Hi 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? 

If you would like to get to the truth of the matter email:
Mayor of Portland - Tom Potter <tpotter@ci.portland.or.us>
HAP Board - <board@hapdx.org>

and simply ask:
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. Since this data will be in constant flux 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.

If this story interests you I would be happy to provide whatever facts, insight, historical perspective etc. that I can to help you.

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