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Immigrant Students
Mil gracias (1,000 thank yous) to Beth Slovic and WW, to teacher Anne Downing and David Douglas High, for having these kids tell our immigrant nation's story ["How David Douglas Proves Donald Trump Wrong," WW, Dec. 2, 2015].
On some presidential candidates' idea of closing our doors, 16-year-old Sun Ye says, "It's not good. America has a lot of immigrants. If they say no, it's not America." Wow. As a refugee kid when my family arrived, as a parent and now a grandparent, as a Portlander, I am so proud of her, of Yuyan and Richard, of Saman and Hamada.
—Ronault Catalani
I hate it when kids are used to make a political point. It is wrong. This is not what my taxes are paying for.
They cannot speak for all people who come into this country. It only takes one bad one to do damage.
—"Richie"
Neglected Apartments
Kyle Fuller, who manages the property for Pacific Coast, says he had no idea about the code violations. "I am blindsided," he tells WW ["Power Goes Out. Rent Goes Up," WW, Dec. 2, 2015].
Hmmmm. Maybe you wouldn't be blindsided if you did periodic inspections, a standard and obvious practice for anyone managing properties.
—Michael Caputo
Even the kindest, most ethical landlords also function on a complaint-based system. You can't just walk into an apartment unit to check it out.
And if the occupant has been there for years and years, you can't rely on turnover to inspect an empty unit.
If the people living under those conditions haven't even bothered to tell the landlord, that's on them. (If they did, and the landlord refused to do anything in response, that's a different matter.)
—"pdxlager"
Nice, thorough article. You can, however, substitute "Portland" for "Denver," "Boulder," "Kansas City," "Houston," "Raleigh," etc.
This has been happening nationwide for as long as this nation has existed. Desirable places to live are always slightly more expensive and more sought-after.
—"i5guy"
Christmas Fish Tale
I was raised in Newport, and I remember the Lonely Fish well ["Totally True Christmas Traditions of Small-Town Oregon," WW, Dec. 2, 2015]. If you got an eye, it was considered good luck. I never did, but my sister did once.
During the Flag Day purging, she was chosen to walk into the Yaquina to appease Latmikaik, the goddess of the ocean. I sometimes miss her, but as we say on the coast, "Lucky to be ritually sacrificed to a god you know than to be sacrificed in one of the unusually frequent serial-killer attacks along 101 and Highway 20!"
It's a boring town, so we have time to have long slogans like that. And, at least when I lived there, so much meth…but Easter is another holiday.
—"TheImmortalGoon"
Correction
Last week's story on building inspections ("Power Goes Out. Rent Goes Up," WW, Dec. 2, 2015) incorrectly identified the Portland city bureau required to submit a proposal for a fee-based inspection system. It is the Housing Bureau, not Home Forward. WW regrets the error.
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Willamette Week