The Portsmouth Neighborhood Association has arranged for one of its members, Richard Ellmyer, to coordinate and moderate a public meeting on Wednesday February 21 from 6-9 PM at the Historic Kenton Firehouse in North Portland, 2209 N. Schofield, to discuss public housing policy in Multnomah county and specifically the following agenda items:

1. The campaign to stop the Portland Hope Meadows Corporation, its funders and vendors from proceeding to develop the John Ball School site in the Portsmouth neighborhood.

2. The ongoing campaign to stop overloading the Portsmouth neighborhood with public housing by supporting the effort to bring the Oregon National Guard to the recently decommissioned Sharff Army Reserve Center which is located on the border of the Portsmouth and Kenton neighborhoods. (Portsmouth has the highest number of public housing clients and the second highest percentage of public housing clients of all the 117 neighborhoods in Multnomah county.)

3. A community alert to the decommissioning of the Clarendon school this spring and its potential to add even more public housing to the Portsmouth neighborhood.

4. The challenging of $111,000,000 in public TIF (Tax Increment Financing) funds from the Portland Development Commission for new public housing that is scheduled for allocation to many Portland Urban Renewal Districts including those in Lents, Boise, Kenton, Portsmouth and other neighborhoods throughout Portland.

5. An update on the continuing effort to access and publish public housing statistical data in order to have a sound basis for good public decsion making by elected officials and citizens.

6. A discussion on the necessity to quantify public housing policy in Multnomah county based on the 3-6-9 Resolution.

7. A proposal for county wide voter equity to remedy the disenfranchisement of Gresham and other non-Portland residents of Multnomah county by giving the power to nominate and dismiss HAP commissioners to the Multnomah county chair . 

I invite Multnomah county residents, especially those living in North Portland and Urban Renewal Districts, to come and find out the status of these matters which are vital to neighborhood livability.

The appropriate, defensible and nominal public housing location policy of Multnomah county public juridictions is equitable distribution of public housing clients. However, the operational, indefensible and actual public housing location policy is exactly the opposite. The Portland city council, the Gresham city council and the Multnomah county commission must be confronted and held accountable for not just allowing but actively encouraging the spending of public dollars by the Housing Authority of Portland, the Portland Development Commission, the Bureau of Housing and Community Development et. al. in support of the discredited and abhorrent public housing policy of unlimited concentration of public housing in any neighborhood in Multnomah county.

Multnomah county commissioner Jeff Cogen, Portland city commissioner Sam Adams and a representative of the Oregon National Guard have expressed interest in speaking on one or more of the agenda items. Governor Kulongoski has been invited and is considering an appearance to speak on behalf of the Oregon National Guard.

Many thanks for publicizing this event through whatever means may be available to you.


Richard Ellmyer
Community leader coordinating a local effort to bring the Oregon National Guard to the Sharff Army Reserve Center
Community activist leading the campaign to Stop The Portland Hope Meadows Corporation From Adding To The Overload Of Public Housing Clients In The Portsmouth Neighborhood And North Portland
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, 18% and rising, within HAP's Multnomah county jurisdiction of 117 neighborhoods.