said. “They were supposed to reuse the wood. Yeah, they didn’t do that. There was an ice cream stand there, too. It was more festive when it was there. Now you’ve got this ugly apartment building.”
William lives in the Clinton Triangle tiny-home village. He ran into a frustrating amount of bureaucratic red tape trying to get a spot there, until one of his regular customers, who works for Central City Concern, stepped in to help.
“The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, some people from Central City Concern came and got me and said, ‘We’ve got a place for you,’” William said.
He speaks passionately about tiny-home villages.
“To me, it is a solution to the homeless problem,” William said. “It’s organized. We have all our resources there. As long as you’re willing to do the footwork, they’ll work with you. It’s clean, it’s safe, it’s quiet.”
The staff at the tiny-home village helped him to get his birth certificate from New Jersey, so now he has legal identification. He was amazed by how quickly and efficiently they got that done.
When he’s ready to move on from the tiny home, he’d like to live in a shared apartment or house, because he prefers to have people around him. That’s another aspect of his current living situation that he appreciates.
“In the village there’s plenty of people around to talk to so you’re not isolated. I’ve got quite a few friends there.”
You can find William selling the paper every day outside of Grand Central Bakery in Sellwood. You can also send him a tip via @StreetRoots Venmo by entering his name and badge number (525) in the memo
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This article appears in September 3, 2025.