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 astutely commandeered the 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 brilliantly substituted the 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.

Sten's acolytes Nick Fish and Jim Middaugh are middling minds compared to their master. However, they do all share a perverse adherence to the discredited and abhorrent public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing. Fish and Middaugh also follow Sten's lead in opposing the proposition that the citizens of Multnomah county have a right to public housing statistical data from all public entities that administer public housing programs.

Erik Sten's singular dominance of public housing policy and policy makers in all of Multnomah county is over. Soon the darkness of Sten's imposed public ignorance will descend and more light will arise and shine on the meaning of the words "public housing" and "public accountability."


Richard Ellmyer
Community activist leading the campaign to stop all potentially new public housing (means test + government subsidy + rental agreement) in the Portsmouth neighborhood, especially the following:
1. Hacienda CDC public housing project on N. Newell Street
2. The recently decommissioned Sharff Army Reserve Center (Adams, Leonard, Saltzman publicly support ONG option)
3. The former John Ball School site (Portland Hope Meadows Corporation take note)
4. The recently closed Clarendon School site
Standards for Equitable Distribution of Public Housing Resolution author and project champion
Writer/Publisher - HAP Watchers commentary - Published on the Internet (http://www.goodgrowthnw.org) and distributed to thousands of readers interested in public housing policy in Multnomah County. To Subscribe: HAP-Watchers-on@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, 30% and rising, within HAP's Multnomah county jurisdiction of 117 neighborhoods.

P.S.
Dear reader, if you want accountability and light shed on the annual spending of $90,000,000 of your money by the Housing Authority of Portland please send this note to Ted Wheeler right away.

To: Ted Wheeler<ted.wheeler@co.multnomah.or.us>
CC: Richard Ellmyer<ellmyer@macsolve.com>
Subject: HAP Candidacy

Dear Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler:
The interests of Multnomah county are served when authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data from the Housing Authority of Portland is regularly placed on the public table for consideration by elected policy makers and the citizens of Multnomah county.

The interests of Multnomah county are served by a policy of equitable distribution of public housing throughout all of Multnomah county's neighborhoods.

Richard Ellmyer has demonstrated seven years of commitment to these policies. I encourage the Multnomah county commission to recommend him to the Portland city council for the position of HAP commissioner representing the interests of Multnomah county.

Sincerely,

Multnomah county voter