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

The Emperor's New Clothes


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.

Below are the public housing policy questions and answers given to Tom Potter at the beginning of his term in January 2005. I encourage readers and press to make their own judgements regarding both the fairness and the grade of this public housing policy test. If you agree with the legitimacy of these questions then I would ask you to share them and the answers with those who are interested. You might also consider making some comment directly to the mayor's office. Members of the press have permission to reprint whatever part of this commentary may be of interest to their readers.

I would also like to hear from any recipient of this HAP Watcher commentary, especially members of the press, that feel the questions or the time alloted or the grade were unfair. Please include the public housing policy questions and answers you would expect from Tom Potter after four months in office.

Here are the questions, (which were addressed to Jamall Folsom, the mayor's public housing policy liaison who failed to protect the mayor on this issue), the correct answers and Mayor Tom Potter's responses. The mayor's office was informed that, in a manner similar to that of Hans Christian Andersen ( http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1620.html ), available public evidence would be substituted for answers which were omitted by the royal entourage.

1. Has the mayor met with or officially announced a meeting to be held with all twenty-nine housing commissioners from HAP, HCDC and PDC to give them guidance in their joint annual spending of $200,000,000 of taxpayers money on public housing in Multnomah county. [Yes is the correct answer. Failure to accomplish this is an automatic F.]
Answer: Mayor Potter has been extremely busy with reorganizing city bureaus. He intends to pursue this idea sometime in the future.
ANALYSIS: Schedule mayor and room for an hour and a half. Send out email invitations. 45 minutes preparation, 1 1/2 hours for event. Total time to accomplish this task 2 Hrs. 15 min. Failure to do so, inexcusable. The good ship PMPHP, Portland/Multnomah Public Housing Policy, is sailing without its captain on board. His personally chosen first mate, Jamall the navigator, occasionally wanders the decks but brings no maps nor charts with him, rarely speaks to any of Captain Potter's handpicked crew of twenty-nine and has no idea nor interest in finding the wheel house. Various sailors take the helm from time to time and steer in whatever direction that suits their fancy. Occasionally they transport human cargo from place to place. Sometimes they leave money at a dock to build the odd shack and sometimes they just throw some cash overboard to appease the gods. No logs are kept of their voyage. The owners of the vessel continue to be deceived into believing that their hired Captain, Tom Potter, has control of the rudder and maintains vigilant oversight of the $200,000,000 of their money which was given to him when he left home port in January. The Captain's charter is to distribute as equally as possible the assets carried in the hold to each of the 117 ports of call on his route. Unfortunately, the crew prefers to off load unwanted cargo to the same few destinations because it's easy and the natives, ignorant of the captain's mission because the press drummers are asleep, rarely complain that they are a dumping ground. F.

2. Have you asked for and received public housing data by neighborhood from HAP, HDCD and PDC. [Yes is the correct answer. Failure to receive a substantial amount of information from all three public housing institutions which jointly spend $200,000,000 per year on public housing in Multnomah county is an automatic F.]
Answer: The mayor has asked HAP to provide this information and they are in the process of doing so.
ANALYSIS: Email to chairs of HAP, HCDC and PDC requesting public housing data by neighborhood. Total time required for this task, 10 minutes. Failure to do so, inexcusable. Potter publicly asked HAP for this information more than three months ago. Public evidence of compliance to date, none. Apparently "pushover" Potter's housing commissioners don't feel the need to take him seriously. It's hard to image that at one time Tom Potter commanded precincts of citizens who carry loaded firearms in public for a living. F.

3. Have you directed HAP, HCDC and PDC to use the neighborhood public housing data they provided to the mayor's office as the basis to publish maps and tables, modeled on those found here - http://www.goodgrowthnw.org , on their respective websites? [Yes is the correct answer.]
Answer: The mayor believes that citizens have a right to see neighborhood public housing data published on these web sites.
ANALYSIS: Check these web sites at HAP - http://www.hapdx.org , PDC - http://www.pdc.us and BHCD - http://www.portlandonline.com/bhcd . What do you find? No maps. No tables, No neighborhood housing data. Nothing. F.

4. Has the consolidated neighborhood public housing data provided to the mayor's office by HAP, HCDC and PDC been converted into maps and tables modeled on those found here - http://www.goodgrowthnw.org and then published on the mayor's website? [Yes is the correct answer.]
Answer: The mayor intends to publish this public data as soon as it is available.
ANALYSIS: Check the mayor's web site, http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor . What do you find? Nothing. When do you suppose this neighborhood public housing data might become available? May 2006? May 2007? May 2008? F.

5. Has preparation begun for a series of town hall meetings, city council work sessions, HAP/PDC/HCDC public testimony and work sessions, etc. to discuss the meaning of the neighborhood public housing data and its impact on the 3-6-9 resolution? [Yes is the correct answer.]
Answer: The mayor's staff has been extremely busy with reorganizing city bureaus. They will begin to consider this project as soon as their current workload lightens.
ANALYSIS: The official publication of public housing data by neighborhood will change everything in the world of public housing policy in Multnomah county. To ignore this reality and fail to prepare for the inevitable is more than foolish and shortsighted. It is a dereliction of duty. F.

6. Has the mayor publicly announced that the Bureau of Housing and Community Development, BHCD, will remain permanently in the mayor's portfolio? [Yes is the correct answer.]
Answer: The mayor is still considering his options with regard to bureau assignments.
ANALYSIS: As the only elected official with the statutory authority to nominate and dismiss all twenty-nine public housing commissioners, the mayor of Portland is effectively the Public Housing Czar of Multnomah county. It would make no sense to assign this bureau to another commissioner while the mayor maintains statutory control and responsibility. What is he waiting for? F.

7. As the person in the mayor's office responsible for monitoring the activities of public housing commissioners have you collected evidence that demonstrates that Shar Giard, Catherine Such and all other nominees to HAP, PDC and HCDC made by mayor Potter have supported and advanced the mayor's public housing policy agenda? [Yes is the correct answer.]
Answer: The mayor continues to maintain complete faith and confidence in his appointees.
ANALYSIS: How is it possible that the mayor can maintain complete faith and confidence in his appointees when there is no evidence to show that he has any idea what his public housing policy agenda is much less whether or not any of his housing commissioners are supporting it? F.

8. How many official meetings have been held among mayor Potter and or his staff with any Metro councilors to discuss regionalizing public housing policy and operations? [At least one is the correct answer.]
Answer: The mayor supports regionalizing public housing policy and operations and is pursuing the matter.
ANALYSIS: Metro councilors Robert Liberty, David Bragdon and Rex Burkholder, who support regionalizing public housing policy and operations, provided no indication that mayor Potter, who told me that he supports the idea, has made any concrete advances to move this issue forward. Without the active engagement of Multnomah County's Public Housing Czar this matter goes nowhere. F.

Bonus Question For Extra Points:
From Jan 1, 2005 to April 30, 2005 list the dates and names of all twenty-nine public housing commissioners at HAP, PDC and HCDC with whom you had a conversation that began, "I'm Jamall Folsom, public housing policy liaison from Mayor Potter's office. I'd like to talk to you about the mayor's positions and your views on public housing policy especially concentration versus distribution of public housing in Multnomah county's 117 neighborhoods" and give a brief summary of their responses. [Even more points if the mayor had these conversations.]
Answer: None
ANALYSIS: When asked, not a single one of the twenty-nine public housing commissioners would confirm a conversation of this nature with the mayor or anyone in his office. If Tom Potter doesn't insist that his chosen staff liaison monitor the activities of his twenty-nine appointed housing commissioners how in the world does the mayor expect to have any idea whether or not these people are serving his and our city's interests? F.

Although Potter and Folsom have dramatically failed this test they can still pass the course. The semester final is also a take home test and is due July 1, 2005. In the bias interest of trying to help both of these folks succeed the final exam will be exactly the same as this exam with one additional question. Does the person assigned as the: HAP, PDC, HCDC, Metro public housing policy committee liaison have that portfolio designation appear on his or her staff web page? One of the reasons Tom did so badly on this exam is because neither he nor his chief of staff, Nancy Hamilton, understand that it is essential that the responsibility for communication and oversight of all twenty-nine public housing commissioners and $200,000,000 in public housing moneys must belong to a single staff person who reports to the mayor on a regular basis about how effectively his appointees are carrying out the mayor's and the city's public housing policy goals. Best of luck on your next try.

Another Potter Public Housing Policy Test

On May 3rd, mayor Potter is scheduled to speak at the opening of the newly remodeled Columbia Villa. If he delivers remarks he should be mindful of the following. Anyone with one hundred fifty million dollars can knock down something old and build something shiny and new. I evaluate the changes at Columbia Villa not by what has been done but by what could have and should have been done. All of which I have written about at length in more than eighty HAP Watcher commentaries distributed to more than thirty-five hundred interested readers and published on the Internet* over a four year period. By those standards this project is a failure.

For more than a year, my neighborhood of thirty years - the Portsmouth neighborhood, has experienced a decrease in HAP clients from 18% to under 6%, providing undeniable proof that it never was and is NOT now NECESSARY, but rather a political choice made by the previous mayor of Portland, to OVERLOAD this 1 of 117 neighborhoods in Multnomah county with public housing.

The very people that are poised to be politely praised are the same publicly appointed officials that for years (led by Howard Shapiro and Nick Fish) vigorously fought against the publication of HAP's public housing data organized by neighborhood. HAP's Columbia Villa remodel project was rammed forward with the HAP board's active concealment of information which would have and should have had a major influence on the project's decision making procedures. Providing official public housing data by neighborhood would have revealed that HAP, with mayor Katz's blessing, was deliberately violating the city of Portland's public housing policy of distribution not concentration of public housing. This was a government coverup and failure of monumental proportions which is supported by the evidence* and must not be overlooked, casually dismissed or forgotten.

The work ahead will be to rectify the political abuses of Vera Katz, Howard Shapiro, Nick Fish et. al. and proceed to collect public housing data by neighborhood from the Housing Authority of Portland, the Portland Development Commission and the Housing and Community Development Commission. Then we can put the 3-6-9 Public Housing Resolution** on the table. It's time Tom Potter started cleaning up the deliberate public housing policy mess left by his predecessor.

Mayor Potter has nothing invested in this project and only stands to lose by mouthing praise where damnation is required. The entire project is based on a denial of the truth of neighborhood public housing statistics and an outrageous violation of the city's policy of distribution not concentration of public housing. Tom came to city hall with no knowledge of HAP, the Columbia Villa remodel or public housing policy in general. There is scant evidence to show that he has learned much on this subject since he took office January 1st. If he stands up before a public audience and denies or omits to mention the cover up of his predecessor, Vera Katz, and the HAP leadership, Howard Shapiro and Nick Fish, to provide public housing data by neighborhood, which would have and should have dramatically changed everything, then a troubling aspect of our not so new now mayor's character and his credibility will have emerged.

Let Senator Gordon Smith command the podium. Let him shill for this event. Our multimillionaire Republican senator who lives far far away can make the crowd cheer with approval despite the fact that for years he and the entire Oregon congressional delegation ignored information about overloading the Portsmouth neighborhood with public housing and violations of official public housing policy in Multnomah county. He can and surely will go on at length about the terrific jobs everyone involved has done - except those involved who challenged the violation of a distributive public housing policy. It will be totally meritless political crap.

Click to download (768Kb) and hear short coda. http://www.goodgrowthnw.org/HAPCommentary5-2-05.mp3

Richard Ellmyer
Portsmouth - formerly the 18%, currently the 6% solution neighborhood, North Portland
* http://www.goodgrowthnw.org

P.S.
Honorable mention will go to any alert reader that can find a single story from any media source, print or electronic, that since January 1, 2005 has used the words, "Potter and twenty-nine public housing commissioners" or "Potter and public housing policy" in a single sentence?


** Declare 3-6-9 Neighborhood Percentages As Transparent, Understandable and Accountable Distributive Public Housing Policy Goals

WHEREAS the city of Portland has an established policy that public housing clients should not be concentrated into a few select neighborhoods but rather distributed throughout Portland’s neighborhoods,

WHEREAS it has become necessary to quantify the policy of distribution of public housing clients in order to assure that public expenditures are being spent in furtherance of these objectives,

WHEREAS it is necessary to adopt neighborhood map based accounting as a reporting and decision making tool regarding public housing policy and expenditures.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the city of Portland shall establish as its primary public housing client goal in each Portland neighborhood a target of six (6) percent of that neighborhood’s population. Goals for minimum and maximum shall be established so that no neighborhood shall have fewer than three (3) percent and no neighborhood shall have more than nine (9) percent of its population as public housing clients.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the office of the Portland City Auditor shall coordinate the collection of data and report annually on the status of accomplishment toward the 3-6-9 goal.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the city council shall fund the City Auditor’s 3-6-9 related activities by whatever combination of funding sources from HAP, PDC, BHCD or other revenue sources it may chose.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, all appointments for PDC, HAP and HCDC commissioner shall be made during the regular city council calendar.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the mayor shall determine that all nominees to become HAP, PDC and HCDC commissioners agree to support the 3-6-9 policy goal before being formally nominated for council approval.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, during the confirmation proceedings the mayor shall publicly instruct the appointee of his or her obligation to use the office to which they are appointed to further the 3-6-9 policy goal.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, this resolution is binding city policy.

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