OSTA Update: Into the Holidays!

Can personal stories tip the scales in legislative advocacy? Discover how the voices of nearly 600 survey participants are shaping the future of tenant rights with the Oregon State Tenants Association (OSTA). As we gear up for the holiday season, we delve into the importance of staying agile with legislative changes on the horizon, courtesy of Pam Marsh and her committee's efforts. December focuses on community engagement, encouraging tenants to break the ice over social gatherings and foster connections. January's agenda includes a push for local and county-level initiatives, aiming to shine a light on Senior Independence Month come February. We emphasize the power of storytelling to educate decision-makers about infrastructure dilemmas and highlight the vital role of organizing a supportive tenant community.

OSTA is also rolling out an enticing membership promotion, offering half-price renewals for current members and a similar deal for newcomers. This initiative is designed to make our community more accessible and strengthen our collective voice as we tackle pressing tenant issues. As the festive season unfolds, we urge everyone to express gratitude, stay safe, and maintain connections despite challenging weather conditions. Don't miss our upcoming statewide Zoom sessions, where we'll share strategies for effective communication with legislators. Keep an ear out for media engagement tips and updates in our next OSTA meeting, ensuring you remain informed and equipped to champion tenant rights.

Legislative Calendar: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/calendar

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Email: bbateman@oregontenants.com

Copyright OSTA2045,2025 Not for rebroadcast w/o express written permission. Please share and download for educational purposes with attribution.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Engaging Tenants for Legislative Support
• 13:47 OSTA Membership Promotion

Transcript

Bill Bateman: 0:00

Well hi everybody. It's time for another OSTA update. We're heading into the holiday season, things are looking pretty good and there's lots on the plate, so come on in, sit down and let's talk. Well hi everybody. I'm Bill Bateman, part of the team here at OSTA, the Oregon State Tenants Association, and we have a busy couple of months ahead of us. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the excellent support and excellent turnout on our survey. We're approaching 600 responses so far and I could not be happier. I would have lived in fear we wouldn't hear from anybody, but this is such an important issue. You folks have done terrific work and helped us, help you, and that's exactly what this whole thing is about. So the next couple of months are going to be busy. We need to be flexible because there will be some changes coming our way. That's just life. But everything looks to be on track so far with the bill that Pam Marsh and the committee is working on. So let's look over the next couple of months and some general ideas. What's going to happen in December? It's a family and friends kind of month, so let's take advantage of that connection that's going to be happening. Talk up what's going on. Not everybody understands If you're in the middle of this. This is a key focal point, but some folks have no idea what's going on. I've discovered that when I brought it up in conversation. So talk it up at church, talk it up at your club meetings, talk it up at holiday events and get togethers. Don't be so annoying you have to wear a tinfoil hat and sit in the kitchen with the kids but do get the information out. Maybe share a one sheet, a flyer, maybe the OSTA address where they can look this up, because this is something. December is a time we're going to lay the groundwork In January. With that groundwork in place, I would like to suggest and these are my suggestions only we begin at the local and county level. Now. Everybody's hot to write and we're going to do that. So if in January you've got some letter writing initiative, let's send those to our local newspapers. Let's send those to our local legislatures and our local county commissioners. This is in preparation for getting a proclamation issued and I'd like to see every county in Oregon do this.

Bill Bateman: 2:57

Senior Independence Month is February. Let's begin in January working to get proclamations issued by each county or each community area. That will issue a proclamation If your city will do it. Each community area that will issue a proclamation. If your city will do it, outstanding good job. It's a fairly simple process. I contacted our county commission office and they said well, you have to write up what you would like to be said and you would also include a rationale why you would want that to be said.

Bill Bateman: 3:29

We at OSTA are going to be putting together some guidelines and some samples and hope that you will add your expertise and your creativity to it. Bearing in mind this is something. We don't want to go in scorched earth and all angry. We want to get support and let the community know we're here. So January, working on proclamations for February. Then you can begin your letters to the editor. We are going to have some statewide Zooms. Those worked out very well the last time. We'll have Zoom sessions available and you can go to the OSTA website in January and see when those will be scheduled.

Bill Bateman: 4:08

Everyone is welcome. If you are a tenant, if you are a resident or if you are a family of a resident, we'd like to invite you, and this is going to be some strategies. This is going to be how to write a letter effectively If you haven't done it in a while or what not to put in your letter. Threats are generally not a good idea. We are the victims here. We need to share our stories and this is something that is very important when you get to the legislative level. These folks live in a kind of glass bubble, many of them, and they don't know what's going on Broken streets, water mains, sewage backing up into your home, things like that. These are the things they need to know to make an intelligent, informed decision. So in February, we can identify our legislators that we need to write to and contact to support the bill. Now I found a really good website. The Oregon State Legislature has this and it's when the legislature is going to do what. So things get back together. On the 25th of January, january 25th, the sessions will convene and I believe, if I'm reading this correctly, on the 25th of February is when new legislation will begin to be introduced. That's subject to double checking in motion at the proper time. So December family and friends, build a community base of people you can count on to help you. A lot of you have already done that and thank you. We saw that in the excellent response to the survey. Let's build on that group. Thank that group. I'm thanking that group now publicly. Ladies and gentlemen, you've done a wonderful job.

Bill Bateman: 6:14

January we want to start working on proclamations and local and county awareness, newspapers, club meetings, tv news. I'm available, by the way, I do communications and if your group in I'm in Southern Oregon we have people all over the state. I cannot speak for others but I'm willing to bet if we had somebody who wanted to have a representative from OST to come out. I know we've got some other folks. My vice president is very, very good. Her name is Rochelle and if she is available, because she's as busy as everybody else, so I'm not speaking for her, but I'm saying if she's available, she'd be excellent to come to your meetings, especially if we're looking at things relating to the media. We want to make sure we're giving out accurate and factual and effective information. So, like I said, december family and friends.

Bill Bateman: 7:16

January local and county working towards proclamations, organizing our groups and in preparation for Senior Independence Living Month and that's a national thing. So that's when our letters to the editor will begin. As February happens and the legislature is back in session, we're going to identify those persons. We need to reach out people that we need their support on the committees and we'll have another workshop for you on how to do that, stressing the critical needs and how. This is eminent. This is not something that's going to happen five years down the road. These are people that here in my park I'm aware are having problems for next month. This is not a question of down the road. This is something that's happening, one of the things we're going to be doing here at OSTA.

Bill Bateman: 8:08

In the surveys, a lot of good comments and narratives have come in. That won't show as a statistic, but it will show in a narrative comment section that I'm going to begin putting together. Right now We've got, like I say, almost 600 of these things. I'm going to call out the best I can and put narratives and city. We will not put names, we will not put parks. We promise this is confidential and I've seen some really gut-wrenching things like sewage backing up because of incorrect water pressure maintenance and things like that. Incorrect water pressure maintenance and things like that. These are things that are going to help us be victorious and persevere and get this information where it needs to happen. So, like I say, we're going to have Zooms on how to be the most effective. I'm going to create a narrative.

Bill Bateman: 9:02

We have sent the videos from previous Zooms to the legislators. We're going to have information up on the website so you can pop in and see what to do when these Zooms are going to be. And, as always, our helpline is up. If you have specific questions you need to ask, please feel free to write Now, because there's hundreds and thousands of us. I can't respond to everybody personally, but we'll try and address those concerns on the air, like I'm doing now. And the big question is how's everything going? It's going very good. It's on track. What are the schedules? I now have some more information. I've just shared that with you.

Bill Bateman: 9:43

We're looking at end of January the session begins. End of February the introduction of bills. We've got that time to build a strong case at the local and community level and then identify the legislators we need to work with, while continuing to be active in the media and the public arena to let folks know this is a serious, serious situation and there's a lot of us Seniors are not cash cows. I'm still looking for information if they have a legislative day when we can get in and talk to the members of the legislature. I've done these before. There's a specific day. I don't know if we're going to have the funds to get a bus. This is very expensive to get everybody up there. But if you're in the northern end of the state, if you're up around the Salem, eugene, portland area that's like an hour's drive that's quite doable. And getting down and wearing your cow hat and your I'm not a cash cow T-shirt and talking to legislators, finding as many movie cameras, tv cameras, news reporters as we can. We're going to be working on that. I'm working on that. Right now.

Bill Bateman: 11:05

It's the holidays and the election has everybody kind of gone blah. So holidays ahead, election behind us. I'm pleased to report that the outcome of the election has not damaged any of our prospects. Somebody asked me that Did the changes in the legislative structure change? There have been some different appointments, but it is looking pretty good. So, overall response good, direction, good. Your response, excellent. I've said thank you three times. I may say it another time.

Bill Bateman: 11:42

You folks out there, by spreading this podcast, by downloading this and sharing it, by getting people both to the website and to tune in here, this is how we get things done. You're doing it. I'm doing the best I can to get you the information. I'm going to support you as much as we can here at OSTA and it's going to be you and I making this happen. So that's how it's looking.

Bill Bateman: 12:07

It is the 25th of November, as I said, only a month till Christmas, and there's a lot of good things we can do in those 30 days and that January is kind of a down month. Everybody, as I recall, kind of goes whew, wow, that was. You know, the holidays were harsh, so you're going to have a full month of downtime to work on these tasks. We're going to put things on the website and here on YouTube and on the podcast to make it easy for you to be effective and we don't want to step on our toes. I found the one thing that is helpful in letters if you're going to send them out, send out 10 a week versus sending out 50 letters all at once, because now there's a big pile of 50 letters and they're going to get behind another big pile of letters. Keep people aware and you folks are good at that. That's what I have so far. The website address is on the login and the agenda and Oregon legislature information link will be on the agenda.

Bill Bateman: 13:20

Other than that, I want to say thank you to everyone in the OSTA team. Each of you have done a wonderful job. We have turned this than that. I want to say thank you to everyone in the OSTA team. Each of you have done a wonderful job. We have turned this around. The membership is good for five more days. The membership drive was extended until the end of the month, so until the 30th of November you can still get, if you're a former member, if you're coming back, half price.

Bill Bateman: 13:47

If you're a present member and you want to renew, half price, or if you're a brand new person just joining up what's this Osta all about? You can come in for half price. We're meeting you halfway. That's what we need to do to get the word out, to show you we're serious about this, what we need to do to get the word out to show you we're serious about this. We know how serious the problem is and we know how vital you are to the process. So that's what we've got. Thank you very much. Have an excellent holiday. Whatever you're doing at your home, be careful on the road. It's icy and wet, at least where we are, and I don't see any changes in the immediate future. Be safe, be kind, and we'll see you the next OSTA update. Thanks, no-transcript.