People in Portland, Oregon:
(a message from Hygiene4All and the Welcome Home Coalition)

You’ve got the power to tell our Mayor & County Chair to invest in the solutions proven to stop neighbors from becoming & staying homeless.

Honor the self-described needs of those experiencing homelessness! :

* Move funds for encampment sweeps, RV removals fining & jailing that prolong homelessness to investments preventing evictions & assisting with rent that end homelessness.

* Shift spending from expanding dead-end “overnight only shelter” to rent assistance & peer support & case management that open a concrete path to housing & stability for those currently stuck on the streets & in 24 hour shelters.

* Publicly buy discounted private sector apartments & hotels to immediately expand permanent affordable housing that will protect us from the market speculation driving rents ever higher. (Recently, our City added several hundred affordable units in weeks at a fraction of new building construction cost. )

Together we can change direction and do better!

Sign the Petition

https://actionbutton.nationbuilder.com/share/SPK-QEdFSUk=

(you may have to add back the = at the end after clicking on the link)

Report

https://welcomehomecoalition.org/finding-home-report/

THE FEDS ARE DISMANTLING OUR SAFETY NET

Federal actions are sending millions to the streets, all to fatten the wallets of Wall Street property speculators. Our local leaders must do better

#Housing #HousekeysNotHandcuffs #CareNotCops #Portland #PortlandOregon #PDX

Downtown Clean & Safe Expansion and Renewal

City Council hearing
Portland City Council is holding a hearing on the Downtown Portland Clean & Safe ESD Expansion Petition on Thursday, Oct. 31 at 2:45 p.m.

Background
Three years ago, the Portland community mobilized against renewing the Downtown Clean & Safe Enhanced Services District (ESD) contract. A 2020 City Auditor’s report found that ESDs in Portland had virtually no oversight or accountability while overpolicing communities. The Clean & Safe ESD in particular was funding Portland police officers and hiring armed private security guards to patrol public streets, all while subsidizing the salaries of Portland Business Alliance executives.

Thanks to community pressure, in 2021 City Council reduced Clean & Safe’s contract term from 10 years to five. But despite overwhelming pushback, City Council still approved the five-year contract. Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, the only commissioner to vote no, said, “The city failed the community today.”

Since then, the City finally began responding to the 2020 audit. They hired a Seattle-based firm, Uncommon Bridges (formerly BDS Planning), to write a report recommending “best practices” related to ESDs. Portland community members opposed several of these recommendations (such as forcing residents like condo owners to pay ESD fees) at public feedback sessions and in written testimony. However, many of these objections were ignored.

Now, two years before the contract expires and mere months before the new City Council takes office, Clean & Safe is trying to fast-track a new, expanded contract. In August Clean & Safe filed a petition to expand its boundaries, revise the fee rate structure, implement residential rate caps, renew the ESD for another 10 years, and set up a new five-year contract. Their petition addresses minimal recommendations from Uncommon Bridges, like rate caps, while ignoring calls for greater oversight and transparency.
If approved by City Council, these items would go into effect on October 1, 2025.

Tell City Council what you think!

Don’t let PBA rush this contract through City Council! Submit testimony today.
The link to register to testify orally, or to submit written testimony, is posted in the agenda for the City Council hearing by 9 a.m. the Friday before the hearing.

Agenda Items
Thursday, October 31st - 2pm
951
Amend District Property Management License Code to update fees and district boundary to extend Downtown Portland Clean and Safe Enhanced Services District Property Management License Fee for an additional ten years and to align with amended City Charter approved by voters in Portland Measure 26-228 (replace Code Chapter 6.06) (Ordinance)

952
Authorize Agreement for District Management Services of the Downtown Portland Clean & Safe Enhanced Services District by Clean & Safe, Inc. for an estimated amount of $58 million over five years (Ordinance)

TALKING POINTS
City Council should table this petition until the current Clean & Safe contract expires in 2026.

Given existing concerns about Clean & Safe’s governance and transparency, the City should not renew its contract in this rushed manner.

The petition ignores key community concerns about Clean & Safe, namely lack of transparency and governance. This petition does not introduce any requirements about transparency in governance or operations, as recommended by Uncommon Bridges/BDS Planning in their report to City Council.

Since taxpayer money goes into the ESD, the public should be able to provide feedback like any ratepayer. Public entities already pay into the ESD, and new public entities like Oregon State University fall within the proposed expanded boundaries. However, Clean & Safe continues to shut the public out of its planning process.

The rate increase violates the moratorium on new taxes and fees proposed by Gov. Kotek and the Central City Task Force. The moratorium as recommended is supposed to extend through 2026 at a minimum, while the proposed new contract will take effect in 2025.

The rate increase would solidify a double standard in matters of City-level revenue generation and distribution. According to this double standard, increasing taxes to fund public services is problematic and to be avoided (“A persistent complaint of late from businesses and leaders like [Mayor Ted] Wheeler is that Portland is one of the highest-taxed cities in the country,” OPB) while increasing rates to fund the ESD’s private services is unproblematic and to be encouraged. The proposed rate increase reveals that the true nature of leaders’ complaints about taxes is not about the tax burden, but about whether private organizations receive and control disbursal of collected revenues.

The ESD should not fund significant portions of Portland Business Alliance salaries. The petition does nothing to reduce how much ratepayers contribute to PBA salaries. It is inefficient and inappropriate to use public resources to subsidize the salaries of business lobbyists.

The 5-year term of the proposed contract will fully bypass the first terms of incoming City Council members. New representatives will not be able to evaluate and alter the program within their terms; further, representatives elected to District 4, which overlaps the ESD’s service area, will face two elections prior to the new contract expires. Adopting the contract with its proposed 5-year term would be an affront to voters at the very moment they are choosing their new representatives.

The proposed contract will partially subsidize the activities of the Portland Business Alliance and empower the PBA to continue its efforts to shape local policymaking and elections through the full first terms of incoming electeds. The PBA is not only the City’s most prolific political lobbying organization; the PBA also directs a political action committee actively working to shape electoral outcomes in favor of its own interests, without the limits imposed on candidates under the Small Donor Elections Program. By approving the proposed contract, the outgoing City Council will be partially subsidizing and tacitly authorizing PBA’s continued political activity and influence operations throughout the 2026, 2028, and 2030 City Council elections.

Portland Business Alliance sued and bankrolled a campaign to block charter reform. They should not be allowed to circumvent the new City Council by pushing an early renewal.

#PortlandOregon #PDX #StopTheSweeps #HousingNotHandcuffs #CareNotCops

https://www.portland.gov/auditor/council-clerk/events/2024/10/31/city-council-meeting-afternoon-session

When I reached out to the queer- and trans-owned feminist @roomofonesownbooks in Madison, WI, stolen Ho-Chunk lands, about doing an event related to my latest edited anthology, the bookstore folks suggested that I, in turn, ask someone to join me in conversation. That felt delightfully in the spirit of this project, focusing on what anarcha-feminism looks like in practice—which for one thing (among many), makes space for many liberatory voices.

I’m especially overjoyed that my friend and fellow Jewish anarchist Autumn Miller agreed to be that person, not only for Autumn’s insights and ethics, but the deep care that Autumn lives by, and from what I’ve experienced, routinely lives by. For instance, Autumn suggested that we use this talk+conversation as also a fundraiser for two local folks facing @stopcopcity RICO charges—and of course, I and the bookstore eagerly agreed!

The book itself is a fundraiser too, or what I call a “labor of love” from me and every contributor to it: all proceeds from #ConstellationsOfCare: #AnarchaFeminismInPractice” (@plutopress, with bold and badass cover design by @eff_charm) will go to anarcha-feminist projects in various rebellious corners of the globe, to be decided with each round of “royalties.”

But the book is more than mere vehicle for redistributing funds. As someone named Martyna wrote in Polish (likely from a home base in Poland) on Goodreads recently:

“An inspiring book about a whole range of anarcha-feminist initiatives around the world, from street medics and Food Not Bombs to the Abortion Dream Team. … It can help people who are opposed to the ideas of anarchism to understand what it’s really about, and for me and other anarchists, this book can become a support—a reminds that there are plenty of people in the world who think [and directly act] like us.”

For at this point in whatever is left of human history, I’m far more concerned about how people practice forms of freedom, and model what it means to collectively nurture and sustain life, than how folks too often mouth words while upholding the murderous status quo.

Hope to see some of you in person, July 24, 6 pm!

#CareNotCops (as seen in photo 3 by contributor @sugarbombingworld

After spending some 4 days in a big “liberated zone” that was managed by self-appointed leaders who announced “direct democracy” loudly on a microphone but didn’t actually let people autonomously self-govern, much less truly self-organize, it was tender indeed to be at the smallish, intentional, and highly participatory start of an outdoor solidarity space on the grassy quad at UNC-Asheville today.

What struck me was the way it lead with care—not pushing people past where they were ready to go, but engaging in lots of conversation, sharing, listening, and hearing. Knowing when to ask for support from others. Collectively wrestling with questions and co-education.

That care was especially evident, though, in the first two actions: setting up a free food and first-aid area; and spending hours reverently and beautifully chalking out the names of too many Palestinians murdered in Gaza, honoring the dead.

Who knows what will come of this relatively tiny solidarity space being opened up in a relatively tiny town. Yet as one student noted, they’re skilling up for the long haul.

#EducatingOurselvesForFreedom
#FoodNotFascism
#CareNotCops
#MourningOurDead
#MendingTheWorld

If May Day, among other things, is about sharing the “wealth” (aka abolishing capitalism), there’s nothing quite like going to a small but sweet Really Really Free Market on this May 1 and being gifted a sheet of freshly printed stickers that feel just right for these suddenly rebellious times. (After all, #AllComradesAreBeautiful!)

Then, soon after, redistributing that “wealth” to others at a nearby May Day rally, made merry because of the danceable tunes of @brassyourheart (which may now have some tiny water jugs on a drum or two because this marching band can #AlwaysCarryABeat!).

There are so many others reasons, of course, to wear one’s #ACAB on their sleeve (or water bottle) this May Day, when so many universities and colleges are liberating spaces of solidarity for Gaza, and in the process, powerfully demonstrating that #AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful.

And likewise, so many police are painfully demonstrating that #AllCopsAreBrutal—underscoring that cop cities (aka policing) everywhere must be abolished, from every river to every sea, just as the Haymarket martyrs also fought and alas died for, in part.

Next May Day, in liberation!

#CareNotCops
#CommonsNotCapitalism
#SolidarityNotStates
#TryAnarchismForLife
#UntilAllAreFree

(Ongoing love+solidarity to the brave+bold folks at @occupycalpolyhumboldt for gifting the world the joy of a humble water jug vs. cop during their occupation)

There is so much I want to say—ranging from the refreshed inspiration I feel, to the joyous bonds of connection and solidarity that collective encampments make possible, to all the ways that “radical” reformers limit the horizons of social transformation within such moments of palpable potentiality.

But all the hours over the past few days have been overfull with being fully present in the face-to-face real life of the UPitt encampment.

So for now, a quick note of friendly anarchist encouragement:

If you’re “liberated zone” includes a rule saying “don’t talk to the police” and messages like #FTP on tents (pictured here) …

actually, truly DO NOT talk to the police (including behind the scenes chats by self-appointed “leaders” to negotiate with the cops) and don’t create your own “peace police” force within your camp. Neither point toward liberation, much less abolition. And both do not keep us safe.

Only we keep us safe(r).

Be like water (bottles). Think and act for yourselves, together, in collective self-defense and collective prefiguration of the liberatory self-governed and autonomous spaces we all deserve.

#AutonomousCommunitiesAreBeautiful
#ACAB
#CareNotCops (including yellow-vested ones)
#UntilAllAreFree

Holding in my heart: each and every person (except the police) who was at a music festival in the Weelaunee Forest one year ago today. Those performing. Those dancing and reveling. Those resisting. Those doing logistics and care. Those mourning Tortuguita. Those savoring moments of reinspiration and respite, joy and connection. Those looking out for others.

Especially those brutalized, arrested, and detained that day, and now facing heavy yet absurd charges.

Cops ruin everything, from March 5, 2023, in Atlanta, to yesterday among Appalachians Against Pipelines, to March 5, 2024, in Gaza, to all the days in between.

Courts aren't any better, even when they purport justice or rule something "a genocide." Prisons and militaries, states and borders, continue apace, churning out death.

We know this.

(At this point in human history, everyone should.)

What we too often overlook amid the despair, intensity, and trauma of these times is: we are the ones who make music. Even when it feels a whisper. Or when we feel as if we're humming alone or singing aloud with only a few friends. Our tunes float from forests and rivers to mountains and seas, in melodic forms that no cop, court, or country can see, hear, or comprehend. They take the shape of everything from rituals of resistance to jail solidarity and collective defense, to our many imaginative direct actions, dreamy do-it-ourselves spaces, mutual aid through asundry disasters, and communal care, to our ability to find cracks of possibility even when their walls seem impenetrable.

Still, anniversaries can feel hard. Our bodies remember, even if our minds try to block them out.

Let's all hold all of those (except the cops) who were at a music festival a year ago in our hearts, and others grappling with the state's crackdown on @stopcopcity as a movement, until all the charges are dropped, #UntilAllAreFree—everywhere.

#AllCopsAreBad
#AllCourtsAreBad
#ACABincludesIOF
#CareNotCops
#AllComradesAreBeautiful
#SolidarityIsOurBestWeapon

(photo: #ACAB Palestinian solidarity sticker seen recently on Stone Mountain in so-called Georgia; while they last, these stickers are free at @community_books_ga)

Moved to be able to share this art and the words below by @porknap, and do a humble amount of support to help make time-space for all who were touched by Tort’s life to engage in rituals of remembrance on January 18.

#StopCopCity #DefendTheWeelauneeForest
#ForestsNotFascism #CareNotCops
#MourningOurDead #MendingTheWorld

###

One year has passed since our beloved friend and comrade Manuel Esteban Paez Terán was murdered by Georgia State Police in the Weelaunee forest in Atlanta, GA.

We will gather in ritual resistance on January 18, 2024 @ 6 pm to share stories, songs, prayers, and feelings in remembrance of our dear sibling Tortuguita.

Bring words or non-words to share and altar items.

Mask up! Bundle Up!

We will convene at the grassy area off the French Broad River Greenway near the intersection of Craven/Riverside (in the River Arts District), Asheville, NC.

It should not be lost that the anniversary (or yahrzeit in jewish tradition) is happening the same month that 1 of the 61 defendants indicted with RICO charges will attend their trial, where they face bogus accusations of conspiring, racketeering, and inflicting domestic terr0r.

A bitter reminder to fight for our friends while they are still here (and that fighting for our friends who are not physically still here is tied up together, as prosecutors seek to use Tort’s diary as evidence in the trial)!

May their memory be a blessing.

From the forest to Atlanta to the United States to Palestine, hoping for an eternal shmita (sabbath year) for all occupied land.

@stopcopcity @defendatlantaforest @atlsolfund

🩷🌿🖤🐢🩷🌿🖤🐢🩷🌿🖤🐢