TODAY 6pm - Virtual Town Hall: Homelessness Solutions - hosted by People for Portland
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Tim McCormick
Virtual Town Hall: Homelessness Solutions — tonight 6-7pm PST, hosted by People for Portland
RSVP here (not required, apparently): https://fb.me/e/2bnoNBwYR -- Tim McCormick Housing Alternatives Network +1 503.334.1894. Video: meet.google.com/bwt-okvv-qme Or +1 617-675-4444; PIN: 532 454 332 2216#
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Sally Bachman
Hi Tim,
I learned about this late. Was it recorded? I would really like to hear a discussion among these three and the audience.
Sincerely, Sarah
-----Original Message-----
From: "Tim McCormick" <tmccormick@...> Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2022 5:51pm To: pdxshelterforum@groups.io Subject: [pdxshelterforum] TODAY 6pm - Virtual Town Hall: Homelessness Solutions - hosted by People for Portland Virtual Town Hall: Homelessness Solutions — tonight 6-7pm PST, hosted by People for Portland
RSVP here (not required, apparently): https://fb.me/e/2bnoNBwYR
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Tim McCormick
Housing Alternatives Network +1 503.334.1894.
Video: meet.google.com/bwt-okvv-qme
Or +1 617-675-4444; PIN: 532 454 332 2216#
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Tim McCormick
the meeting video can be viewed at People for Portland's facebook page: As with other events from P4P, this was highly managed: really just a fairly canned presentation and a few answers to host's questions, from each guest in turn, really no discussion between guests and none at all with the 'audience.' Attendees couldn't see who else attending, or ask Qs or make comments publicly. I'd say that the whole People For Portland initiative is about as far from a "town hall" concept as any public civic effort could be. It's funded by undisclosed donors, possibly just one or a few wealthy ones, and run by professional lobbyists / campaign consultants, the one who hosted today of which lives in Eugene. They do 1-way broadcast communications to those who sign up to follow, and mainly try to trigger followers to form-send a deluge of pre-messaged emails to City Council. Aside from running a ton of paid advertisements and hinting to officials that P4P forces and money will get uncooperative officials voted out, and/or run ballot initiatives to achieve its aims. There's nothing grass-roots, everything Astroturf about this group. It's sad to see, but also I can understand why powerful people in the community might feel so shunned and dismissed by flailing, unresponsive, & arrogant city leaders that they felt they had to resort instead to this dark-money hardball operation. I don't trust most polls very much, really never when done by advocacy and lobbying groups, but nonetheless it's possible that in some ways P4P are expressing fairly widely held public views, for example on a need for more urgent action and accountability. Then again, I keep in mind the observation by Stuart Hall: "Politics does not reflect majorities, it constructs them." P4P's politics is heavy-handedly imposed, not participatory, and far from what almost anyone would consider healthy civic process.
On Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 9:40 PM Sally Bachman <Sarahbach@...> wrote:
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-- Tim McCormick Housing Alternatives Network +1 503.334.1894. Video: meet.google.com/bwt-okvv-qme Or +1 617-675-4444; PIN: 532 454 332 2216#
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Thanks Tom for your review.
“There's nothing grass-roots, everything Astroturf about this group.“ totally nails it. Sue
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David Dickson
I have deep respect for the work you have done, Tim, bringing hundreds of people together through Pdx Shelter Forum, to talk about alternative shelters for Portlanders who suffer from a lack of housing. But I am compelled to speak up in response to your recent post about yesterday’s People for Portland Webinar. Multnomah County Commission Chair candidate Sharon Meieran kicked off the event. In addition to being a current County Commissioner, Meieran is an emergency room physician who also volunteers for Portland Street Medicine. She expressed her frustration with the lack of urgency with which the housing first proponents on the commission have addressed the humanitarian crisis on our streets. For me, what said it all was her description of a weekly meeting, where the first half hour is made up of introductions! Bybee Lakes Hope Center CEO Alan Evans followed. He described how his 25 years of addiction, incarceration and homelessness led him to found Helping Hands Reentry Centers and most recently take on the challenge of converting Multnomah County’s unused Wapato Jail to Bybee Lakes Hope Center. Against the headwind of housing first advocates, who said that the Wapato Jail site was too far away from “downtown services”, Evans responded that Bybee Lakes is a short distance from hundreds of jobs. His goal is for people to gain control of their lives, find work and independence. And Bybee Lakes’ success to date reflects that. My favorite community which I visit in my weekly walks was made up of 12-15 youth ranging from age 16-21. I interviewed the 32 year old woman whom the kids referred to as Mama. Mama held the group together in the face of numerous drive-by pelletings with all kinds of objects, including from BB guns. Every time I visited the camp, day and night, there were conversations, laughter, preparation of meals and a sense of community During the interview with Mama, a young woman returned to the camp in tears, having been raped the night before. Several months ago this formerly vibrant community broke up. Mama, who proudly stated that her “family" used no drugs beyond pot, was too trusting and brought in someone whose drug use and violence threatened the group. A family feud ensued, and Mama left the camp and has now found housing. Today the line of tents, where the community of young Portlanders once resided, sits empty. And the kids are scattered around in various nearly locations, the community lost. I could tell many stories here. Suffice it to say that my experience on Portland’s streets leads me to applaud People for Portland. Finally someone has stood up and shouted from the rooftops that Portland is in a crisis that we have ignored for too long.
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Taffy Everts
Thank you, Tim, for forwarding the link to the original town hall “broadcast” last night and also the link to the recording of the event. Thanks, David Dickson, for your positive appraisal. I was hesitant to attend the town hall because of People for Portland’s “dark money” reputation, but found it worthwhile and informative.
The hour+-long event consisted of a moderator, Maria Smithson, a political consultant from Eugene and one of P4P’s founders; Sharon Meieran, county commissioner, physician (and former lawyer), Alan Evans, Helping Hands and Bybee Lakes Center director; and Dan Ryan, city commissioner. Smithson divided the hour into thirds, allowing each person to speak briefly about their experience with the housing/houseless emergency and asking them pointed questions. She interspersed their portions with a few pre-recorded questions from Portland residents. Not exactly a “town hall” with live questions, but still informative, with good ideas. Smithson claimed several times that 6 thousand people were watching. If true, they’ve gotten people’s attention. Here’s what I got from the presentation:
Sharon Meieran. In her opinion Portland likely has the legal leeway to prevent street camping, but people have nowhere else to go. Her emergency room work and street medical practice have led her to conclude that our local governments (city, county, & Metro) need to:
Alan Evans. Personal story of overcoming homelessness & addiction and program at Bybee Lakes Hope Center informs his belief in high-barrier shelters and hands-on help. He supports:
Dan Ryan. Heroin-addicted brother who died on the street focuses him on the current situation. Says we need to · Stop allowing “the perfect to get in the way of the good” and modify city/county ordinances to solve the housing emergency.
Taffy Everts Kenton
From: pdxshelterforum@groups.io <pdxshelterforum@groups.io> On Behalf Of David Dickson
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2022 10:39 AM To: pdxshelterforum@groups.io Subject: Re: [pdxshelterforum] TODAY 6pm - Virtual Town Hall: Homelessness Solutions - hosted by People for Portland
I have deep respect for the work you have done, Tim, bringing hundreds of people together through Pdx Shelter Forum, to talk about alternative shelters for Portlanders who suffer from a lack of housing. But I am compelled to speak up in response to your recent post about yesterday’s People for Portland Webinar.
I have been delivering coffee, survival items, friendship, and information to my downtown unhoused neighbors for 15 months, as part of a cast of approximately 25 Good Neighbors. It is that very experience of first hand witness of people on the streets of Portland’s downtown that leads me to greet People for Portland’s video last night with a sense of optimism. There were thousands of people on that webinar.
Multnomah County Commission Chair candidate Sharon Meieran kicked off the event. In addition to being a current County Commissioner, Meieran is an emergency room physician who also volunteers for Portland Street Medicine. She expressed her frustration with the lack of urgency with which the housing first proponents on the commission have addressed the humanitarian crisis on our streets. For me, what said it all was her description of a weekly meeting, where the first half hour is made up of introductions!
Bybee Lakes Hope Center CEO Alan Evans followed. He described how his 25 years of addiction, incarceration and homelessness led him to found Helping Hands Reentry Centers and most recently take on the challenge of converting Multnomah County’s unused Wapato Jail to Bybee Lakes Hope Center. Against the headwind of housing first advocates, who said that the Wapato Jail site was too far away from “downtown services”, Evans responded that Bybee Lakes is a short distance from hundreds of jobs. His goal is for people to gain control of their lives, find work and independence. And Bybee Lakes’ success to date reflects that.
My favorite community which I visit in my weekly walks was made up of 12-15 youth ranging from age 16-21. I interviewed the 32 year old woman whom the kids referred to as Mama. Mama held the group together in the face of numerous drive-by pelletings with all kinds of objects, including from BB guns. Every time I visited the camp, day and night, there were conversations, laughter, preparation of meals and a sense of community During the interview with Mama, a young woman returned to the camp in tears, having been raped the night before.
Several months ago this formerly vibrant community broke up. Mama, who proudly stated that her “family" used no drugs beyond pot, was too trusting and brought in someone whose drug use and violence threatened the group. A family feud ensued, and Mama left the camp and has now found housing. Today the line of tents, where the community of young Portlanders once resided, sits empty. And the kids are scattered around in various nearly locations, the community lost.
I could tell many stories here. Suffice it to say that my experience on Portland’s streets leads me to applaud People for Portland. Finally someone has stood up and shouted from the rooftops that Portland is in a crisis that we have ignored for too long.
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Andrew Olshin
Hi all. I haven’t “posted” I a while so I thought I’d catch folks up on what Cascadia Clusters has been up to and what the next 10 weeks look like for our mission/projects.
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Today Jesse and I brought another Eskimo tent to a new ish cluster of folks - mostly under 25 ? Who are connected to or have aged out of the Homeless Youth Continuum. These young people have formed a community across from OutSide In on SW 13th. I am very impressed with the group and have had several warm interactions with OutSide In staff. We deployed 1 around Thanksgiving, 5 more on 12/24/21 and one today. As you can see from the boxes in the picture below, we have 6 more that are ready to be deployed along with platforms to anchor them onto.   Portland Youthbuild has been working with us to build platforms for future deployment.   If you are interested in helping us build out the space with additional assets, please send me an email with you availability, etc. Or, just send us some ideas on next steps. Thanks Andy Olshin Founder, Executive Director
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Peter Finley Fry
No sidewalk.
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Peter Finley Fry
303 NW Uptown Terrace #1B
Portland, Oregon 97210
503 703-8033
On Feb 25, 2022, at 6:41 PM, Andrew Olshin via groups.io <Andrew.Olshin@...> wrote:
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