Housing Authority of Portland

Ah, democracy... what broad freedoms you afford us. The right to make fools of ourselves at Star Trek conventions, to waltz topless through Pioneer Courthouse Square or--barring a restraining order--to talk to anyone we please. Actually, if you're Richard Ellmyer, that last one gets a bit tricky.

Ellmyer is a vocal opponent of the Housing Authority of Portland's plans to pour hundreds of millions of public dollars into the Columbia Villa housing project in his neighborhood of Portsmouth. A very vocal opponent. When his monthly emails to the HAP board (and virtually every elected official in the county) started sucking up too much employee time, board chairman Howard Shapiro shot back this reply: "Any further questions or concerns you may have about HAP or the New Columbia project must be addressed to me."

Ellmyer only yelled louder. "It's a wrongheaded policy to say that people can't connect with city officials," he told WW.

Shapiro claims the housing authority isn't shutting Ellmyer down, only streamlining the public process as he becomes "increasingly acrimonious and confrontational" with the board. "We're saying the only way to get a response is to apply to the chair," Shapiro says.

We understand Shapiro's frustration. Although Ellmyer poses legitimate questions (his current crusade is to get HAP data broken down by neighborhood, not ZIP code), he frequently launches into personal attacks when things don't go his way. For example, when HAP spokeswoman Shelley Marchesi didn't forward an e-mail of his in a timely fashion, Ellmyer sent out a blistering message that called her "dishonest" and "unethical," intimated that she should be prosecuted for felony mail theft, and demanded she be fired.

In all honesty, if Ellmyer were sending the Rogue Desk the kinds of uncivil letters he sends to the people at HAP, we would tell him to leave us the hell alone. Public officials don't have that luxury.

As Ellmyer says, "These folks don't have to respond to my emails, they don't have to read them, but they can't stop them before they get there."

WWeek 2015