Confronting UNLIMITED neighborhood concentration of public housing was the subject of a three hour public meeting February 21 attended by more than thirty Multnomah county voters genuinely and seriously interested in public housing policy. However, there was one person in attendance who came with a less than authentic civic minded concern about public housing policy. That person was, Erik Blythe, husband of the Portland Hope Meadows Corporation chair, Rhonda Meadows.

Mr. Blythe started off with a challenging and argumentative tone and falsely accused the moderator, Richard Ellmyer, of misleading the audience about the role of the Kellogg foundation as being the primary funder for the Portland Hope Meadows project. Unfortuately for Mr. Blythe, he was unable to refute the facts that his wife, Portland Hope Meadows chair, Rhonda Meadows and her entire board of directors have consistently refused to disclose information about any of their funders. The Kellogg foundation was the only funder acknowledged before the Portland city council and therefore the only funder publicly identified. Digging his credibility hole even deeper, Mr. Blythe, who did not identify himself or the clandestine purpose of his presence at a public housing policy meeting until his suspicious behavior demanded that he give the audience his name, said he knew a great deal about the funders of the Portland Hope Meadows Corporation but then he, like his wife, Rhonda Meadows, refused to share it with those listening to his baseless and inappropriate accusations. Erik Blythe remains as much a mystery on the Internet as he was in the audience. Searches on several engines reveal virtually nothing accept his association with Rhonda Meadows.

It seemed to come as a great shock to Rhonda's husband that the trampling of due process by Potter, Sten and Saltzman with regard to the disposition of public property known as the John Ball School site, has been the topic of articles in several newspapers, is widely known throughout Multnomah county and just as widely found to be a reprehensible public act. The public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing, of which the John Ball story is yet another unfortunate and disgraceful example, was similarly rejected by a unanimous polling of the audience which mirrored a previous unanimous vote in opposition at a recent PDC sponsored public meeting. There is NO PUBLIC SUPPORT in Multnomah county for a public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing. None.

Mr. Blythe seemed very concerned that his friends and his wife's friends, neighbors, coworkers and the general public would come to know the truth, indeed the news, of the following facts:

The Portland Hope Meadows board and its funder the Kellogg foundation, vendors - including Carlton-Hart Architects and others writing letters of endorsement - including Bruce Goldberg - Director Oregon Dept. Human Resources , Jay Bloom - former CEO Morrison Center, Brenda Krause - Illinois University faculty and Director Generations of Hope, have indicated their support for the status quo:
1. That position includes acceptance of the reprehensible and illegitimate process by which the the Portland Hope Meadows Corporation received its ill gotten property gains.

2. That position includes acceptance of the Portland Hope Meadows Corporation's refusal to provide legitimate data to the public regarding contact information for board members and funders for a public project valued at 1.4 million dollars.

3. That position includes support for the long discredited and abhorrent public housing policy of unlimited concentration of public housing clients in any neighborhood of Multnomah county.

4. That position includes a deliberate willingness to add public housing clients to the Portsmouth neighborhood which has the highest total number and the second highest percentage of public housing clients in all of Multnomah county's 117 neighborhoods demonstrating a flagrant disregard for the social and economic consequences of increasing the number of public housing clients to this already overloaded neighborhood.

5. That position includes a rejection of all the public arguments made by neighborhood leaders, clergy, city council members, a former member of the Portland Planning Commission, current and immediate past Oregon House members representing the Portsmouth neighborhood and many ordinary citizens opposing the Portland Hope Meadows project.

6. That position includes endorsement of a public housing plan that required illicit behind-the-scenes political deal making to succeed because it could not complete with virtually any other non-public housing proposals that were already on the table or would have been placed on the table for open public discussion and debate. 

Mr. Erik Blythe seems under the misimpression that his wife, her follow corporate board members and all those in any way connected with the tainted transfer of 1.4 million dollars of public property to the Porland Hope Meadows Corporation should not be considered culpable coconspirators after the fact. Mr. Erik Blythe seems to be unaware that the deliberate attempt by the Portland Hope Meadows Corporation to conceal the names and contact information of those that were given 1.4 million dollars of public property and the names and contact information of those that are funders of this public project clearly indicates an inexcusable and unacceptable effort to hide the truth of this matter from the public. It speaks ill of the character of all those involved making them unsuitable for public trust of property and treasure. When you lie down with dogs, expect to get fleas.

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 will involve contacting funders, vendors, and any other persons connected to board members in order to persuade those board members to withdraw interest in the publicly tainted John Ball School give away and also to inform those non-board members that are most directly involved that they too will be publicly identified with supporting the positions stated above if they continue to be associated with this project. (See plans below.)

A final thought to be considered by Erik Blythe and the Portland Hope Meadows Corporate board which is demonstrably afraid to even tell the public who they and their funders are much less defend themselves from tainted transactions and bad public policy:

Politics is always a contact sport. Sometimes it's a blood sport. If you are not prepared to bleed and draw blood then you must leave the field. 

Funders, vendors and other identifiable supporters - take note.


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.

*************************************************************************************************************************************

Portland Hope Meadows Corporate Board
Rhonda Meadows (Board President) * (H)2806 NW Fairfax Ter - Portland, OR  97210-2806 * (503) 997-6266 * rhondameadowshr@hotmail.com * Unemployed
 
Kristen Simmons (Board Secretary) * (H)420 NW 11th Ave., #609 - Portland, OR  97209 * (503) 525-0180 * ksimmons@panthersys.com * Controller - Panther Systems - Vancouver Washington * 5408 NE 88th St # D2  - Vancouver, WA 98665 * (360) 750-9783 

Leah Y. King (H)4201 NE 19th Ave. - Portland, OR  97211 * (503) 317-8577 * leah.king@fnf.com * VP, Lender Sales - Fidelity National Title Company of Oregon *1001 SW Fifth Avenue, #400 - Portland, OR 97204 * www.fidelityportland.com * 503.223.8338 Office * 503.317.8577 Mobile

Kevin McCullough (B)2050 NE 25th Ave. - Hillsboro, OR  97214 * (503) 640-3711 * kmac@aeroair.com * President, AeroAir Inc. * Cellular:  503.572.8527 * Fax: 503.681.6513
 
Madeleine Rose (H)600 SE Marion #309 - Portland, OR  97202 *
(503) 234-0699 * rosem@windermere.com * Windermere Cronin & Caplan Realty Group, Inc. * 733 NW 20th Ave. * Portland, OR 97209 * Office Phone: 503-220-1144 * Cell/Direct: 503-781-4667 * Agent Fax: 503-226-6227

Julie Peterson (H)831 SW Hume St. - Portland, OR  97219 * (503) 977-0161 * jpeterson@grouponelending.com * Account Exec - Group One Lending * 503.703.9398 * 10220 SW Greenburg Road - Suite 120 - Portland, OR 97223 * 503.327.4000 * Fax 503.327.4001

Pam Resnick (H&B)5738 SW Riverpoint Ln - Portland, OR  97239 * (503) 224-1047 * pamresnik@comcast.net * Unemployed? OR Employee? * Market Insights Incorporated

Kellogg Foundation
Board and related staff:
routesofchange@wkkf.org, Proposalsprocessing@wkkf.org, WKKF@wkkf.org, ted.chen@wkkf.org, gdm@wkkf.org, cpb@wkkf.org, jbconyers@wkkf.org, sheri.brady@wkkf.org, lindoc@wkkf.org, rick.foster@wkkf.org, gail.imig@wkkf.org, connie.vunovich@wkkf.org, media.hotline@kellogg.com, roderick.d.gillum@gm.com, wizard@wildflowers.org, kellerf@cascadeng.com, info@simsdesigngroup.com

University of Illinois and Generations of Hope Corporation
Staff and press associated with letter of support from Brenda Krause Eheart :
b-eheart@uiuc.edu, contact@generationsofhope.org, tfliao@uiuc.edu, ccomer@uic.edu, tford@uic.edu, sjones@uic.edu, rrich@law.uiuc.edu, PresidentWhite@uillinois.edu, dkdahl@uiuc.edu, andreal@uiuc.edu, mlpayne@uiuc.edu, junger@uiuc.edu

Carlton-Hart Architects
hart@chapc.com, brian@chapc.com, bradsim@chapc.com, dave@chapc.com, doug@chapc.com, jon@chapc.com, julie@chapc.com, karen@chapc.com, kcarter@chapc.com, kristen@chapc.com, lisa@chapc.com

Morrison Center
Board and related staff associated with letter of support from Jay Bloom:
development@morrisonkids.org, jbloom@morrisoncenter.org, ppatton@morrisoncenter.org, mford@morrisoncenter.org, pamelalum@umpquabank.com

Oregon Department of Human Resources and Governor Kulongoski
Governor and staff associated with letter of support from DHS Director, Bruce Goldberg:
dhs.info@state.or.us, Bruce.Goldberg@state.or.us, Erinn.L.Kelley-Siel@state.or.us, Liz.Kiren@state.or.us, Lonn.Hoklin@state.or.us, Gwen.Vette@state.or.us, Naomi.R.Steenson@state.or.us

Portland Planning Commission
The following planning commissioners have indicated support for a public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing:
Christine Caruso - project manager with MCM Architects, part-time instructor of interior design at the Art Institute of Portland.
Amy Cortese - Sustainability Coordinator, ZGF Partnership
Don Hanson - Principal, Development Services, Otak Inc.
Larry Hilderbrand - Retired Oregonian editorial board. Wrote editorial in favor of bringing 18,000 seat amphitheater to PIR which would have destroyed the quality of life for tens of thousands of Portlanders. Proposal defeated 5-0 in city council vote.
Paul R. Schlesinger - President, BPM Associates
Youlee Yim You - Sr. Assistant Attorney General, Trial Division, Oregon Dept. of Justice

They may be called upon to recommend zoning changes that will be required of the John Ball School property. They can be contacted through: planningcommission@ci.portland.or.us and gkeley@ci.portland.or.us

Here’s What You Can Do
1. Make copies of this document and share it with all of your family, friends and neighbors.

2. Talk about this issue with all of your family, friends and neighbors.

3. Contact by email, phone or in person as many of those above who are targets of this campaign and tell them to withdraw their support for this project.

4. Expose and oppose every candidate for public office that supports unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing.

5. Testify against every nominee for positions on HAP, PDC, HCDC and the Portland/Gresham/Multnomah county planning commissions that support unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing.

6. Take your 3 minutes for citizen comments before the Portland/Gresham city council and the Multnomah county commission and testify for a public policy of equitable distribution and against a public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing.

7. Send an email to Richard Ellmyer <richard at goodgrowthnw.org> asking to be included in additional efforts on this subject.