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Education ♦ Dialogue ♦ Independence
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P H O T O B Y K E N H A W K IN S W W W .K E N H A W K IN S .C O M
M ultnom ah County C hairm an Ted Wheeler says local government, including M ultnontah County, cannot survive u ndercurrent urban renewal formulas.
; Do not avert your«eyes. Yes, the subjects of
urban renewal areas and tax increment financing,
rom his corner office on the sixth floor of
make for a powerful sedative, but they have begun
the Multnomah County building, County
to light fires under politicians’ and taxpayers’ feet.
Chairman Ted Wheeler has a panoramic view They are workhorses in local development plans;
of a lot of money; looking west is downtown
includirig.a 30 percent dedication of those funds
Portland and the Pearl District, and looking north,
toward affordable housing. It’s how tax dollars
the interstate corridor and the Northeast
/ move in this town» for better or worse.
renaissance. Thecity grows all around him.
The urban renewal construct - which draws an
Which makes dealing with a $46 million budget
increment of property tax dollars as a funding
shortfall all the more bitter.
incentive for projects in “blighted” areas —most
For the ninth year in a row, Multnomah County
recently flared up over the Major League Soccer
has been defunding — cutting public safety and
deal. That proposal sought to draw urban renewal
health services — in order to adjust to a regressive
funds to build a minor league baseball stadium in
tax formulafor urban renewal.
Lents. It was later withdrawn, with Wheeler being'
BY JOANNE ZUHL
STAFF W R IT E R
■
the stony messenger decrying the use of such
fundsfor such a project, and the consequences in
depleting a property tax base that suports
education, health care and safety programs in the
most populated county in Oregon.
J o a n n e Z u lu : In your opinion, do you think the
city has responsibly used urban renewal areas to this
■point?
Ted Wheeler: I support urban development, I
support job creation, I support the creation of
urban renewal areas around truly blighted areas
See WHEELER, page 10
Precinct shuffle brings new faces, attitudes into Southeast
BY A M A N D A WALDROUPE
C O N T R IB Ü T IN G W R IT E R
ne month since the Portland Police
Bureau’s June 11 consolidation of inner
southeast Portland into Central Precinct, no
one is quite sure what lasting effect the
consolidation.will have on policing in inner
southeast Portland.
v
“In terms of service delivery, there’s no
change,” says Central Precinct Captain Mark
Kruger.
\
Officers formerly reporting to Southeast
Precinct are continuing to patrol the same
geographic area they patrolled before the
consolidation, but they are now part of Central -
Precinct
That is a relief to the neighborhood advocates,
who will take as much time as needed to praise
their neighborhood officers for the work they do in
the largely residential area comprising inner
southeast Portland. (The boundaries aré the
B
Willamette River, Burnside Avenue, 39th Avenue
and the Mhltnomah/Clackamas county line.)
.
“We have worked really hard to build up
relationships,” says Valerie Chapman, the pastoral
administrator of S t Francis of Assisi Church.
“Officers know who people are and who we are,
and what people heed.”
But the consolidation presents another
challenge to S t Francis, which provides lunch and
a day center for the homeless: How to work with
the police as they begin to more strictly enforce
the city’s anti-camping and no-structures
ordinances, sweeping homeless people and their
camps.
Seasonal sweeps are nothing new to the St.
Francis area, which has long been known as a
gathering place for homeless people. Camps swell
in the early summer and Rose Festival time, and
complaints from residents and businesses grow,
pressuring the police to respond.
Officer Mike Castlio, who has patrolled the
luckman neighborhood
round St. Francis for the
"Southeast hadn't been taking
last 25 years, says that
any consistent action regarding
¡outheast Precinct police
whether or not (tents are)
zould encourage campers
o have their tents and
allowed. Southeast has, over
amps taken down before
time, chosen to do it one
usinéssesopened, and
fashion, and Central Precinct
o make an effort tp have
low impact on the area
has been doing it slightly
round them. Describing
differently."
he method as, “sporadic,”
CAPT. MARK KRUGER
/ 'P O R T L A N D C E N T R A L P R E C IN C T
¡astlio said that;
loutheast Precinct
fficers only dealt with
amping when complaints mounted. '
“P n lip p in
Southeast have been farrfvPatient
See POLICE, page 11