Welcome to Portland
Everybody loves a hurricane victim . . . Until one actually shows up in the neighborhood.
On September 6, Oregon's Governor Ted Kulongoski signed an agreement with FEMA to accept evacuees from hurricane Katrina (and to receive federal funding for their care). The next day, the defunct Washington-Monroe high school in the Buckman neighborhood of Southeast Portland was set up as a shelter, but some community members were less than thrilled:
"This is an enormous crisis," said Susan Lindsey, chairman of the Buckman Community Association. "And we are thrilled that Oregon is going to reach out and help. But of all the places in the great state of Oregon, we wonder why it's going to be concentrated in Buckman?"
"What happens," asked David Bowles, who owns a house four blocks from the would-be-shelter, "when the warm, fuzzy feeling wears off?"
Sounds like the "warm, fuzzy feeling" never quite took hold. But that's not something residents of the 93%-Kerry-voting precinct have to worry about now.
We like your jazz fests and your Mardi Gras, but . . .
In an apparently unrelated fiasco, the governor's phone rang again just three days after he'd signed the agreement with FEMA. Bring, ring . . . Hello? Oh, hey, Gov, this is FEMA. "Cease and desist" preparations for evacuees. We hereby order you not expend any further efforts on the Oregon operation.
But the shelter in Portland had already been advertised on TV!
More than 300 people have "self-evacuated" to the little city in the liberal Northwest.
And so they arrived. Off Greyhound buses and Southwest airplanes. Hitched rides from friends and friends of friends. They arrived. "Oregon will welcome you with open arms!" they'd heard. Two thousand six hundred forty two miles from New Orleans. Forty hours and thirty-eight minutes if you drive straight through the night. But in those 40 hours cots had been folded up, shoulders shrugged.
Still, they arrived.
And they looked so out of place in white liberal Southest Portland that folks call the cops. "They've got guns!"
According to police, there were no guns.
The doors to the old high school were opened, but only as a "Welcoming Center."
The Red Cross and community agencies who are actually trying to help have turned the space into a resource center where survivors can access resources, but the new arrivals have been referred to craigslist for housing. Some were given vouchers for hotel-stays in the overwhelmingly white suburb of Tigard. Neither warm nor fuzzy.
Volunteers from Portland's African American community--who insisted that the city welcome people no matter how they got here--have been left out of decision-making processes. But guess who the city, county, and Red Cross officials depend on for cultural competence? Yep. Same volunteers.
What to help out? Tough luck. The City of Portland is no longer collecting offers of local housing. The basic donation message from 211info is "When people reach an operator, they may leave their name, number and donated item information and NW medical Teams will follow up when more is known regarding need though this effort will likely be discontinued next week."
Those with resources but without city or agency connections are being told "Just to donate to the Red Cross," an organization that has been accused of withholding aid, has close ties to the Republican party, works in tandem with the Department of Homeland Security, and is officially part of the Bush Administration's national security apparatus.
In the spirit of if-you-want-something-done-do-it-yourself, Pastor Mary Overstreet of the Powerhouse Temple Church in North Portland--with help from family members in the Gulf Coast area--evacuated a group of survivors herself. Pastor Overstreet cashed in two certificates of deposit and sold her Arizona vacation home to pay rent and utilities on Portland apartments for the new community members. "They are broke, homeless, disturbed and need something to get them back on their feet," Pastor Overstreet said. "Why give them a cot when I can give them a key?"
Good thing, since the government doesn't seem to be able to manage even a cot.
Black United Fund
2828 NE Alberta
Portland, OR 97211
(donate generally or note on check: Hurricane Relief Fund and the funds will go to people who relocate to Portland)
(We Love) Pastor Mary Overstreet
Powerhouse Temple Church
4525 N. Williams Ave.
Portland, OR 97217
On September 6, Oregon's Governor Ted Kulongoski signed an agreement with FEMA to accept evacuees from hurricane Katrina (and to receive federal funding for their care). The next day, the defunct Washington-Monroe high school in the Buckman neighborhood of Southeast Portland was set up as a shelter, but some community members were less than thrilled:
"This is an enormous crisis," said Susan Lindsey, chairman of the Buckman Community Association. "And we are thrilled that Oregon is going to reach out and help. But of all the places in the great state of Oregon, we wonder why it's going to be concentrated in Buckman?"
"What happens," asked David Bowles, who owns a house four blocks from the would-be-shelter, "when the warm, fuzzy feeling wears off?"
Sounds like the "warm, fuzzy feeling" never quite took hold. But that's not something residents of the 93%-Kerry-voting precinct have to worry about now.
We like your jazz fests and your Mardi Gras, but . . .
In an apparently unrelated fiasco, the governor's phone rang again just three days after he'd signed the agreement with FEMA. Bring, ring . . . Hello? Oh, hey, Gov, this is FEMA. "Cease and desist" preparations for evacuees. We hereby order you not expend any further efforts on the Oregon operation.
But the shelter in Portland had already been advertised on TV!
More than 300 people have "self-evacuated" to the little city in the liberal Northwest.
And so they arrived. Off Greyhound buses and Southwest airplanes. Hitched rides from friends and friends of friends. They arrived. "Oregon will welcome you with open arms!" they'd heard. Two thousand six hundred forty two miles from New Orleans. Forty hours and thirty-eight minutes if you drive straight through the night. But in those 40 hours cots had been folded up, shoulders shrugged.
Still, they arrived.
And they looked so out of place in white liberal Southest Portland that folks call the cops. "They've got guns!"
According to police, there were no guns.
The doors to the old high school were opened, but only as a "Welcoming Center."
The Red Cross and community agencies who are actually trying to help have turned the space into a resource center where survivors can access resources, but the new arrivals have been referred to craigslist for housing. Some were given vouchers for hotel-stays in the overwhelmingly white suburb of Tigard. Neither warm nor fuzzy.
Volunteers from Portland's African American community--who insisted that the city welcome people no matter how they got here--have been left out of decision-making processes. But guess who the city, county, and Red Cross officials depend on for cultural competence? Yep. Same volunteers.
What to help out? Tough luck. The City of Portland is no longer collecting offers of local housing. The basic donation message from 211info is "When people reach an operator, they may leave their name, number and donated item information and NW medical Teams will follow up when more is known regarding need though this effort will likely be discontinued next week."
Those with resources but without city or agency connections are being told "Just to donate to the Red Cross," an organization that has been accused of withholding aid, has close ties to the Republican party, works in tandem with the Department of Homeland Security, and is officially part of the Bush Administration's national security apparatus.
In the spirit of if-you-want-something-done-do-it-yourself, Pastor Mary Overstreet of the Powerhouse Temple Church in North Portland--with help from family members in the Gulf Coast area--evacuated a group of survivors herself. Pastor Overstreet cashed in two certificates of deposit and sold her Arizona vacation home to pay rent and utilities on Portland apartments for the new community members. "They are broke, homeless, disturbed and need something to get them back on their feet," Pastor Overstreet said. "Why give them a cot when I can give them a key?"
Good thing, since the government doesn't seem to be able to manage even a cot.
Black United Fund
2828 NE Alberta
Portland, OR 97211
(donate generally or note on check: Hurricane Relief Fund and the funds will go to people who relocate to Portland)
(We Love) Pastor Mary Overstreet
Powerhouse Temple Church
4525 N. Williams Ave.
Portland, OR 97217
posted by Contact at 6:04 PM
2 Comments:
I'm sorry to repeat if you've written or heard about this already, but www.hurricanehousing.org is a great way to connect willing individuals in Portland to refugees that need a space on their couch or in their guest room.
See Also KatrinaHousingNW.org for matching up more families. They were trying to work with both property lenders and in-home stay offers of which there were 100s of offers. Also, KatrinaResponse.net, a faith-based coordination has links on their site for relocating people to resources they may need.
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