Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 19, 1973)
Poca Ln! ty o f Ll b ry Resident files complaint: Housing rehabilitation leaves house a mess------ Mr». Annie W hitlow, ■ re ripient of » housing re habilitation grant from the Portland Development Com mission, ia unhappy with the work that has been done on her home. The work ia done, yet the houae ia far from rehabilitated. Mra. W hitlow understands that the amount of rehabilitation that ran be done with $3,500 ia limited; however, »he expected the work that was done to be of acceptable quality. Mra. Whitlow ia refusing to sign the releaae for the contrae tor. Dw ight Morrison, 1712 N.E. Hogan, to get his money u n til the D e p a rtm e n t of Housing and Urban Develop ment, which funds the pro gram, sends an inspector to l<M>k at the house. The house was painted on the outside and the porch repainted. The front room received a new ceiling and wood paneling. However, the paneling is loose and has flaws in the wood I t also has not been fitted properly around the doors and win dows and the stripping put on to cover the cracks is looae in places. Other atrip ping has nails protruding and bent. The wide wooden molding PORTLAND Volume 3, No. II AN Portland, Oregon EOUAl OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Program supports busing The Urban League of Port land has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and W el fare to assist the Portland Public Schools in it's pro gram of voluntary desegre The new program, directed by Mrs. Jeanne Hartzog, will have as it's objectives: al leviating the tensions and ap prehensions of the minority children and their families and of the host schools; to help bring the academic level of the transfered students to that of the host school: and to assist the host schools through counseling. P E T F .1T Petett goes to city Mayor Neil Goldschmidt announced recently the ap p o in tm en t of F re d d y e J. Petett as the City of Port land's Emergency Services Coordinator. The recently created Office of Emergency Services was established in recognition of the need to develop realistic plans for coordinated govern ment response necessary to save lives and protect prop erty in disaster situations. The office will be funded in part by the Defense Civil Preparedness agency through the State Departm ent of Emergency Services. This arrangement creates a City S ta te F e d e ra l p a rtn e rs h ip (Please turn to pg. 5, col. 7) The program will work with children and the fami lies of minority children who are voluntarily bused out of th e ir n e ig h b o rh o o d s to achieve desegregation. The receiving schools will also receive counseling and asais tance in order to make their transfer as beneficial as pos sible. Although the program is still in the planning stage, it will probably be confined to two elementary schools and one high school in each of the school district areas. Some of the activities that are being planned are; Seminars and counseling for parents from the receiving schools and for the children of transfered children; train (Please turn to pg. 4, col. 5) SCLC supports Farmworker struggle T h e S o uth ern C h ris tia n L ead e rsh ip Conference West pledged its support of the continuing struggle of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm W orkers Union. Reverend C. Garnett Hen ning, pastor of W ard me mortal A M E Church, and executive vice president of S C LC W e s t, atte n d e d a U F W rally at I^m on t. Cali fornia. Among those who accompanied him were Rev erend Alvin Dortch, execu tive director of OjM-ration Breadbasket West; Dr. Paul M artin, pastor of Re deemer Presbyterian Church; Evelyn Dchino, SCLC West board member. M o re than a thousand grape p ickers and farm workers gathered in a small park near the center of the city to hear speeches of Reverends Dortch and M ar tin. D r. M artin, who heads the political action committee for SCLC West, equated the struggle of the farm workers with the struggle of Black people for freedom. Rev erend Dortch pointed out that SCLC West has been involved with the United Farm Workers throughout S a ve fo r w e a lth ., r id e f o r h e a lt h The Benj. Franklin has great buys on bikes for those who save now! V FOLDING BICYCLES With $5,000 deposit - $25 With $2.500 deposit - $35 With $250 deposit — $45 10-SPEED BICYCLES With $5,000 deposit - $45 With $2,500 deposit — $60 With $250 deposit — $75 Benj. ß Franklin S A V IM A A ,» LOAM A A A . Robert H Hazen. Pre« • 22 Olficas • Phone 248 1234 Home Office: Franklin Bldg , Portland, Oregon 97204 around the doors and win dows was not replaced, nor was it painted. A beam separating the ceilings of the living room and the entry was not painted, but it was splashed with paint from the ceiling. The windows throughout the house are loose with the wood rotting. Nothing was done to make the windows usable or to help keep the cold air out of the house. their struggle with the grape and lettuce growers. The controversy has raged for several months over the unionization of the farm workers, with the U F W ac cusing growers of signing agreements with the Team sters Union without the par ticipation of the union. U F W won contracts with some growers have a long strike and a world wide boycott, but as the contracts expire they are being picked up by the Teamsters. The U F W wants union elections so the workers could choose the union they want to represent them, but the employers do not grant this option. Farm workers are not covered by the National Labor Relations Act which guarantees collec tiv e b a rg ain in g to most American workers. The Departm ent of Justice said on July 13 that it now has new evidence that a group of lettuce growers paid Teamster Union officials for an alleged campaign to destroy the United Farm Workers Union, A FL-C IO . The F B I w ill in v e s tig a te charges that the Teamsters Union hired "goons" to at tack U F W U members in the Coachilla Valley grape strike. Chavez charged that an in vestigation of lettuce grower payoffs to the Teamsters in the Salinac area was cut short because of close poli tical ties between the Nixon Administration and the Team sters Union. The farmworkers union has started major strike activity in the Arvin Lamont area where the grape season is just beginning. Over l.OtM) farm workers were at the picket lines last week. The upstairs bathroom re ceived a new tile floor and a large new door - so large that it strikes the toilet when opened. Mrs. Whitlow thought the money spent in the door could have been better used elsewhere. Plas ter left on the new tile floor cannot be removed by scrub bing. Mrs. W hitlow is not com plaining about the amount of money that was spent or A basement bathroom was rehabilitated. A shower was installed but not enclosed. The bathroom sink, which was broken by the construe tion workers, was repaired, but the broken toilet lid was not. New hinges were put on the window and weather stripping tacked on two sides, but a quarter inch of space appears at the bottom of the window, allowing a breeze to come into the room. OBSERVER Thursday, July 19, 1973 10c per copy Housing program wins approval Two significant contracts were signed by Russel Daw son. Area Director for the U.S. Departm ent of Housing and Urban Development, on Wednesday, July 18. One contract was between H U D and the State of Oregon, and the other between H U D and the P o rtla n d M e tro p o lita n Steering Committee. Both provide formal relations be tween H U D and the local agencies in the area of hous ing counseling. The Oregon State le g is lature passed legislation pro viding for the sale of $200 million in bonds to provide financing for low-incom e housing in Oregon. This money will be used to finance new co n stru ctio n , to r e finance e x is tin g housing units, and for rehabilitation projects. Financing will in clude the purchase of single fam ily d w e llin g s by low income families and construe tion of units for rental to low income persons. Low income is defined by those having incomes below the median for the county where they reside. The loans,which will be made through banks and fi nancial o rg an iza tio n s, w ill carry interest 2 percent lower than the usual rate. The loan can also be paid over a longer period of time, which can make the monthly pay Cleveland Gilcrease. director of the Portland Metropolitan Steering Committee, and H U D area director Russell Dawson sign contract providing for housing counseling for low income Portland residents. the new program will bring a closer relationship between his office and H U D . The two agencies will be cooperating in the counseling program and will probably make co operative financial arrange ments in some cases such as the state providing the loan and H U D insuring iL Dawson is pleased with the counseling program since many persons buy homes (Please turn to pg. 6, col. 51 ment or rent 20 to 25 percent less than it would on a conventional loan. One of the big components of the program is housing counseling . for persons in terested in participating. The State contracted with H U D to jointly qualify local agen cies to providing counseling services. Gregg Smith, Administra tor of the Housing Division of the State Commerce De partment, said he believes even what was done, al though she did not have much to say about what was done. She would prefer to have had a new sink, but was told it would cost too much, and she would have set some different priorities. What she is upset about is the quality of the work and the condition in which the house was left. She feels that even the minor repair work such as plastering over cracks and holes in the up stairs bedrooms was sloppily done, and since the plumbers were there she has no hot water in the basement. Mrs. W hitlow first applied for a grant in 1971, before money was available in her area She was told that because the house was too small for the family she would be relocated. Later she was told the relocation was not approved and that to apply for a grant to rehabili tate after asking for relo cation would "look strange". Her application was accepted but she heard nothing for months. A fter being told by a friend working in the pro gram that it didn't look like they planned to do anything for her. Mrs. W hitlow again began to pursue the grant. She was told that $65000 would be required to repair the house. In approximately June of 1972, she arranged with the W elfare Depart ment to help her pay the monthly loan payments. Still nothing happened. She was eventually told there was no loan money available. Mrs. W hitlow accepted the grant in June of 1973. The work took about 6 weeks, because, according to Mrs. W h itlo w , the co n tractors, Morrison Construction, often spent only an hour or two a day working on her house because they were working on several other houses at the same time. When confronted by M r. Morrison with the request that she sign the papers so he could be paid. Mrs. W h it low refused because she could not believe the work was done. M r. Morrison said he would return and finish a few things, but she refused to have him paid until she received some satisfaction. Mrs. W hitlow complained Annie W hitlow shows loose molding installed in her re habilitated home by Morrison Construction Company. Andrew Raubeson, director of the Model Cities Agency, inspected Mrs. Whitlow's home and stated that her com plaints are justified. to the Neighborhood D e velopment Program office, but said she was told by Ray Wilson, the director, that it would do no good to com plain. She went to H U D but was unable to reach the area d ire c to r, Russell Daw son. She went to City Hall but was told that M ayor Gold schmidt was out. She wrote a letter with her complaints to P o rtla n d D e v e lo p m e n t Commission, and on July 10, (Please turn to pg. 6, col. 8) City appoints HR director Ira Blalock has been selected for appointment as Director of the City of Port land's Bureau of Human Re sources. M r. Blalock's ap pointment was announced by City Commissioner Mildred Schwab. It is contingent on approval bv the City Council. Blalock was chosen from among 351) applicants from all over the United States. Miss Schwab was assisted in the process by a citizen's committee that she appointed for this purpose. In an P H Y L L IS B EN TO N Benton heads school Phyllis Benton is the new Assistant Director of the P o rtlan d S ta te U n iv e rs ity Educational Center. Miss Benton is also acting director, until a replacement for the former director, Harold Wil liams, is employed. T he E d ucation al C e n te r provides low cost credit and non credit courses in a num ber of academ ic areas. Classes are taught by pro fessors from PSU, by outside teachers, and bv volunteers. W ith a limited budget, there is a great dependence on volunteer workers. Persons from all over Port land attend classes at the center. All persons over 18 years are eligible to take classes. Classes and tutoring for the G E D are also pro vided. The center is in it's summer term and is planning for fall term, which begins (Please turn to pg 4. col. 6) nounring her selection Com missioner Schwab said "This demonstrates once again that one can find within the gov ernment of our city most of the talent we are looking for. We have s. me of the best peopl» in a.\l government right 'ere a Portland - and Ira Blak k is one of them." Blalock is 'irrently E xe cutive Direct» i f the M ult nomah County »Community Action Agency, w hich is. funded by the Office of Eco nomic Opportunities and pro vides program s fo r low- income persons in East M u lt nomah County. Blalock came to Portland in 1965 to pastor the West Hills Unitarian Fellowship. Previously he had pastored in Wellesley, Massachusetts. He graduated from Chico State College with a BA degree in Business Adminis tration in 1955. In 1963 he earned a Bachelor of D ivinity degree from Tufts U niver sity. Blalock is C h airm an of CRAG Social Services Com mittee; a member of the board of directors of the Community Health Services, Inc., and a founder and member of the executive co m m ittee of the W o rld Without W ar Council of Port land. He was an unsuc cessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for County Commissioner in 1970. Blalock has long been as sociated with community pro grams. W hile in Boston he worked with the Southern C h ris tia n L ead e rsh ip Con ference there and in Selma, Alabama. He was instru mental in the founding of W e lle s le y ’s C itizen s Com mittee for Better Schools wh ch led to an experimental desegregation plan. I PLUS students Gloria Pate (second from left) and Faustine Henry (far right) discuss their college plans with PLUS director Bill Wilkerson (far left) and reading lab instructor Shelby Berry (second from right). Students say PLUS opens doors Two young ladies credit Operation P L U S with pro viding them with the oppor tunity to attend college -- an opportunity that was be yond their wildest dreams. Both students are beginning their Sophomore years at PSU with the help of grants, loans and work-study pro grams. Both have had the experience in one short year of raising their realistic ex pectations from common labor to a profession and the op portunity to help other young people realize their poten tials. Faustine Henry, a native of Los Angeles, attended Manuel A rts High School in that city. She enrolled in the Job Corps and was sent to Tongue Point. There she enrolled in music training and attended classes at Clat sop Community College, as well as at the Job Corps. Faustine became interested in Operation P LU S when a group from the program visited Tongue Point and told her that she, too, could attend college. Since her high school grades were too low to meet college entrance requirements, P LU S helped her get accepted under a special quota for students with poor academic back grounds but w ith the poten tial to do college work. She was aided financially by a grant, a National Defense Aet loan, and the work study program F a u s tm e ’s w ork stu d y placement during the school year was w ith the Foreign Language D e p a rtm e n t at PSU. This summer she is employed as a Recreation Director at Highland Com (Please turn to pg 6, col. 4) Parents charge racism in schools A group recently incor porated as "Parents Con cerned A b o ut Racism In Schools" proposes to address racism wherever it is found in the school system; to study the causes and results of racism; to offer to assist school organizations to under stand how racism destroys educational opportunities. T h e group feels th a t teachers and administrators are not equipped or trained to deal with problems of racism and plans to offer in- service type experiences to the schools. "There are those in the city of Portland that deny the existence of racism, yet it does exist and is used subtly and directly in a very de structive manner, in many different ways. Racism exists in our public schools. Racism in the schools destroys the educa tional opportunities for many Black students in Portland. Racism exists with faculty and administrators in schools in the Black community, as well as in schools in all w hite (Please turn to pg. «, col. 6)
