Skylar Holt, a freshman at Jefferson High School in north Portland, is featured in the “Young, Black & gifted” photo exhibit that will be displayed at the Portland Public Schools headquarters and later at Loyd Center Mall.
Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

Portland’s African-American youth are often caught up in a net of negative public perceptions brought by news of gang violence, the sobering achievement gap and school drop out rates.

But there’s plenty of young black kids in Portland who are on the right path, making good grades, headed to college, and are making positive contributions to the city. A new photographic tribute recognizes the hard work of some of these students and shows that there is still reason to be optimistic.

“Young, Black & Gifted,” a photo essay putting the spotlight on the accomplishments of high-achieving African-American students, opens to the public on Monday, April 5 at Portland School District headquarters at 501 N. Dixon St. and will later be moved to the Lloyd Center Mall.

The project is the brain child of Reiko Williams, the district’s family and community engagement manager, who said she got the idea after having a conversation with someone who seemed shocked when she mentioned an African-American student that was excelling. After the conversation she worried that all the attention on the problems of young black students was drowning out the hard work of others.

“You hear so much about deficits and achievement gaps,” she said.
Williams said the exhibit came together with a call for nominations of black students doing well district-wide, and the recruitment of a photographer and web developer.

Skylar Holt, a freshman at Jefferson High School is one of the 13 students featured in the exhibit.

Holts gets A’s and B’s in school. She does especially well in English classes, taught by Anne Novinger, one of her favorite teachers, and chemistry is getting steadily easier. Holt plans to go to college and is thinking about law school down the road.

“I’m enjoying it a lot,” she said of her high school. “I like the atmosphere at Jefferson. It’s more of a family than a school.”

Holt said that her supportive family and friends help keep her on the right path.

“It’s all about your environment,” she said.

Danielle Dixon, a senior at Jefferson who is also featured in the exhibit, spends her spare time trying to get scholarships when she’s not participating in Jefferson Dancers program or playing volleyball.

She set her sights on the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama after going on a tour of historically black colleges.

“It opened my eyes,” she said of the tour.

Dixon also attributes her success to a positive family environment and supportive friends, and hopes to study elementary education.

“I just love working with little children,” she said.

Williams hopes that the project will encourage other students. She also hopes people will keep in mind that these aren’t the only ambitious and talented black students in Portland.

“There’s a ton others we didn’t interview,” she added.

People packed into Portland State University’s Smith Memorial Student center to hear where candidates for Oregon’s gubernatorial race stand on environmental issues. Photo by Jake Thomas

Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

On Tuesday evening, three candidates vying to be Oregon’s next governor squared off at an event hosted by a coalition of green groups to debate environmental issues facing the state.

A crowd of over a thousand overwhelmingly white people gathered in a ballroom at Portland State University’s Smith Memorial Student Center to hear the two Democratic frontrunners, former governor John Kitzhaber and former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, debate each other and businessman and Republican candidate Allen Alley on all things green.

The debate- sponsored by Environment Oregon, the Sierra Club, Oregon Environmental Council, Oregon WildNatural Oregon and the Oregon League of Conversation Voters- revealed sharp philosophical and policy difference between Alley and his Democratic counterparts on issues including land use, liquified natural gas, salmon restoration, and balancing economic and environmental priorities.

“When we said we were going to talk about the environment, I thought we were going to talk about the business environment,” joked Alley, who made it clear at points that he was more concerned about improving the economy during his opening statement.

Throughout the debate, moderated by Oregonian columnist David Sarasohn, it was clear that Alley, a former mechanical engineer, had faith that the technological innovation and the free market would bring us things like zero-emission cars and other advancements that would solve the state’s environmental problems.

“i think we have to use that market and drive those solutions,” he said.

His opponents clearly favored more government intervention to bring about those solutions, and found no contradiction between robust environmental solutions and a healthy economy.

“i believe that we are entering an era where there is finally a convergence of our economic and environmental goals,” said Kitzhaber.

On the issue of global warming, both Kitzhaber and Bradbury favored strong federal action, but also called for a collaborative agreement between Oregon, California, and Washington state to reduce carbon emissions. Both also favored a greater investment in public transit and bicycles, the reduction of single occupancy vehicles, stronger regulation of toxic chemicals, and management of natural resources.

“For me, it’s generate prosperity. Get people engaged in generating a prosperous economy, and the environmental things will follow,” said Alley, who made it clear that he was confident that the market and technology would solve all our environmental problems, if only we have an economy to support them.

On the issue of liquified natural gas, both Alley and Kitzhaber expressed support for it as a transition fuel for more greener fuels to come, differing from Bradbury.

“I feel very strongly about liquified natural gas,” said Bradbury, who argued that it was a dirtier form of fuel and had no place in Oregon.

Each candidate diverged by party on the issue of regulating toxic chemicals. Alley stated that with technological advances it was possible to notify people of hazardous substances they may encounter, and that it frankly wasn’t a priority for him.

“I’m very struck by how innocent people are victimized by chemicals in the environment that they don’t pay much attention to,” said Bradbury, who made a clear reference to the Legislature’s failure to pass a bill banning toxic chemicals in plastics. “They just buy products.”

Kitzhaber added that in order to keep a healthy population and productive population that isn’t a drag on the economy, it was essential to make sure people weren’t exposed to toxics.

“There are things there that have everything to do with the unemployment rate,” he said.

On the issue of the Columbia River Crossing both Kitzhaber and Bradbury said it was too big and needed to be re-thought, again, in contrast to Alley.

“It’s been vetted,” said Alley who was ready to move on it. “It’s been vetted thoroughly.”

At one point Bradbury brought up how Kitzhaber had accepted a $10,000 donation from a Portland businessman who had a record of being in violation of environmental laws.

An irked Kitzhaber responded that he was “insulted” and “disappointed” that Bradbury would insinuate that he was beholden to his campaign donors and brought up his acceptance of a large donation from the Oregon Education Association.

It was noted several times that Alley’s main competition in the Republican Party, Chris Dudley, declined an invitation to attend the event. When asked what Alley thought about it he struck a conciliatory tone.

“It really is important,” he said of the discussion. “We have the most precious state on the planet, and I think we can aspire to do so much, but we can’t do it if we stand on the opposite side of the room and throw rocks and bottle at each other.”

Rebekah Star

You’re probably wondering what controversy I’m referring to, right? Well, I often wonder why people get so caught up in trying to persuade others of their lifestyle opinions. Especially to the point of being insulting.

In my efforts to be more conscious of what I put into my body, I have been reading a lot on the effects that meat, dairy, fruits and veggies, preservatives and so on have on our bodies. You have probably noticed that lately in the media, there has been a lot of talk on the cruelty toward cows, chicken and pigs. Let’s not even talk about all of the negativity surrounding fur! We can talk about that another time.

Oprah Winfrey recently had a show promoting clean eating and recommends that everyone see the movie Food, Inc. I also highly recommend it. It’s a very insightful documentary on the process that takes place from the farm (if you can call it that) to our mouths. Please watch this movie. If you are health conscious it will completely change your mindset about food. But that’s also a totally different subject that we can take a look at later. Right now, I want to talk with you about milk.

I, for one, don’t drink milk straight up. I do like it, however, if it comes in a Haagen-Daaz container! The taste just isn’t that great to me. I prefer to drink almond milk or soy milk. Beside taste though, there are a number of others- celebrities and different authors including Russell Simmons, that suggest that our bodies reject cow’s milk, therefore we should not drink it. I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever remember my body rejecting it. And according to the USDA Food Pyramid, we should have at least 3 servings of dairy products per day. Of course, this can be in the form of cheese, yogurt, milk and so on. So is there some kind of conspiracy suggesting that we put things in our bodies that can harm our health? Or are milk and dairy products truly healthy for us?

A new study found that dieters who ate five servings of dairy a day lost more abdominal fat than a group of those who only had three. The likely reason: The high levels of calcium, vitamin D, and a particular type of protein that is found in dairy may increase fat burning, says lead researcher Wendy Delfos, Ph.D., of Curtin University of Technology. We’ve all seen enough milk mustache advertisements that suggest “milk does a body good.” Do you believe that? Harvard medical researchers also found that if we get our 3 servings of dairy per day that will provide you with 1,200 milligrams of calcium (about the daily recommendation)and not only will our bones be strengthened, but we are also about 60 percent less likely to be overweight. It seems that calcium limits the amount of new fat your body can make. That’s interesting?

But, on the contrary, there are many that will try and convince you all that milk and diary products are some of what’s contributing to obesity and a host of other health issues. Co-Authors of a recently published book, Skinny Bitch, have a chapter called “The Dairy Disaster.” You can probably guess their opinion on dairy products. They take studies along with their personal opinions and give a very one sided and sometimes vulgar look at the effects dairy has on your body. Kind of shock treatment type of read. It is interesting and entertaining though. In their research for the book, they found that dairy products have been linked to a host of problems including acne, anemia, anxiety, arthritis, ADD, ADHD, headaches, IBS, allergies, poor immune function, ear infection- the list goes on and on and on. They also provide the information to back up these claims.

In addition, Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, authors of the best-selling follow up Fit For Life II, clearly state, “Dairy Products are Disease Producing. They’re harmful. They cause suffering. They’re the perfect thing to eat if you want to be sick and have a diseased body. The dieticians and nutritionists who are cheerleaders for the dairy industry, telling you that dairy products are a good food, should hide their heads in shame — not only for leading the innocent to believe that dairy products are actually valuable, but also for failing to keep abreast of the field about which they are supposed to know something.”

That’s a pretty deep dig. And its exactly what I’m talking about when I say some of these folks can’t just state what they think or what their research shows without being insulting. It’s okay for everyone to have their own opinion. After all, we do own our bodies. There is so much research that argues both sides. It can get confusing.

My personal opinion is that we should all read labels, know what’s in our food and where it comes from, AND do what makes you and your body feel good. Form your own opinion. And if some of this has peaked your curiosity, do some quick research on the internet. Also, as far as animal products go, there are many that are given a lot of antibiotics that are then passed on to us as we eat or drink. You may want to consider going the organic route. Something to think about. How do you feel about dairy products? Do you think they have a positive or negative effect on your personal health?

I’m looking forward to your feedback. Please visit our Facebook Page- FaB Living w/Rebekah Star and let everyone know your opinion. Until next week- Live FaBulously!

Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

Karol Collymore, a 32-year-old transplant from New Mexico has worked as a staff member for Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen, who was recently elevated to interim county chair after Ted Wheeler was appointed state treasurer after Ben Westlund passed away.

Collymore, who last year almost won appointments to vacant seats in the Legislature, has thrown her hat into the crowded ring to replace her boss. Her remarks have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Why are you running?
I’m running because I’m really excited about translating my values into positive community action. I think I’ve already done that with my work in Jeff Cogen’s office. So I’m really looking forward to pushing that work forward and continuing some things we’ve already under way, and some things I’d like to do.

One of the things is obesity and obesity prevention. One of the first things we did with that is the calories labels on menus at chain restaurants. Because of that work which was part of a grant that the Health Department got. And that work is focused on north and northeast Portland. The second item is the disparity between jails as mental health facilities and actual mental health facilities and trying to bridge that gap. Because there’s a piece missing. There’s the piece where we’re arresting people who’ve committed some crime and we arrest people who are mentally ill, and we’re are not able to put them in a hospital, so they sit there and are released. So it’s finding that missing link to prevent people from dying in jail which happens, and getting people proper treatment.

The first part of that missing piece is allowing our nurses and social workers to have the right to admit people to hospitals. I think that’s probably the first step. So for me that’s the number one start to let professionals who are recognizing schizophrenia to say this person needs to be in the hospital.

Some people say your roots in this community aren’t deep enough. How do you respond?
I think there are a lot of ways for people to dismiss my work. I hate sometimes when people say she hasn’t paid her dues or she hasn’t earned her time. I think occasionally that’s code for she’s a woman who hasn’t been married and hasn’t had a child. I think my work speaks for itself. I know my neighborhood. I knew that St. Johns needed a farmers market. I did the work to pull the neighborhood together to make sure they had one. And it opened. And it opens again on June 5th. I know my neighborhood needed a library between the North Portland Branch and the St. Johns branch, and I worked for three years with neighborhood chairs and people in the community to figure out where they wanted their library, how they wanted it to look like, and how they wanted it to run. And that library opened March 8 I think that is clear evidence that I know my community. I think if that wasn’t the case, I wouldn’t have the support I do to run for this seat.

I also think it’s the case I haven’t been alive as some of the people who live here. I’ve done the work and happily so. I’ve been involved in great organizations like NARAL. and Basic Rights Oregon. and Hands on Portland.That’s how I answer that.

Can the county government do anything to mitigate gentrification of north and northeast Portland?
I think that we sort of got an after start on that by trying to get the county a seat at the Portland Development Commission table when they start to talk about urban renewal and what gets done with those dollars. I think that’s a lot of the problem. We start giving money to places to encourage them to move in, but do nothing for the people who are already there. I think that’s a start. I had an interesting experience last night. I was out on Alberta and I was at the by-and-by and I was like whoa there is nothing of the community that was here when I was here seven years ago. That said, it’s good to revitalize communities, but you know there has to be a better way to get people engaged. I think things like the Alberta Art Walk, which started out as a multicultural art walk. We really need to refocus that and encourage the city of Portland to look at that and say, look this started out as a diverse community wanting to be part of Portland. How do we let that stay? I don’t think it’s an issue of people of color are poor and white people have money and so they get to stay and you get to go. I don’t think it’s about that. I think there are also people of color who also have money who want to be able to stay in the neighborhood. It’s not just about pricing people out; it’s about making people feel they’re still wanted, and I think the art walk has been an example of it. And businesses that we want to keep around. I think it’s so sad that Hannah Beas is gone off MLK. Why did that happen and what can we do to protect businesses that have always been there.

What are your thoughts on the PDC’s North/Northeast Economic Development Initiative?
I’d like to see it focus on businesses and organizations that have tired really hard to keep the neighborhood up and wanted. For example this organization, the Delta, this sorority of women, have tried to build the String Key Delta House on Albina, and they’ve been trying to work on it since 1999 trying to get traction trying to get funds trying to do the right thing. And after 10 years, they’re not even in debt. They want to build this beautiful community center and they’re just looking for some life from PDC. So that’s one way I’d like to go.

You don’t own a car, how come?
I don’t need it, right? For me, and I know it’s not the case for everybody, for my own sustainability foot print, I don’t need a car. I can walk most places I can take TriMet most places. I am a strong believer in Zip Car, if I really need to get somewhere far. I don’t need to add that extra foot print.

What figures in Oregon politics do you admire?
So many. I won’t say Jeff Cogen, even though I do. I like women like [Oregon Secretary of State]Kate Brown who sort of closes her ears to the detractors and blazes her path and goes forth, as an open person. She didn’t need to tell anyone she’s bi-sexual, she’s married to a man. But she chose to be her authentic self and let folks take her and leave her. And they’ve taken her they’ve taken her really far and that’s wonderful. For me too, I want to live my life with my most authentic self. If that means I dance around to Michael Jackson that means that’s what I do, if that means I don’t drive a car. That’s important. Your beliefs or who you are.

Anyone else?
There’s so many great women who are in politics. [Democratic State Rep.]Tina Kotek, the same deal, she is who she is in front of you or in front of anywhere else. Her real investment is in the people and not anything else. I love that about her. I love that about [Oregon House Majority Leader] Mary Nolen. I like that about Barbara Roberts.

Is there anything that Jeff Cogen could have done better?
I mean, I think there’s things that all of us could have done better. I think we did the best work we could. I would put his list of accomplishments in three and a half years up to anybody’s. We grew 14,000 pounds of food for the Oregon Food Bank, we opened a library. We’re two months away from opening the Gateway center for domestic violence services. Cell phone recycling. There’s so many things they don’t fit in my brain at once. The St. Johns farmers’ market, a garden in front of the juvenile justice center so kids on probation can learn a skill. Not only that but the internal politics of making the county no longer the butt of jokes.

Mary-Beth Baptista, head of the Independent Police Review Division, talked to human rights panel about a new ordinance that would give her division new powers. Photo by Jake Thomas.

Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

A panel on community and police relations met Thursday evening at Portland Community College’s Moriarty Auditorium to discuss a city ordnance that would greatly strengthen independent review of the Police Bureau, which has come under intense criticism for the death of two citizens in recent months.

Earlier this moth, Commissioner Randy Leonard introduced a resolution to the rest of City Council that would strengthen the oversight powers of the Independent Police Review Division.

Leonard, who has had a tense relationship with the Police Bureau, hoped for swift passage, but Commissioner Amanda Fritz worked to delay a vote on it until the city’s Human Rights Commission’s Community Police Relations Committee could weigh in.

In a special joint meeting of the commission and committee, which included both police officers and citizens, revealed very real rifts between the Police Bureau and the community it serves, and commissioner openly asked if there were deeper issues beyond the scope of the ordinance.

Mary-Beth Baptista, the director of IPR, outlined how the ordinance would give her organization power to initiate investigations, subpoena officers in investigations, would give the division more power in imposing discipline on officers, and generally codify current practices.

Donita Fry, who chaired the meeting, noted that Police Chief Rosie Sizer was invited to the meeting, but was unable to make it because of illness, before opening it up to comments from the committee.

“It is a little bit concerning to us that it came at such sensitive times,” said Officer Natasha Haunsperger, a member of the committee, who worried that the introduction of the resolution would further aggravate police-community relations.

Sgt. Anthony Passadore said that he understood that there were people in Portland who felt they were unduly the object of suspicion.

“Well, I’d like to submit to you that I belong to one of those communities,” he said.

“I walk the streets in this city, and I feel the same thing that many feel, but in a different way,” he added.

Passadore made an impassioned case that the Police Bureau had made great progress, and was uncomfortable that the ordinance was being pushed so aggressively.

Assistant Police Chief Brian Martinek also weighed in saying that the ordinance would just add another layer of bureaucracy that would only slow the positive advancements the police had made in recent years.

He expressed concern about giving IPR subpoena power, and said that IPR already is part of ever investigation and is allowed to interview police officers. He also worried that it would violate the agreement the city currently has with police union.

“As much as we would like to make changes quicker we have to abide by the bargaining agreement,” he said.

He also said that the ordinance would have unintended consequences, like diluting the independence of the IPR by integrating it in the Police Bureau.

“My main point is, let’s be careful about what we put in place,” said Martinek.

Kathleen Saadat, a member of the commission, said that basically the issue boiled down to a clash of cultures- with one holding a gun.

“I think that if we don’t accept that there are different world views because of our experience because of our way of looking at the world, we continue to fight and not progress very much at all,” she said.

She also noted that when cultures clash they end up changing each other.

“Big picture: We’re all going to give up something,” she told the committee.

During the brief public comment period four people expressed concern about holding the police accountable, and seemed to support the ordinance.

“There’s been a cycle that I’ve been aware of during the 25 years I’ve been in Portland,” said Ron Williams, an organizer with Oregon Action.

He said that there is a high profile event, followed by outrage. Then there is a strong public relations campaign from the city, he said, followed by a period of normalcy.

“These changes will go a long way to stopping that cycle,” he said of the ordinance.

The committee then considered drafting a resolution in response to the ordinance. Initially a recommendation was made supporting the efforts at City Hall until some committee members raised objections.

Hector Lopez, a committee member, questioned whether this was in the scope of the committee’s mandate.

Others said that the issue did not get at the root causes of tensions between the community and the police.

“It’s all of our responsibility.” said Emily Gottfried, a member of the commission.

“I’m not understanding how this ordinance is going to help people who are dying,” added Patricia Ford, a member of the committee.

After further debate the committee passed a resolution saying that the community had been heard “loud and strong” on the issue and its stake was to promote dialogue, transparency and mutual respect.

Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

If you’ve been kept up late by a loud night club or obnoxious neighbor, Paul Van Orden, the city’s noise control officer, is there to help as the city’s noise control officer.

But Van Orden, a 40-year-old transplant from the East Coast, is looking for a new job replacing Jeff Cogen as county commissioner representing north and northeast Portland.

In 2006, Van Orden ran an insurgent write-in campaign for sheriff against the scandal-ridden Bernie Giusto that captured 10 percent of the vote.

He spoke to the Portland Observer at the Waypost coffee shop in northeast Portland. His remarks have been edited for brevity and clarity.

What endorsement are you going after?
All the major organizations. On the environmental side the Sierra Club, that’s looking pretty promising. We filled out the NARAL [a national pro-choice organization] information last night. It’s just such a long list of endorsements we’re basically going to try for them all. I’ think we’ll do fairly well.

So why’d you decide to file last minute?
Well to me it wasn’t last minute. I’ve been working in this neighborhood for 14 years. I’ve lived here right around the corner for 13 years. I’ve worked on a lot of social equity and social justice issues. For instance, in the last 14 years, when the city hired me out of New York to take on the city’ noise control office I immediately noticed that the city’s services were directed to the more affluent neighborhood, the communities in northwest and southwest. So I’ve tried to redirect energy toward people in north and northeast Portland.

For instance, I was able to get Mayor Adams to support studying the noise in north and northeast Portland as a region of the city that was more impacted than the rest of the city. So we’re trying to look at issues like the noise from the race track, the railroad, the fact that there’s a high level of cargo traffic in north and northeast Portland. So in terms of running in this race, it’s not something that I say is really different than what I’ve done for 14 years in Portland and 20 years as an environmental officer.

What are your priorities?
Well I state pretty clear that I have three primary focuses. And I say that because I look around at some of the folks who are in office right now and they have their hand in every single subject and they’re not necessarily effective in making change. The first one is jobs. So one of the things I’ll definitely do is utilize 20 years working in the environmental field. I would use not only my experience in the environmental field and understanding what’s necessary to attract those businesses, but experience internationally working with friends in Germany and Holland and just the general concept that we’re not going to jump in this and say we’re going to do sustainable you have to have been doing it.

My wife and I are about to go almost completely off the grid with the Northeast Solarized Project. It’s more about being a leader and understanding how that world works. I do feel that 14 years working with the city of Portland with a program that interfaces every single single county agency, everything single state agency, many federal agencies, I think I have the body of knowledge and the network to actually accomplish directing jobs to the Portland area. But more specifically if you look at sustainable industries, there’s a pretty notable disparity. And what I mean by that is most of the jobs tend to gravitate towards people who are of a higher socio- economic background, Caucasian, folks, because they’re the ones who often get the most education. I jumped on board with Northeast Solarized and David Sweet to make that happen. Their focus was on bringing jobs to our neighborhood where there is disparity in finding jobs,. And these are good jobs; they’ll be here for a long time.

Number two, if you look at the county law enforcement system, the sheriff’s office, last time I ran for sheriff’s office some people might say that was just a write in candidacy that didn’t have any effect. It most definitely did have an effect. It garnered the largest number of votes. It garnered an enormous amount of press against Bernie Giusto. It was able to further ideas that no one else was talking about: the sheriff should not be the administrator that makes very important monetary decisions. A sheriff or a law enforcement officer, like myself, should focus specifically on law enforcement needs on corrections needs, not on the fiscal elements. that’s not their strength.

I will do everything that I can to continue all the good work that Ted Wheeler started. There’s no one to continue that work with Ted stepping down. If you look at the other candidates, none of them have the background to do this.

The third element is the overall picture: environment and sustainability. I’ve worked in this realm for so long. There are issues like equity in terms with social services and food security that as a member of the board of directors for Growing Gardens for six years I’ve found innovative ways to not spend the county’s resources, but have a non-profit supply low-income families with gardens to grow their own food. That’s a win-win program. It’s hard for the county to do that. The administrative costs and oversight at the county are phenomenal, but if you put that back into the hands of non-profits you serve the community in a better way. So my third focus is kind of on a broad spectrum of environmental issues that resound with the community. Air pollution, noise pollution, food equity all issues that I have experience with, and I know the entities needed to work with to make change in these areas.

Is there anything the county can do to mitigate gentrification?
You know I would love to say, and you could ask all of my neighbors, especially ask my neighbors of color, I’ve worked to encourage folks not to leave the neighborhood. It’s hard when we’ve gotten as far as we have. If you look at the Census data there’s been a massive change in just a short period of time. The challenge is there’s not a ton of tools the county interfaces that make it a giant change in slowing gentrification other than being a civic leader and being vocal about the needs.

I fought a project up here that the Menashe brothers were just going to dump a project that really wasn’t that well thought out that wasn’t that needed; it had no sustainable elements. So in terms of gentrification the county doesn’t have a lot of influence over rent controls, but I will be the greatest voice to the extent that I can be for rent control for different elements to make sure that the existing community isn’t pushed out. I’d like to encourage people to move back to the inner-city. I’ve been vocal about fighting the city on Williams and Vancouver being one-way roads. That created a super highway that broke up the community. These were active businesses. There’s no continuity. So by the time they finally change it back gentrification will have extend so far that the fight is somewhat over. You’re questions a challenge because we’ve moved so far forward on gentrification that the things I’ve advocated for in this neighborhood are pretty difficult to turn back.

What’s Jeff Cogen done right? What could he have done better?
I think that Jeff’s done a fairly good job of serving the community in an equitable fashion. If I had an overarching concern, I’d say he does a good job of recognizing what we need in the community and applying that in an equitable fashion.

I think he’d be a great ally. When he was in [City Commissioner] Dan Saltzman’s office we worked closely on a variety of projects. I was a supporter of his when he ran for county Commission, and I think that it won’t be very hard to bring some unique issues to the table that Jeff will support me on.

What are some political figures in Oregon’s history that you admire?

Obviously, one I’ve already mention din the press is former Mayor Bud Clark. Here’s a guy who’s a working class figure who put his bar and restaurant up for mortgage to run for mayor and served the community in a very equitable way. He reformed the police bureau in many ways. He brought us community policing. If there’s anything we’ve lost it’s we’ve watered things down to where we’re really not doing community policing.

Charlie Hales, who’s backing me in this run, who’s brought jobs to this community, he’s given Oregon a face with light rail, streetcar, all kinds of transit elements that help bring jobs to Oregon in a real way. This helped bring long-term jobs to Oregon.

And then probably one that hopefully readers know is Richard Brown, a community activist. I don’t necessarily look at elected officials as the only folks who shape our community. As I keep stating on the campaign trail there’s a concept I operate under called” Portland People Power.” Portland is not so much shaped by its politicians, it’s shaped by individuals like Richard Brown who has worked in the community for how many years. The folks who fought Paul Allen to not allow an giant amphitheater in the middle of Portland International Race Track, or Irwin Bergman who fought the airport to not allow it to test run engines in the middle of the night.

A new initiative by the Portland Development Commission may put Alberta Street in an urban renewal area. Photo by Jake Thomas.

Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

The Portland Development Commission has long been a lightning rod for the unease and mistrust of residents of north and northeast Portland- particularly African Americans.

Over the years, the region has seen longtime residents and businesses displaced as property values have skyrocketed and a handful of in-the-know developers cashed in.

But the commission might have a big opportunity to restore trust through a new initiative.

If they don’t blow it.

The PDC’s North/Northeast Economic Development Initiative seeks to analyze how the commission has spent money in the area, and could end up reconfiguring spending priorities and expanding two urban renewal areas.

A few ideas have been proposed that would dramatically reshape urban renewal in the area, but it’s not clear if they’ll pick up enough steam between now and when the PDC Board and City Council consider them either later this month or in April.

Currently there are two urban renewal areas in inner north and northeast Portland. One is concentrated around the Convention Center, and other snakes alongside interstate corridor in north Portland and branches out in surrounding neighborhoods. Essentially what both do is siphon off tax revenue generated in the areas that go towards spiffing up store fronts, developing new real estate, and generally making the place more attractive for private investment.

The North/Northeast Economic Development Initiative might end up shifting the funding priorities in URA’s and expanding them to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the Lombard Commercial Corridor, Killingsworth and Alberta Streets, St. Johns Town Center, and the Rose Quarter.

One thing is for sure: People are uneasy with expanding urban renewal.

“We keep going back to the meetings and saying the same things,” said Sylvia Evans, an affordable housing advocate, at a community forum sponsored by the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods.

The PDC has been faulted for favoring well-connected developers who manage to secure URA funds, while businesses and residents are displaced.

The Eliot Neighborhood Association has come out against expanding any URA into a neighborhood, citing how they’ve been used by speculators to reshape residential areas for their benefit.

“The history of urban renewal in Eliot has been marred by wholesale demolition of residential dwellings in the past,” reads a letter from the association.

At a community meeting on the PDC initiative sponsored by the Northeast Coalition, its executive director, Paige Coleman, revealed a set of polls it had conducted that revealed that many residents didn’t feel they wouldn’t benefit from the process.

According to Karen Gibson, an associate professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University, one of the biggest stumbling blocks with urban renewal is that by law the money generated from them can only be used on “stick and bricks,” or infrastructure. No money can be used on job training, childcare, or education, or human-oriented services.

“We have to do more than develop property,” said Gibson, who describes urban renewal as a “tool for gentrification.”

Gibson said that for urban renewal to benefit people besides well-connected developers there needs to be another pot of money for things that will lift up people living in the URA’s.

There are a couple ideas floating around that might accomplish this.

At a community forum, Coleman discussed the idea of a community land trust to mitigate gentrification. Under these arrangements, homeowners and businesses hand their land over to a trust. The large pool of properties allows the trust to keep the land affordable, insulating it against speculation.

The issue of urban renewal displacing residents of north and northeast Portland has reached the ears of Margaret Van Vliet, director of the Portland Housing Bureau.

In an open letter to Charles Wilhoite, a PDC commissioner and chair of an advisory committee on the initiative, Van Vliet stated that she was going to launch a $120,000 pilot program in north and northeast Portland that will provide technical assistance to at-risk homeowners in the area.

Roy Jay, the head of the local African American Chamber of Commerce and member of the community advisory committee to the initiative, said he has pitched the idea that one percent of all gross revenue generated in urban renewal areas would go into a fund that would go to non-profits and community organizations like the Urban League or Sabin Community Development Corporation. This money could be used from anything from rent assistance to small businesses.

“This is the grand slam home run,” said Jay.

Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

Earlier today the Portland Police explained the shooting of a transient man in southwest Portland yesterday at a press conference.

We weren’t able to make it down to the conference, but they did release this video of Chief Rosie Sizer explaining the incident:

Essentially a call was made to the Central Precinct regarding a man who was harassing and threatening people near the Hoyt Arboretum.

Officer Jason Walters responded to the call and encountered a man emerging from a bathroom wielding an razor knife. It’s not clear what kind of of exchange, if any, happened between the two, but Walters shot the man dead.

Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

The Portland Police Bureau has released more information on an incident that occurred yesterday at the Hoyt Arboretum that ended with a man being shot by the police.

Here’s the release:

On Monday, March 22, 2010, at 3:05 p.m., a Portland Police Officer was dispatched to the Hoyt Arboretum following a 9-1-1 call regarding a man who was harassing and threatening people. Officer Jason Walters, a 13-year veteran, arrived at the scene at 3:24 p.m. and made contact with the man who was in the bathroom near the Hoyt Arboretum office. The man, who had significant blood on him, confronted the officer with a razor knife.

The officer retreated and gave repeated commands to the subject to drop the razor knife, but the subject refused to do so. The officer and the subject began moving out of the bathroom area, with the subject still approaching the officer with the razor knife. At this point, the officer fired shots at the subject. The officer immediately requested medical assistance and the subject was pronounced dead upon Medical’s arrival.

Additional officers and investigators arrived and began to set up a perimeter and talk to witnesses. Some witnesses had left the scene prior to investigators arriving, and Detectives want to find those individuals and anyone who was in the area and might have information about this incident.

An autopsy is scheduled for today. The Medical Examiner will determine the identity of the individual and attempt to notify next of kin. The officer involved has not been interviewed yet, as well as other witnesses, who have not been located. Once these interviews have been completed, the Police Bureau will release additional details to the media and the community.

Portland Police are asking anyone who was in the area or has any information about this incident, to contact Detective Mark Slater at
(503) 823-9319. This is an ongoing investigation.

Art on Alberta Youth Scholarship recipients Alesha Johnson (front row, from left), Sade Beasley and Monie Bowles join their mentors (second row, from left) Kathe Swaback, Carlene JAckosn and Lillian Pitt during a kickoff event.

Lee Perlman
503-288-0033

The 11th annual Alberta Art Hop is returning to its roots as an Arts event and will feature five new murals with community connections.

Plans for the May 15 celebration will also salute Kathe Swaback, whose Art Up non-profit has been a key contributor to diversity on Alberta with multicultural mentoring opportunities to several young students.

At an Art Hop kickoff event at the Acadian Ballroom last month, Art on Alberta director Hilary Pfeiffer, participating artists and others presented plans for neighborhood murals, all on the theme of “Art Builds Community.”

Adrienne Cruz, will adorn the walls of the Sabin Community Development Corp. at 1488 N.E. Alberta St. Another artist, Rodolfo Serna, will work with teams of young people from the House of Umoja, George School SUN program, and Girls, Inc. to both conceive and paint murals on the walls of each of three Sabin CDC affordable housing projects. A fifth mural by Esteban Camacho Steffensen will go on the walls of the Community Energy Project at 422 N.E. Alberta St.

Painting on all five murals will occur during the Art Hop celebration which takes into the Alberta Street corridor from Northeast 12th to 30th Avenues. In the case of Steffensen’s work, passers-by will be invited to help fill in the colors.

As usual, Art on Alberta has space for 250 street vendors selling wares of all kinds. For those who would like to participate, contact Carrie Locke at 503-235-5025 or carrie@combustible-media.com. And as it has been for several years now, Northeast Alberta Street will be closed for the festivities.

The festival’s art is not confined to the visual. There will be no fewer than seven entertainment stages. Siren Nation, Bink’s, Bitch Media and D.I.Y. will each sponsor a stage. Colleen Flanigan will provide information and interactive opportunities about the world’s threatened coral reefs. Two additional community stages will be available for local people to do whatever they want, with the caveat that they must reserve times in advance, which can be done at artonalberta.org.

All of this costs money and partially for this reason, the festival has let one annual feature – its parade – go this year. Organizers are also seeking additional monies in a variety of ways. There have been several benefit nights at local venues. A costume ball is planned April 17 at the Radio Room, 1101 N.E. Alberta Street. The theme will be “Black and White and Outrageously Bright.” Participants are expected to wear clothes that are essentially either black or white, but with some extremely bright and colorful feature or accessory. The festival is also offering sponsorships to major donors, for cash and in-kind contributions.

Cruz, whose art work has been exhibited internationally and is part of the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and New York City Public Library, was born in New York and moved to Portland in 1983. She told the kickoff audience that her new installation will be “some sort of brilliantly-colored fabric design.” She added, “It’s great when the community’s involved.”

Steffenson was born in Costa Rica, moved to Eugene in the year 2000, and later came to Portland to study at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. “I’m hoping to create a mural to inspire people about sustainability,” he said.

Originally from Chicago, Serna received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Portland State University. Since 2005 he has painted eight major murals, most of them in collaboration with youth groups.

“My work is about young people’s creativity, and fostering a sense of community,” he told the kickoff audience. “When art is done by youths, it gives them a sense of ownership; they can point to it and say, ‘This is mine.’ I made a major shift from doing things individually to only doing collaborative work now. I’m getting the kids thirsty for this opportunity.”

Art Up mentor moves on

Teenage artist Antoinette Myers with \”Divine Inspiration\” honoring Damali Ayo, Dr. Ethel Simon-McWilliams, Kathryn Hall Bogle, S. Renee Mitchell, Senator Avel Gordly, and Willie Mae Hart.

Art on Alberta mentor Kathe Swaback is saying goodbye while supporting the local teenagers she helped.

Swaback and her non-profit Art Up have been features of Art Hop for the short two plus years she has lived here. Her Women of Honor project recruited nine students of color to develop larger-than-life portraits of 12 prominent African-American women.

The project helped educate the young women about these heroines for the first time. The artwork was displayed at Art Hop and other venues, including the walls of City Hall. Last year, Art Up and Art Hop exhibited the works of the late artist and dancer Thelma Johnson Street whose lived and worked in Portland before enjoying national prominence.

Now, Swaback is selling many of the Art Up portraits with the proceeds going to the young artists who painted them, helping finance their ongoing education. Monie Bowles, who painted the portrait of Street, has been accepted at Xavier University and is awaiting word on her application to the San Francisco Art Institute.

The sale “means we can go to college with a little more cash in our pockets,” Bowles said.

One of the Women of Honor, former state Sen. Avel Gordly, purchased her own portrait and then donated it to the Avel Gordly Head Start Center for permanent display.

Swaback, who worked with Adrienne Cruz and Lillian Pitt, two other mentors, will be moving to Boston soon to pursue her career.
Cruz told Swaback, “Kathe, we love you. You have been a gift and a blessing. We wish you well. She hasn’t been here that long, but she’s made such an impact. You’re supposed to leave a place more beautiful than you found it, and you’ve certainly done that.”

In yet another fund raising project, a group of artists is creating Art In Hand, a poker deck with each card containing original artwork by a different artist. For more information, visit artonalberta.org.

Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

Tonight, Thursday March 18, the Northwest History Network will be hosting an event on the history of the Black Panther movement in Portland, Oregon.

Present will be Kent Ford and Percy Hampton, original members of the Portland chapter, Black Panther Party, who will be joined by Pacific University political scientist Jules Boykoff and author Martha Gies.

The event is free and begins at 7 p.m. at the Architectural Heritage Center located at 701 Southeast Grand Avenue.

Stacey Patton

First, I’d like to thank members of the Academy for not awarding a slew of Oscars to what New York Press film critic Armond White called “the biggest con job of the year” –Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire.

Call me a hater. I don’t care!

I’m thrilled that director Lee Daniel’s blockbuster hit did not win big at the Oscars.

Though the gritty film was nominated in six categories, it earned two Oscars – one for best adapted screenplay, and Mo’Nique took the prize for best supporting actress.

I give big props to Mo’Nique and Gabourey Sidibe for their courage and skill playing such harrowing roles. As one of my writer friends pointed out, when you are a black artist navigating Hollywood, sometimes you enter the door that’s open. But while a parade of critics have heralded Precious for its triumph of social realism, it also crammed all the worst pathologies and stereotypes of urban poor black people into one film.

Scenes like the morbidly obese, twice-pregnant, illiterate teen running through the streets of Harlem while stuffing herself with a bucket of stolen fried chicken was a throwback to racist depictions from the antebellum South.

Daniels’ film also depicted blacks as stupid, hypersexual, primitive, filthy, unhealthy, criminal, abusive, lazy, and violent. Need I say more about this perpetuation of toxic themes?

As I watched the glitzy and glamorous awards ceremony I cringed when Mo’Nique won. It’s not that I don’t think she deserved her award. I didn’t want the content of the film to be celebrated.

In her acceptance speech Mo’Nique said: “I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics.”

But Mo’Nique forgets that when it comes to films portraying black folks, the white-dominated Hollywood industry has consistently proven itself to be an anachronism, never separating politics, race and stereotypes from our stories.

Mo’Nique won for playing a lazy, heartless welfare mother who sexually and physically abuses her own child.

Sidibe, the film’s main protagonist, became the first black woman to be nominated for best actress since Halle Berry won in 2001 for her role as Leticia Musgrove, yet another Lee Daniels’ film where a black mother at times abuses her morbidly obese black child who ends up dying.

The black fathers in both films are good-for-nothings and are killed off. Berry’s graphic sex scene with the racist character played by Billy Bob Thornton stirred a great deal of discussion among African Americans.

The point is that even though more black actors and actresses are being nominated and winning at the Academy Awards, the kinds of roles they are cast for don’t seem to be evolving. Audiences are still bombarded by distressing images that some have praised for their inspirational messages, redemptive qualities, and for providing Americans with glimpses inside worlds some of us never encounter or don’t want.

Films like Precious might provoke moral outrage and get people talking about important issues like child abuse and rape. But do they really help us understand that kind of suffering as well as the social context and strictures that breed such violations of vulnerable people?

Or do they simply reproduce stereotypes and cast blacks, the poor, and other people pushed to the margins as hapless victims with no future?

Stacey Patton is senior editor of The Defenders Online and writer for The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Cartoonist Kevin Eason lives in New Jersey where he covers news events in politics, entertainment, sports and more.

Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

A Wal-Mart store in New Jersey has come under fire after someone used the public address system to instruct all black people to leave the store.

At this point it’s unclear if a patron made the announcement or an employee, but the store is looking into the incident.

Students from Harvey Scott Elementary School get a demonstration of a bomb-detonating robot at Starbase, a Department of Defense-funded program that teaches kids about math, science, and engineering. Photo courtesy of Starbase.

Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

Roy Chambers, a long-time Portland science teacher, stands before 30 fifth graders explaining the basic principles behind Newtonian physics.

He has a pony tail, a salt-and-pepper mustache, and talks with the cadence you might expect from an aging Grateful Dead fan.

This seems like it could be a typical scene in a classroom, but a handful of Portland activists see it as an under-handed way of recruiting children into the military.

Since 1993, Portland Public Schools has offered fifth grade classrooms the “Starbase” program, which gives kids 25 hours of hands-on teaching in math, science, and engineering. It’s funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, and the instruction takes place on the National Guard Base on the outskirts of town- right next door to a recruiting office.

But in recent years, parents have complained that program is an insidious effort by the military to prime young children to join its ranks.

“It’s like your typical predator grooming his victims,” said Jessica Applegate, the mother of two children who attend Winterhaven K-8 in southeast Portland.

Applegate refused to let her son, who attends Winterhaven K-8 in southeast Portland, participate in Starbase three years ago, and plans to do the same with her fourth-grade daughter.

When she heard about the program, Applegate asked to sit in on a class. She doesn’t dispute that science is taught at Strabase, but finds it suspect that it needs to be taught on a military base.

“There was nothing special about it,” she said of the curriculum, which she feels could be taught just as easily in any Portland classroom.

Instructor Roy Chambers leads kids from Woodmere Elementary School in southeast Portland in a science curriculum at the Air National Guard Base in northeast Portland. Photo by Jake Thomas.

Applegate, who describes herself as a “total peacenik,” argues that having kids on a military base is intended to warm them up to the idea of signing up. She also points to a passage in the Army’s recruiting handbook that stresses that kids need to see joining up as a positive choice as soon as they “begin to think about the future.”

According to program’s website, in 2008 there were 60 Starbase academies across in 34 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. It reached more than 54,000 students in 200 school districts. The website also points out that the job market will increasingly need people skilled in math and science, and this program gives kids a leg up.

Last week, the Portland Public Schools board voted to renew the Starbase program, and the $320,000 to fund it, over the objections of protestors who gathered outside.

Bobbie Regan, a school board member who has opposed recruiting in the past visited the program herself before the vote.

“What I saw were kids working on science and science-based projects,” said Regan, who voted for the program.

She argues that Starbase is meant to help kids develop technical skills that will be highly needed in the global economy. Regan also points out that PPS’ Mandarin and Russian immersion programs are also funded by the Department of Defense, and speakers of these languages will be highly sought after.

Marilyn Sholian, the director of Portland’s Starbase, rejects the notion that the program is a recruitment tool, and points out that six people who staff the program, half of which have teaching credentials, aren’t even employed by the Department of Defense.

Typically, the program sees 45 classes a year, according to Sholian, who come from across the city and neighboring school districts.

Kids engage in a variety of hands-on activities- many of which you wouldn’t find in a classroom. They use computer programs to design hypothetical sneakers, airplanes, and parts of space stations. The facility also has a 3-D image printer, a machine that cuts objects designed on a computer out of plastic. They also do other exercises, like lifting a teacher seated on a table with a balloon, and designing a protective layer for an egg that is launched into a wall.

“The kids kind of go, ‘I get it,’” said Sholian, who sports a pink vest with an embroidered Starbase logo. She adds that few schools have these resources, let alone the space or time.

But the kids do get a tour of the Air National Guard Base, where uniformed personnel show them F-15 jest, armored vehicles, and a robot used to detonate bombs.

“Yes, they are in uniform,” said Sholian. However, who stresses that no one ever goads the kids into joining up.

Instead, the kids are told that math and science can lead to a broad range of careers, said Sholian, who adds that the program is so full that there wouldn’t be time for recruiting anyways.

Jake Thomas
jthomas@portlandobserver.com

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is putting up posters in Portland pubs and liquor stores advising customers that buying beer is a better choice than milk.

The posters read “Got Beer? It’s Official: Beer Is Better for You Than Milk,” and cite scientific evidence that beer has health benefits.

PETA, which has been known for other provocative educational campaigns, argues that people who buy milk are supporting an inhumane industry that severely mistreats cows.

From the press release:

Scientific research backs up PETA’s claim. An August 13, 2002, article in The Wall Street Journal reported that beer “delivers protection against major ailments such as heart attacks, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, and dementia.” According to the Harvard Medical School Web site, moderate alcohol consumption protects the heart and circulatory system and may prevent gallstones and Type 2 diabetes. Milk, on the other hand, has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, certain types of cancer, and even osteoporosis—the very disease that dairy promoters claim is prevented by milk consumption. And the March 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine published a study that found that women who drink moderately—about one or two glasses of beer or wine per day—are significantly less likely to gain weight or suffer from obesity.

Drink a beer, and no cows get hurt! Drink a glass of milk, and you are responsible for subsidizing an industry that supports veal farming and the slaughter of aging cows. The udders of cows used for milk production often become painfully infected because the animals are forced to produce unnaturally large quantities of milk. Newborn calves are torn away from their mothers—causing acute distress to both—so that the milk intended for calves can be sold in the supermarket. Many male calves are relegated to tiny veal crates, which are so cruel that they have been banned in the U.K.