theroadlive podcast: Recent Episodes

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Welcome to DI Squared….a ten-part weekly feature of KBOO News ….

DI Squared stands for “Dream it, Do it.” Today we present Episode 10, the final episode in the series.

We’ve been asking this question every week for over two months: Have you ever thought about starting your own business? Have you wondered, Could I make a living….doing something I really like doing?

This is the last episode in a series that’s designed to help you understand the basics of starting a business, and whether you might want to think about doing that. Each week we’ve told another local success story and we’ve tried to give you some of the tools you need to start a business of your own.

We’ve been focusing on minority businesses, mostly people of color. Last week we visited the Mercado on Foster Road in Southeast Portland. We met a man whose family came from Oaxaca in the mid-1980’s and now operates the Mixteca food cart at the Mercado and sells fresh food at five City markets.

Today we meet a successful woman with native American roots, Loretta Guzman. Loretta had a vision, and it came to her in a dream in the form of a bison, and now she operates a coffee shop on Cully in Northeast where you can feel that spirit while enjoying a cup of coffee and a snack… Then, to wrap things up, we’ll briefly revisit a few of our earlier episodes and sum up some lessons learned along the way from Portland’s entrepreneurs and business advisors.

Here’s Loretta, talking about her roots and her business and the dream that got her started:

That was Loretta Guzman.

Music---briefly

Now we go back and sample a few memorable DI Squared guests over the past two months:

Bertony Faustin talked about how his business changed his life…

Here’s Christian Kofi, Portland Moving Company, talking about what guides him….

Eric Ufer is a Pest Control fanatic. Keep your day job, Eric suggests…

Sam Brooks of OAME is a legend in Oregon’s Business world. This is Sam talking about his five crucial points of success…

It was a treat to meet Julie Derrick, J.D. Shoe Repair, and here’s a point she made…

Nita Shah of MESO offered this advice for those who have poor credit…

It’s nice to hear of success. Michelle Sanders and her husband Miguel Salinas have come a long way….

And Laura Locker of Northwest Mercy Corps told us about the IDA program…

MUSIC ---- ---continue through this outro---yes, start high, then low and build to sign-out

Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve just heard, go to KBOO.FM and look under evening news for today’s date---or look in KBOO”s podcast section for all ten episodes.

That’s it for DI Squared. We’ve run our course, and it’s been fun. Like everything else, it has to end sometime. We hope you’ve enjoyed hearing these stories and perhaps making a decision on whether you….should….Dream It, Do It….

For KBOO News, I’m Tom Flynn

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Welcome to DI Squared….a weekly feature of KBOO News….

This ninth show features Gaudencia Felipe of Mixteca Catering.

Our expert guest of the week is Chris Bailey from the Hacienda Community Development Corporation..

Is there ANYONEworking in a business, large or small, maybe a factory, or a store, or in the government, or in a school,…ANYONE…who hasn’t thought, and maybe even dreamed, of starting their own business, and working for themselves? ANYONE?

At one time or another most of us want to work for ourselves, not for someone else. Have you ever had a moment at work when you thought of that Johnny Paycheck song, “Take this job and shove it…”

In those moments we’re all eager to take the risks of running our own business in order to reap the benefits of working for ourselves….Uhhhhhh, wait.. What about those risks? Who said we’re ready to take risks?

That’s the starting point for this KBOO news feature, “DREAM IT, DO IT.” We’re calling it “DI SQUARED.” Dream it, do it. Our goal is to wake you up, and get you thinking, about starting a business of your own. Maybe you’re a person who should start your own business, take the risks. Dream it, do it. Or maybe not…

Here's Gaudencia, who comes from Oaxaca, Mexico.

And next we speak with Chris Bailey, a consultant on the development of small food businesses and a food maker in his own right.

There is no one "right" set of characteristics for being a successful entrepreneur but certain general traits and practical skills will help you succeed.

That’s it for DI Squared for today.

Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve heard, go to the KBOO web site and look under evening news for today’s date.

And send your questions to theroadlive@gmail.com. We’d like to make your questionthe featured questionfor one of our shows.

We’’ll be back in a week with a final episode, and you can find out the difference between a bison and a buffalo! Tune in then for the next episode of DI Squared.

From KBOO News, I’m Tom…

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Welcome to DI Squared….a weekly feature of KBOO News….This eighth show features Yvette Penson of Sweet Temptations.

Our expert guest of the week is Ruth Miles from the Oregon Office of Secretary of State.

At one time or another most of us want to work for ourselves, not for someone else. Have you ever had a moment at work when you thought of that Johnny Paycheck song, “Take this job and shove it…”

In those moments we’re all eager to take the risks of running our own business in order to reap the benefits of working for ourselves….Uhhhhhh, wait.. What about those risks? Who said we’re ready to take risks?

That’s the starting point for this KBOO news feature, “DREAM IT, DO IT.” We’re calling it “DI SQUARED.” Dream it, do it. Our goal is to wake you up, and get you thinking, about starting a business of your own. Maybe you’re a person who should start your own business, take the risks. Dream it, do it. Or maybe not…

The entrepreneurs we plan to cover are all people of color in the Portland area, and people who have created businesses that range from… asbestos removal to…. wine-making.

You’ll hear their stories and maybe you’ll be inspired. Or maybe not. No matter, you’ll find the best examples in the Portland region of what people can do if they want to work for themselves and they set their minds to it….They dreamed it, and they did it. And that’s what DI Squared is all about.

Here's Yvette Penson, a woman who grew up in Portland and now has her own catering business.

And here's Ruth Miles, from the Office of the Secretary of State of Oregon.

We’ll ask you to examine your own personal strengths and weaknesses and compare them with those of the typical entrepreneur, so that you can get a sense of how well this career will fit with your personality.

There is no one "right" set of characteristics for being a successful entrepreneur but certain general traits and practical skills will help you succeed.

MUSIC ----4 seconds…

That’s it for DI Squared for today.

Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve heard, go to the KBOO web site and look under evening news for today’s date.

And send your questions to theroadlive@gmail.com. We’d like to make your questionthe featured questionfor one of our shows.

We’’ll be back in a week! Tune in then for the next episode of DI Squared.

From KBOO News, I’m Tom…

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Welcome to DI Squared….a weekly feature of KBOO News….This i9s the seventh in a ten-part series. Today we feature an entrepreneurial couple, Michelle Sanders and Miguel Salinas of Attic Journals. Our expert guest of the week is Laura Locker of Mercy Corps Northwest.

MUSIC ----4 seconds…

Is there ANYONEworking in a business, large or small, maybe a factory, or a store, or in the government, or in a school,…ANYONE…who hasn’t thought, and maybe even dreamed, of starting their own business, and working for themselves? ANYONE?

At one time or another most of us want to work for ourselves, not for someone else. Have you ever had a moment at work when you thought of that Johnny Paycheck song, “Take this job and shove it…”

In those moments we’re all eager to take the risks of running our own business in order to reap the benefits of working for ourselves….Uhhhhhh, wait.. What about those risks? Who said we’re ready to take risks?

That’s the starting point for this KBOO news feature, “DREAM IT, DO IT.” We’re calling it “DI SQUARED.” Dream it, do it. Our goal is to wake you up, and get you thinking, about starting a business of your own. Maybe you’re a person who should start your own business, take the risks. Dream it, do it. Or maybe not…

The entrepreneurs we plan to cover are all people of color in the Portland area, and people who have created businesses that range from… asbestos removal to…. wine-making.

You’ll hear their stories and maybe you’ll be inspired. Or maybe not. No matter, you’ll find the best examples in the Portland region of what people can do if they want to work for themselves and they set their minds to it….They dreamed it, and they did it. And that’s what DI Squared is all about.

Here's Laura:

In the next few episodes we’ll start to explore what it it that makes a person likely to be successful as an entrepreneur.

We’ll ask you to examine your own personal strengths and weaknesses and compare them with those of the typical entrepreneur, so that you can get a sense of how well this career will fit with your personality.

There is no one "right" set of characteristics for being a successful entrepreneur but certain general traits and practical skills will help you succeed.

MUSIC ----4 seconds…

That’s it for DI Squared for today.

Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve heard, go to the KBOO web site and look under evening news for today’s date.

And send your questions to theroadlive@gmail.com. We’d like to make your questionthe featured questionfor one of our shows.

We’’ll be back in a week! Tune in then for the next episode of DI Squared.

From KBOO News, I’m Tom…

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Welcome to DI Squared….a ten-part weekly feature of KBOO News. This is the sixth in a ten-episode series.

MUSIC ----3 seconds…

DI Squared stands for “Dream it, Do it.” Today we present Episode 6.

Have you ever had an idea about a product or a service that you thought could be a big hit in the market place? Have you wondered, Could I make a living….doing something I really like doing?

This is the sixth in our ten-part series that’s designed to help you understand the basics of starting a business, and whether you might want to think about doing that. And in the course of telling a local success story, we want to give you some of the tools you need to start a business of your own.

We’ve been focusing on minority businesses, mostly people of color. Last week we talked with Dimas Diaz, who came from Cuba in 1981 and now sells commercial insurance. Today we meet a woman who came from Idaho and now repairs shoes

Julie Derrick repairs shoes at a store in North Portland. Julie started her business seven years ago and she’s been growing it, slow but sure, ever since. She got some help from an organization called “MESO,” Micro-Enterprise Services of Oregon, which also has an office in North Portland. Julie’s here at KBOO today, along with Nita Shah and Tatsonga Davis of MESO, to describe how Julie launchd her business and how MESO helped her and, maybe, could help you.

Julie, tell us your story…

That was Julie, of J.D. Shoe Repair, who repairs shoes at her shop on North Alberta, along with Nita Shah and Tatsonga Davis of MESO, MicroEnterprise Services of Oregon .

Listeners, you can learn more about what the MESO has to offer by looking at its web site, making contact with them and asking for the help you need. This is an organization that can help you with advice about getting started along with specific research and marketing tools that could be very valuable. All you have to do is walk through their door…The homework will come later. And you’ll learn first hand about “this thing called projections.”

Next week we meet a husband and wife business team who make new things out of old books. They’re makers and recyclers who found a way to make a living while working out of the home. Their story may open a new chapter for you.

MUSIC ----4 seconds…or---continue through this outro?

That’s it for DI Squared for today.

Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve heard just now, go to KBOO.FM and look under evening news for today’s date---or look in KBOO”s podcast section for episodes of DI Squared.

And send your question to theroadlive@gmail.com. We’d like to make your questionthe featured questionfor one of our shows.

We’’ll be back in a week! Tune in then for the next episode of DI Squared----Dream it, Do it.

From KBOO News, I’m Tom Flynn

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Welcome to DI Squared….a ten-part weekly feature of KBOO News

DI Squared stands for “Dream it, Do it.”

This is the fifth in our ten-part series that’s designed to help you understand what an entrepreneur is, and whether you are or could become one. And in the course of doing that, we want to give you some of the tools you need to start a business of your own.

We’ve been focusing on minority businesses, mostly people of color. So far we’ve meet a black wine-maker, a Liberian man and his wife with a moving company, a pest control fanatic who escaped Wall Street , , and a guy who sells styling products for men….

Today we meet Dimas Diaz, a man who came to Portland in 1981 from Cuba and who now sells commercial insurance. Here’s Dimas to tell you about his long journey, from Havana to Portland . Bienvenidos, Dimos…Welcome to KBOO…

That was Dimas Diaz, a commercial insurance specialist.

Each week we introduce an organization in the Portland area that has resources to help entrepreneurs get started and succeed. We’ve told you about OAME, a Portland-based networking organization for minority businesses, OEN, another networking group and Prosper Portland, the economic development arm of the City of Portland. Today we take a leap into the federal bureaucracy and introduce you to the Small Business Administration, known as the SBA…

Our featured expert today is Marty Golden, who heads up the SBA’s Portland office. Marty gave me some background on the SBA:
Oka y, ------- here’s our Question of the Week

I’VE HEARD THAT THERE’S A LOT OF PAPERWORK ASSOCIATED WITH A LOAN FROM THE SBA. IS THAT TRUE AND IF SO, WHY WHOULD I BOTHER TO APPL? I FEEL LIKE I JUST DON’T HAVE TIME FOR PAPERWORK AND RED TAPE.

Listeners, you can learn more about what the SBA has to offer by looking its web site, making contact with them and asking for the help you need. There are special programs for vets, women, minority people and others. This is a complicated organization and it may test your patience to figure out…what it can do for you…but we do have a federal government and I still believe that you can make it work for you…

Next week we meet a woman who can fix your shoes. Don’t we all need that kind of help from time to time? I know that our listeners are the kind of people who buy good shoes and keep them for decades. This lady will be good for your soles.

And we’ll tell you about a door you can walk through right here in Portland where you can get specific tools, like market research and mailing lists, that could help you be successful. It’s on North Mississipi, near the shoe repair shop, in case you want to….cool your heels.

And we’ll continue to explore what it is that makes a person likely to be successful as an entrepreneur. We keep hearing that word, passion, and next week we’ll give you a new term to chew on, that’s “proof of concept.” It’s not enough to be passionate. You have to do the hard work of testing the viability of your idea.

That’s it for DI Squared for today.

Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve heard just now, go to KBOO.FM and look under evening news for today’s date---or look in KBOO”s podcast section for episodes of DI Squared.

And send your question to theroadlive@gmail.com. We’d like to make your questionthe featured questionfor one of our shows.

We’’ll be back in a week! Tune in then for the next episode of DI Squared----Dream it,Do it.

From KBOO News, I’m Tom Flynn

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Welcome to DI Squared….a weekly feature of KBOO News….

This fourth show features MinNefer Menakhem, owner of Dirty Bastard.

Our expert guest of the week is Sam Brooks, Director of the Oregon Assn. of Minority Entrepreneurs

Is there ANYONEworking in a business, large or small, maybe a factory, or a store, or in the government, or in a school,…ANYONE…who hasn’t thought, and maybe even dreamed, of starting their own business, and working for themselves? ANYONE?

At one time or another most of us want to work for ourselves, not for someone else. Have you ever had a moment at work when you thought of that Johnny Paycheck song, “Take this job and shove it…”

In those moments we’re all eager to take the risks of running our own business in order to reap the benefits of working for ourselves….Uhhhhhh, wait.. What about those risks? Who said we’re ready to take risks?

That’s the starting point for this KBOO news feature, “DREAM IT, DO IT.” We’re calling it “DI SQUARED.” Dream it, do it. Our goal is to wake you up, and get you thinking, about starting a business of your own. Maybe you’re a person who should start your own business, take the risks. Dream it, do it. Or maybe not…

This is the fourth in a series of of ten episodes. Each week we’ll feature these three elements:

First, a featured entrepreneur profile ofsomeone who’s done it, who’s actually set up a business of their own and is making a living from it.

Second, a featured resourcethat you can use to find funding or other types of support to get started or expand. The resources will range from government loan pools to internet funding sources like Kickstarter.

Third, we’ll have a question of the weekfrom a listener and a response from an expert that focuses on a specific burning issue that you as an entrepreneur face in getting started.

The entrepreneurs we plan to cover are all people of color in the Portland area, and people who have created businesses that range from… asbestos removal to…. wine-making.

You’ll hear their stories and maybe you’ll be inspired. Or maybe not. No matter, you’ll find the best examples in the Portland region of what people can do if they want to work for themselves and they set their minds to it….They dreamed it, and they did it. And that’s what DI Squared is all about.

We’ll ask you to examine your own personal strengths and weaknesses and compare them with those of the typical entrepreneur, so that you can get a sense of how well this career will fit with your personality.

There is no one "right" set of characteristics for being a successful entrepreneur but certain general traits and practical skills will help you succeed.

That’s it for DI Squared for today.

Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve heard, go to the KBOO web site and look under evening news for today’s date.

And send your questions to theroadlive@gmail.com. We’d like to make your questionthe featured questionfor one of our shows.

We’’ll be back in a week! Tune in then for the next episode of DI Squared.

From KBOO News, I’m Tom…

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Welcome to DI Squared….a ten-part weekly feature of KBOO News

DI Squared stands for “Dream it, Do it.” Our guests for this show are Eric Ufer, Pest Solutions, and Tony Campbell, City of Portland.

Is there ANYONEworking in a business, large or small, maybe a factory, or a store, or in the government, or maybe a radio station,…ANYONE…who hasn’t thought, and maybe even dreamed, of starting their own business, and working for themselves? ANYONE?

Maybe you’ve got passion and a vision to do something, but you’re in one of those minimum wage jobs where you struggle to make ends meet. Or maybe you’re a contractor in our gig economy where you get short-term contracts that pay okay but have no health care, no vacation, not even a desk. Not to mention a future…

You could be a company of your own.

This is the third of ten episodes. Each week we feature these three elements:

First, a profile of afeatured entrepreneur, someone who’s done it.

Second, a featured resourcethat you can use to find funding or get other types of help.

Third, a burning question of the weekfrom a listener.

The entrepreneurs we’re covering are all minority business people, most of them people of color, in the Portland area, and people who have created businesses that range from… asbestos removal to…. wine-making.

Maybe their stories will inspire you. Or maybe not. No matter, these are people who dreamed it, and then did it. And that’s what DI Squared is all about.

Today we’re speaking with featured entrepreneur of the week, Eric Ufer. Eric is passionate about bedbugs, cockroaches, rats and other critters that bug us. Six years ago Eric started Pest Solutions, Inc.

And a quick heads-up: if you’re a bedbug listening to this, you may want to get under the covers, there’s some bad news coming.

Here’s Eric to tell his story:

That was Eric Ufer, of Pest Solutions, a man who is passionate about…bedbugs.

Our special guest this week is Tory Campbell, Director of the Office of ___________________, part of Portland Prosper, the economic development arm of the City of Portland. Besides managing the City’s program to help entrepreneurs, Tory is an entrepreneur himself, the founder of ______________, a company that makes sauces….

And that brings us to our question of the week

QUESTION

Listeners, you can learn more about what the City has to offer by looking at the Prosper Portland web site, making contact with them and asking for the help you need. There are lots of resources out there that you can access in getting started.

Next week we’ll continue to explore what it is that makes a person likely to be successful as an entrepreneur. Just keep in mind that there’s no one "right" set of characteristics for being a successful entrepreneur.

But as we learned today, like many deep commitments, it starts with passion, what The City’s guy, Tory, called “hunger” ---even if it’s a passion whose object is the lowly bedbug.

That’s it for DI Squared for today.

Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve heard just now, go to KBOO.com and look under evening news for today’s date.

And send your question to theroadlive@gmail.com. We’d like to make your questionthe featured questionfor one of our shows.

We’’ll be back in a week! Tune in then for the next episode of DI Squared----Dream it,Do it.

And bedbugs, watch out…don’t say we didn’t warn you…

From KBOO News, I’m Tom Flynn

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Welcome to DI Squared….a ten-part weekly feature of KBOO News….

MUSIC ----3 seconds…

Is there ANYONEworking in a business, large or small, maybe a factory, or a store, or in the government, or in a school,…ANYONE…who hasn’t thought, and maybe even dreamed, of starting their own business, and working for themselves? ANYONE?

At one time or another most of us want to work for ourselves, not for someone else.

That’s the starting point for this KBOO news feature, “DREAM IT, DO IT.” We call it “DI SQUARED.” Dream it, do it. Our goal is to wake you up, and get you thinking, about starting a business of your own. Maybe you’re a person who should start your own business, take the risks. Dream it, do it. Or maybe not…

This is the second of ten episodes. Each week we’ll feature these three elements:

First, a featured entrepreneur profile ofsomeone who’s done it.

Second, a featured resourcethat you can use to find funding or get other types of support to get started or expand.

Third, we’ll have a question of the weekfrom a listener and a response from an expert that focuses on a specific burning issue that you as an entrepreneur face in getting started.

The entrepreneurs we are covering are all people of color in the Portland area, and people who have created businesses that range from… asbestos removal to…. wine-making.

You’ll hear their stories and maybe you’ll be inspired. Or maybe not. No matter, these are people who dreamed it, and then did it. And that’s what DI Squared is all about.

shaker.

We spoke with featured entrepreneur of the week, Christian Kofi, at KBOO’s studio. Eight years ago Christian and his wife, Natalya, started Portland Movers Company LLC. Here’s Christian to tell his story:

That was Christian Kofi, of Portland Movers.

And that brings us to our question of the week, and that comes from Sam Bowman:

QUESTION

To answer Sam’s question, we invited Maggie Finnerty to KBOO. Maggie is President and Executive Director of Oregon Entrepreneur’s Network.

Listeners, you can learn more about what the OEN has to offer by looking at their web site, making contact with them and asking for the help you need. There are lots of resources out there that you can access in getting started.

Next week we’ll continue to explore what it is that makes a person likely to be successful as an entrepreneur. Just keep in mind that there’s no one "right" set of characteristics for being a successful entrepreneur.

I’m quoting the winemaker we interviewed last week, Bertony Faustin:

MUSIC ----4 seconds…

That’s it for DI Squared for today.

Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve heard just now, go to KBOO.com and look under evening news for today’s date.

And send your question to theroadlive@gmail.com. We’d like to make your questionthe featured questionfor one of our shows.

We’’ll be back in a week! Tune in then for the next episode of DI Squared----Dream it,Do it.

From KBOO News, I’m Tom Flynn

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This first show features Bertony Faustin, owner of Abbey Creek Vineyard.

Welcome to DI Squared….a weekly feature of KBOO News….

Is there ANYONEworking in a business, large or small, maybe a factory, or a store, or in the government, or in a school,…ANYONE…who hasn’t thought, and maybe even dreamed, of starting their own business, and working for themselves? ANYONE?

At one time or another most of us want to work for ourselves, not for someone else. Have you ever had a moment at work when you thought of that Johnny Paycheck song, “Take this job and shove it…”

In those moments we’re all eager to take the risks of running our own business in order to reap the benefits of working for ourselves….Uhhhhhh, wait.. What about those risks? Who said we’re ready to take risks?

That’s the starting point for this KBOO news feature, “DREAM IT, DO IT.” We’re calling it “DI SQUARED.” Dream it, do it. Our goal is to wake you up, and get you thinking, about starting a business of your own. Maybe you’re a person who should start your own business, take the risks. Dream it, do it. Or maybe not…

This is the first of ten episodes. Each week we’ll feature these three elements:

First, a featured entrepreneur profile ofsomeone who’s done it, who’s actually set up a business of their own and is making a living from it.

Second, a featured resourcethat you can use to find funding or other types of support to get started or expand. The resources will range from government loan pools to internet funding sources like Kickstarter.

Third, we’ll have a question of the weekfrom a listener and a response from an expert that focuses on a specific burning issue that you as an entrepreneur face in getting started.

The entrepreneurs we plan to cover are all people of color in the Portland area, and people who have created businesses that range from… asbestos removal to…. wine-making.

You’ll hear their stories and maybe you’ll be inspired. Or maybe not. No matter, you’ll find the best examples in the Portland region of what people can do if they want to work for themselves and they set their minds to it….They dreamed it, and they did it. And that’s what DI Squared is all about.

So let’s start with that wine-maker, our first featured entrepreneur is Bertony Faustin, an amazing guy, the first and maybe the only black winemaker in Oregon. We spoke with Bertony at KBOO studios in Portland:

In the next few episodes we’ll start to explore what it it that makes a person likely to be successful as an entrepreneur.

We’ll ask you to examine your own personal strengths and weaknesses and compare them with those of the typical entrepreneur, so that you can get a sense of how well this career will fit with your personality.

There is no one "right" set of characteristics for being a successful entrepreneur but certain general traits and practical skills will help you succeed.

That’s it for DI Squared for today.

Thanks for listening. If you want to review what you’ve heard, go to the KBOO web site and look under evening news for today’s date.

And send your questions to theroadlive@gmail.com. We’d like to make your questionthe featured questionfor one of our shows.

We’’ll be back in a week! Tune in then for the next episode of DI Squared.

From KBOO News, I’m Tom…

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THE PEOPLE SPEAK

MUSIC: guitar,

It was a nearly perfect early summer afternoon when most of Portland was starting out on a three-day holiday weekend….One of those hot, dry days that makes your eyeballs sweat ….The end of a long winter, the beginning a summer that’s here at last …for Muslims, it was the eve of Ramadan….

Music: a few bars…

Yet suddenly, at ------ that Friday afternoon, when the news started to come down…it was as if the whole world stopped in its orbit and the planet quit turning on its axis and the news began to make an indelible imprint…

(Train sounds…police car sirens…ambulance sounds…)

On Friday, the eve of Ramadan, two men were murdered and another severely injured following an altercation with a white supremacist in Portland, Oregon. North Portland resident Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, allegedly screamed Islamophobic and racist slurs at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab, while riding a commuter train. When Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23, Ricky John Best, 53, and Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, intervened, Christian attacked them with a knife — killing Best and Namkai-Meche in the process.

Music: a few more bars, continuing from above…

It’s August now, just three months after the event, and KBOO news is back at the Hollywood Station. The story of what happened and howit happened are still unfolding and we’re trying to see how that day will fit in the history of Portland.

In this and the next four episodes of this brief serial report, we’ll try to put the events of May 26 into a context. What do those events mean and what significance do they have for our city?

As we were interviewing and writing this story, the national media spotlight focused on a confrontation in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a white racist allegedly plowed into a group of demonstrators and killed one person…

Music: a few more bars, continuing from above…

First we’re reporting from the scene… what’s there now…what are the thoughts of station users as they pass through the station today…Let’s hear the ”Voice of the People.”

I’m at the station now, 3:30 PM, August 8. Here are some voices from Hollywood station users, some of them people who passed through this station on May 26 and most of the days since.

Hi, I’m from KBOO, 90.7 FM, and we’re following up with a series on the hate crime murders that took place here on May 26:

• Did you use this station on May 26, the day of the murders?
• What was your reaction to what happened that day?
• How have you processed the emotions you’ve felt since then?
• How do we put this behind us?

In our second episode, tomorrow, we’ll talk to community leaders about how the event fits into the City’s history and what it means in terms of race relations. how do City leaders see the long-term impact…how about religious leaders and the Muslim community? And what about our safety?...how can we protect ourselves on the metro and in other public places…? And, how did the suspected murderer survive his arrest?

Our third episode is about the victims and their families: what is and will be the impact of these murders on the lives of people directly involved in the event…. What were the results of the fund-raising efforts that followed the incident? How about the children of the victims? And will there be justice in the courts, and how satisfactory can it be?

In our fourth episode we’ll try to find the national perspective… why has Congress failed to recognize this event? What’s been the effect of this event on the national image of Portland ----Boston became “Boston Strong,” but what has Portland become? Is white racism somehow winning in a conflict with democratic pluralism? Is racism becoming… respectable, main-stream?

And finally we ask the question: how do we leave this? How do we write the history of what happened that day? Will May 26 be seen as a turning point in the history of this city, or will it be just another mile marker on a long trail that begins with the systematic mistreatment of native people and a misguided constitution and leads to a seemingly endless series of hateful racial encounters? What permanent results if any, should we expect? Were the victims heroes? Will there be a permanent memorial? What, if anything, have we learned from what happened on May 26, 2017?

MUSIC: a little more somber, … fading under the closing text…

You’ve just heard the first in a five part series; Listen in tomorrow for the second episode: “The Holllywood Murders: A Time for Leadership.”

COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

This is the second episode in a 5-part series on the Hollywood Metro Station murders that took place on May 26.

(Train sounds…police car sirens…ambulance sounds…)

Today we talk with community leaders and others about what happened that day and how the event fits into the City’s history and what it means in terms of race relations. how do City leaders see the long-term impact…how about religious leaders and the Muslim community? What about our safety?...how can we protect ourselves on the metro and in other public places…? And, how did the suspected murderer survive his arrest?

Today and in the next few episodes of this series, you’ll hear these voices:

• Micah Fletcher, the victim who survived: I was just going to work..(M-6)
• Asha Deliverance, mother of Taliesin: We all need to take the grand journey of love. (A-4)
• Linda Castillo, ONI and Portland United Against Hate: C-1 PUAH stands for Portland United Against Hate
• Randy Blazak, sociologist/criminologist: B-1 Station has become hallowed ground
• Zahir Khan, K- 2, Hate has become an acceptable part of governance….
• Shweta Moorthy, Coalition of People of Color, M-1 death by 1,000 cuts

Moorthy: permanent impact on victims

Khan: impact on community

On the question of how the suspect survived his arrest, this issue in some ways embodies that underlying division of opinion that separates people by race in Portland. Here’s Linda Castillo:

C-5 white suspects treated differently from people of color

In our third episode, tomorrow, We’ll consider the victims and their families, and the impact of these murders on the lives of people directly involved ….we’ll talk with a mother who lost a son that day. What were the results of the fund-raising efforts that followed the incident? How about the children of the victims? And will there be justice in the courts, and how satisfactory can it be?

MUSIC: a little more somber, … fading under the closing text…GS: Babel?

You’ve just heard the second in our five part series; Listen in tomorrow for the third episode: “The Holllywood Murders: The Victims and Their Families?”

MUSIC: guitar, light but and fun but serious at the same time…

That’s it for Episode 2. Listen to the whole series at our website, K-B-O-O DOT F-M and call or e-mail us with your comments.

VICTIMS AND FAMILIES

MUSIC: guitar, light and fun but serious at the same time…m

This is the third in a 5-part series of KBOO evening news, on the murders that took place on May 26 at the Hollywood Metro Station. We decided to review the events of that day and try to answer some questions that, in our view, have never been fully answered.

Today we talk about the victims and their families: what is and will be the impact of these murders on the lives of people directly involved in the event…. What were the results of the fund-raising efforts that followed the incident? How about the children of the victims? And will there be justice in the courts, and how satisfactory can it be? Were the victims heroes?

C-3: for the two women who were the object of the abuse, it was life-changing

Micah Fletcher was one of those victims. He almost died that day but here he is at KBOO:

M-1

M-2

M-3

M-4

Asha Deliverance is the mother of Taliesin who died that day…Here we talk about her son and the impact of his murder:

A-1

A-2

A-3

You just heard Asha Deliverance and Micah Fletcher, two people who were victims in very different ways, and two people with strong cores who have very different responses to what they experienced.

MUSIC: a little more somber, … fading under the closing text…GS: Babel?

In our fourth episode, tomorrow, we’ll try to put the event in a national perspective: why has Congress failed to recognize what happened here? What’s been the effect of this event on the national image of Portland ----Boston became “Boston Strong,” but what has Portland become?. Is white racism somehow winning a fight with democratic pluralism? Is racism becoming… respectable, main-stream?

That’s it for Episode 3. Listen to the whole series at our website, K-B-O-O DOT F-M and call or e-mail us with your comments.

PORTLAND IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

MUSIC: guitar, light and fun but serious at the same time…m

This is the fourth episode in a 5-part series on the Hollywood Metro Station murders that took place on May 26

(Train sounds…police car sirens…ambulance sounds…)

In this episode we’ll try to find the national perspective… why has Congress failed to recognize this event? What’s been the effect of this event on the national image of Portland ----Boston became “Boston Strong,” but what has Portland become?. Is white racism somehow winning in a conflict with democratic pluralism? Is racism becoming… respectable, main-stream? What about the treatment of people who commit this type of crime---is prison the solution?

Castillo

Here’s Shweta Moorthy on how the national media handled the incident. Her comment is even more interesting in light of what took place in Charlottesville on August ______

M-4 The media said it could only happen here…

Blazak made this comment about the comparison with Boston:

B-5 Boston has a history of dealing with the complex problems…

About the issue of the national environment for the discussion of racism, Here’s Blazak again:

B10-: political center has shifted so far to the right…liberals now are communists

What about the treatment of people who commit this type of crime? According to Zakir Khan, the mental health issue can actually distract us from a core issue:

K-6

TF: Is there anyone who still believes that putting people in prison really solves anything? We still do that, and no one seems to have any viable alternative. But what price do we pay for doing that?

B-7 Radicalization in prison

M-16 Drugs moving from Gresham---prison-related

Tomorrow, in a final episode, we’ll ask the question: how do we leave this? How do we write the history of what happened that day? Will May 26, 2017 be seen as a turning point in the history of this city, or will it be just another mile marker on a long trail that begins with the systematic mistreatment of native people and a misguided constitution and leads to a seemingly endless series of hateful racial encounters? Where will this end? What permanent results, if any, should we expect?? What have we learned from what happened on May 26, 2017?

MUSIC: a little more somber, … fading under the closing text…GS: Babel?

You’ve just heard the fourth in a five part series; Listen in tomorrow for the final episode: “The Holllywood Murders: Where do we go from here?”

That’s it for Episode 4. Listen to the whole series at our website, K-B-O-O DOT F-M and call or e-mail us with your comments.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

MUSIC: guitar, light and fun but serious at the same time…m

It was a nearly perfect early summer afternoon when most of Portland was starting out on a three-day holiday weekend….One of those hot, dry days that makes your eyeballs tingle (that makes your lungs sweat/ ….The end of a long winter and the beginning a very promising summer …

Today we ask the question: how do we leave this? How do we write the history of what happened that day? Will May 26 be seen as a turning point in the history of this city, or will it be just another mile marker on a long trail that begins with the systematic mistreatment of native people and a misguided constitution and leads to a seemingly endless series of hateful racial encounters? What permanent results if any, should we expect? Were the victims heroes? Will there be a permanent memorial? What, if anything, have we learned from what happened on May 26, 2017?

Blazak 8 (there’s been a sea change in the City)

Shortly after the event ________ submitted a resolution to Congress:

It seems that there is no will in Congress to affirm the significance of what happened in Portland that day. Maybe this is part of the Trump Effect that we noted earlier…

Why did Asha write to President Trump?

Were the victims heroes, and should there be a memorial?

Khan 9: one person can bring about change

Some very good quotes for the conclusion….

Micah 17: we have to work together for change…

Asha 6: will it be a turning point?...should there be a memorial?...

Blazak 11; the good news and the bad news

MUSIC: a little more somber, … fading under the closing text…GS: Babel?

You’ve just heard the first in a five part series; Listen in tomorrow for the second episode: “The Holllywood Murders: A Time for Leadership.”

That’s it for our series on the Hollywood murders. Listen to the whole series at our website, K-B-O-O DOT F-M and call or e-mail us with your comments.

INTERVIEWS

Micah David-Cole Fletcher

Asha Deliverance

Linda Castillo

Dr. Shweta Moorthy (fem)

Zahir Kahn

Alan Hippolito

Randy Blazak, Chair

Eric Ward

Det. Sharp

Ron Wyden

Kevin McCarthy, Rep., Cal.

Wajdi Said, President?

Orlando Lopez

View Details

It was a nearly perfect early summer afternoon when most of Portland was starting out on a three-day holiday weekend….One of those hot, dry days that makes your eyeballs tingle (that makes your lungs sweat/ ….The end of a long winter and the beginning a very promising summer …

Today we ask the question: how do we leave this? How do we write the history of what happened that day? Will May 26 be seen as a turning point in the history of this city, or will it be just another mile marker on a long trail that begins with the systematic mistreatment of native people and a misguided constitution and leads to a seemingly endless series of hateful racial encounters? What permanent results if any, should we expect? Were the victims heroes? Will there be a permanent memorial? What, if anything, have we learned from what happened on May 26, 2017?

Blazak 8 (there’s been a sea change in the City)

Shortly after the event ________ submitted a resolution to Congress: TELL THAT STORY AND WHERE IT STANDS…

It seems that there is no will in Congress to affirm the significance of what happened in Portland that day. Maybe this is part of the Trump Effect that we noted earlier…

Why did Asha write to President Trump?

Were the victims heroes, and should there be a memorial?

Khan 9: one person can bring about change

Some very good quotes for the conclusion….

Micah 17: we have to work together for change…

Asha 6: will it be a turning point?...should there be a memorial?...

Blazak 11; the good news and the bad news

MUSIC: a little more somber,

You’ve just heard the first in a five part series; Listen in tomorrow for the second episode: “The Holllywood Murders: A Time for Leadership.”

That’s it for our series on the Hollywood murders. Listen to the whole series at our website, K-B-O-O DOT F-M and call or e-mail us with your comments.

INTERVIEWS

Micah David-Cole Fletcher

Asha Deliverance

Linda Castillo

Dr. Shweta Moorthy (fem)

Zahir Kahn

Alan Hippolito

Randy Blazak, Chair

Eric Ward

Det. Sharp

Ron Wyden

Kevin McCarthy, Rep., Cal.

Wajdi Said, President?

Orlando Lopez

View Details

This is the fourth episode in a 5-part series on the Hollywood Metro Station murders that took place on May 26

(Train sounds…police car sirens…ambulance sounds…)

In this episode we’ll try to find the national perspective… why has Congress failed to recognize this event? What’s been the effect of this event on the national image of Portland ----Boston became “Boston Strong,” but what has Portland become?.  Is white racism somehow winning in a conflict with democratic pluralism?  Is racism becoming… respectable, main-stream?  What about the treatment of people who commit this type of crime---is prison the solution?

Castillo

Here’s Shweta Moorthy on how the national media handled the incident.  Her comment is even more interesting in light of what took place in Charlottesville on August ______

M-4 The media said it could only happen here…

Blazak made this comment about the comparison with Boston:

B-5  Boston has a history of dealing with the complex problems…

About the issue of the national environment for the discussion of racism, Here’s Blazak again:

B10-:  political center has shifted so far to the right…liberals now are communists

What about the treatment of people who commit this type of crime? According to Zakir Khan, the mental health issue can actually distract us from a core issue:

K-6

TF: Is there anyone who still believes that putting people in prison really solves anything?  We still do that, and no one seems to have any viable alternative.  But what price do we pay for doing that?

B-7 Radicalization in prison

M-16  Drugs moving from Gresham---prison-related

Tomorrow, in a final episode, we’ll ask the question: how do we leave this?  How do we write the history of what happened that day?  Will May 26, 2017 be seen as a turning point in the history of this city, or will it be just another mile marker on a long trail that begins with the systematic mistreatment of native people and a misguided constitution and leads to a seemingly endless series of hateful racial encounters? Where will this end?  What permanent results, if any, should we expect?? What have we learned from what happened on May 26, 2017?

MUSIC:  a little more somber, … fading under the closing text…

You’ve just heard the fourth in a five part series; Listen in tomorrow for the final episode:  “The Holllywood Murders:  Where do we go from here?”

That’s it for Episode 4. Listen to the whole series at our website, K-B-O-O DOT F-M and call or e-mail us with your comments.

View Details

This is the third in a 5-part series of KBOO evening news, on the murders that took place on May 26 at the Hollywood Metro Station. We decided to review the events of that day and try to answer some questions that, in our view, have never been fully answered.

Today we talk about the victims and their families: what is and will be the impact of these murders on the lives of people directly involved in the event…. What were the results of the fund-raising efforts that followed the incident? How about the children of the victims? And will there be justice in the courts, and how satisfactory can it be? Were the victims heroes?

C-3: for the two women who were the object of the abuse, it was life-changing

Micah Fletcher was one of those victims. He almost died that day but here he is at KBOO:

M-1

M-2

M-3

M-4

Asha Deliverance is the mother of Taliesin who died that day…Here we talk about her son and the impact of his murder:

A-1

A-2

A-3

You just heard Asha Deliverance and Micah Fletcher, two people who were victims in very different ways, and two people with strong cores who have very different responses to what they experienced.

MUSIC: a little more somber

In our fourth episode, tomorrow, we’ll try to put the event in a national perspective: why has Congress failed to recognize what happened here? What’s been the effect of this event on the national image of Portland ----Boston became “Boston Strong,” but what has Portland become?. Is white racism somehow winning a fight with democratic pluralism? Is racism becoming… respectable, main-stream?

That’s it for Episode 3. Listen to the whole series at our website, K-B-O-O DOT F-M and call or e-mail us with your comments.

View Details

This is the second episode in a 5-part series on the Hollywood Metro Station murders that took place on May 26.

(Train sounds…police car sirens…ambulance sounds…)

Today we talk with community leaders and others about what happened that day and how the event fits into the City’s history and what it means in terms of race relations. how do City leaders see the long-term impact…how about religious leaders and the Muslim community? What about our safety?...how can we protect ourselves on the metro and in other public places…? And, how did the suspected murderer survive his arrest?

Today and in the next few episodes of this series, you’ll hear these voices:

• Micah Fletcher, the victim who survived: I was just going to work..(M-6)
• Asha Deliverance, mother of Taliesin: We all need to take the grand journey of love. (A-4)
• Linda Castillo, ONI and Portland United Against Hate: C-1 PUAH stands for Portland United Against Hate
• Randy Blazak, sociologist/criminologist: B-1 Station has become hallowed ground
• Zahir Khan, K- 2, Hate has become an acceptable part of governance….
• Shweta Moorthy, Coalition of People of Color, M-1 death by 1,000 cuts

Moorthy: permanent impact on victims

Khan: impact on community

On the question of how the suspect survived his arrest, this issue in some ways embodies that underlying division of opinion that separates people by race in Portland. Here’s Linda Castillo:

C-5 white suspects treated differently from people of color

In our third episode, tomorrow, We’ll consider the victims and their families, and the impact of these murders on the lives of people directly involved ….we’ll talk with a mother who lost a son that day. What were the results of the fund-raising efforts that followed the incident? How about the children of the victims? And will there be justice in the courts, and how satisfactory can it be?

MUSIC: a little more somber, … fading under the closing text…

You’ve just heard the second in our five part series; Listen in tomorrow for the third episode: “The Holllywood Murders: The Victims and Their Families?”

MUSIC: guitar, light but and fun but serious at the same time…

That’s it for Episode 2. Listen to the whole series at our website, K-B-O-O DOT F-M and call or e-mail us with your comments.

View Details

FIRST EPISODE: THE PEOPLE SPEAK

MUSIC: guitar

It was a nearly perfect early summer afternoon when most of Portland was starting out on a three-day holiday weekend….One of those hot, dry days that makes your eyeballs sweat ….The end of a long winter, the beginning a summer that’s here at last …for Muslims, it was the eve of Ramadan….

Music: a few bars…

Yet suddenly, at ------ that Friday afternoon, when the news started to come down…it was as if the whole world stopped in its orbit and the planet quit turning on its axis and the news began to make an indelible imprint…

(Train sounds…police car sirens…ambulance sounds…)

According to the police report…

On Friday, the eve of Ramadan, two men were murdered and another severely injured following an altercation with a white supremacist in Portland, Oregon. North Portland resident Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, allegedly screamed Islamophobic and racist slurs at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab, while riding a commuter train. When Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23, Ricky John Best, 53, and Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, intervened, Christian attacked them with a knife — killing Best and Namkai-Meche in the process.

Music: a few more bars, continuing from above…

It’s August now, just three months after the event, and KBOO news is back at the Hollywood Station. The story of what happened and howit happened are still unfolding and we’re trying to see how that day will fit in the history of Portland.

In this and the next four episodes of this brief serial report, we’ll try to put the events of May 26 into a context. What do those events mean and what significance do they have for our city?

As we were interviewing and writing this story, the national media spotlight focused on a confrontation in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a white racist allegedly plowed into a group of demonstrators and killed one person…

Music: a few more bars, continuing from above…

First we’re reporting from the scene… what’s there now…what are the thoughts of station users as they pass through the station today…Let’s hear the ”Voice of the People.”

I’m at the station now, 3:30 PM, August 8. Here are some voices from Hollywood station users, some of them people who passed through this station on May 26 and most of the days since.

Hi, I’m from KBOO, 90.7 FM, and we’re following up with a series on the hate crime murders that took place here on May 26:

• Did you use this station on May 26, the day of the murders?
• What was your reaction to what happened that day?
• How have you processed the emotions you’ve felt since then?
• How do we put this behind us?

NaME EACH PERSON,

In our second episode, tomorrow, we’ll talk to community leaders about how the event fits into the City’s history and what it means in terms of race relations. how do City leaders see the long-term impact…how about religious leaders and the Muslim community? And what about our safety?...how can we protect ourselves on the metro and in other public places…? And, how did the suspected murderer survive his arrest?

Our third episode is about the victims and their families: what is and will be the impact of these murders on the lives of people directly involved in the event…. What were the results of the fund-raising efforts that followed the incident? How about the children of the victims? And will there be justice in the courts, and how satisfactory can it be?

In our fourth episode we’ll try to find the national perspective… why has Congress failed to recognize this event? What’s been the effect of this event on the national image of Portland ----Boston became “Boston Strong,” but what has Portland become? Is white racism somehow winning in a conflict with democratic pluralism? Is racism becoming… respectable, main-stream?

And finally we ask the question: how do we leave this? How do we write the history of what happened that day? Will May 26 be seen as a turning point in the history of this city, or will it be just another mile marker on a long trail that begins with the systematic mistreatment of native people and a misguided constitution and leads to a seemingly endless series of hateful racial encounters? What permanent results if any, should we expect? Were the victims heroes? Will there be a permanent memorial? What, if anything, have we learned from what happened on May 26, 2017?

MUSIC: a little more somber, … fading under the closing text…

You’ve just heard the first in a five part series; Listen in tomorrow for the second episode: “The Holllywood Murders: A Time for Leadership.”

View Details

Does Portland have a reputation as one of the leading “sin cities” in the US? If so, is the reputation deserved? What’s the basis for it? Yes, and this is based on the large number of strip clubs and the very open frame of mind that prevails here on this subject. Do we want it this way? Yes, it seems that we do…

How does the sex industry fit in Portland’s economy? Do we have a realistic view of it? We quoted Amory Jane in Episode 4 but it’s worth repeating:

Has the industry seen changes in how it operates in the internet/social media world, and are there new features and practices that we need to understand in order to protect ourselves and our families?

Are we dealing with this industry in a constructive way? What could we do differently to improve how we approach it? Would it be a good idea to make prostitution legal?

Do we have organizations that effectively support sex workers who’ve been victims of the industry or women who are trying to escape “the life?”

No, this seems to be a problem. One organization, shut down while we were working on this story.

Should we be concerned about sex trafficking here? And is there a connection between Portland’s “sanctuary city” policy and sex trafficking?

Trafficking is a scary thing and it deserves the legal attention that it gets. But we should not let it distract us from the larger issue:

And there seems to be no connection beween sex trafficking and illegal immigration, none….

What else? How do we leave this?

Some closing thoughts:

Prostitution may be the oldest profession in the world. Whether it is or not, and for whatever reason, it doesn’t seem to be going away…It fact, it may be taking new forms and actually growing. Maybe we need to rethink how we deal with it, even how we see it.

Maybe Agent Biehn of the FBI is not quite down with the times. Maybe we should be able to buy sexual satisfaction, if we want it…

Is there progress? Quote from PDX police interview: So, how you doin’? You makin’ progress?...We sure hope so….

And the FBI point about getting these people jobs: yes, we like the idea, but good luck with that…!

Lack of data about the industry is much more than just an academic knowledge gap. The lack of data makes it impossible to know, not only where we are, but where we’re going…

Different definitions of the word “trafficking” lead to conflict and misunderstanding. And, by some definition, we are all traffickers.

Is it good that we have shifted the focus of enforcement to arresting the users? Where does that leave us? Can we compare the enforcement of crimes in the sex industry to “the war on drugs?” Do we want to see it that way? Where has that war on drugs gotten us anyway?

And, what’s the difference between the sexual exploitation of women (or men) in the movie industry, or in the White House, in what is called “quid pro quo sexual harassment” and sexual exploitation in prostitution, porn and stripping? It’s all on the same spectrum, no?

At the end of the day, the sex industry is made up of…people. Buyers, sellers, users, dealers---in the final analysis they’re all just people. They may be family, friends, neighbors, associates, people we may not know but see on the streets…but they are, at the end of the day, people…like us…

And a final note: we’ve seen so many changes in our economy and culture. They’ve been coming fast, and each one tops the last in its power and impact. But…standby: the sale of sex is an industry and it’s on the verge of changes that will collapse the last thousand years into a generation…Get ready for the …………… The next phase of reality may be more virtualthan it is… virtuous….

And we still want your feedback. At the end of this series we’ll do a full episode in which you get to speak your mind on this subject. If you have a comment or question about the series or about the sex trade, we’d like to hear it. Call the KBOO Newsroom at 503-231-8032 ext. 202 and we’ll hear you out and put you on the air.

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How about the places you see when you drive across town: strip clubs, massage parlors---how do they fit in the industry picture?

There are two different kinds of things happening here.

One is burlesque, which seems to have evolved, at least here in Portland, into “performance art.” Here’s Honey LaFleur talking about that:

L-3: she sees burlesque as a mission.

L-4; it’s a feminist act!

But the real story is about stripping, dancing in clubs that cater to…well, horny guys.

MUSIC

We went inside Diablo II, a strip club on Mccullough. It’s a big open roomwith a bar to your right as you walk in and a stage area with two poles taking up most of the rest of the stark, undecorated space to your left. Customers, mostly twenty-somethings when we were there, sat around an inside bar that creates a rectangle around two dance poles. On those poles and on the bar itself, women stripped and danced. The dancer worked around the bar and got close to each customer, who paid out $2 bills as the dancers got even closer…

Here’s what Fauna has to say about stripping in Portland:

What are the laws related to this business? What about the sex industry issues that arise with strip clubs, regarding location, employment, connection with trafficking, vice, tax evasion, etc?

Here we can tell the rest of the BOLI story…

R-3: The BOLI story from STROLL perspective…

And what about “bikini drive-thru coffee shops?” (Twin Peaks Espresso, Vancouver…)

What other events and organizations connect the arts with the sex industry? The Naked Bike Race, Hump Fest…

And we’d like your feedback. At the end of this series we’ll do a full episode in which you get to speak your mind on this subject. If you have a comment or question about the series or about the sex trade, we’d like to hear it. Call the KBOO Newsroom at 503-231-8032 ext. 202 and we’ll hear you out and put you on the air.

View Details

The internet has changed …everything…and in the sex industry it’s changed porn more than anything. This is the eighth in KBOO’s ten-episode series on the business of sex in Portland. In this episode we tackle the subject of porn and the business of sex toys and how they fit in the business of sex in our city.

MUSIC

Porn is about…appearance, fundamentally…. And here’s economist Dr. Catherine Hakim speaking about how appearance and image seem to have become more important because of the internet:

H-4: porn takes on a new reality (?)

By the way, Dr. Hakim notes that the line between sex and dating sites is blurring:

H-5:

Porn is an industry like…food? Here’s Dr Sheila Tarrant, economist at UCLA, making that case:

T-?

Is porn a multinational business in which there are monopolies? Ever heard of a company called MindGeek? According to ---------, MindGeek uses more internet bandwidth than Amazon.com,……………………….., and ……………………………….Dr. Tarrant again:

Is internet porn good for women? Are the changes we’re seeing in the porn industry positive from a woman’s perspective?

T-6

Wait, there’s racism in the porn industry? Can you see the US Supreme Court taking up this issue?

T-5:

Justice Thomas might be the person to write the majority opinion, in defense of the corporate rights of MindGeek.

T-6?

But let’s get back to Portland and talk porn films. Here’s porn film director, Lilly Campbell, who’s got her own style.

So many changes in the industry…Will virtual reality become the next frontier?

Okay, we have a spelling test for you today: phathalate. We’ll use it in a sentence, just to help you think it through, and here it is: “Amory Jane of SheBop recommends that you purchase sex toys free of phalates.”

So, you had your chance, and here’s the correct spelling: PHALATE P-H-A-L-A-T-E PHALATE. Got t?

And here’s Amory Jane herself:

AJ-

AJ-

AJ-

Early on we asked the question, can porn be ethical, pro-feminist? And now we know what Drs. Hakim and Della Giusta, and Lily Campbell and Amory Jane think about that, but what do you think?

We’d like your feedback. At the end of this series we’ll do a full episode in which you get to speak your mind on this subject. If you have a comment or question about the series or about the sex trade, we’d like to hear it. Call the KBOO Newsroom at 503-231-8032 ext. 202 and we’ll hear you out and put you on the air.

The next episode is our PEN-ULTIMATE, second to last, and we’re going to strip the subject down to its bare essentials and talk about… stripping, the heart and soul of the business of sex in Portland. So, join us for that next episode.

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This is the seventh episode of KBOO News’s special series, Sex4Sale, on the business of sex in Portland. Today we’re talking about the world’s oldest profession. What is it like here in Portland, and is it taking on a new look?

There are many faces of prostitution here and no single one speaks for all of them. We’ll start with Red Reid who runs an organization called STROLL. We’d call Red an “activist escort.”

RR-2

RR-3

Besides her zine, Red publishes something she calls Bad Date Line. It’s a kind of warning system that identifies people to watch out for.

RR-16

What is “the life” and how do people, especially women, get into it? Here’s the view from the Portland Police Bureau:

PPB-3

How do you change the life of a prostitute? Again, the Police Bureau:

PPB-8

What’s it like in some special categories of the population? Here’s Red:

S-8 (people of color)

S-9 LGBTQ

S-11

In Portland the focus is on arresting johns. Is that a good approach?

DG-2. Nordic model…arrest johns.

Arresting johns might sound like the smart way to go, but is it really a solution?

DG-5. Criminalization of johns is unsafe for prostitutes.

What are the different styles of prostitution and how do they affect women differently?

DG-3. Some sex workers have agency.

How do feminists see this industry? Is it something that provides economic opportunity, or just another harmful activity that promotes violence against women and makes them objects in our culture?

What about the organizations that are supposed to help women?

S-11 (they give no help)

S-12: Rahab’s Sisters is a good organization.

Here we tell the story of Rahab’s Sisters: what is “radical hospitality,” and how could this idea change the world?

R-3: the idea of radical hospitality

R-6 what dinner Iike

Here’s the whole story in a nutshell:

R-8: how the life starts, and they become the problem.

What’s it like when a prostitute committing a crime becomes the victim of a crime?

R-7

So, it’s one thing for a prostitute to have “agency,” or control over his or her situation. But it’s an entirely different thing to be a victim. And we can see both of these scenarios playing out all the time in the world of prostitution right here in Portland.

MUSIC

And we’d like your feedback. At the end of this series we’ll do a full episode in which you get to speak your mind on this subject. If you have a comment or question about the series or about the sex trade, we’d like to hear it. Call the KBOO Newsroom at 503-231-8032 ext. 202 and we’ll hear you out and put you on the air.

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Here we have the sixth episode of KBOO News’s speciai series, Sex4Sale, on the business of sex in Portland. And in this episode we take on one of the darker corners of the industry, the matter of trafficking.

What is trafficking, and how is it connected with the sex industry? As the world gets smaller, trafficking seems getting bigger.

Here’s the official definition, from the Dept. of Justice:

DOJ-7---

According to the FBI, this crime is often a family matter

FBI-4

(Insert trafficking data excerpt).

Note that there’s “labor trafficking” which is different from “sex trafficking.” Labor trafficking means keeping a person on a job, often as a household servant, against their will and in a condition that sounds like…slavery.

By the way, there seems to be no connection between trafficking and illegal immigration, and trafficking has no bearing on the sanctuary cities program.

DOJ-2

What is the scope of the work of DOJ in this area? What other efforts in the criminal justice field in our area are directed against this activity?

DOJ-10 Case of an 8-yr. old girl.

What should we be looking for to identify cases of trafficking? What can citizens do to deter this activity?

F-5: first point of contact is local police.

While law enforcement makes a very big deal of sex trafficking, some contend that the amount of activity of this type is over-estimated.

H-6

Trafficking may be rare, but sexual abuse of children is common:

S-15

One case of abuse is one case too many. We have an organization called “YES---Youth Ending Slavery,” that fights trafficking and sexual abuse at the high school level. Here’re Emma and __________.

Y-4: why bring this up in high school?

Y-5: what is the solution to trafficking?

That’s it for this episode. Next time: what’s happening with the world’s oldest profession? Is it fading away, or maybe, reinventing itself?

MUSIC

And we’d like your feedback. At the end of this series we’ll do a full episode in which you get to speak your mind on this subject. If you have a comment or question about the series or about the sex trade, we’d like to hear it. Call the KBOO Newsroom at 503-231-8032 ext. 202 and we’ll hear you out and put you on the air.

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This is the fifth of ten episodes in the KBOO Evening News Series, Sex4Sale. This time we’re talking about the laws and regulations that affect the sex industry here in Portland. What are those laws and are they working?

The FBI is at the center of investigations of trafficking and sex crimes that cross state lines. Here’s Agent Biehen on the Bureau’s focus on minors, both male and female:

F-2:

*F-3: *

The FBI gives something called “Title 18” authority” to the local police:

F-8

The US Department of Justice has a Violent Crimes Unit that gets involved in sex trafficking, a subject well be discussing in more detail in the next episode of this series:

DOJ- X: the segment should start around 1:40.

Keep in mind that if you travel overseas to engage in trafficking, you can face federal charges here in the Portland when you get back:

DOJ-3: you can be prosecuted if you traffic overseas.

The Portland Police Bureau is dealing with local issues most often related to prostitution.

The police say that they focus on eliminating demand:

PPB-6

Given that most prostitution now is internet-based, we wondered how they deal with that:

PPB-5

So the Portland police follow what’s called “the Nordic model,’ going after customers. That sounds enlightened, was our reaction. But wait, here’s a different viewpoint:

DG-3

DG-5

There’s also a problem in the language here, and it’s one that can lead to confusion:

The Portland Police have decided to relabel “pimping” as “trafficking.” They don’t like the word “pimp” because they feel that it suggests a lifestyle that’s has been glamorized in pop culture and that should be rejected at every opportunity:

PPB-4

This may seem like semantics but how we use the word trafficking is important. Here’s Red Reid, an escort and activist, on this distinction:

S-6.

S-7: can’t have “safety calls.”

Couldn’t the PPB have chosen another word for pimp instead of trafficker, a word that didn’t mislead and confuse the public? How about “procurer?” How about hustler, panderer, whoremonger…anything but “trafficker”!

One other criticism that Red makes of the PPB has to do with what could be called “profiling:”

S-9. profiling of transgenders.

This is a consistent error the police make with transgenders but it also happens with people of color. A certain “look” can get you attention you don’t want.

And we’d like your feedback. At the end of this series we’ll do a full episode in which you get to speak your mind on this subject. If you have a comment or question about the series or about the sex trade, we’d like to hear it. Call the KBOO Newsroom at 503-231-8032 ext. 202 and we’ll hear you out and put you on the air.

One of the worst crimes in the industry, and the one that seems to get the most attention, is that of “trafficking.” We talked about it here in connection with prostitution, but it has a specific meaning. Is it the most important crime in the sex industry? Is trafficking a form of slavery? We’ll take those issues on in our next episode.

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Workers in the sex industry are a very diverse group. They include prostitutes, strippers, performers, models, retailers and others, like people who wash dishes at clubs, and valet parkers, and the whole class of people who manage these workers. Last week we put out our “educated guess” that there are roughly 5,000 employees working in the business of sex in the Portland area, or one out of 25 service workers. Keep in mind we are including all the support personnel at strip clubs, as an example, as well as people more directly involved. Yep, it’s an industry.

Keep in mind that there are many part-time sex workers, some in households struggling to pay the rent, some students carrying big tuition costs. Research in the UK in 2015 found that 1 in 20 university students were employed in the industry. Here’s Dr. Hakim:

H-3

Some people make big money in this business. Dept. of Justice lawyer Scott Kerin is referring here to a recent study of pimps conducted by the Urban Institute.

DOJ-7

Some sex workers, maybe a minority, have what our labor economist Dr. Marina Della Giusta calls “agency.” Here’s Dr. Della Giusta speaking on this subject:

DG-3

For some in the industry, sex work may be a sustainable career path. Here’s porn film maker Lily Campbell on making a living for life.

C-5

And sex workers do have workers’ rights, at least some of them do. Let’s hear Commissioner Brad Avakian tell a story from the State of Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry.

B-2

B-3

B-4

We’ll have more to say on this later in this series when you hear it again from another perspective…

How about immigration? Does the legal status of immigrants have any special bearing on the sex industry? Are foreign nationals any more likely to be working in this industry? It looks like there’s no significant connection. Here’s Attorney Kerin:

DOJ-2

So, yes, the sex business is an industry and it seems to be thriving here…Next time, in Episode 5, we’ll talk more about the law enforcement issues. Who’s doing what, and…are they making progress?

Of course we’d like your feedback. At the end of this series we’ll do a full episode in which you get to speak your mind on this subject. If you have a comment or question about the series or about the sex trade, we’d like to hear it. Call the KBOO Newsroom at 503-231-8032 ext. 202 and we’ll hear you out and put you on the air.

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This is the third episode in KBOO’s ten-part series on the business of sex in Portland.  Today we talk about history and culture, and hear more of what Portlanders have to say on the subject.  First, a little background on the subject.

Oregon was once the wild west, and it still is, in some respects.  Does Portland have a “reputation” for being a center of the industry or a place that’s “hot?”

A few years ago the Washington Times reported that Portland’s legal sex industry was the largest in the US on a per capita basis, according to a 2010 study by the Willamette Law

School’s International Human Rights Center.   The City has a large number of strip clubs, a tolerant attitude toward sex and a reputation as a progressive, youth-oriented place that attracts runaways, and the situation seems unchanged since 2010.

In general, Portland seems like a great place for the sex business.  Here’s Lilli Campbell comparing Portland to Los Angeles:

C-3:

The industry is changing fast.  Would you be surprised to find Russian hookers in Portland?  I haven’t run into any but it wouldn’t surprise me.  The trade is global.  According to Dr. Catherine Hakim:

H-2:   impact of internet

Is there a “gang connection” with this industry? Here’s Scott Kerrin of the Dept. of Justice:

D-5.  Yes, gang connection….

And here’s Officer Lindsay and Undercover Agent A talking about how the Portland Police Bureau is trying to deal with the movement of the sex industry from the streets to the internet.

PPB-5

Now we get back to the voice of the people.  We talked with a wide range of people from diverse situations, ages and employment situations.  You’ll hear how they see the sex industry in Portland and what they think are the issues.

VOX POP-1

So, the people continue to speak.  We’ll hear more from them in future episodes when we talk more about specific issues in the business of sex and how it goes in Portland.

A final note.  We still want to take a stab at the question of how big the industry is here in Portland.  Our educated guess is that there are 4-5 thousand people working in the industry in our region, not all full-time, and a small number of them illegal.  We had service sector employment of 123,000 in September, 2017, so that’s roughly, very roughly, one service worker in 25 in or closely connected to the business of sex.  if it’s true…Maybe you have a better figure----if so, please, call us.

MUSIC:  OUTRO

And we’d like your feedback. At the end of this series we’ll do a full episode in which you get to speak your mind on this subject.  If you have a comment or question about the series or about the sex trade, we’d like to hear it.  Call the KBOO Newsroom at 503-231-8032 ext. 202 and we’ll  hear you out and put you on the air.

MUSIC: FINISH (under the final sentence)

Join us in the next episode of Sex4Sale when we focus on sex industry workers in Portland---who they are and how they see the world.

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1. INDUSTRY SIZE AND COMMUNITY IMPACT

MUSIC INTRO

This is the second episode in KBO”s ten-part series on the sex industry in Portland. Each of the episodes will take on a different aspect of this subject:

This is an introduction. Here we give you a rough idea of the size of the industry and we’ll get input from citizens of Portland about how they view the business of sex in our city.

• The third episode is about how the business fits in the historyand culture of the area.

• Episode 4 covers the sex industry workers: who are the people doing this work, how do they see it, and what about race, gender and economic issues.

• In 5 we focus on law and enforcement. We’ll talk with the FBI, Dept. of Justice and the Portland Police Bureau about what they are doing on a day-to-day basis.

• Six, that’s about sex trafficking, the exploitation of children in the sex industry and the forced employment of adults.

• The seventh show focuses onprostitution: what it means in Portland, how we regulate it and the issues that it raises.

• Eight looks at sex stores and porn here in Portland.

• Episode 9 looks at stripping, burlesque and other ways to get naked in this City, and how that fits in our culture.
• And in the end, Episode 10, we try to bring together some closing thoughts. We’ll challenge your thinking, whatever it is…

MUSIC INTRO TWO

Just for setting a context, we asked Officer Chris Lindsay and Undercover Agent “A” of the Portland Police Bureau, Do you that Is Portland a hub of the sex industry?

PPB-2

Here’s FBI Agent Denise Biehn putting the local culture into a broader perspective:

F-7

By the way, we think that Agent Bienhn was right in talking about “normalization.” Isn’t this where the business of sex has an interesting connection with the exploitation of women in general? Or are we reaching too far to think that?

MUSIC BRIDGE

But in this episode we want to give most of our time to the people of Portland. What do they think about these issues? Let’s get back to the Voice of the People….

VOX POP

So, the people speak. We’ll hear more from them in our next episode, when we talk a little more about Portland’s history and culture.

MUSIC: OUTRO

And we’d like your feedback. At the end of this series we’ll do a full episode in which you get to speak your mind on this subject. Call the KBOO Newsroom at 503-231-8187 and we’ll hear you out and put you on the air.

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MASTER SCRIPT: Sex4Sale

Introduction: SERIES OVERVIEW--- INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

MUSIC: INTRO ONE

So you think you know about sex…about the business of sex here in Portland…? Do you think the sex business is big here in our city? We mean big for a city of this size, and big compared to other places in the US… This question is surprisingly easy to answer…

Do you understand the boundaries between what’s legal and what’s not? Do you think that we have the right laws, and that the people enforcing them are doing a good job? We know some things that may surprise you….

Do you think that prostitution is harmful to women? …maybe to society in general? Or can it be an economic opportunity for some women? We’ll challenge your views, whatever they are…

And what about porn? Is that a bad thing? Do you have data to support your views? Could porn be “ethical” and “pro-feminist?”

How about issues of race and transgender identity? Are people in those “categories” affected differently in this industry?

And at the end of the day, where do you think we’re going with the business of sex? Is the future just like the past… only longer…or will it be…different? We have an answer for that question that may surprise you…

So hang on, listen up, here’s KBOO’s ten-part series about the sex industry in Portland, Oregon 2017 and beyond…

MUSIC: INTRO TWO

We’ll try to present five perspectives on the business of sex:

1. The people of Portland, whom you’ll hear in our second and third eisodes, have a lot to say about how the sex business is happening here.
2. The regulators and law enforcers: the FBI, US Dept. of Justice and the Portland Police Bureau.
3. Industry experts; three Phd.’s who give an academic view, from economic and sociologic perspectives, on prostitution and porn.
4. Social service providers: the non-profits and other entities that try to help people in the industry.
5. Sex workers:those who are employed in this industry in various ways here in Portland, from porn filmmaker to sex toy educator to stripper.

These are the voices you’ll hear, from time to time:

Commissioner Brad Avakian, Bureau of Labor and Industry works with “real people”who are employers and employees.

• Scott Kerrin, Assistant US Attorney, US Attorney’s Office, puts traffickers and other types of sex criminals behind bars.
• Agent Denise Biehn, Federal Bureau of Investigation, speaks of the subjugation of women in the business of sex.
• Portland Police Bureau Officer Chris Lindsey and Undercover Agent A, on the front lines of enforcement, talk about getting women out of “the life.”
• Catherine Hawkin, author of the recent article, The Economics of Desire, talks about the sex trade moving on-line.
• Marina Della Giusta, an economist who has written extensively on the sex trade and trafficking, brings up the imbalance of power that’s way bigger than the sex business.
• Shira Tarrant, writer and professor on porn, tells us we need more discussion on the subject…
• Crystal Kordowski and Annalisa Davis of Rahab’s Sisters point out how women shift from being victims to becoming problems….
• Emma Christenson and Gwen Kaliszewsk, from YES, Youth Ending Slavery, contend that slavery continues, even now, and ask, How many slaves do you own?
• Honey LaFleur is a performance artist here in Portland, not a stripper.
• Amory Jane, sex toy specialist and sex educator at SheBop, sees herself as a “shame smasher.”
• Lilly Campbell, soft-spoken porn film producer who makes feminist porn here in Portland and tries to depict what she calls “authentic female sexuality.”
• Red Reid, escort and activist, speaking with her friend Fauna, a stripper, points out how, according to local law enforcement, all of us may be “trafficking” in what we thought were normal business dealings.

You’ll hear these voices throughout this series. We hope you come to understand the different perspectives they bring and the common ground on which we all stand.

MUSIC BRIDGE

There’s no single theme for this work. As the series evolves, here are the key issues we see:

• Is Portland a hub of sex trafficking and the industry in the Pacific Northwest, as some claimed a few years ago?
• Are lower income folks and people of color affected more adversely, or just differently, than other sectors of our society, in this business?
• How is the sex industry changing in relation to internet, social media and other aspects of our communications culture? What does the future hold for sex trade?
• Are there gaps and flaws in how we address sex industry issues? Should we be thinking about changes in laws and regulations?

Our subject is the sex industry but our focus is on the people who are in this industry and those directly affected by it. Who are they, where are they, do we see them every day?...do we know them? So… in the next two episodes KBOO goes to the street to ask people in Portland what they think of this industry---how they define it and whether they feel its impact and relevance in their own lives.

And finally, we offer this “family advisory.” There may be some things you don’t want your children to hear---like how cruel reality is----and the discussion of prostitution, if you don’t think this is appropriate for children---if so, take action and keep them out of range, catch the series on our web site, KBOO DOT FM, rather than on the car radio on the drive home---

We want to tell you from the start: we’re not advocating any position relative to this industry. We are trying to shed light on businesses that, legal or illegal, seem to have a big impact on the life of our community. Some of KBOO’s listeners work in this industry. Whether we like it or not, the sex industry is rooted in our culture, it’s here to stay and, in fact, it’s growing…

MUSIC: OUTRO

And we’d like your feedback. At the end of this series we’ll do a full episode in which you get to speak your mind on this subject. Call the KBOO Newsroom at 503-231-8187 and we’ll hear you out and put you on the air.

MUSIC: FINISH (under the final sentence)

So, there’ll be a lot to chew on. Listen to the next episode, when we try to estimate the size and impact of the sex industry in Portland, and we interview people on the street about it.

MUSIC: END

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This is the final episode in the series...with selected highlights from some of the preceding episodes. And, yes, we do answer the question, "Is Portland a good place in which to grow old?"

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The Village Movement:

Redefining "Aging in Place."

Lynn trainer, Villages Northwest, and Lee Radovich, Village member

We discussed these issues:

What is the Village movement (is that the right term, “movement?”).

Can you give us a little context:

How and where did this movement originate?

How far has it spread? How big is it now?

How did it get to Portland?

How many villages do we have here in Portland? How about outside the City---suburbs, Vancouver, other locations in the region?

Where are they?

Can we discuss something distinctive about each one?

How has the growth of Portland affected the Villages?

What is it about a village that an older person would like----

Should we talk about the different stages of getting old, and how the village relates differently at different times in life?

Transition from work to retirement.

Healthy years

Infirmity:

Does the village meet needs at different stages of being old?

Does the village promote different kinds of housing for elderly?

How does a village promote social interaction? Are there social events in the villages?

Can one find paid work win a village?

Technical skills may become rusty due to lack of use, do villages offer an opportunity to use skills, knowledge and expertise, perhaps in new and different ways? Give examples…

What kinds of services do villages offer to different members: Associate or Social members (airport ride, help with technology, a household task that needs an extra set of hands) and a temporary upgrade to Full Service if you have a temporary need (a broken bone, surgery, etc.)

Do people who live in the villages volunteer? Can anyone volunteer to help?

Do the Villages promotes physical exercise? How about mental exercise?

How is the Village Movement addressing this generation's perception of aging?

How might a Village fit into the lives of younger adults or children?

Can there be intergenerational programs? Do you use youthful volunteers to fill in with services that may be better handled by younger people (ladders, making the smart phone or printer work come to mind)?

How does one start a Village?

What is the paperwork?

Is it necessary to involve a lawyer?

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MIT Age Lab; and the City's vision.

Julie Miller is a Research Associate at the MITAgeLab and a Lecturer at Northeastern University. She is a gerontologicalsocial worker by training and studied at The University of California,
Berkeley, and at Northeastern University in Boston. Julie¹s research contributes to forecasting the impact of demographic change in homes,workplaces, educational settings, and community spaces. She has worked at the MIT AgeLab since 2012 and leads the Lifestyle Leaders group, a panel of adults ages 85 and older who represent "the leading edge" of aging in the U.S.

Questions/Discussion

What is the MIT Age Lab? Describe history, purpose, organization….

What contributions has the lab made to improving the lives of older people?

One of the tabs on the Lab website is “disruptive demographics.” How are aging trends disrupting societies?

Is the growth of elderly population happening world-wide? Are some countries more impacted than the US?

Is this generation of older people any different from older generations in the past? What if anything is new about the current situation?

Do you see any issues of conflict between the elderly and younger generations---is there a greater conflict in cities like Portland (and Boston) that put a high premium on technology and youth-related culture?

You are the lead for the 85+lifestyle Leaders Panel? Is that correct?

What is the panel doing?

Want results are you hoping for?

I am sure you would not like to talk about the book promoted on the website, The Longevity Economy: Unlocking the World’s Fastest-Growing, Most Misunderstood Market, since you are not the author, but perhaps you could mention the book and address the concept of the missed market opportunity in this demographic…

What is it?

How is it a business opportunity?

Why are women so important in it?

How do you at the Lab define “oldness?” (I see this definition at one of the tabs---Oldness:a social construct at odds with reality that constrains how we live after middle age—and stifles business thinking on how to best serve a group of consumers, workers, and innovators that is growing larger and wealthier with every passing day.)

Do you have any advice/suggestions for us here in Portland, trying to put this demographic change in the best possible framework, making it work for the whole community?

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Dr. Lisa McGuire

Dr. Lisa McGuire is the Epidemiology and Surveillance Team Leader in the Obesity Prevention and Control Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. McGuire earned a Ph.D. in Lifespan Developmental Psychology from Bowling Green State University and completed a National Institute of Mental Health Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Gerontology Center at The Pennsylvania State University. She joined CDC in 2004 after serving as a college professor for 10 years. Dr. McGuire has published over 75 articles and book chapters on aspects of chronic health conditions, cognition, disability, caregiving, and aging. Dr. McGuire is on the Editorial Board of The Gerontologist, and Fellows of Division 20 of the American Psychological Association and the Gerontological Society of America.

The role of public health in enhancing the physical health of older adults is well-known. Public health’s role in maintaining cognitive health, a vital part of healthy aging and quality of life, is emerging. The need for a clearly delineated public health role comes at a critical time given the dramatic aging of the U.S. population, scientific advancements in knowledge about risk behaviors (e.g., lack of physical activity, uncontrolled high blood pressure) related to cognitive decline, and the growing awareness of the significant health, social, and economic burdens associated with cognitive decline.

CDC’s Healthy Aging Program used a comprehensive approach to develop a set of questions for use in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to assess and monitor self-reported cognitive decline.

These are the questions we discussed:

The CDC “Roadmap” (2007) states that Alzheimer’s is increasing in the US. Why is that?

Is it still true, in 2018?

What’s the scope of this illness in the US?

At what point does “cognitive decline” become dementia?

What’s the difference between dementia and senility?

What does the term “healthy aging” mean as it applies to the brain?

How do you measure it?

Are there exercises we can use to promote healthy brain aging?

Is there treatment for Alzheimers?

Do you do any clinical trials at CDC in Atlanta?

What is the “Cognitive Decline Module?” What does it mean that there’s a self-reporting system on behavior? Can we monitor our own behavior to check our cognitive health?

On the website there’s a reference to a BRFSS “Caregiver Module.” How does that work? Are care-givers using it?

Can non-care-givers use it to assess family situations?

Does the CDC partner with entities in Portland or elsewhere in Oregon? We have a “Healthy Brain Institute” here in Portland, at Oregon Hospital State University. Do you work with that group?

What are the expected outcomes of the program, and what is the timeline for achieving them?

What’s the prognosis for the treatment of Alzheimers and brain aging in general? Can we expect breakthroughs in medications and treatments?

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Viki Kind

Viki Kind is a clinical bioethicist, professional speaker and hospice volunteer. Her award winning book, The Caregiver’s Path to Compassionate Decision Making: Making Choices For Those Who Can’t, guides families, conservators and other professionals through the difficult process of making decisions for those who have lost capacity. Her newly released book, The Caregiver’s Path: Resource Workbook, Conversation Guide and Visual Toolkit, provides uniquely designed communication tools for managing challenging conversations such as evaluating danger and risk, managing guilt and denial, end-of-life decisions, and helping the family know when it is time to create a new care plan.

Viki is known as “The People’s Bioethicist,” because she bridges two worlds, that of the health care professional and of the family struggling to make the right decision.

We asked Viki to discuss the following issues:

What does that term mean, “clinical bioethicist?”

What does it mean to be old? What’s your age cut-off for elderly?

Describe a typical situation in which you engage as a service provider. What’s the setting and who are the principal players?

Your focus is not only the elderly, you deal with cognitive impairment, dementia, stroke or other cognitive impairments. Is that right? How much of your work deals with elderly?

You mention four tools to use when making the difficult life, health and end-of-life decisions. Tell us what they are and how you use them.

How do you (or how does a family member) know when to step in versus stepping back and letting people make their own decisions?

What are the specific questions to ask and strategies to use to make good decisions about CPR, feeding tubes and other end-of-life choices?

What is the 4-step process that you suggest caregivers use to get the support they need in making tough decisions?

End of life treatment is often a very expensive time….How do you help the patient and family to make meaningful end-of-life decisions while spending money on what really matters?

What are the “right questions” to ask near the end of life and how do you discern what the doctor is really saying?

Do you ever withhold the truth, or lie, with patients or family? How do you deal with feelings of guilt associated with end of life times?

You say there are simple tests to determine “What’s the Right Thing to Do?” What are those tests?

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Dealing with ethical, legal and family Issues.

Dr. Susan Tolle, OHSU

Dr. Susan Tolle is a graduate of the Oregon Health & Science University. ..She completed her internal medicine residency at UC San Diego where she was also Chief Resident. …She founded and has directed the Oregon Health & Science University Center for Ethics in Health Care since 1989 and has shepherded its growth into a now internationally recognized ethics center with programs such as the Physicians Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) program and more recently the Oregon POLST Registry. Dr. Tolle is a Professor of Medicine and she holds the Cornelia Hayes Stevens Endowed Chair in Health Care Ethics. She is a practicing internist in the Division of General Medicine and Geriatrics. In 2014, she received the MacLean Prize in Clinical Medical Ethics.

Questions?Discussion

As I understand it, you created a system that’s known as Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment Program (“POLST”). For doing this you won the $50,000 MacLean Prize…I hope you don’t mind me mentioning that you distributed the prize to the various members of your medical team….

• What was it about this program that represented such an important breakthrough? Why is this, or why could it be, important to our listeners?

• How does the program work?

• How is it different from standard documents related to end of life treatment, such as “Living Will” and DNR directives?

• Does this exist only in Oregon? How about Washington and other states?

Patients in Oregon are less likely to receive intensive care and more likely to receive hospice care at end of life than patients in other states. You contend that this reflects the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment Program (“POLST”) and efforts to honor patients’ preferences (from an article you authored with JM Teno and published in the NE Journal of Medicine, March 2017)

Here’s a summary of an article you co-authored, with Austin Lammers and Dana Zive, published in April, 2016, about the role of oncologist…

• Patients with cancer and oncology professional societies believe that advance care planning is important, but we know little of who actually has this conversation. Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms can help to document these important conversations to ensure patients receive the level of treatment they want. We therefore sought to determine the specialty of those signing POLST forms for patients who died of cancer to better understand who is having this discussion with patients.
• Retrospective cohort study including all deaths due to cancer in Oregon between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2011. Death certificates were matched to POLST forms in the Oregon POLST Registry, and the signing physician’s specialty was determined using the Oregon Medical Board’s database.
• A total of 14 979 people died of cancer in Oregon in 2010 to 2011. Of which, 6145 (41.0%) had at least 1 POLST form in the Registry. Oncology specialists signed 14.9% of POLST forms, compared to 53.7% by primary care, 15.3% by hospice/palliative care, 12.8% by advanced practice providers, and 2.7% by other specialists; 51.8% of oncology specialists did not sign a POLST form, whereas 12.5% completed 10 or more.
• Conclusion:
• Oncology specialists play a central role in caring for patients with cancer through the end of their lives, but not in POLST completion. Whether or not they actually sign their patients’ POLST forms, oncology specialists in the growing number of POLST states should integrate POLST into their goals of care conversations with patients nearing the end of life.

Here’s more information about the POLST program. This is from an article you wrote for the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management:

• The median interval between POLST completion and death was 6.4 weeks. Those dying of cancer had forms completed nearer death (median 5.1 weeks) than those with organ failure (10.6 weeks) or dementia (14.5 weeks; P < 0.001). More than 90% of final POLST forms indicated orders for no resuscitation and 65.1% listed orders for comfort measures only. Eleven percent of the sample had multiple registered forms during the two years preceding their death, with the form completed nearest to death more likely than earlier forms to have orders for no resuscitation and comfort measures only, although some later forms did have orders for more treatment.

Conclusion

• More than half of POLST forms were completed in the final two months of life. Cause of death influenced when POLST forms were completed. POLST forms changed in the two years preceding death, more frequently recording fewer life-sustaining treatment orders than the earlier form(s).

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Allison Lindauer

Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Schools of Medicine and Nursing at OHSU

Alison Lindauer is a nationally-certified gerontological nurse practitioner with a PhD. In gerontological nursing. As an assistant professor at OHSU's Layton Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Center, she cares for persons with dementia and their caregivers. With over 15 years experience in aging care, Dr. Lindauer conducts research on dementia caregiving and telehealth. She is a preceptor and mentor for students in health-related studies. Her publications can be found in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, The Gerontologist, and Research in Gerontological Nursing.

We discussed these issues:

What is the difference (or is there one) between the OHSU Brain Institute and the Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center?

Funding comes in part from the National Institutes of Health, is that right? Is there a danger that the Institute will lose funding under the proposed federal budget?

What is the difference between Alzheimer’s disease and dementia?

Let’s discuss Alzheimer’s itself:

• Can you talk about a specific example (no names, of course) of working with a patient and the family to address their issues: diagnosis, treatment, outcome…
• how and when it occurs,
• how we recognize it,
• what can be done,
• is it hereditary,
• what are the promising areas of research?

What’s it like for the family of the patient/person with Alzheimer’s?

Do you recommend strategies for the family to cope with the condition?

Do you work on the clinical trials at the Layton Center?

• What kinds of things do they test?
• What types of participants are you seeking?
• How does a person apply

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Looking out for the exploiters.

Ellen Klem

Ellen Klem is Director of Consumer Outreach and Education in the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Oregon. Her job is to educate seniors on how to be savvy consumers. Ellen is a lawyer who formerly worked for the American Bar Association, leading policy development and advocacy for low-income seniors.

Her publications include “Six Signs It Is a Scam”, and “Just Hang Up!” In commemoration of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day last year, a campaign to educate Oregonians about imposter scams and fraudulent phone calls.

Other publication and outreach tools:

• A brochure on charitable giving,
• A brochure with ten tips to protect you and your family from scams,
• A toll-free Hotline staffed 5 days a week with knowledgeable volunteers,
• A new website –www.oregonconsumer.gov
• We have a searchable online consumer complaint database – Be Informed
• We also issue Scam Alerts via email, our website, and Twitter.

Questions/Discussion

1. How big an industry in Oregon is fraud directed against the elderly?

Dollar value of scams?

Arrests/convictions?

Trends over the past 5-10 years?

1. What are the most common types of elderly scams that you see? Are scams generally local, statewide, national or what? Are there frauds and scams that thrive specifically in the Portland Metro area?

2. Are the elderly more easily targeted? How do scammers get information on them?

3. What are the “six signs it is a scam?” (from your publication)
4. What kinds of scamming efforts are associated with charities? (related to the publication)
5. Is the AG’s office proactive in identifying scammers?

7.. What does the AG’s office have planned for 2018 to prevent and address scams?

1. What’s your best piece of advice for consumers who want to stay safe?
2. How can consumers who have been victims of a fraud or a scam contact you?
3. Are there financial remedies for people who’ve been scammed?

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Ann Hill and Dr. Marian Hodges

Hill is co-author with Dr. Marian Hodges, Medical Director of Senior Health for Providence - Oregon, of the Help is Here series of books.

Quoting Ann Hill:

“We published the first book, Help is Here: When someone you love has dementia (HIH), in 2014. HIH is for the family caregivers of people with dementia and we really wrote it for the primary care provider of the family member with dementia to give to family caregiver. We've found, though, that other health systems buy it by the 100s and people all over the United States order it online. In 2016 we published Help is Here: When a Resident has Dementia (HIH:R) for everyone who works in a senior residence, and a Leader Manual (LM) for a leader in the senior residence to teach HIH:R to everyone who works in the residence. Most recently, we've published a plain language, culturally adapted, with all new pictures version of the original Help is Here: When someone you love has dementia in Spanish.

You can see all the Help is Here books at the Help is Here website at www.dementiahelpishere.org.

In conjunction with the Help is Here Project and the work I do with Dr. Hodges, I do a lot of presentations to family groups, medical groups (sometimes, but not always, with Dr. Hodges who also has a geriatric practice in addition to being Medical Director of Senior health) and to staff at senior residences.

Dementia happens when a person’s brain is injured and can’t work correctly. It changes the person’s behavior and their body is affected. If you’re caring for someone with dementia, you may find it challenging and stressful. The "Help is Here" books were written with you in mind.

Written by a practicing geriatrician and a family caregiver of a mother with Alzheimer’s disease, the "Help is Here" books offer practical, realistic support for everyday situations.

• Help is Here: When Someone You Love has Dementiais for family caregivers who are caring for a family member with dementia whether they live with the family member or not
• Aquí está la Ayuda: Cuando un ser querido tiene demenciaes para cuidadores familiares que están cuidando a un mimbro de la familia con demencia aunque vivan con el miembro de la familia o no. Esta traducción es escrita en lenguaje sencillo y adaptado culturalmente en contenidos e imágenes.
• Help is Here: When a Resident has Dementiais for the staff at senior residences and explains the staff’s important role and how to deal with challenging situations at work
• Help is Here: When a Resident has DementiaLeader Manual is for leaders at senior residences to guide their staff through group learning through Help is Here: When a Resident has Dementia in six, short staff meetings

Here are some of the questions that we discussed:

• Your listeners may be interested to learn how Dr. Hodges and I came to work together. People often are baffled that a doctor and a lawyer teamed up. Yes, we will start with that. How did a lawyer and doctor come to work together on this project?
• Hodges would be happy to talk briefly about what dementia really IS, if you feel like that would be a helpful start. I see that Dr. Lindauer likely talked a little about that, but a refresher at the top of the interview might be helpful. People are often confused about the "difference" between Alzheimer's disease and dementia so it might be good to clear that up. This is important---need to review what dementia is: causes, early symptoms, age of onset, frequency, treatment(s)…
• How common is dementia? How many people in Oregon have it?
• How would I know if someone in my family were coming down with this?
• How would I know if I were coming down with this?
• Tell us about your series: why you wrote it, how it’s used, how it’s different from other series on this subject, where we can get it
• What’s it like being a caregiver to a family member with dementia?
• Can family members get paid for the care they give?
• How should families plan to deal with this situation? How do they treat care-givers fairly?
• When should we hire others (non-family) to do this work?
• Yes, how do you fund this project? We would like a question about how the Help is Here Project is funded so that we can make clear that we are funded by Providence Foundation, which owns the copyrights to all the Help is Here Profits, if any (I've never heard that there has been a profit) are returned to the Help is Here Project to fund education for those who care for people with dementia. Dr. Hodges and I make nothing from book sales.
• You have a Spanish edition. Tell us about that! We'd also like a chance to talk a little bit about the new plain language, culturally adapted Spanish translation of Help is Here. It's beautiful! We'll bring a copy so you can see it.
• What does the future hold? Do you see a cure on the horizon?

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Mike Waters

Mike is Director of Health promotion at Timber Hill Athletic Club for the last 12 years.

He has a graduate degree in exercise physiology – adult fitness ( heart disease prevention) and he works on “healthy aging” in club members, and the community.

His primary experience is in worksite health promotion program management and development

Discussion

What does it mean to be old? What’s your age cut-off for elderly?

• The fitness industry must adapt to a huge population of boomers who’s physical and psycho-social needs are different than younger populations.
• What do you mean by psycho-social needs?
• Don’t people get to an age where, let’s face it, it’s too late for exercise to have any benefit? Isn’t it more of a hazardous activity at some point in life?
• Boomers want functional fitness to be able to do things, play with grandkids. How does “functional fitness” differ from other kinds of fitness?
• Elders want to be functional in the final stage – years of their lives. How should a fitness program evolve from say, age 60, over the next 20-30 years?
• What about living in the city---talk about hiking and biking opportunities…
• What about skiing? I belong to a “70 Plus” ski club that has members in their 90’s. Do you think that’s a good thing?
• What about dancing? Do you think this is something we should be doing more of?

• Do you agree with CDC recommends two kinds of exercises for seniors:

• aerobic: 30 minutes, 5 times/week

2, muscle/strengthening: 2 or more times/week…all major muscle groups

They say that only c. 1/3rdof US pop. over age 65 gets this level of exercise….

• What is it about muscle building that is important for older folks? We’re not trying to show off our physique over spring break. What’s the deal with strength training?
• What about stretching/flexibility---how important is yoga and other stretching vs aerobic/muscular?
• Do you think it’s true that “sitting is the new smoking?”
• Are you familiar with Tai Chi? Do you think it’s something older folks should be doing?
• Isn’t there a danger in over-exercising? How does a person recognize their limits---know how far to go?
• What do you think of the digital watch fitness programs that track body metrics and steps?
• Aside from health clubs and fitness centers, do you think
• Is there a need for group exercise activities for elders in say public squares? Should the City of Portland be organizing group exercises for elders in public parks?

Lauren Hunter, City Parks & Rec

• Five year round centers: “the big five.”
  • EP
  • Scott
  • MATT
  • South west
  • Charles Johnson
• Plus other, smaller community centers
• Classes: water classes, pastels, writing, performance art, memoirs, geneology
• of users: send out 8,000 guides
• Hiking program: three levels
  • Motion movers (2 hours)
  • Hikes for health (6 hours(
  • Wilderness (very fit)
• Budget? Fees: c. $50,000/year
• Volunteers: had a dinner for 209 (70 core members)
  • Intensive training
• Most popular programs
  • Van excursions (160 per year)
  • Hiking program

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Getting involved: organizations and options.

Since 1997 Donna Butts has been Executive Director of Generations United, She began her career in Oregon as a youth worker with the Salem YWCA. She’s held leadership positions with Covenant House, a New York-based international youth serving organization, and the National 4-H Council. She served as the Executive Director for the National Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting and Prevention before joining Generations United. Butts grew up in Oregon and graduated from Marylhurst Collegeand Stanford University’s Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders.

We discussed these points:

Tell us about Generations United: its mission, size, types of members.

You work with intergenerational programs. What does that term mean and what types of programs does it include?

You talk about “healthy intergenerational communities that are good places to grow up and grow old.” What makes for a healthy intergenerational community?

You list six 2017 “Programs of Distinction.” Lets talk about one or two that could have application here in Portland

• Bessie’s Hope (Denver, CO)
• Hebrew SeniorLife(Dedham, MA)
• Honolulu Walks,The Plaza Assisted Living (Honolulu, HI)
• RSVP Mentor Program,Kenosha Area Family & Aging Services (Kenosha, WI)
• OASIS Intergenerational Tutoring(St. Louis, MO)
• ONEgeneration(Van Nuys, CA)

WE see that one of your partner programs, and the partner for your 2019 conference here in Portland, is a group called Bridge Meadows. Can you tell us what that org. is doing here?

What are the best intergenerational programs that we could learn from or replicate?

You are planning your next biennial conference here in Portland. Why did you decide on Portland for this event?

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Barbara Bernstein, Executive Director, Elders in Action

• Overview of Elders in Action---the various programs, community connections.
  • The Personal Advocate Program
• Challenges for elderly in Portland.
• The Business-Friendly Program

JoAnn Herrigel, Deputy Director

• Housing: the crisis and how your org is addressing it.
• Volunteer and civic engagement.
• The legislative process: key players in the legislature, important issues, ways to get involved.

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Kateri Walsh, Oregon Bar Assn

Publication is “Legal Issues for Older Adults.” Available free on internet.

Janay Haas, Oregon Bar Assn

Power of attorney: one of the primary ways old people get their wealth taken away and lose their houses---

Does not require Notary public and witnesses…

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How to plan for a low-income life-style.

You may be seeing lots of ads on prime-time TV these days about the benefits of “reverse mortgages.” In this episode KBOO interviews a leading specialist who feels that this type of arrangement may be a solution for some elders who are dealing with what she calls “the new longevity.”  We also talk with a lawyer in Eugene who reviews the risks and potential pitfalls in this finance mechanism.

From a financial perspective, Is Portland a good place to retire/grow old?

How does one begin to answer that question, as a matter of personal finance?

Big three: food, medical, housing….close fourth is help/services/support, and transportation….

Cost of living/cost of services…inflation

Vehicle ownership is expensive---Is it necessary to own a car here?

Cash burn rate:  what do you spend, what are your assets?

Is there a way to reduce expenses here, a way that is unique to Portland?

Do low-income people have access to financial planning? Do they need it? 

YES…need to understand compound value…credit card costs, costs of payday loans, car loans.

Is there some way for low-income household to get reliable input to a financial question?

How do I use value in my house to improve the quality of my life as I age?

Housing is the biggest cost:

Should you own?  Should you rent?  Important decision….

What about home equity loans, reverse mortgages. (those are far more complex than most people think).

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The housing shortage; accessibility and planning.

Dr. Margaret Neal is the Director of the Institute on Aging of Portland State University…Her interests include nearly all the subjects we’re looking into in this series: Designing age-friendly communities and neighborhoods; transportation needs and options for older adults; strategies for promoting healthy aging; global aging issues; older workers…. Dr. Neal co-coordinates the Age-Friendly Portland (AFP) and Multnomah Couny Advisory Council, which developed an action plan to create a more age-friendly Portland approved by City Council and now being implemented. She leads a service-learning program focused on aging and health in Nicaragua in conjunction with the Jessie F. Richardson Foundation, and with Dr. Paula Carder heads up the Aging Matters, Locally and Globally initiative. Dr. Neal also is Co-Principal Investigator of the Oregon Geriatric Education Center with Dr. Elizabeth Eckstromat Oregon Health & Science University.

Among her publications are:Creating an Age-Friendly Portland: From Research to Policy to Action. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, which she co-authored with Alan DeLaTorre and Paula Carder

Discussion:

• What is the Institute on Aging, and what is it doing as part of the Planning Department?
• What does it mean to be old?What’s your age cut-off for elderly?
• What are the key elderly demographic trends, Let’s talk about the world, the nation and the Portland metro area---mostly the Portland area.
• I meet lots of people who have moved here after a career.Why do they do that? How is Portland better than say Phoenix or Sarasota?
• Portland is one of 33 cities in the World Health Organization's Age-Friendly Cities project. What does this mean? It was a few years ago---is it still going on?
• What if anything is unique about Portland with respect to elder ly population?
• What are the City policies that affect the elderly? Are they correct, are they working?
• Does the IOA have any positions on policies that it is working with the City to adopt?
• What are the leading trends in care and planning related to the elderly?
• What technologies are going to have the biggest impact on the elderly---e.g., home shopping, drone delivery, ,
• How can Portland position itself as a place where old folks want to live, enjoy living, can stay in their homes and can contribute to our culture and economy? Do you have any specific suggestions about how we can make Portland a place for all ages?

Dr DeLaTorre is an Intern at PSU, where he received his doctorate degree. His interests include planning for age-friendly cities; global aging; urban and regional planning for an aging society; housing and environments for older adults; accessible environments; aging in community;

He is the co-coordinator for the Age-Friendly Portland & Multnomah Count initiatives Cities project (in collaboration with the World Health Organization and AARP) and is the coordinator and faculty for Global Aging and Health: Enhancing Communities in Nicaragua program (in collaboration with the Jessie F. Richardson Foundation).

• What does it mean to be old?What’s your age cut-off for elderly?
• What is the role of the OGA and what does it do?
• What is the Age Friendly Program
• Is Portland a good place to retire?
• Let’s talk about city neighborhoods and planning. Are there specific neighborhoods in the City with relatively high proportion of elderly?
• Are there different issues associated with neighborhoods?
• What are the race and class issues associated with the elderly in Portland?
• Talking about housing, how about issues of price and affordability. Does the rapid growth in housing prices/values generally benefit older people?
• What are the leading housing alternatives for the elderly? Are there “adu’s” here that are useful for elderly?
• Has there been a voice for the elderly in public policy decision-making.
• Other housing-related issues.How can Portland position itself as a place where old folks want to live, enjoy living, can stay in their homes and can contribute to our culture and economy? Do you have any specific suggestions about how we can make Portland a place for all ages?

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Portland:Issues and Challenges

Where are we headed, where should we be going?

Commissioner Nick Fish has been a proponent of interests of elderly population in Portland for your entire career here, from the formation of Portland Age Friendly to the work of Elders in Action.

We asked him:

What accounts for your special interest in this demographic?

Why have other elected officials seemed slow to recognize the importance of the elderly population and its growth in the City and region?

You are the City’s liaison with Elders in Action.

• What’s your connection with EIA now?
• Has the City’s support for this group waned in recent years?
• Funding through the ONI is an important part of the EIA budget? Will that funding survive?

The Portland Age Friendly Program was an exciting initiative when it started ten or so years ago? What has it accomplished?

• It seems to be in a kind of hiatus now----is that true?

I sense that the public facilities that serve the elderly here are important and useful but very under-supported (tal the Holllywood Sr. Ctr., as an example). Is that true, and what can be done about the situation?

There’s a lot of talk of intergenerational development, often meaning the construction of schools that serve also as senior centers. Can and should this happen in Portland?

Do you think Portland is a good place to get old, a good place to retire?

Are the city’s efforts to expand housing benefitting the elderly?

Is housing for elders a problem or challenge in Portland?

Do you see any specific actions that the City should be taking to prepare for the increased aging of the population?

Jay Bloom, Bloom Anew

Is Portland a good place to retire?

Give us a brief history of Age Friendly Portland-Multnomah Co:

• Major accomplishments
• Current agenda
• Is the effort viable/on track? (web site has no planned events…)

How does or should the elderly population play a role in economic development?

What should the City and County be doing to think proactively about the coming explosion of the elderly population?

• Is “explosion” the right term here?
• What programs and facilities are missing, and needed, to serve this demographic?

Can you give us some specific suggestions on tools/strategies that the older residents of this region can use to improve their lives here---

• Specific resources that more people should be using.
  • Programs
  • Organizations
  • Expertise
  • Funding

There’s been a sea change in City population…This shift could be a big economic opportunity…

We should stop using the term “elderly.”

www.bloomanew.com

http://agefriendlyportland.org/

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Located in the historic Hollywood neighborhood, this center for the elderly is one of the most popular hang-outs in the City for older folks.   The breadth of programs that it offers is amazing.  But the facility, an old storefront, is in serious need of upgrading.

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1. Medical Overview:The aging process---facts and myths.

Dr. Mark Williams is Board-certified in geriatric medicine and internal medicine. He has a clinical practice in Wilmington, NC. He’s Clinical Professor of Medicine, UNC and Professor Emeritus, UVA. And he’s the author of a leading book on the medicine of aging, The Art and Science of Aging Well: A Physician’s Guide to a Healthy Body, Mind and Spirit

Geriatric specialists treat common ailments faced by senior citizens, such as frailty, incontinence, memory problems, arthritis, senility, decreased functioning and use of the medications that an elderly person is prescribed to treat their more complex health issues in order to decrease adverse side effects and avoid dangerous drug interactions, and to prevent decline and illness .

We asked Dr. Williams these questions:

What does it mean to be old? What’s your age cut-off for elderly?

You work in a clinic and deal with aging patients every day.

What are the successful strategies that you see patients use to deal with aging?

What are some of the habits or patterns of action and thinking of people you see who are aging badly/unhappily?

You offer “eight aging myths you don’t have to fall for…” Let’s just talk about a few:

No. 2: Losing weight will extend your life…

No. 4: Learning and creativity decline as we age (“you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”)

No. 8. Growing old means living in an institution in a state of dependency.

What are the primary differences in the way women and men age?

We hear the term “free radical.” What is a free radical, why is it a bad thing, and can we avoid it?

Is this related to inflammation?

You have a chapter on food. How important is diet in the aging process?

Aren’t we just paying the price for bad eating habits in earlier years, and there’s nothing we can do when we get old?

Vitamin supplements?

How do we improve memory or at least retain what we have as we age?

The power of habit

You offer some specific suggestions for “sharpening your mind.” Talk about them:

• Learn something new
• Create new experiences.
• Expand on something you already know.
• Deprive a sense
• Use your non-dominant hand.
• Laugh and play.

You talk about managing your emotions as you age? Why is this important? What tools do you suggest we use to do that?

Do older people have something extra to add in creative discussions? What is wisdom, and it this a property that older people have?

Are we rapidly extending life, and will this lead to immortality?

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Keren Brown Wilson, “grandmother of assisted living” in Oregon

President, JFR Foundation

Keren has over 30 years’ experience in long-term care and supportive housing. She was the principal architect of the Oregon model of assisted living and has worked to implement assisted living programs in other states. She founded three assisted living companies, working on over 200 around the nation with a focus on the poor and very poor.

She’s worked with numerous funding sources that include Medicaid, tax credit, state revenue bonds, HUD, and community re-development programs. Keren is a recognized expert on risk and liability management. She continues to work internationally for the Pan American Health Organization and the governments of Canada, and China. Keren currently runs the Jessie F Richardson Foundation, a charity that is working on housing s for very low income elders in the United States and in Central America.

We asked Dr. Wilson to discuss the following:

You’ve had a lifetime in working with the elderly. How did you get interested in this field?

You’ve been a big part of the aging network in the Portland area for longer than anyone we’ve encountered. What is that network, and how has it changed over the decades?

You are described as “the architect of the principal model of assisted living in Oregon.” What was the model that you created, and what is it today?

What are the solutions for housing the elderly that you’ve promoted for low-income population?

You’ve worked with all the major funding sources over the years---Medicaid, tax credit, state revenue bonds, HUD, and community re-development programs----What have been the best programs? What has the government done right?

You create the JFR Foundation. What does it do?

People say that Oregon is well-known for its variety of senior care options…Is this true?

The numbers of people over 65, and especially those over 85, is growing rapidly. Do we have systems in place to deal with the changes that are coming? What do we need to do to get ready?

How did you get started working with the Pan American Health Organization?

You’ve worked as an advisor in Canada and China. What was that like? Are those governments doint things that we should be doing here in the US?

You are working now in Nicaragua. What are you doing there?

You and your husband created a program called “Aging Matters.” Quoting your husband, “We need an ageless society where starting college at 45 is no different than starting at 20. We want Portland to be a place where old people go to unretire.” Have you been successful at making Portland a place to “unretire?”

In your experience, is Portland a good place to retire?

You’ve had an amazing career so far. What’s next for you?

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1. Introduction:Overview of series, and demographics

Dr. Uma Krishnan, Demographer, City Housing Bureau

A little over 72,000 Portland residents are 65 years of age or older and they make up close to 12% of Portland’s population. A further breakdown of this age groups reveals that just over 29,000 are 75 years or older and nearly 10,400 are 85 years and older.

Portland’s share of older adults is comparable to that of Multnomah County. However, the metro area, state and the nation have a larger share of people 65 and older than Portland. The number and share of older adults has increased in all geographies in the five period under consideration

Just like the City, there are more older women than older men. There are nearly 10,000 more women 65 older than men in this age category. A large part (~4,100) of this difference can be attributed to women 85 years and over.

Older adults are less diverse in their racial/ethnic makeup. Just over 85% of older adults are White. In comparison, 78% of the Portland identifies as White. Interestingly, the share of other races like African Americans/ Asian etc. are not much different when comparing the older adults to the City as a whole. The main difference that can be observed is in the “some other race” category. This difference can be attributed to the relatively young Hispanic population in the City who tend to identify as “some other race”.

Close to 13% of Portlanders identify having a disability status. In numbers, this is close to 79,500 people having some form of disability or the other.Older adults make up just over one-half (33%) this population.

Just over one-fifth (21%) of older adults in Portland have either worked full time or worked part-time in 2016.In numbers, we have over 5,200 older adults who worked full time while nearly double that number (10,000+) worked part-time.

Is this a good place to be an old person?

In my opinion, the response to this question is certainly influenced by where the older person is living in the City. True, personal factors (income/health/family) all determine whether a place is good to “retire”. However, the large size of Portland and variations in “access to opportunities” influence quality of life for all types of households including older households.

Portland’s Housing Bureau has created a composite opportunity map that illustrates access to opportunity throughout the City to better understand where Portlanders do and do not have access to the public and private amenities that foster economic improvement and personal wellbeing. The level of access to opportunity is determined as a composite score on the following five indicators:

• public transportation access
• pedestrian infrastructure,
• proximity to quality education
• proximity to healthy living resources
• access to employment

In the resulting opportunity heat map, the darker a place, greater is the access to opportunity. One way to understand disparities in access to opportunity for older adults is to overlay spatial distribution of older adults with disabilities in relationship to Portland’s Opportunity Map. The following map illustrates this spatial relationship:

Notes:

• Census Tracts highlighted in blue over the opportunity maps are areas with 46.9% or more people age 65 and older with disability
• Spatial clustering can be observed in and around downtown Portland which is high in opportunity (services)
• Clustering can also be observed in areas with low and medium levels of opportunity in eastern parts of the City and in northwest

Informed by this analysis, for an older adult who has an affordable housing option in areas with high opportunity, Portland is a wonderful place to retire. However, for an older adult who does not have an affordable housing option and has some of disability or the other and is living in areas with low opportunity- Portland is not the ideal place to retire.

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This is an audio series on my road trip from Washington, DC to Cape Horn on my Suzuki 650 motorcycle.