Silent Vigil in Solidarity with the People of Iran
Friday, June 19 at 7:00pm
in front of the Portland State University Library
at SW Hall in the SW Park Blocks
L.E. BASKOW / TRIBUNE PHOTO
Al Bradbury (left) and Xander Dunlap are members of the new Portland Transit Riders Union, a grassroots group formed to fight TriMet budget cuts.
New ‘riders union’ to lobby for changes, alternative funding
By Merry Mackinnon
The Portland Tribune, Jun 4, 2009Dennis Priebe has no income, walks with a cane, lives downtown in a subsidized apartment and relies on food stamps. He worries how he’ll pay for trips to the grocery store if TriMet eliminates Fareless Square.
Judy Ridenour never learned to drive a car and purchased her Southeast Portland house because it’s close to an express commuter bus stop. But in three months, that bus line will cease to exist, so Ridenour will set her alarm an hour ahead and then transfer from the bus to the MAX to get to her job in Lloyd District.
Stuart Fishman lives in Raleigh Hills, works nights at a grocery store and doesn’t own a car. He commutes by bus, but it will no longer run on weekend evenings, so Fishman has arranged to borrow a car.
On May 27, after three months of public input, TriMet’s board of directors approved cuts to bus and MAX light rail service. Effective Sept. 13, the cuts will eliminate four bus lines, significantly change 20 bus lines, discontinue 15 bus lines’ weekend service and reduce service to other bus lines. MAX line service reductions will begin Aug. 30.
TriMet officials also are debating whether to drop Portland’s Fareless Square — the fare-free zone that covers downtown and parts of inner Northeast Portland around the Rose Quarter and Lloyd Center. And the transit agency is considering more cuts if the economy doesn’t improve soon.
But the cuts are no longer coming without organized opposition; TriMet’s recent moves have spurred the creation of a grassroots group calling itself the Portland Transit Riders Union. Its goal: to get TriMet to expand service, lower fares, democratize decisions and stop laying off transit workers.
Members of the transit riders union, formed after TriMet’s February announcement of proposed cutbacks in bus and MAX service, gathered to protest the cuts at Pioneer Courthouse Square following the TriMet board’s May 27 meeting. They held signs that read “Defend Public Transportation” and “Tax the CEOs — Save TriMet.”
The group spells out its concerns in flyers members handed out to passersby — stating that service cuts disproportionately hurt low-income people who rely on public transportation, particularly those working nights and swing shifts.
“These are hard times,” said Al Bradbury, one of the transit riders union’s founders. “TriMet should be expanding service, not cutting it.”
TriMet doesn’t argue that point.
“We agree with them. We’d love to be expanding service,” said TriMet Communications Director Mary Fetsch. “They should lobby Salem. They should lobby Congress.”
That’s what they intend to do, said transit riders union leaders — lobby for funding alternatives for mass transit, including corporate tax increases, higher income taxes on the wealthy, less spending on highways and more on public transportation.
The group also wants TriMet’s fare hikes rolled back. And it’s pushing to change TriMet’s seven-member board. The board should be elected, not appointed by the governor, as is the case, said Portland Transit Riders Union co-founder Tim Koch.
“Let’s put a little democracy into one of the most important public services’ boards in Oregon,” Koch said.
According to Fetsch, the idea of an elected board comes up every now and then. But TriMet officials prefer the way the board is configured.
“We have a solid board, with folks who bring a lot of expertise,” Fetsch said. “It’s diverse and includes two union leaders.”
In raising the issue of an elected board, transit riders union organizers point to the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union. Inspired by the achievements of that well-organized group, the Portland group hopes to follow in its footsteps. Koch, who once lived in Los Angeles, recalls riding the crowded Wilshire Boulevard bus and watching activists, wearing Bus Rider Union T-shirts, boarding buses to rally riders on behalf of their cause.
“We’re modeling after L.A.,” Koch said.
However, the Portland group’s strategy differs from its Los Angeles counterpart when it comes to light rail. To save inner city bus lines serving minorities and low-income workers, the Los Angeles group fought light rail development to the wealthier suburbs. But Portland’s MAX lines to places like Gresham and Beaverton benefit the low-income, immigrant and minority communities that live there, so the Portland Transit Riders Union supports MAX.
Another Portland organization that favors equitable and sustainable communities sides with the Portland transit riders group but sympathizes with TriMet’s lack of options in its budget.
“TriMet is in a tough spot right now,” said Mara Gross, Coalition For A Livable Future policy director.
Because 55 percent of TriMet’s budget is funded through employer payroll taxes, TriMet’s revenue fell as layoffs increased in Oregon during the recession. A bit more than 20 percent of TriMet’s operating revenue comes from passengers fares; most of the rest comes from state and federal grants.
So, in spite of record ridership rates, the cuts were necessary to plug a $23.6 million budget gap. To soften the effect on riders, cuts were made throughout the agency, Fetsch said, including hiring and salary freezes, layoffs and furloughs.
“The last thing we want to touch is service,” Fetsch said.
But if the economy worsens, transit riders could face even more cuts to service in the future, Fetsch said.
Also, TriMet and groups that it considers “stakeholders,” including social service agencies, are currently meeting to debate Fareless Square’s future. Fetsch said one possible outcome might be to discontinue the downtown free ride on buses but maintain it on streetcars.
As for Gross, she shares the transit riders union’s concerns about TriMet cuts.
“This is part of a larger problem of needing to find ways to adequately fund our public transportation,” Gross said. “Cutting transit operations is a real problem in our community.”
Looks like American Capitalism!
Can’t wait to see this!
This BBC article suggests the body of murdered revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg has been possibly found.
“The world over she is thought of as a revolutionary forward thinker – millions visit her grave each year – and she will always be this, regardless of where her body rests.”
Chokwe Lumumba, a long time leader among Black nationalist revolutionaries, has won a city council seat in Jackson, Mississippi, where he has lived for the last twenty years. Lumumba, leader of the New Afrikan Peoples Organization (NAPO) and its successor Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, won the election with over 60% of the vote in a runoff following an election in which Lumumba trounced a large number of competitors but failed to make the 50% cut.
Reposted from Kasama.
I never lived through any of the Nixon fiasco or the Watergate hearings, but I remember growing up in a Irish republican household that saw Nixon as a misguided but overall “good president.” They liked the Catholicism of Kennedy and the foreign policies of Nixon.
Frank Langella plays Nixon after his resignation. Convinced to do a “fluff” interview with David Frost for a substancial amount of money, the movie follows the complexity of charged feelings “good Americans” felt about Nixon.
Nixon is a complex political entity. If we observe among other American presents, he was more liberal than anything but he carried a neurotic hatred of hippies and commies *caugh*.
From a Marxist view he is of course a mass murdering butcher.
So it is difficult to reconcile that with the Frost/Nixon movie which portrays Nixon as a tortured, lonely, win-at-any-cost American.
The movie seems to leave us saying “it wasn’t bad that he killed, it’s that he didn’t kill nice enough.”
Cinematically a good movie. I enjoyed it.
Read this article here.
This is an important article from Street Roots about the Sit/Lie ordinance in Portland, Oregon. Our so-called progressive city commissioner Amanda Fritz voted to extend this terrible ordinance. As the economic crisis deepens and takes a stronger hold many Portlanders are finding themselves homeless and unemployed. See my post about residential work sites proposed by the Portland Social Forum for some background. PM
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Fritz and Fish insist they need time for further discussion
City Council heard a wave of public testimony this morning against the downtown sit-lie ordinance, which they are considering extending until at least October 23, 2009.
The 2-year-old Sidwalk Obstruction Ordinance was scheduled to expire June 8. A Street Access For Everyone committee report finding that the ordinance was predominantly enforced against homeless people was presented to council in November.
Rather than having the council decide whether or not to renew the controversial ordinance permanently, Commissioner Amanda Fritz proposed prolonging its term to give her and Commissioner Nick Fish — both relatively new to council — time to study the ordinance and discuss it with the wider community.
For the play-by-play:
“Today is not a wholesale reapproval of the Sidewalk Obstruction Ordinance,” Mayor Adams said. “Today is an extension so that we can use the fresh eyes (of Fritz and Fish) to really look at this issue.”
Fritz said many city processes have been in flux, between budget cuts and bureau reorganizations. She and Commissioner Fish realized they wanted more time to look at the ordinance.
“We could just vote it up or down today, but then what?” she said. “One side would be happy and one side would be mad, and there would be much less incentive to come to the table” and discuss it.
Fritz said she’s heard from people in outlying neighborhoods that they care about the sidewalk ordinance, and she wants time to include them in the process. She’s heard from businesses who think the ordinance has been helpful, and from advocates who think it violates the civil rights of those on the streets.
Fritz made clear that she is not voting in favor of extending the ordinance forever, just for extending it until October so a better decision can be made. She said the decision today is not linked to any funding renewal.
“Most of all, I hear that people don’t feel heard, don’t feel respected … don’t feel there’s been enough council engagement,” Fritz said. “We want to truly engage in a dialogue,” so she and Fish are committing to spending their time over the summer learning about the issue.
Twenty-three people signed up to testify. Many sat in the audience with signs reading “No Sit/Lie!”
“Looking at this ordinance, I see inhumane treatment for my fellow humans, and it breaks my heart,” said Tobiah Tillman, the first to speak. “When you have human beings that are out on the streets right now that have all the odds against them… for them to be picked out of their sleeping spots after all of that, it just makes it harder for them to regain their composure, regain their jobs, and get them in a position of stable living.”
Lawrence Bishop said he spent many years homeless until he got off the streets four years ago. “We really need more shelters for women and children in Downtown Portland,” he said. “I really feel that women and children need to be off the streets as well as men.”
Stoop Nilsson thanked Commissioner Leonard for his longstanding opposition to the ordinance, and she asked that council make sure the discussion process over the summer is transparent.
“It blows my mind that we’re able to speak about sustainability and green buildings, while simultaneously criminalizing humanity,” she said. “We must develop people, not buildings.”
Fritz encouraged people to sign up to be contacted by the commissioners or get in touch through her website.
April Burris noted that of 170 people warranted or cited between August 2007 and September 2008, 133 were homeless. “I believe that (homeless) people are really being targeted unfairly,” she said. “Obviously this is not about sidewalks.”
“What would be wrong with just not having this in place while we think about it?” she concluded, to applause in the chamber.
“Two years ago I came here to testify on this same law,” said formerly homeless activist Patrick Nolen, “and Randy Leonard really called me to the carpet, saying, you’d better make sure you get what you’re asking for before you give up what you’re going to give up.”
Nolen said he’s still waiting for the Resource Access Center and many other services. Fish told him to “stay tuned” — that there might be progress on that soon.
He says the behaviors businesses complain about in justification of the law, like people spitting on or harrassing passersby, are illegal regardless of the sit-lie ordinance, so it shouldn’t be necessary to use the ordinance.
Fish said he doesn’t want to use criminal laws to enforce on people who may have mental health or substance abuse issues, and the sit-lie is based on civil laws instead. “I’m not interested in using criminal laws to enforce on people on the streets,” Fish said.
Leonard disagreed with Fish and agreed with Nolen. “If they are homeless, if they are mentally ill, if they are drug-addicted. I have a long history of not only trying to help those people, but holding them accountable.”
Leonard pointed to the Service Coordination Team, which uses criminal enforcement and has drastically reduced recidivism in Old Town. He said trying to avoid using criminal statutes is short-sighted.
“This is why we’re going to have a 4-month discussion,” Fritz said.
“Why would we allow to extend a policy that we have demonstrated not to work for people who are vulnerable?” Leonard added.
A 17 year-old named Mariah said she has never been homeless, but her family has had homeless people living with them before.
“If me and my family were shopping and we decided to sit down, would we be ticketed, or is this specifically targeted to homelessness?” she asked.
Fritz said that’s one of the questions they plan to address.
Sandra McDonough, president of the Portland Business Alliance, said the ordinance and the SAFE committee have been able to address problems in the community that were never addressed before.
“We think there are a number of neighborhoods beyond downtown Portland and the Lloyd Center where we should look” at using the same system to address homelessness, she said.
Joe Row, speaking against the ordinance, told McDonough he would like to get to know her and find out “why people go to such extreme measures out of their fears” of homeless people. He said extending the ordinance is inhumane, and the law is unconstitutional because it restricts the right to assemble peacably.
Leo Rhodes, who has been homeless off-and-on for 20 years, suggested the commissioners set their alarm clocks for every 20 minutes at night, get up, carry a full bag in circles around their house, and go to sleep in a different room to understand the experience of living outside.
Devin DiBernardo of Sisters of the Road said the organization opposes the law, which they think violates civil rights. Sit-lie doesn’t solve the issues facing homeless adults and youth, she said — it only moves people around.
“Commissioner Fish, you talked about wanting some breathing room to make this decision, but I think a lot of the people in this room want some breathing room to live their lives,” another woman said.
Shaggy Simpson, who spent 18 months in the armed services in Baghdad and now sleeps on the streets, said he came back from Iraq to find that “all the freedoms I was fighting for … were gone.”
“This law is garbage, and it needs to be thrown away.”
“Thanks for your testimony, and thanks for your service,” Adams told him.
Leonard said he was struggling to understand Fish and Fritz’s argument that they want to extend the ordinance because they heard citizens express concern about it. “Why not let the ordinance expire and have those conversations?” he said.
“While I don’t always please everybody in the positions I take, I think I am very consistent,” he said. “If you tell somebody to move along that is sitting downtown and they have no place to go, what happens? Do they just evaporate?”
Instead, he said, the police bureau starts getting calls from other neighborhoods, where homeless people have relocated.
“You have to give safe places for people to go when you tell them to move along. You have to give them toilets. You have to address the issues that make them homeless, and for us not to do that is short-sighted.”
“I’m very disappointed that we’re going to vote next week” on extending the ordinance. “I’ve heard what these folks had to say, and I agree with them, this is the wrong thing to do.”
Fish responded that “Commissioner Fritz has given us a path to a better outcome, whatever that outcome is.” He has changed his mind after discussions in the past, he said. He wants to hear comment on all 17 recommendations from the SAFE committee and to hear from the Oregon Law Center and other critics of the process.
“I agonized over this issue,” Fritz concluded. Trying to extend it is “changing my mind from what I thought I would do when I was campaigning. (But) I won’t make this decision feeling like I’m rushed and don’t have all the information I need.”
There was audible unrest in the chamber as the council agenda moved on. The commissioners will vote next week on the temporary extension.
