SERVING
Burlingame • Capitol Hill
• Garden Home • Glen
Cullen • Hillsdale
• South Portland
• Multnomah Village
• Raleigh Hills • Vermont
Hills • West Portland
INSIDE:
Read Across America
brings Gov. Kitzhaber
to Maplewood School
Southwest Portland’s Independent Neighborhood Newspaper
Volume No. 19, Issue No. 6
www.swportlandpost.com
Portland, Oregon
Complimentary
– Page 8
April 2011
Somali American culture and
community celebrated at
Multnomah Arts Center
By Polina Olsen
The Southwest Portland Post
Portland-
ers from
a r o u n d
the world
packed the
Multnomah
Arts Center
auditorium
on March 25
as they cel-
ebrated So-
mali American culture and community.
Traditional Somali food, beautiful
flowing robes, and swinging African
music formed the backdrop to the art
exhibit developed by Colored Pencils
Art and Culture Night and the Somali
American Council of Oregon.
Colored Pencils, an organization
made up of a myriad of ethnicities,
lifestyles and generations, hosts an art
exhibit in different Portland locations
each month.
Their website (www.coloredpencil-
sart.com/) explains: “To date, artists
representing 32 mainstream, ethnic
minority, and newcomer communities,
including recently resettled Iraqi sing-
ers, musicians, and poets, have contrib-
uted to our broad shouldered and big
hearted vision of New Portland.”
Tonight, Somali artist Said Amir
watched from the front row. Before
coming to the United States in 1997, he
painted portraits on commission.
Here, hard work got in the way of
art. His wife and children were in Ye-
men. Now with the family together
and things looking brighter, he hopes
to continue with his chosen profession.
Musee Oloi from the SACOO greeted
the crowd and started the chain of mu-
sicians and speakers. Oloi introduced
Uma Abdullahi, a Madison High School
senior and newly crowned Rose Festival
Princess.
Abdullahi’s parents Lul Sharif Ibra-
him and Isgou Mohamed brought their
family to the United States when she
was three years old. “I want to repre-
Anisa Omar (in green) and Rahma Omar (in blue) were among the Somali
Americans at the Multnomah Arts Center celebration.
(Post photo by Polina Olsen)
sent all those people who are under-
represented, people who don’t have
a voice, people like me,” she said. “It
doesn’t matter where you come from.
It matters where you’re going.”
For more information about the So-
mali American Council of Oregon visit
http://sacoo.org/.
South Waterfront transportation
project receives $23 million
federal grant
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray
LaHood last month participated in
the groundbreaking for the Southwest
Moody Project, a reconfiguration of
that street and its streetcar line, made
possible by a federal stimulus grant he
had approved.
At the same ceremony, LaHood an-
nounced the award of two other federal
grants for transit improvements.
The Moody Project will reconfigure
Southwest Moody Avenue between
River Parkway and Gibbs Street. It will
extended Southwest Bond Avenue to
the north, and allow the Portland Street-
car to travel on two tracks rather than
one through this part of town.
Finally, it will raise the street 14 feet
to allow for a connection to the pending
Portland to Milwaukie Light Rail Proj-
ect and its transit bridge. The project
was made possible by a $23 million fed-
eral TIGER (Transportation Investment
Generating Economic Recovery) grant.
LaHood and Mayor Sam Adams also
announced the awarding of two other
federal Stimulus grants to TriMet. One,
for $6 million, will pay for the purchase
of 17 new fuel-efficient buses. Another,
for $4 million, will pay for 20 on-board
energy storage units for 20 light rail
vehicles.
Adams noted that the funds had been
“reprogrammed” from other projects
deemed less critical. “Thank you for
being here, and for spending some time
and money,” he told Lahood at the cer-
emony at Moody and River Parkway.
Thanks to the project, Adams said,
the former industrial property to the
south will soon be “unrecognizable.”
A new building for the Oregon Health
and Sciences University will soon rise
there, the first part of a planned 19-acre
Don’t forget to renew your subscription. Form on Page 2.
The Southwest Portland Post
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood (right) participates in a press confer-
ence at the groundbreaking of the Moody Avenue Project in South Waterfront.
(Post photo by Lee Perlman)
campus, on “the largest piece of unde-
veloped land left in the Central City,”
Adams said.
According to Adams, the project will
be served by “all modes of transporta-
tion – nine, counting kayaks. No matter
where you live, this will benefit you in
a number of ways.”
Except for U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden,
Oregon’s entire congressional delega-
tion attended the event. U.S. Sen. Jeff
Merkeley noted that the land, together
with the Portland State University
and Oregon Museum of Science and
Industry campuses, is “fittingly called
the Innovation Quarter. We’re particu-
larly fortunate to have this piece of the
puzzle fall into place.”
Merkeley added, “Oregon couldn’t
have a better benefactor than Ray La-
Hood.” LaHood, in his turn, said Or-
egon is “blessed with a congressional
delegation that works extremely hard.
The TIGER grant wouldn’t have hap-
pened without them.”
LaHood added, “Transportation isn’t
an end in itself; it’s a means to an end.
It affects the way we live our lives and
fulfill our dreams.” Less time spent in
traffic congestion “means less time on
the road, more time with our families.
In order to compete, we have to out-
work and out-innovate the rest of the
world. The president’s vision is coming
into life right here in Portland.”
Congressman Earl Blumenauer
recalled LaHood from his days as an
Illinois congressman and said, “I was
delighted when he was appointed Sec-
(Continued on Page 7)