When PDC commissioner Sal Kadri was motivated by reason and common sense on February 28, 2007 to publicly task PDC Housing Director Andy Wilch to gather information by neighborhood on the location of all public housing clients that are subsidized and administered by any government agency within PDC's area of influence he had no idea that he was opening Pandora's Public Housing Policy Box. Despite an Oregon Public Records Law demand, to date, neither Kadri nor any citizen of Multnomah county has seen so much as a single record presumably collected over the last 11 weeks. 

Commissioner Kadri's assignment involves requesting exported files from computers controlled by:

A. The Housing Authority of Portland (See my request for this data below signature)

B. The Portland Development Commission

C. The Oregon Housing and Community Services department (See my request for this data below signature)

D. Multnomah county

E. The Portland Bureau of Housing and Community Development

F. The Portland Planning Bureau

It is very important to keep in mind that every citizen of Multnomah county has exactly the same right to ask for and get the public housing statistical data that PDC commissioner Sal Kadri ordered. I am exercising that right by making the same requests for data as PDC commissioner Sal Kadri asked for on February 28, 2007 (See two examples of those requests below signature). In time I will report to HAP Watcher readers the similarities and differences of our respective results.  

If you've been wondering why after numerous requests for this public data for the last nine weeks including the assertion of the Oregon Public Records Law neither PDC commissioners nor the Multnomah County District Attorney haven't compelled PDC staff to turn over these public records then I have an answer for you.

Fourteenth century theologian John Wycliffe rejected the biblical basis of papal authority and insisted on the primacy of Scripture. In 1392 he completed the first English translation of the Vulgate, or Latin Bible. These ideas coupled with allowing the common people access to the 14th century equivalent of public data did not go over well with the powers that be, namely, the Catholic church. Today's high priests in the Church of Public Housing Interests do not want to share any information with the common people which could, would and should diminish their power to annually spend hundreds of millions of dollars of the people's money based on divine inspiration not commonly shared statistical data which may be interpreted by one and all as they see fit.

The Multnomah County District Attorney's office believes that under the Oregon Public Records Law a public entity may withhold requested public records indefinitely so long as it doesn't actually put in writing a refusal to provide the requested material. This decidedly pro-government, pro-bureaucracy, anti-citizen interpretation of a law intended by the Oregon legislature to insure clean and open government as well as to assist citizens in the furtherance of their practice of the democratic process appears quite at odds with the very purpose for which the Oregon Public Records Law was written.


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, 22% and rising, within HAP's Multnomah county jurisdiction of 117 neighborhoods.

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From:   Richard Ellmyer

Subject: HAP Statistical Data On Public Housing Clients

Date: May 15, 2007 10:51:19 AM PDT

To:   Shelley Marchesi

Cc:   HAP Board

Hi Shelley:

As you surely know, on February 28, 2007 PDC commissioner Sal Kadri tasked the PDC staff to gather information by neighborhood on the location of all public housing clients that are subsidized and administered by any government agency within PDC's area of influence. That data is soon to be released. I am conducting a similar survey in parallel with commissioner Kadri's. In time I will report to my readers the similarities and differences of our respective results. 

I have a few questions and a request for some statistical data from the HAP computer database files. 

Questions:

1. How many distinct public housing properties are owned by HAP?

2. How many individual public housing clients are living in these HAP owned properties?

3. How many non-section 8 distinct public housing properties are owned by entities other than HAP that operate with HAP funding?

4. How many individual public housing clients are living in these non-section 8 distinct public housing properties that are owned by entities other than HAP that operate with HAP funding?

5. How many distinct section 8 public housing residences are involved in HAP's public housing programs?

6. How many individual section 8 public housing clients are supported by HAP funding?

7. What is the current total number of HAP clients?


Requests For Statistical Data:

I. Please send me a tab delimited text file which includes a record for every public housing client living in HAP owned properties. Each record should contain the following fields:

1. Address of the property.

2. Neighborhood of the property.

3. Income of client.

4. Gender of client.

5. Age of client.

6. The date this record was last updated.


II. Please send me a tab delimited text file which includes a record for every public housing client living in non-section 8 public housing properties that are owned by entities other than HAP that operate with HAP funding. Each record should contain the following fields:

1. Address of the property.

2. Neighborhood of the property.

3. Owner of the property.

4. Income of client.

5. Gender of client.

6. Age of client.

7. The date this record was last updated.


III. Please send me a tab delimited text file which includes a record for every public housing client living in section 8 public housing supported by HAP funding. Each record should contain the following fields:

1. Neighborhood of the property.

2. Income of client.

3. Gender of client.

4. Age of client.

5. The date this record was last updated.


Thank 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, 22% and rising, within HAP's Multnomah county jurisdiction of 117 neighborhoods.


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From:   Richard Ellmyer

Subject: OHCS Statistical Data On Public Housing Clients

Date: May 14, 2007 11:20:16 AM PDT

To:   Victor Merced

Cc:   Vince Chiotti


Grant & Tax Credit Programs

OHCS administers various grant and tax credit programs for the development of affordable rental housing. Owners receiving these resources will be required to limit the rental charges so that the housing is affordable to lower income Oregonians for a specified period of time.

http://www.ohcs.oregon.gov/OHCS/HRS_Grants_Tax_Credits.shtml


Hi Victor:

As the Director of the Oregon Housing and Community Services department with oversight responsibilities involving public housing (Public Housing = Means Test + Government Subsidy + Rental Agreement) grant and tax credit programs, I have a few questions and a request for some statistical data from the OHCS computer database files of those participating in these programs.


Questions:

1. How many distinct properties are involved in these programs in Multnomah county?

2. How many individual public housing clients are involved in these programs in Multnomah county?

3. What was the total dollar value of grants and tax credits awarded to participating property owners in Multnomah county in 2006?


Requests For Statistical Data:

Please send me a tab delimited text file which includes a record for every public housing client involved in these programs in Multnomah county. Each record should contain the following fields:

1. Address of the property.

2. Neighborhood of the property.

3. Corporate owner of the property.

4. Income of client.

5. Gender of client.

6. Age of client.

7. The date this record was last updated.


Thank 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, 22% and rising, within HAP's Multnomah county jurisdiction of 117 neighborhoods.