Mailbox

[September 12th, 2007]

GONNA MAKE YOU SWEAT-FREE, BABY

I was surprised and slightly confused when I saw that Willamette Week attempted to stake out a position to the left of workers’ rights advocates, accusing us of “surrender” in the campaign for a sweatshop-free purchasing policy for the City of Portland [“Sweat Surrender,” Sept. 5, 2007].

Labor rights activists in Portland, overwhelmingly volunteers, initiated this campaign over a year ago because we care about workers’ rights around the world. We are confident that the Sweatfree Resolution passed in City Hall—which directs the City Council to pass a sweatfree ordinance within a year—is a firm step in this direction.

I am happy that the Willy Week so intensely shares our desire for a Sweatfree ordinance. I only wish that you had aggressively editorialized to that effect before the resolution was brought before council in the first place.

The resolution is an important first step in passing an ordinance that will ensure that all goods purchased by the city are made under decent working conditions. Making sure that all city contractors respect workers’ rights and pay a respectable wage will be, of course, a complicated process. I am proud that Portland is at the forefront of the effort to make cities ethical consumers in the global economy.

Dan Denvir
North Chatham Avenue

STATIC ON THE WIRELESS

I was glad to see an article taking a critical look at Metro-Fi in the Aug. 28 WW [“Unwired and Unloved”]. The fact of the matter is Metro-Fi’s “service” is a joke.

Metro-Fi should be held to the same standards as any other utility. If you turned on your taps to find water only there sometimes, and coming out at a trickle at best, you’d be outraged. If the power company only sent enough electricity through the system to power one 100-watt bulb per household, they’d lose their license to do business. Metro-Fi is scamming the citizens of Portland.

Why does the city want to provide a “service” that does not

serve? Perhaps cable Internet providers are working with Metro-Fi to create a “cloud” that is so absymal that people still have to subscribe to pay-to-play cable or dial-up services.

Having used—and tried to use—Metro-Fi’s spotty-at-best services, I know I certainly can’t depend upon them. Let’s give Metro-Fi the boot, and operate a truly free wi-fi cloud as a service to Portland residents. The Personal Telco Project provides excellent service at its hotspots; maybe it should be put in charge. Metro-Fi is a disgrace to the city and makes a mockery of the city’s pledge of free wireless for all.

Abram Goldman-Armstrong
Northeast 60th Avenue