Columbia Villa Crime Predictable 8/3/06

More police presence due at New Columbia
Park fights - The Housing Authority also will try to find ways to help keep teens busy
Thursday, August 03, 2006
STEPHEN BEAVEN
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1154573757268680.xml&coll=7

"But the Housing Authority, which developed the site, didn't plan for a specific police presence in the new community because it and the Police Bureau lacked the resources, Rudman said."

Untrue. The resources were obviously there before the remodel and they are soon to be their again. According to a knowledgeable North Portland police sergeant who spoke directly to a group of us at last year's North Portland Pride BBQ HAP didn't consult with the police department during its design phase and crime immediately increased when the Villa police presence was removed shortly before the Villa was officially closed.


Hi Steve:
Increased crime at Columbia Villa was predictable. HAP's wishful thinking and disregard for the reality of OVERLOADING a neighborhood with an at risk population is the cause. It is one of the reasons why HAP has aggressively refused to allow statistical data about the age, gender, location and income of its clients to become public. The Portsmouth neighborhood has the second highest percentage of public housing clients of all the 117 neighborhoods in Multnomah county. This is not by accident but by design.

HAP, PDC and HCDC will continue to contravene the city's so-called but non-existent policy of distribution not concentration of public housing clients by OVERLOADING the same certain few of the 117 neighborhoods within their jurisdictions until the Portland City Council tells them to stop. The council cannot do that until it puts the 3-6-9 Resolution on the table. The council cannot do that until it has the statistical data with which to have an intelligent, evidenced based public conversation and debate. The council cannot do that until it first ASKS for the statistical data. Inexplicably, mayor Potter continues to try and stop the council, taxpayers, citizens, members of Oregon's congressional delegation and the press from getting authentic, accurate, complete and timely statistical data from HAP. The rest of the council, with the very notable exception of commissioner Sam Adams, has avoided this subject like the plague.

I apologize for being so late in giving you the acclamation you deserve for being the first Oregonian journalist in 19 years to use the term, "public housing policy" in a previous piece related to Multnomah county. Well done. Bravo! I hope you will continue your ground breaking storytelling and use the term, "public housing policy" as frequently as it deserves. Lunch is on me at the Interstate New Seasons anytime. 


Richard Ellmyer
3-6-9 Resolution author and project champion
Writer/Publisher - HAP Watcher commentary - Published on the Internet and distributed to 13,000 readers interested in public housing policy in Multnomah County.
http://www.goodgrowthnw.org
President, MacSolutions Inc. - A Macintosh computer consulting business providing web hosting for artists and very small businesses. Located in Portsmouth, the neighborhood with the second highest concentration of public housing clients, 15% and rising, within HAP's Multnomah county jurisdiction of 117 neighborhoods.

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