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

Hi Folks:
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.

Every voter, taxpayer and citizen of Gresham has the right to know what the Housing Authority of Portland, HAP, is doing in Gresham's neighborhoods. Every voter, taxpayer and citizen of Gresham has the right to access HAP's public housing data by neighborhood. But you won't get it unless you ask for it. And even then your chances of getting what is rightfully yours is still in doubt.

The mayor of Portland, not Gresham, is the Multnomah County Public Housing Czar. He is the only person who has the statutory authority or nominate and dismiss twenty-nine public housing commissioners that control the annual spending on public housing of $200,000,000 throughout Multnomah county. As you know, Portland's mayor did ask HAP's Chair to provide public housing data by neighborhood last January. Mayor Potter and HAP's Chair have so far failed to deliver with no available public evidence showing that they will.

Those of you who are neighborhood and city leaders in Gresham needn't feel that you have no control of this situation. You have some. But you need to exercise it. Write separate emails to the following:
Mayor of Portland- Tom Potter <tpotter@ci.portland.or.us>
HAP Chair - Kandis Nunn <board@hapdx.org> or kandis.n@comcast.net
Gresham's HAP representative - Shar Giard <board@hapdx.org> or sgiard@equitygroup.com
Gresham's HAP representative - Chris Lassen <board@hapdx.org> or chris_lassen@comcast.net

And simply ask for this:
Will you please send me a tab delimited text file containing approximately 35,000 HAP client records each with only two fields, one with a neighborhood, one with a HAP designation of median income (0-30,31-50,51-80%). I would like this public information ASAP. I would also like to be able to get updated versions once a month which I or any member of the public could download from the HAP web site. Thank you.

Best of luck.


Richard Ellmyer
Writer/Publisher HAP Watcher commentary
http://www.goodgrowthnw.org

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