2008

Tom Potter - Four Years Of Disreputable Public Housing Policy Failure 12/18/08

From his mayor’s city council chair in January 2005 Tom Potter announced that he would fulfill his campaign promise to require the Housing Authority of Portland to account for its client base by producing authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data for their 33,000 clients. Two months later Tom Potter reneged on his commitment, actively prevented access to HAP’s public data and refused to meet, discuss or even use the words PUBLIC HOUSING for the rest of his term in office.

Chief Sizer Doesn't Deny Public Safety Concerns In Portland Hope Meadows Social Experiment 12/3/08

Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer and North Precinct Commander Donna Henderson have offered no challenge to the assertions made in an analysis by Patricia Kane, Portsmouth homeowner and Portstmouth Residents Action Committee member, of public safety concerns related to the Portland Hope Meadows corporation's proposed experiment in social engineering in the Portsmouth neighborhood. This surplus Portland Public School land was sold by the PPS board for continued PULBIC USE to the Portland city council which blithely disregarded the elected PPS board's legal mandate and proceeded without Due Process and approval of the PPS board to lease the site to a private corporation for a non-public use that could result in an annual loss of approximately $250,000 in property taxes for Portland, PPS and other jurisdictions.

PPS Must DEMAND City Continue PUBLIC USE Of Surplus Property Or Return It 12/1/08

On October 2, 2008 the Portland city council broke a covenant with the PPS board. On that day the Portland city council voted against the legal reason the PPS board offered its surplus property, the John Ball School site, to the city of Portland rather than place the property up for sale in the public marketplace to the highest bidder. PPS board policy requires it to first offer PPS surplus property to a local government agency, e.g. the city of Portland, in order to determine if there is a "continuing PUBLIC USE" for PPS's PUBLICLY owned propert

Jeff Gianola And KOIN TV Cross The Line - ADVOCATING For Bad Public Policy And NOT REPORTING The Conflict 10/8/08

KOIN TV news director Lynn Heider has confirmed that TV anchor Jeff Gianola has the corporate blessing of KOIN news management to host a fundraiser and publicly support the development of the surplus city property known as the John Ball School site by the Portland Hope Meadows corporation, OPPOSE Due Process in the disposition of the publicly owned John Ball School property and COMPLETELY DISREGARD the Portsmouth Residents Action Committee, the North Portland Business Association and the Portsmouth Neighborhood Association as well as the residents and businesses of North Portland.

Fuchs, Fritz, Cogen, Lewis, Kotek No Shows 10/3/08

In an unnecessarily long afternoon of testimony orchestrated by self-interested temporary presiding council president Dan Salztman, important players in this game of public property theft that are currently or soon will be looking for votes were nowhere to be found.

Alicia Fuchs, elected Multnomah county circuit court judge and Portland Hope Meadows board member failed to appear in the court of public opinion and tell us why she supports Due Process in her courtroom and not at city hall. 

Representative Tina Kotek who opposed the project in 2006 has apparently been swallowed up by the public housing establishment as she has been by the failed for-profit private health insurance industry.

Mayor-Elect Adams Votes For The Policy Of UNLIMITED Neighborhood Concentration Of Public Housing 9/29/08

On Thursday October 2, 2008 mayor-elect Sam Adams will lead his colleagues in a vote which will confirm the future Adams administration policy of UNLIMITED Neighborhood Concentration Of Public Housing. Adams has abandoned his claim that good public decision making requires good public data for back room political deals as his policy making process. Sam Adams has made it clear that he would secretly abandon the bicycle alliance, art advocates, the gay community and his own neighborhood if and when it suits his vote trading needs with other city commissioners.

ONI Credibility On The Line Over Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Election 7/16/08

The fair and proper conduct of elections is the bedrock of our American democracy and the American democratic process wherever and whenever it is practiced.

Suppressing voter participation in elections is a strategy used worldwide by regimes to reduce their chances of losing control. We can find evidence of this undemocratic behavior close to home at the recent Portsmouth neighborhood association election. 

Wheeler In Cahoots With County Comrades Sneaks One Under The Radar 6/27/08

First a correction. The Board of County Commissioners did not "appoint" anybody to represent the interests of Multnomah county on the HAP board. It has no such power. The Board of County Commissioners, under the deplorable stealth misuse of a consent calendar, recommended to the mayor of Portland that he, the mayor, nominate James Smith for a seat on the HAP board which would then be placed on the REGULAR calendar of the Portland city council for public comment, council debate and a vote on confirmation.

Score: Wheeler 7 Potter 2. Still No Public Process And No Public Prospects (Ellmyer Excepted) For HAP Seats 6/23/08

It is now seven months since the last official presence at a HAP board meeting of one of two HAP board members purportedly representing the interests of Multnomah county. The other HAP seat is held by Lee Moore whose refusal to provide me, Multnomah county commissioner Jeff Cogen and all 700,000 residents of Multnomah county with public housing statistical data is de facto evidence the Mr. Moore is NOT representing the interests of Multnomah county and during the public process in which I get to state my case for the HAP seat I will make that point. My hat has been in the ring publicly since March and not a peep of recognition from Ted's office. Very strange. Not a good sign.

Richard Ellmyer Seeks Portland's Vacant HAP Seat 5/27/08

Richard Ellmyer's candidacies for the HAP board for both Multnomah county and the city of Portland are based on his public housing policy positions (see below) serving the interests of Multnomah county and the interests of the city of Portland. The problem for the Multnomah county and Portland city commissioners is that they have never publicly discussed the issue and so there is no public consensus on what exactly defines serving the interests of each public jurisdiction. All of their previous appointments have been based on private backdoor connections recruited by HAP staff. Not a single HAP appointee has ever been vetted nor chosen for a HAP seat based on their written public housing policy positions.

Richard Ellmyer De Facto Multnomah County HAP Nominee 5/5/08

During the FIVE MONTH vacancy for a Multnomah county HAP seat, not a single candidate has been recruited nor recommended for the job by any Multnomah county commissioner nor any candidate for Multnomah county commissioner. 

Portsmouth Neighbors And Board Unanimously Oppose Portland Hope Meadows Corporation Plan 4/24/08

On April 8, 2008 residents of the Portsmouth neighborhood gathered to discuss the disposition and development of the surplus city property known as the former John Ball School site. Every person in this group of about 50 who rose to speak opposed the Portland Hope Meadows Corporation plan. There was not a single voice in support.

On April 22, 2008 the board of the Portsmouth neighborhood association unanimously voted for the followIng:

The Portsmouth Neighborhood Association opposes the use of the former John Ball School site for the Portland Hope Meadows Corporation. The Portsmouth Neighborhood Association wants to be more involved in finding a more suitable use for the site.

Nick Fish Hides His History And Real Public Housing Policy Goals From Supporters And Voter 4/16/08

Nick Fish supports the discredited and abhorrent public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing.

Nick Fish opposes the rights of Multnomah county taxpayers, voters and citizens to access public housing statistical data from the Housing Authority of Portland.

Nick Fish, a lawyer trained as a professional wordsmith, continues to purposely mislead the public by using the amorphous term "affordable" when he speaks about what he knows is, in fact, PUBLIC housing.

Erik Sten's Legacy Of Darkness Soon Changing To Light 4/3/08

Erik Sten, the Darth Vader Overlord of public housing policy and policy makers in all of Multnomah county, is retiring to the dark side. Many years ago Sten astutelyÊcommandeeredÊthe public housing policy portfolio and turned it into a constituency builder by throwing as many taxpayer dollars at the public housing special interest community as he could find. The wider social and economic consequences of his political scheme on property owners, business owners, neighborhoods and taxpayers of Multnomah county were of no interest to him. Sten brilliantlyÊsubstitutedÊthe word "affordable" for the word "public" whenever he talked about public housing to obfuscate his real intent. Erik Sten was the smartest and smoothest/slickest member of Portland's city council since Neil Goldschmidt.

HAP Nemesis Richard Ellmyer Declares Reasoned Candidacy For HAP Commissioner 3/31/08

I recently challenged the Portland city council to stopÊvoting for HAP nominees based only on the candidate's presumed interest and history of public service but rather their positions on public housing policy. Without so much as a hint ofÊacknowledgment to my testimony they proceeded to appoint a novice politico with no evidence of experience or even interest in public housing policy who had theÊintellectual cowardice andÊpolitical hubris to publicly announce that he would NOT reveal his views on public housing policy until after he was confirmed. Of course, since his appointment he has not "revealed" his views nor can he because he has none. The Portland city council knowingly hired a carpenter who owned no woodworking tools and was unfamiliar with the difference between hard and soft woods. Would you make that kind of decision in your home or business?

In response to this disturbing and disgraceful public conduct, I, Richard Ellmyer, am provoked into placing my 33 years of political activism - including serving as campaign manager and personal staff advisor to Multnomah county commissioner Gladys McCoy from 1981 to 1984 - Êand, more importantly, my reasoned and defensible positions on public housing policy on the public table before the Multnomah county commission for consideration to serve the interests of Multnomah county as one of its HAP representatives.

Public Institutions Clash Over Public Housing Policy - Citizens Versus Bureaucrats And Appointed Officials 3/18/08

First, dear reader, ask yourself: Do I believe that public institutions in Multnomah county should use tax moneys to concentrate public housing clients (means test + government subsidy + rental agreement) into a few select neighborhoods in Multnomah county effectively building low income housing ghettos?

If you answered, "absolutely NOT" then you will feel comfortable in the company of your fellow citizens who are leaders of neighborhood associations throughout Multnomah county and those serving on Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committees in Portland. A recent survey showed their numbers range from overwhelming to unanimous in sharing this view with you.

If you answered, "absolutely" then you will feel comfortable in the company of the appointed commissioners and staffs at the Portland Development Commission and the Housing Authority of Portland. A recent survey showed their numbers range from overwhelming to unanimous in sharing this view with you.

Showdown At The HAP Corral - March 19th 10:30 AM 3/10/08

Every vote by the Portland city council to confirm a citizen appointment to the board of the Housing Authority of Portland is a public affirmation of public housing policy in Multnomah county.

The time to vote for HAP nominees based only on their presumed interest or background in public service is past. The job of HAP commissioner is to make public housing policy which guides the spending of $90,000,000 in public funds every year. No vote should be cast by any Portland city commissioner without knowing the nominee's positions on a range of public housing policy issues.

Mike Bennett And YOU Could Be HAP Commissioners - Interested? 1/31/08

Despite the fact that the job of an appointed commissioner to the Housing Authority of Portland is to discuss, debate and develop public housing policy, in the last seven years that I have been closely following the Housing Authority of Portland not a single nominee for the HAP board has ever been asked publicly to state his or her opinions on public housing policy, before, during or after the nominating process. This is a seriously flawed process and must be changed. That change will start with consideration of the next HAP nominee whose role is to serve the interests of the city of Gresham, Mike Bennett.

Meadows Misleads, Saltzman Sequesters Kellogg Foundation Disconnect Data 1/21/08

"The Kellogg Foundation is not a funder of the Portland Hope Meadows project. We have not given a past or current grant/loan to Portland Hope Meadows."

1-17-08 Ted H. Chen - Program Director, Youth & Education - W. K. Kellogg Foundation - 269-969-2677 - thc@wkkf.org

The distortion, disrespect and disregard for process and the truth continues to envelope this ill conceived project. The Kellogg Foundation has no direct financial connection to the Portland Hope Meadows Corporation. This is news.

MEMO 1/7/08

My colleagues, the times they are a changing. That annoying light of public housing statistical data Richard Ellmyer has been shining on our activities for almost seven years keeps getting brighter. Ellmyer's "sunshine" is finally exposing us by name as the citizens most responsible for perpetuating what Ellmyer calls the discredited and abhorrent public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing in Multnomah county. Most disturbing are the increasing number of elected officials, candidates for public office, voters, taxpayers and now even some in the press that are awakening to Ellmyer's call to moral and fiscal accountability. Our days in the dark are numbered. It's time for a new strategy.