2005

Mr. Mayor - With All Due Respect - Your Letter Is A ... 12/6/05

Mayor Potter:
With all due respect, NONE of the information I requested has been provided. You are ill informed if you think so. Your staff is doing you a disservice and misguiding you on the facts as they have since you were elected. Neither you nor any of your staff have been willing to discuss this issue with me publicly or privately for almost a year. This is not the behavior of a mayor or staff that knows what they are doing and has the confidence to defend their positions in the court of public opinion. Your failure to send a letter to HAP immediately after your directive of January 26, 2005 to provide public housing data by neighborhood, made in front of HAP's Chair, Kandis Nunn, and two other HAP board members, Katie Such and Shar Giard, is damning evidence of incompetence or public disingenuousness.

Potter's Unchecked Authority Must Be Stopped 11/21/05

"The mayor's office has contacted the housing authority of Portland to determine the feasibility of providing housing data by neighborhood association.  I understand that's feasible.  We'll send them a written request to follow up on that.  That's another idea coming from Mr. Ellmyer.  We appreciate that."
Mayor Tom Potter, Portland City Council meeting January 26, 2005

Potter Lies - HAP Denies - DAY 295 11/16/05

The biggest mystery, however, is Tom Potter. Who is this man that as candidate sought votes by saying he supported public housing data by neighborhood, as mayor announced that HAP can and should provide public housing data by neighborhood and then NEVER followed up to make sure that his campaign promises and his orders as mayor were carried out?

HAP Public Data - By Neighborhood Or Not 11/14/05

The letter's language is still dancing around the same old tree. We need to move on. I do not hold you in any way responsible for this dilemma. You are staff. You do what you are told by your boss, Steve Rudman, and he does what he's told by his boss, Kandis Nunn and she does what she's told by our mayor, Tom Potter. This data standoff is really between Richard Ellmyer - and the 700,000 citizens of Multnomah county that he represents in this matter -  and Tom Potter. In the end, Potter will either order, again, Kandis Nunn to deliver public housing data by neighborhood or he won't. It's that simple.

Don't Poke The Bear. Stop Humiliating Your Boss Don't Poke The Bear. Stop Humiliating Your Boss 11/14/05

Not a single reader of HAP Watchers has written to me and made a case that my quest for public housing data by neighborhood is illegal, immoral or without justification. To the contrary. Many respond with a "keep up the good work." Most, however, simply cannot understand why HAP and the mayor haven't made this public data available ages ago. They are baffled by what they see as a no brainer.

Public Hap Data Held Hostage - DAY 53 11/14/05

Urban League of Portland leaders Charles Wilhoite, John Epstein, Lois Davis, Isaac Dixon, Karen Williams, Sonja Henning et. al. appear powerless to free public housing records by neighborhood as evidence to stop the concentration of low income public housing clients into a few select neighborhoods. May ask former ULP president, state senator Margaret Carter, to intercede and invoke Oregon Public Records Law.

Public HAP Data Held Hostage - DAY 49 11/10/05

Political writers Ryan Frank, Renee Mitchel, Nick Budnick, Anna Griffin, Nigel Jaquiss, Les Zaitz, Doug Bates, Jim Redden, Mark Zusman et. al. locked out of HAP's public data vault.

Public HAP Data Held Hostage DAY 46 11/7/05

Neighborhood leaders Amanda Fritz - West Portland Park, Trudi Rahija - Hollywood, Scott Jensen - Portsmouth, Rick Sandstrom - Cathedral Park, Frank Bird - Northwest District, Cameron McCredie - Reed, Nancy Clark - Humboldt, Robin Plance - St. Johns et. al. denied access to their own neighborhood data.

Public HAP Data Held Hostage - DAY 42 11/3/05

Candidates Ted Wheeler, Diane Linn, Ginny Burdick, Erik Sten, Jeff Cogen, Jim Robison refused access to prisoners.

Review - DRAFT Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Report 10/24/05

You missed the most important potential impediment to fair housing - Multnomah County's Public Housing Czar - Portland's mayor, Tom Potter.

Tom Potter came to the mayor's job with the same amount of knowledge, experience and interest in public housing policy as George W. Bush came to the president's job with knowledge, experience and interest in international affairs. Their willingness to honestly report the status and effects of their policy decisions as well as their actions purporting to deal forthrightly with the reality of the circumstances are not dissimilar. Their vulnerabilities are inevitably exploited by others with access to the seat of power.

It's Time To Deliver The Goods 10/20/05

Mayor Potter:
It's been four weeks since I made the request below. I haven't received so much as a Post-It note with scribbled text and numbers on it. I'd consider this neglect of duty, misconduct in office and inefficiency as defined in ORS 456.110. How about you? HAP's refusal to provide public housing data by neighborhood can only continue with your approval. It is most unlikely that your colleagues on the Portland city council or officials at HUD will be able to accept the upcoming AI report as credible, accurate and complete without the availability of public housing data by neighborhood from HAP. In addition, the Multnomah county press, candidates for public offices in Multnomah county and 700,000 citizens in Multnomah county - to use language from a past popular TV commercial, want to know, "Where's The Beef?"

Mayor Potter Joins Peter Pan And The Lost HAPsters In Never Never Land 9/26/05

Mayor Potter's disinterest in enforcing his own directive of January 26, 2005 to make available to the citizens of Multnomah county HAP's public housing data by neighborhood is now understandable. Shortly after that date Tom Potter joined the HAPsters in Never Never Land where there are no neighborhoods. There is obviously no need to provide monthly updates because nothing ever changes in HAPland. No need to provide data to others who don't reside in this intelligently designed realm of believers because those who live on the outside just wouldn't understand. It all makes perfect sense now.

HAP Commissioners Singe Their Boss - Tom Potter 9/19/05

So the question arises, does Portland's mayor, Tom Potter, know any more about what his appointed housing commissioners at HAP are up to than America's president, George W. Bush, knew about what his appointees at FEMA were thinking before hurricane Katrina?

Neighborhood Public Housing Map Celebrates 3rd Birthday 9/6/05

You are invited to witness a brief 3rd birthday celebration for Multnomah county's first and only public housing data by neighborhood map at Portland city hall about 9:30 AM Wednesday September 7, 2005. At that time Richard Ellmyer will present to mayor Potter and commissioner Adams a large cake with the image of the map decorating its top.

Linn, Becker, Sten et. al. Oppose Neighborhood Housing Data and HAP Accountability 7/25/05

Portland Mayor and Multnomah County Public Housing Czar Tom Potter has only one ally, Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams, in his announced, albeit unfulfilled, commitment to provide public housing data by neighborhood and to hold appointed public officials at HAP accountable for their actions. The Gresham City Council, the Multnomah County Commission and three of five members of the Portland City Council say NO.

Mayor Tom Potter Fails Public Housing Policy 101 - A Bad Omen 7/5/05

Mayor Tom Potter's 29 Housing Commissioners spent $100,000,000 of our money on public housing in Multnomah county during Potter's first six months in office and Tom doesn't have a clue how or where it went.

In The Game - In The Crossfire 6/24/05

Although you have no authority to compel, as the mayor can, any action from any of the twenty-nine housing commissioners that govern HAP, HCDC and PDC you (and your colleagues on the Portland and Gresham city councils and the Multnomah county commission) can still request action. Therefore, I am asking you to publicly request the following:

HAP CANNOT Produce Neighborhood Data - Time For A Trial 6/20/05

In a rare moment of stunning clarity HAP was recently forced to admit the secret and disturbing revelations that it does not keep individual computer records of every client nor does it include in every record that it does have a field of information which identifies the client's level of median income - a basic requirement for HAP status. As a result of this inexcusably inadequate record keeping HAP CANNOT produce accurate and meaningful public housing data by neighborhood.

Apples Oranges and a Tsunami 6/16/05

When I previously suggested that perhaps the reason HAP wouldn't provide public housing data by neighborhood was because their records were in shambles and they couldn't, I was half joking. This is serious. This is a disaster. This is a scandal.

The Consequence of Computer Ignorance - HAP Cons Mayor 6/15/05

Mayor Potter has been conned by HAP's Chair, Kandis Nunn, into believing that it will take from nine months to a year to add a neighborhood field to each of HAP's client records in its computer database. Total Crap.

Public Housing In Multnomah County Is Primarily The Mayor's Responsibility - By Statute 6/13/05

The mayor can assign all the bureaus to other members of the city council. But, he cannot assign his statutory authority to nominate and dismiss (ORS 456.110) the twenty-nine public housing commissioners at HAP, PDC and HCDC, which are responsible only to him and serve at his pleasure.

Answers to June 1st Queries Due Soon 6/11/05

On or before June 14th, a reasonable and sufficient time for you to respond to my request, I will expect to receive from you one of the following:

What Did They Know And When Did They Know It? 6/10/05

On September 7, 2004 HAP Chair Kandis Nunn and the entire board of the Housing Authority of Portland were informed that WHOEVER became mayor on January 1, 2005 would require HAP to provide public housing information by neighborhood.* That data could have and should have been on the mayor's desk the day he arrived at city hall.

A Second Opinion - Not Nine Months But An Hour 6/9/05

It is not very difficult to geocode the addresses onto a GIS layer and assign the neighborhood name by location ... I would not be surprised if they could complete the entire task in under an hour ...  Sorry Tom, but there must be some reason other than technical capability that is delaying HAP's ability to provide this data.

Converting Addresses To Neighborhoods - Process and Costs 6/8/05

There are only TWO ways to produce the minimally acceptable public housing data by neighborhood. Method one - Manually - Method two - By Computer Script

Please Help Tom Potter Pass Public Housing Policy 101 6/6/05

Portland's mayor, Tom Potter, is headed for an embarrassing failure of HAP scholarship and elected leadership. Without your help it is likely that by the Potter administration's six month anniversary and deadline for his Public Housing Policy 101 final exam, June 30, 2005, what little credibility Tom had with respect to his role as Multnomah County Public Housing Policy Czar will have been squandered.

Promises, Proof and Public Housing Policy 6/3/05

Multnomah County Journalists:
As all of you well know, I have been in a battle with the mayor of Portland and the Housing Authority of Portland for more than four years trying to get the fundamental information required to defend Portland's policy of distribution not concentration of public housing clients into a few select neighborhoods in Multnomah county. On January 26, 2005 mayor Potter publicly told HAP Chair Kandis Nunn to prepare HAP's public housing data by neighborhood. Does it concern or interest you that after eighteen weeks there is no available public evidence that this data is now or will be accessible anytime in the foreseeable future to the press or the public? 

The Voice Of Neighborhoods In Public Housing Policy? 6/2/05

My Fellow Neighborhood Activists:
For more than four years I have been trying very hard to persuade the Housing Authority of Portland and Portland's mayor to provide public housing data by neighborhood. I have written more than eighty HAP Watcher commentaries to keep you informed of my progress.

Gresham's Voice In Public Housing Policy? 6/2/05

Over more than four years of writing HAP Watcher commentaries I have often received questions from readers asking about public housing data from Gresham neighborhoods. A recent increase in those inquiries has prompted me to answer that question to those of you who are leaders in the Gresham community.

Potter and Public Housing Policy - Your Views 5/31/05

Sometime after July 1st I will be writing a HAP Watcher commentary focused entirely on mayor Potter's record regarding public housing policy during his first six months in office. I would like your help in pulling this article together.

143 Weeks And Counting 5/23/05

What we need is less invitation to citizen participation from Portland's mayor and more demonstration that Multnomah County's Public Housing Czar knows and shows that he is in control of his twenty-nine subordinate public housing appointees.

Kandis Nunn. Provide The Data, Resign or Face Dismissal 5/9/05

To: Kandis Nunn, Chair, Housing Authority of Portland
On January 26, 2005 you were told by mayor Potter during a public Portland City Council meeting to provide HAP's public housing data by neighborhood. As of May 9, 2005 there continues to be no public evidence to prove that you have complied with that order.

Mayor Potter Stuningly Fails First Public Housing Policy Exam - Scores 0 Points 5/2/05

120 days and 67 million taxpayer dollars later, Portland Mayor and Multnomah County Public Housing Czar, Tom Potter, has failed to prove that he knows what he's doing or can handle his statutory responsibility with regards to public housing policy in Multnomah county.

Potter/Folsom - Public Housing Policy 101 - Exam #1 2/21/05

In January I sent you an email listing a number of questions regarding Mayor Potter's handling of public housing policy that needed to be answered next May. Since then many people have asked me, "How's Potter doing?" In response to these numerous legitimate inquiries I have rephrased my concerns into a test format that should make it easier for everyone to evaluate the mayor's performance with regard to public housing policy.

Such and Giard - Tom's Troops or Vera's Leftovers? 1/31/05

Catherine Such and Shar Giard are now Tom Potter's appointees. So the question arises, will either or both of these public housing commissioners fail the standards set by statute, "neglect of duty, inefficiency etc." or by whatever standards Mayor Tom Potter has personally set ("homophobe?, pedophile?, child rapist?" [see public testimony 1-26-05]) to continue in office?

It's Showtime - Fork In The Road 1/22/05

On Wednesday January 26th at 9:30 AM we shall see if Tom Potter starts down the right public housing policy path by establishing his authority over HAP, HCDC and PDC and taking responsibility for the actions of the twenty-nine housing commissioners that serve at his pleasure or if he choses to continue with business as usual, ignoring history and following in the failed public housing policy footsteps of his predecessor.