When the Portland Development Commission and the City of Portland hatched plans last year to expand urban renewal in the north and northeast parts of the city, including the Rose Quarter, one Portlander saw an opportunity to bring in some much-needed cash for community organizations operating in the area.

However, the idea might collide with an existing agreement the city has with the company that manages the Rose Garden.

Roy Jay, president of the African American chamber of commerce, has been advocating for a community benefits agreement to be written into the city’s plan to re-develop the Rose Quarter.

Most community benefit agreements have concerned issues like hiring minorities for the project, living wages, and local purchasing requirements. However, Jay’s idea is far more ambitious.

Under Jay’s proposal, 1 percent of all gross revenue generated in the Rose Quarter would go into a special fund that would be used to bolster over 50 different community organizations, many of which operate in north and northeast Portland. A $1.99 charge would also be tacked on to every ticket sold for any event in Rose Quarter that would also go into the fund.

A hefty sum of money could be at stake. According to Jay, about $300 million was generated in the Rose Quarter last year. One percent of that would mean $3 million.

“We have the chance to make this right by putting some teeth into this agreement,” said Jay on Tuesday evening to a subcommittee examining the issue that he serves as a member of.

During the public comment period of the meeting several people pointed out that the Rose Quarter was created by the city using eminent domain to seize the property of residents who ended up being displaced, and the community benefits agreement seemed only fitting given the area’s history.

Charles McGee- the executive director of the Josiah Hill III Clinic, one of the non-profits slated to receive money under the community benefits agreement- invoked a passage from the Bible instructing people to love their neighbor as they do themselves in support of Jay’s idea. He also added that with better funding his clinic could serve more people.

However, a presentation by David Logsdon, the manager of the city’s spectator facility fund, cast doubt on the viability of the community benefits agreement.

Logsdon explained that the city’s spectator facility fund is a self-sustaining fund operated by the city. The city receives six percent off of all ticket sales at the Rose Garden and Memorial Coliseum, which go into the fund and have been used to keep PGE Park up and running.

Under an agreement with the city has with the company that manages the Rose Quarter, any new tax assessed by the city or Metro on ticket sales would be deducted dollar-for-dollar off the current 6 percent already going to the city.

The city’s deal with Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson to build a major league soccer stadium at PGE Park commits all revenue from the fund to go to the financial obligations of the new stadium, said Logsdon.

So any new taxes on ticket sales would make it more difficult for the city to meet its financial obligations to new MLS stadium, and could be shot down.

However, Logsdon said he wasn’t sure if the community benefits agreement amounted to a “tax.”

“That’s an issue you’d want a legal analysis done to,” said Logsdon.

Jay seemed to be taken a bit aback by the new information. But later said he remained committed to his vision, and confident that it would reach fruition because of the clear benefits it would bring to the area. He also referred to his proposed $1.99 charge on tickets as a “service fee.”

“It is not a tax; we never want to cuss in public,” said Jay jokingly.

The subcommittee will meet one last time to finalize its recommendations on Sept. 23 at 5:30 p.m. at the Portland Development Commission building. The recommendations will go to a PDC study group as well as a broader committee charged with overseeing the redevelopment of the Rose quarter. City Council will have the final say.

This fall, the Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art at Lewis & Clark College presents an exhibition investigating the work of Alison Saar, an artist known for her emotionally candid exploration of African cultural Diaspora.

Alison Saar: Bound for Glory, features the sculptures and works on paper of this important contemporary artist who uses the human body to explore racial and gender issues while engaging her audience in an ongoing dialog.

Local audiences may already be familiar with Saar’s work. Last spring, Lewis & Clark held a ceremony to officially dedicate Saar’s “York: Terra Incognita” bronze statute on the southwest Portland campus.

A tribute to the memory of William Clark’s slave, the sculpture earned praise from the local media and has attracted visitors from the region and beyond.
The college’s fall exhibition explores both Saar’s public artworks and the more personal pieces she creates in her Los Angeles studio.

The exhibition opened Tuesday, Sept. 7 and will continue through Dec 12. It is free and open to the public; the gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

More information is available at lclark.edu/hoffman_gallery.

Portland’s original cornfield maze at the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island has teamed up with ‘Heart in Oregon’ products to create the annual giant puzzle in a towering corn field. The Portland MAiZE is open through Oct. 31.

Since 1999, thousands of people have attended the Portland MAiZe at the Pumpkin Patch on Swan Island during the month of October. The 12th annual event is popular fun-filled family tradition. This year’s Heart in Oregon maze will be offering the usual exciting physical and mental challenges of previous versions, with the added bonus of following your heart to the actual “heart” within the maze.

People have fun without a map of the maze, but Portland MAiZe staff will happily provide a “passport” that holds trivia, which, if answered correctly, will guide maze-goers correctly through the mile or so of twists, turns, and dead ends. Special for this year’s maze, a Heart in Oregon passport will test visitors’ knowledge about Oregon.

Saturday, Sept. 11, the MAiZE will offer free admission to all veterans and public service personnel with valid I.D. as a way to say thanks for all their hard work and sacrifice.

For more information, visit portlandmaze.com or call 503-621-7110.

New Urban League report evaluates conditions

An updated report by the Urban League of Portland shows that the economic and social conditions of African Americans in Oregon have deteriorated since the civil rights group released a comprehensive report on the topic a year ago.

The original investigation, titled “The State of Black Oregon,” revealed that members of the state’s African American population was at the bottom of nearly every meaningful social category, facing higher unemployment and more problems accessing quality housing, healthcare, and education than their white counterparts. Additionally, it also showed that blacks were overrepresented in the adult prison, juvenile justice and child welfare systems.

The updated report shows that the recession has taken a particularly high toll on African Americans in Oregon. Between 2008 and 2009, unemployment for white Oregonians rose from 6.2 percent to 11.1 percent. But for the state’s African Americans, that number shot up from 11.1 percent to 15.2 percent during the same period.

African Americans in the state also suffered the highest percentage of foreclosures, closely followed by Latinos, due to sub-prime lending practices. The new figures also showed that the drop-out rate has improved for every demographic student group except for blacks in Oregon, whose dropout rate remains stuck at 7 percent.

Marcus Mundy, the president of the Urban League of Portland, called on local governments to collect more racial and demographic data and set solid disparity reduction targets. He said that the most recent report for his organization shows that the response to his initial report has been inadequate.

“The current economy continues to fuel widening socioeconomic disparities amongst black Oregonians,” Mundy said. “Our opportunity now lies in ensuring that emerging jobs, health, education and related policy is equitable for all Oregonians. Our data shows that without setting targeted goals, disparities will persist and in many cases, worsen.”

The Urban League is proposing that the City of Portland, Metro, and the Oregon Department of Transportation, and other government entities overseeing new economic development initiatives, particularly projects funded by the federal stimulus, to devote a percentage of each project’s workforce to lifting up groups disproportionately affected by unemployment.

The league is also calling for the creation of a city-wide task force to look into the social and economic woes, and for Portland Public Schools and health facilities to devote more resources toward improving the condition of African Americans.

On the legislative side, the league is calling for lawmakers to preserve and expand the earned-income tax credit and Temporary Assistance to Needy
Families, in addition to enacting legislation that will require an analysis of the racial impacts of any change in sentencing policy.

Health streams program offers free resources

David Farmer and Kate Hibschman disconnect a home’s downspouts to allow roof runoff to soak back into lawns and landscaping, recharging groundwater.

“Where does the water go?” It’s a question we tackle in grade school and an environmental concern long after the science lesson is over. A local Healthy Streams Program offers free resources to Gresham residents to help reduce pollution to local creeks and wetlands.

“Rain water is an asset we often overlook,” says Jamie Stamberger,
Environmental Services watershed outreach coordinator. “We can incorporate rain into our landscapes with downspout disconnection and rain gardens, which add interest and beauty and keep polluted runoff out of local creeks at the same time,” she said.

When the rains start this fall, four Gresham homes will be soaking it up in style with their new rain gardens. Instead of stormwater running off their roofs to the street and being delivered through pipes directly to the nearest stream, their roof water will filter through a beautiful bowl-shaped planted landscaped area known as a “rain garden,” allowing the recharge of ground water.

The City is raffling four free rain gardens, including labor and plants, to raise public awareness of stormwater management. Deadline to enter is Thursday, Sept. 9, and winners will be announced Sept. 11. To be eligible, staff must confirm the safety of your site. Call the city at 503-618-2793.

These free programs are made possible through a partnership and grant funds between the City’s Watershed Division and East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District.

Gresham residents are also eligible to receive one free native tree to plant this fall. Trees offered: Western Red Cedar; Western Hemlock; Douglas Fir; Gary White Oak; Big Leaf Maple and Ponderosa Pine. The tree will either be delivered to your home or can be picked up at City Hall in October.

You can register for a free rain garden workshop at Hollydale Elementary School from 8:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11.

The session will show how to help local creeks from your own back yard by building rain gardens, disconnecting your downspouts and gardening organically with native plants.

Another resource for Gresham residents are free at-home visits from knowledgeable staff to help you get started on your natural gardening projects.
The visits include free start-up tools and information on natural gardening, landscaping with native plants, removing invasive weeds, toxics reduction techniques, backyard wildlife habitat, at-home stormwater management and water conservation.

Many neighborhoods have large water quality facilities in the form of rain gardens, ponds or swales that collect and filter runoff from streets and rooftops collectively.

To participate in any of the free activities above, contact Jamie Stamberger at 503-618-2793. More details about each activity are online at GreshamOregon.gov/watershed.

Workshop for anxiety, depression offered

Untreated anxiety often leads to depression. Depression and anxiety drain energy, decrease drive, and lessen hope. The key to relief is learning the tools to make positive choices each day and drawing on the support of others.

The Northwest Catholic Counseling Center is offering a series of six evening classes to help people master the practical skills for dealing with depression and anxiety before they become overwhelming.

The workshop starts on Sept. 23 and runs until Oct. 28, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Cost for the series is $90, and there are some discounts or scholarships available for those who qualify. The deadline for registering is Sept 17. Those interested can call 503-253-0964.

“The World Health Organization says the economic and societal consequences of depression make it the fourth costliest disease in the world. Those suffering in our community need to know that help is available,” said Sister Barbara Kennedy, clinic director.

Class participants will learn the functional skills needed to live with, and thrive, with depression and anxiety, including relaxation techniques leading to reduced stress and heightened feelings of joy and relief. Other topics include dealing with negative thoughts, communication skills and problem solving.

The Northwest Center is particularly devoted to caring for low-income women and children, who often shoulder the greatest emotional and financial burdens.

PDC throws life line to Killingsworth Station

An artist’s rendering shows the proposed Killingsworth Station housing complex coming to the intersection of North Killingsworth and Interstate Avenue, across the street from a Max light-rail station.

Lee Perlman

The long-delayed Killingsworth Station housing project has new financing in place and could be under construction as early as November, according to developer James Winkler and the Portland Development Commission.

On Friday, the commission voted unanimously to increase a construction loan for the four-story housing project to be built at North Killingsworth Street and Interstate Avenue from a previously approved $3.2 million to $5.8 million.
PDC is also granting $5.1 million in tax revenues to the developer, including donation of the land itself, to the $13 million project. Winkler Development Corporation has also secured a $4.6 million loan from Wells Fargo Bank, according to Winkler and PDC executive Sara King.

The finished project will contain 57 for-sale condominium units. Of these, 34 will be sold at prices affordable to households earning 80 percent or more of median family income. The building will also have 9,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. It will be a LEED Gold construction project with an eco-roof, recycling of storm water, and use of highly energy efficient materials for reduced energy consumption.

The project has been on the drawing boards for at least 10 years. PDC acquired the 32,000 square foot site between the years 2000 and 2003, removing several existing homes in the process. In 2004 PDC selected the Kemper Company to develop the site, but the firm withdrew the following year for financial reasons. In 2006 PDC gave Winkler a chance to pursue development of the project, and in 2008 the parties signed on to a $3.3 million subsidy for the project. However, the deal languished when Winkler’s couldn’t secure the remaining financing. In her report to the Commission, King cited letters of support for the project from the Overlook Neighborhood Association, the adjacent Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association, and the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Advisory Committee which oversees the use of the urban renewal funds that are the source of the project’s subsidy and loans.

King noted that there was also some opposition on the advisory committee to the project because of a lack of more family-sized units and affordability.

Nearly all of the units will have just one bedroom, with most of the living spaces between 600 and 750 square feet, but Winkler told the Portland Observer that there will also be three two-bedroom units of 1,062 square feet each.

For the PDC, the biggest issue seemed to be the amount of money they were spending on the project, but all of the PCC commissioners accepted its necessity.
PDC Chair Scott Andrews said, “It’s significant that there’s bank financing behind this, though at a lower level than in the past. There’s a construction loan to be paid back, and without that, this project wouldn’t go. This will encourage other development in these neighborhoods.”

Commission member Charles Wilhoite said, “The community really wants to see something happen here.”

Commission member John Mohlis said, “As we go from the new world we’re in back to the more traditional one, we’ll hopefully be able to stretch our dollars further. Meanwhile, it’s great to get this project going and put people back to work.”

University of Oregon President Richard Lariviere makes a pitch for reshaping the university’s financial health and making the college more accessible to under-served populations during a Portland visit to the university White Stag block in Old Town. Photo by Jake Thomas.

Richard Lariviere has been president of the University of Oregon for just over a year, but he has already hatched a plan to drastically reshape how the college is governed in hopes of bringing greater financial stability to the school, and giving students a better sense of how much their education will cost.

Lariviere spoke about the sweeping changes he aims to bring to the university during an interview with the Portland Observer at the college’s Portland campus in the White Stag Block of Old Town.

Lariviere, 60, explained that when he was an undergraduate at the University of Iowa, it was possible for a student to work during the summers and save up enough for tuition at a public college that was heavily subsidized by the state.

“That’s what we are hoping to go back to, and those days are gone forever,” he said.

With fewer taxpayer dollars allocated by the state to public universities, students increasingly fund their education through a patchwork of grants, part-time jobs, family support (if they’re lucky), and, probably, lots of loans.

Lariviere said that with UO’s $8,000-a-semester $8,000-a-year tuition many families, particularly low-income, think that school is out of reach.

“And that infuriates me because they can go,” he said, referring to financial aid through loans, grants and scholarships that can make college possible.

But what makes matters worse is that it’s often unclear how much tuition will be raised from year to year. This year, at the University of Oregon, tuition shot up by 6 percent. Last year it was increased 3 percent.

“It scares the hell out of everybody,” he said.

Under Laviviere’s financial stability plan, which he said hasn’t been tried at any other public university, the state would issue $800 million in 30-year bonds to the UO. The state would spend about $64.5 million servicing the debt, which is about the same amount it gives to the university each year. UO would invest the money, creating an endowment that would steadily generate money for the school. This would free the university from having to rely on revenue from the state’s increasingly volatile coffers.

“If we know three years out how much money is going to come from the state, we can now manage our environment such that we can predict what the cost is going to be for the entire four years that you’re an undergraduate,” he said.

Lariviere argues that if his plan is successful, the university will be able to tell students about how much they can expect to spend for tuition, room and board. They will also have a sense of how much they will have in grants, and how much they will have in loans.

Currently the University of Oregon is overseen by the State Board of Higher Education and the Legislature. Lariviere’s proposal would create a new board to oversee it, giving the school more autonomy.

“This isn’t a model that’s radical or unknown in Oregon,” he said. Lariviere pointed to Portland Community College, which, like other community colleges, operates this similarly. Lariviere also mentioned that the PCC recently won approval of nearly $400 million in property tax bonds.

Lariviere also talked about his plan to revamp the UO admission process putting less emphasis on test scores and GPA’s in favor of a more holistic approach that will diversify the university.

“We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they [test scores and GPA's] are skewed throughout the population in favor of families that prepare their children from youth to be ready to go to college. That’s the only thing that most parents focus on when they are in the upper educational socio-economic strata,” he said.

He hopes to bring in more students who may not have the best GPA’s, but have life experiences that will enrich the university.

Lariviere was also asked about the tough job market for recent college grads, which has prompted some to question if college is worth the trouble.

In responding, he recalled seeing a newspaper article describing how the job market was the worst it’s ever been for new grads. The date on the newspaper was 1972.

“It’s always terrible; there are no guarantees,” he said.

However, Lariviere said that college grads, in the long run, will be richer, healthier, and happier.

“No bank, no credit card company can ever take away this education; it’s yours,” he said.

He also weighed in on an incident that occurred last February, where a swastika was found spray painted on an office for gay and lesbian students. In the aftermath, the student senate considered a resolution asking the Pacifica Forum, a controversial organization some believed to be tied to the incident, to leave the campus.

“The students argued about the principals of free speech that in a way were more lucid, better informed, and clearer than almost any other debate surrounding these issues,” said Lariviere, who added that he was “intensely proud” of how they handled it.

For careers in sustainable engineering

Portland Community College instructor Greg Gerstner inspects the bio diesel tank that creates fuel on campus from discarded cooking oil.

Starting this fall, Portland Community College’s Civil and Mechanical Engineering Technology Program will offer a new option for students wanting a career in sustainable engineering.

A student pursuing the Green Technology and Sustainability Option will take courses in renewable energy, environmental sociology and introduction to geographic information systems that emphasize environmental skills.

In addition, students get hands-on work performing lab tests for water quality and producing biodiesel from the waste oil from the Sylvania Campus cafeteria. All of these classes are required for a Civil or Mechanical Engineering Technology associate’s degree with a Green Technology and Sustainability Option, which is based at PCC’s Sylvania Campus in southwest Portland.

With the emphasis on green technology development in the American Recovery and Revitalization Act of 2009, the program’s faculty expects even a greater opportunity in the marketplace for its graduates in sustainability fields.

“We’re very excited about the Green Technology and Sustainability Option,” said Greg Gerstner, engineering instructor. “The three courses will not only add technical acumen, but will address the importance of environmental responsibility.”

This isn’t the first green venture by the Civil and Mechanical Engineering Technology Program. Since the early 1990s, courses in thermodynamics, HVAC, energy production, energy management, equipment design and solar energy have been offered.

In the 1980s, faculty worked on the design of the solar hot water system for a campus swimming pool. In 1995, they built a straw bale building with solar panels, which was a research project to demonstrate that this kind of construction was a practical method in Oregon’s damp climate. This solar lab facility still stands today and is off the grid.

“Over the years, instrumentation has been added, and two solar hot water systems are almost complete, so that the facility can be used to supplement our thermodynamics and fluid mechanics courses,” Gerstner added. “It’s just another way we are tying green and sustainable methods into our courses for the benefit of the community.”

For more information on the program, visit pcc.edu/programs/civil-engineering.

Lack of revenue puts strain on inspections

Cristina Palacios, safe housing coordinator for the Oregon Community Alliance of Tenants, returns a call from a renter in distress. Photo by Jake Thomas.

Angela Lopez remembers when her home was making her child sick.

Lopez, a transplant from Mexico and mother of three, said she spent two years scrubbing mold her in small rental house in northeast Portland with Clorox and soap. But somehow the black fuzz always seemed to grow back on the walls and ceilings of the kitchen and bedrooms.

Her 5-year-old son’s asthma, which had been dormant, came roaring back from the mold, according to Lopez. She said she complained to her landlord, who put a lamp-sized ventilation hole in the living room ceiling covered with metal grating, which she said made the dwelling frosty during the colder months.

After what she described as a fruitless back-and-forth with her landlord, who she claimed repeatedly painted over the mold, she called the housing inspector and left several messages that she said weren’t returned. Her final phone call was met with an automated voice telling her the message box was full, according to Lopez.

The heat only worked in her bedroom, she said, and the fluctuations between hot and cold exacerbated her child’s condition. The staff at a local clinic told her that her house, which she shared with her husband, two other children, mother and father-in-law, was affecting her child’s health. After much hand-wringing, she and her husband decided to break the lease with her landlord, who couldn’t be reached for comment.

Contention has often marked relations between landlords and tenants, who occupy about 42 percent of Portland’s housing. But as the Great Recession persists conflicts between the two have grown pricklier as money for housing inspectors has dried up.

As revenues have dropped off for the Bureau of Development Services, the city agency has had to lay off building inspectors who keep dwellings inhabitable by enforcing the city’s building code.

According to bureau spokesperson Ross Caron, housing inspectors have been reduced to five (about half) as a result of the cuts.

“We have experienced a slow down in our response time,” said Caron.
He explained that the bureau has prioritized complaints it receives. For instance, a tenant who complains about a serious problem, like a lack of heat or a broken refrigerator would receive more immediate attention than other types of complaints.

However, complaints that are somewhere in between in severity will be responded to in five to 10 days, he said. A landlord will have 30 days to correct the problems. If they don’t they will be assessed a fine that, depending on how many units are in the building, could be as high as $500 a month, which doubles after three months.

It’s difficult to get a snapshot of the state of Portland housing, but according to the U.S. Census over 70 percent of housing in Portland was built before 1970, which are more likely to be in disrepair.

According to Bureau of Development Services numbers, between July 1 and Aug. 27 it received 240 housing complaints, 65 percent of which came from rental properties.

“We get quite a few phone calls about [tenants having problems],” said Matt Kinshella, external relations coordinator for 211Info, a referral service that helps people navigate community and health services.

211Info received 616 calls regarding landlord/tenant issues so far for the current fiscal year, slightly up from last year. The zip code that generated the most calls was 97233, which encompasses part of outer southeast Portland and Gresham, which generated 78 calls. The next zip code was 97205, which encompasses part of downtown. It generated 50 calls.

Housing inspectors haven’t been the only ones inundated with calls for help. The Oregon Community Alliance of Tenants, a nonprofit that advises renters of their rights and responsibilities, also its hands full.

Housed in the basement of the St. Augustana Lutheran Church in northeast Portland, the alliance gets about 40 messages a day from distressed renters, which sometimes overwhelms its voicemail system according to Cristina Palacios, the safe housing coordinator for the organization.

At the alliance office, Palacios spends quite a bit of time on the phone fielding and responding to complaints.

She often gives tenants the number to the housing inspector, but said that’s seldom a straight-forward solution. The short-staffed bureau is having a hard time keeping up with complaints, said Palacios, and she suspects that landlords are aware of the situation and are using it to their advantage.

“It’s not a working system,” said Palacios of the remedies available to tenants.

Palacios said that housing advocates often encounter landlords who place their bottom line above the inhabitability of their properties, and put in the bare minimum maintenance on their rentals. Tenants who complain, said Palacios, are met with a common refrain: “If you don’t like it, leave.”

She described one mother who called whose daughter was hospitalized twice from mold, only to be told to leave by her landlord. Another mother would send her children to school without taking showers due to a lack of hot water. A diabetic man called in after his year’s supply of insulin spoiled from a broken refrigerator.

“My concern is how many tenants are going through this,” said Palacios.
Palacios said that there is gulf between landlords, who typically have more money and resources, and tenants, who may not even be aware of their rights, and may worry about retaliation if they exercise them.

Portland City Council has taken note of the issue, and taken some actions.
In 2008, City Council voted to accept the recommendations of the Quality Rental Housing Workgroup- a panel of landlords, tenant advocates, and government officials charged with examining the issue.

Their recommendations included clarifying portions of the city’s building code, upping penalties for bad landlords, establishing more proactive inspection practices, stabilizing funding for housing inspectors, and better educating both sides about their rights and responsibilities.

Since accepting the recommendations in principle, the City Council has followed up on some. Fines have been upped on landlords who drag their feet on repairs. The Bureau of Development Services also launched a housing inspections pilot program, where if inspectors saw enough code violations at a multi-dwelling complex, they would knock on other tenants’ doors to see if they wanted an inspection.

Caron explained that the idea behind this program is that it takes the pressure off tenants who might worry about provoking the ire of their landlord by initiating a complaint.

One recommendation that hasn’t been followed up on is a plan to stabilize funding for housing inspectors at the bureau.

The Quality Rental Housing Workgroup had initially called for a surcharge on each rental unit to be paid by the landlord to help keep building inspectors at the bureau. However, the idea stalled as the economy collapsed, according to Ty Kovatch- chief of staff to Commissioner Randy Leonard, who has been outspoken on the issue.

“It’s just not a good time to add more fees,” he said.

Event celebrates urban farming

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside are among the musical performers scheduled to entertain at the Muddy Boot Organic Festival this weekend on the grounds of St. Philip Neri Chruch, 2408 S.E. 16th Ave.

Edible gardens, backyard livestock and community farming bring a down-home focus to this year’s Muddy Boot Organic Festival, returning to southeast Portland for its fifth annual “Soulful Celebration of Sustainable Living.”

This bustling regional festival kicks off Friday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m., with a keynote address by widely respected filmmakers and food and agriculture policy advocates Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney, the creative forces behind such films as King Corn, Big River, The Greening of Southie and the upcoming Truck Farm.

The festivities will continue Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 11 and 12, in a colorful sustainability-themed outdoor festival featuring live music; sustainably produced food, beer and wine; information booths and vendors selling green goods; educational workshops; discussion panels and fun activities for families and children.

Both the keynote address and outdoor festival take place on the grounds of St. Philip Neri Catholic Church, 2408 S.E. 16th Ave.

The theme of this year’s event is “Nourishing Spirit: City to Farm,” embracing the festival’s mission of promoting sustainable living practices within our local communities, thereby enhancing the health of our world, our neighborhoods and ourselves.

More Information is available at muddyboot.org, or by calling 503-231-4955.

The North Portland Library welcomes women of color making zines, the name for self-published works.

Whether you currently publish a zine or have always dreamed of making one, learn, share and network with Tonya Jones to create a presence of women of color in the zine world.

Jones is a zinester who’s taught workshops for women of color at the Portland Zine Symposium and at Portland State University.

The 6th annual Zinesters Talking series, held at Multnomah County libraries through September and October, comes to the North Portland branch, 512 N. Killingsworth St., on Tuesday, Sept. 14 at 6:30 p.m.

Area residents are invited to celebrate jazz with Portland’s premier jazz station, KMHD.

The public station will host a live performance at Pioneer Courthouse Square, downtown, with Jazz saxophonist Devin Phillips and his band, and tunes spun by a deejay, on Wednesday, Sept. 8 from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Besides the jolt of jazz, participants will also be offered a cup of coffee, a KMHD doughnut, and station souvenirs.

Karis Stoudamire-Phillips (left) and Serena Ashley of the Portland chapter of the Links, together with Ashley’s children, Sinclair and Sierra, volunteer for a Back to School supplies drive at Madison High School in northeast Portland. Photo bv Mark Washington.

For many years the Portland Chapter of the Links, Inc. has supported the community by securing school supplies for their annual Back to School Drive organized by their Services to Youth Committee.

This year, under the leadership of Links Karis Stoudamire-Phillips and Kimberly Matier the committee is partnering with Schoolhouse Supplies, a free supply store for teachers in the Portland Public School district, by joining their “Tools for Schools” program.

The organizations involved in this program adopt a high-need Portland Public school and provide each student with a backpack full of school supplies.

The Portland Chapter of the Links has adopted Rosemary Anderson High School for the 2010-2011 school year.

By seeking corporate sponsorships, support from Links supporters and Links members, the chapter plans to provide a backpack full of school supplies for 100 students at the northeast Portland school.

Members of the organization and other volunteers packed the backpacks on Thursday at Schoolhouse Supplies which is located on the campus of Madison High School, 2735 N.E. 82nd Ave. The backpacks will be distributed to Rosemary Anderson students on Tuesday, Aug. 31 at their “Back to School” celebration.

‘Urban Bridges’ builds confidence

Kelvin Bellum receives his certificate of graduation from Urban Bridges founder and director Patricia Feathers. Photo by Drew Dakessian.

Drew Dakessian

On the corner of Northeast Prescott Street, there is a bridge unlike the many other bridges present in the city. This one does not straddle water, but rather links who disadvantaged youth with their greater potential.

The place is Urban Bridges, a non-profit life skills academy started by local modeling instructor Patricia Feathers in 2006, where kids are taught to respect themselves and others by learning good manners and confidence.

Children are divided into what Feathers has determined to be age-appropriate classes, which run for five-weeks. At the end of the class, Feathers takes the kids on a field trip to Stanford’s Restaurant at the Lloyd Center, where they put their new-found knowledge about dining etiquette to use.

The majority of participants are male, which Feathers explains is because once young men reach high school they are at risk of succumbing to gangs. When they enter the program, they slouch in their chairs, are clad in sloppy attire and banter in language laden with street slang. But by graduation, they have undergone dramatic metamorphoses.

At a graduation ceremony for one summer class, 14-year-old Kelvin Bellum is behaving strangely. His clothes are clean and pressed and his persona seems to be that of a perfect gentleman, but he is clutching at the leg of his pants, hobbling around the academy. Feathers reveals that Kelvin had just been bitten by a pit bull, and while he sustained no lasting injuries, there now is a hole in his pants. But Kelvin has just spent five weeks learning that a respectful gentleman wears only clothes that are intact, so he has been trying to conceal the hole.

Laughing, Feathers explains to him that given the circumstances, there is an exception to this rule. At this, Kelvin removes his hand from his pants, and stands ramrod.

“Our children learn a lot of really valuable skills here,”says Feathers, pointing to a picture of a six-year-old boy striking a pose, who went on to make it big in Hollywood. “He has a lot of charisma, very outgoing…he has no problem in California,”says Feathers.

Girls likewise benefit from Urban Bridges and its variety of offerings, which include modeling classes, personal grooming tips, and job interview training. At the graduation ceremony, Lundyn Warren’s poise is perfect, and she carries herself with aplomb well beyond her 12 years.

Unlike other finishing schools, says Feathers, Urban Bridges is a non-profit. Though there is a fee, at $300, it is comparatively low.

“We never turn a family away because they cannot afford it,” she says, as long as “they can prove that they really are having a financial hardship.”

Feathers and her husband often pay out-of-pocket to put needy children through the academy and to fund the academy at large. For that reason, Feathers says, she is “desperately trying to find funders, donations, and board members that just love children.”

In these hard economic times, willingly going “into the hole” is practically unheard of. But Feathers says the impact that Urban Bridges can have on a child, and by extension, a whole community, is worth it.

“It’s truly a passion and a dream come true. I always wanted to give back to children and help them to be…the best…that they can possibly be.”

For more information, call Urban Bridges at 503-493-9436 or visit UrbanBridges.org.