Portland's mayor, Sam Adams, is so afraid that his failure to hold the Housing Authority of Portland accountable will expose his coverup and culpability of potential waste, fraud and abuse that he won't allow even the slightest crack in the wall that hides and separates HAP's Public Housing Statistical Data from the sunshine of public view. He is aided and abetted in this coverup by his fellow members of the Portland city council (most notably the uncharacteristically uncurious, go along to get along, taxpayer funded commissioner Amanda Fritz ), the Gresham city council (which incredibly has a councilor on the HAP board) and the Multnomah county commissioners (including Jeff Cogen who twice asked, as a candidate but never as a commissioner ???, for data and was rebuffed) any of whom could also ask for HAP's Public Housing Statistical Data yet they are mute as stone statues. Some, perhaps all, of these silent coconspirators will soon join Sam Adams, Enron, Tiger Woods and the Catholic Church of Ireland in the rogues gallery of the disingenuous, the disreputable and the disgusting.
Enron, Tiger Woods and the Catholic Church of Ireland were once icons "worshiped" for the excellence of their public performances. Enron's management was exposed as criminals. Tiger Woods an adulterer of multiple affairs. The Bishops and priests of the Catholic Church of Ireland, often in cahoots with the police, protected innumerable pedophile priests in stead of their parishioners for decades before being caught.
There is every reason to suspect that the Housing Authority of Portland, unwilling and unable to provide the most basic Public Housing Statistical Data, has not only the possibility but the growing probability to be every bit as guilty of deception and fraud as Enron, Tiger Woods and the Catholic Church of Ireland.
The following is an excerpt from an unsolicited email sent to me from a resident of New Columbia.
From: Susan [not real name]
Subject: public housing problem
To: hwcomments@goodgrowthnw.org
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 4:44 PM
I rent an apartment in the Columbia Villa. When I first moved in there, I had to prove that I earned less than 60% of the median family income. I was making about 32K per year The asking rent was $760 several years ago. I paid the whole thing and I understand there were tax credits given because I earned less than MFI. Today I earn 48K per year, I still have to fill out the paperworkn each year - I can continue to live there until I earn up 140% of MFI [$58,800] - I understand that today my unit rents for $915 per month.
...poor people like me only earn 48K per year.
Dear reader, before we move on I must ask you to answer the following question, which did not appear on the electronic polling for the Portland Plan citizen involvement events:
What should be the maximum income allowed for a one person household to qualify and remain qualified for public housing:
1 - $15,000
2 - $20,000
3 - $25,000
4 - $30,000
5 - $35,000
6 - $40,000
7 - $45,000
8 - $50,000
9 - $55,000
O.K. Keep your answer in mind.
Motivated by my own answer to this question I asked HAP for the most minimum Public Housing Statistical Data I could.
Subject: Request For Public Data Relevant To Campaign For Public Office And Portland Plan
From: ellmyer@macsolve.com
Date: December 11, 2009 10:28:53 AM PST
Cc: samadams@ci.portland.or.us, Nick@ci.portland.or.us, amanda@ci.portland.or.us, jeff.cogen@co.multnomah.or.us, district1@co.multnomah.or.us, district4@co.multnomah.or.us, district3@co.multnomah.or.us, ted.wheeler@co.multnomah.or.us, rleonard@ci.portland.or.us, dsaltzman@ci.portland.or.us, Shane.Bemis@ci.gresham.or.us, Shirley.Craddick@ci.gresham.or.us, carol.nielsen-hood@ci.gresham.or.us, dick.strathern@ci.gresham.or.us, Paul.Warr-King@ci.gresham.or.us, David.Widmark@ci.gresham.or.us, pdxplan@ci.portland.or.us, campaign@johnkitzhaber.com, info@bradbury2010.com, bmanning@ci.portland.or.us, bob@bobstacey.com, sara@rex4metro.com, rex@rex4metro.com, board@hapdx.org
Hi Shelley:
Thanks for the prompt response. It's what I expected but I had to ask.
[The excerpted email above] has stimulated me to ask for the following data:
Report #1. HAP Public Housing Program
A tab delimited text file with the following fields: 1. Income 2. Last Modification Date. For 1 person households only in this database.
Report #2. HAP Section 8 Housing Voucher Program
A tab delimited text file with the following fields: 1. Income 2. Last Modification Date. For 1 person households only in this database.
Report #3. New Columbia in North Portland's Portsmouth Neighborhood Program
A tab delimited text file with the following fields: 1. Income 2. Last Modification Date. For 1 person households only in this database of HAP public housing clients (means test + government subsidy + rental agreement) living in New Columbia as of December 1, 2009.
Report #4. HAP Affordable Housing Program
A tab delimited text file with the following fields: 1. Income 2. Last Modification Date. For 1 person households only in this database of HAP public housing clients (means test + government subsidy + rental agreement) living in all of HAP's 32 properties in Multnomah county as of December 1, 2009.
Please include the precise total number of HAP clients in each category as of December 1, 2009.
It is my intention to use this and other public housing statistical data I may request from the Housing Authority of Portland and the Portland Bureau of Housing on the public table for discussion by taxpayers and voters in North Portland and beyond. Voters, certainly many in my district, will want to debate the merits of providing Public Housing to those earning 48K and beyond.
It is my intention to use this and other public housing statistical data I may request from the Housing Authority of Portland and the Portland Bureau of Housing as the foundation for information and questions currently excluded from the civic exercise referred to as the Portland Plan citizen input meetings. The $200,000,000 elephant in the room CANNOT be ignored.
This request is being copied to the elected officials in Portland, Gresham and Multnomah county that have representatives of their governments sitting on the HAP board of directors whose mandate is to serve the interests of their jurisdictions. It is my contention that providing authentic, accurate, complete and timely Public Housing Statistical Data is a requirement in serving the interests of a jurisdiction. It is my contention that those jurisdictional representatives on the HAP board that refuse to provide authentic, accurate, complete and timely Public Housing Statistical Data to their elected leaders can and should be removed from their appointed office.
It is very important that the elected officials in Portland, Gresham and Multnomah county can see evidence that the Housing Authority of Portland has its data house sufficiently in order that it can, in fact, produce these very simple requested reports in a matter of minutes if not seconds from the computers on which these client records are stored.
It is very important that the elected officials in Portland, Gresham and Multnomah county that have representatives of their governments sitting on the HAP board of directors are aware of this and future requests for Public Housing Statistical Data so that they may make judgements and take individual actions regarding access to Public Housing Statistical Data and those that purportedly serve the interests of their jurisdictions.
It must also be noted that the mayor of Portland, Sam Adams, has the singular statutory authority and responsibility to both nominate and dismiss any and all HAP board members.
The Housing Authority of Portland and the Portland Bureau of Housing are NOT exempt from public scrutiny and accountability.
Thank you.
Richard Ellmyer
Taxpayer
Voter
Homeowner
Business Owner
Candidate for North Portland House Seat in the May 2010 Democratic Primary.
In 34 years of political activism I have observed that any public institution that does not answer an inquiry for information within two weeks is very unlikely to ever respond. It is more than two weeks and neither HAP nor its overlord, mayor Adams, has offered so much as a no never mind.
I know that the taxpayers in North Portland, as well as throughout Multnomah county, are wondering why they are paying to subsidize housing for working individuals who are earning 30K+, 40K+, 50K+ when there are more than 4,000 homeless in Multnomah county and long HAP waiting lists for those making under 30K. As a candidate for the North Portland House seat I would like to have this conversation with voters in my district. But this becomes very difficult when mayor Sam Adams continues to coverup HAP's Public Housing Statistical Data.
Unless I hear from a significant number of North Portland taxpayers that are NOT living in public housing to change this threshold, I will endorse, support and promote a public policy that limits public housing to those individuals that earn less than $30,000 per year.
Richard Ellmyer
Candidate for North Portland House Seat in the May 18, 2010 Democratic Primary.
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.