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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 1973)
Jor U rn Fr U ni vai : u • ' ft y 0 0» ir y z f on v .' h ' ACA charges PDC - threatens shutdown Eugene Jackson» Business Manager for the Albina Con traclo ra Association, de inanded and received assur ance from John Kenward Executive Director of th«* Portland Development Com miaaion that PDC will more closely police the work done on ita home rehabilitation projects in the Albina area. The agreement was reached after Jackson and several members of the ACA en tered the PDC Neighborhood Development office on Union Avenue, turned off the lights and the switchlxturd, and demanded that Kenward and other PDC a dm in istrato rs come to the office and meet with him. In a meeting at the ACA office two weeks earlier, Jackson had been assured that the PDC staff would attempt to assure good qual ity work and that home owner's complaints would be investigated by PDC staff. Jackson maintained that citizens complaints are con tinuing and that they are not receiving consideration by PDC as had been promised. Mrs. Annie Whitlow, whose home had been 'rehabilitated' through a PDC grant, said she was unable to obtain assistance from the PDC staff when the construction work was unsatisfactory. She claims she was told by Ray Wilson, Rehabilitation Super visor, that the complaints stop with him and the u lti mate derision is his. She m aintains that she was threatened by the contractor that if she did not sign his check for payment he would put a lien on her property. This complaint was an exam pie of the many that the PORTLAND AS OBSERVER Volume 3, No. tÿ Portland, Oregon THE O N1Y NEWSPAPER IN AN (O U A l OPPORTUNITY IM PtO YER THI W HOP W IO t WORLD Haas THAT R IA t lY CARES ABOUT PEO Ptt Ihursday, August 30, 1973 Black Attorney (OMMISSIONER MILDRED SCHWAB LEE MATTHEWS Haas is extremely pleased with the quality of the new deputy D.A.'s and is already using several who have had extensive trial experience to handle District Court cases. Justice Department sues unions The Department of Justice filed a civil suit against three Chicago area building trades union and their joint ap prenticeship committees for discriminating against Blacks and Spanish surnamed per sons. IRA BLALOCK The Employment Working Committee of Model Cities will sponsor a "Town Hall-' style meeting featuring City Com missioner Mildred Schwab and Ira Blalock on September 5th at 7:30 p.m. at 5329 N.E. Union Avenue. Room 226. Blalock is the newly appointed Director of the Human Resource Bureau, which includes the Model Cities Agency and other social programs. Members of all working committees and all interested persons are invited to attend. Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson said the com plaint, one of the largest employment discrim ination suits ever brought against a building trades union by the Department, was filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Named as defendants were Asbestos Workers Loral 17 and the Asbestos Workers Joint Apprenticeship Com m ilte e; Ornam ental Iron Workers laical 63 and the O rn a m e n ta l Ir o n w o rk e rs Joint Apprenticeship Com mittee, and Pipefitters laical 597 and the Pipefitters Joint Apprenticeship Committee, all of Chicago. The contractor associations, which have collective bar gaining agreements with the unions, were named as neces sary and appropriate parties for th«* purpose of affording complete relief. The complaint charged that the Pipefitters Local has some 5,056 journeyman members, of whom approximately 40 are Black or Spanish surnamed. Its joint apprenticeship com mittee has 690 apprentices, of whom 26 are Black and four are Spanish surnamed. Ornam ental Ironw orkers laical 63 has approximately 1,125 journeyman members, of whom seven are Black and 10 are Spanish surnamed. Its jo in t apprenticeship com Law opens meetings, records to public The 1973 legislature passed the Public Meetings law and the Public Records laiw to provide for expanded pub lie participation in and aware ness of the public business. In his interpretation of the laws released last week, At torney General Lee Johnson gave a broad definition of the laws. He instructed that they apply to "everybody, practically everything, any time." lie told the public agencies that any doubts in interpreting the legislation Something at the can count on Franklin ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR Fits in pocket or purse -fo r home, office, school or shopping. Adds, subtracts, multi plies, divides Floating decimal, constant key, clear entry. Complete with batteries and case AC adaptor $4 extra Offer limited while supply lasts BIG DISCOUNTS FOR SAVERS $29.95 with $5,000 deposit $34.95 with $2,500 deposit $44.95 with $1,000 deposit $49.95 with $250 deposit Benj. © Franklin ■A.IN»« a HIN Roberl M Ha/en. Pres • 22 Ottica» • Phone 248 1234 Home Ottica Franklin Bldg , Portland. Oregon 97204 should 1 m - resolved in favor of providing the public with notice, access and informa lion. He advised that claims of confidentiality and denials of access to records should I k * the exception and must come clearly within the law. He advised the agencies to maintain a spirit of openness and accessibility. PUBLIC MEETING I.AW The Public Meeting laiw applies to any meeting of a state or local body. The law also applies to any formal or informal advisory group ap pointed by a governmental agency which also acts as a deliberative body. The test is whether the committee takes votes. The Public Meeting Law requires that public notice be given the time and place of meetings. This notice must I k * designed to give actual notice to interested persons to enable them to attend the meeting. Special meetings must have 24 hours reason able notice to the public and to members, and in addition (subject to reasonable re quirements), interested per sons should I k * notified by mail or by telephone. Emer genry meetings may only be railed for an actual emer gency. Telephone calls to the press and to interested persons must be made. No closed executive ses sion can be called for making a final derision, and must only I k * railed for reasons exempted in the law: con sidération of employment, dismissal or discipline of eni ployees, labor negotiations, consideration of exempt rec ords, negotiation for real property, or preliminary ne gotiations on trade or com merce that is in competition with other states or foreign countries. The law requires that minutes I k * kept of all meet ings, including executive ses sions. PUBLIC RECORDS This law requires that every public body allow any citizen access to all records. “ Public record" includes any writing containing informa tion relating to the conduct of the public's business, pre pared, owned, used or re tained by a public body re gardless of physical form or characteristics. If a person requests access to a record containing exempt and non exempt material, the non exempt m aterial w ill be separated and made avail able. Proper and reasonable op portunity must be provided (Please turn to pg. 4. col. 7) mittee has about 107 appren tices, of whom 14 are Black and three are Spanish sur named. Asbestos Workers Loral 17 has approximately 700 jour neymen, of whom three are Black and none are Spanish surnamed. Its joint appren ticeship committee has about 196 apprentices, of whom 16 are Black and four are Span ish-sur named. The Chicago metropolitan area has a Black and Spanish surnamed jsipulation of ap proximately 24 per rent. At the same time the com plaint was filed, a consent decree was approved by the court regarding Pipefitters laical 597, its apprenticeship committee and the Mechanical Contractors Chicago Associa tion. The decree establishes a first year goal of 150 new Blacks and Spanish surnamed journeymen and a goal of 180 a year for each of the suc ceeding five years, with the contractors agreeing to a proportionate increase* in em ployment of Black and Span ish surnamed persons in their workforce. The p a rtie s also have agreed to modify the jour neyman membership and ap prenticeship standards. The Justice Department suit »aid that the unions and apprenticeship committees have followed a pattern of failing ami refusing to recruit Black and Spanish surnamed persons to membership on the same basis as whites. The complaint also charged the unions used work re ferral and apprentice selec tion policies which perpetuate th«* present discriminatory- policies and have failed to take steps to overcome the present effects of past dis crimination. The complaint asked for injunctive relief against the discriminatory practices. from PDC to ACA. Al though the decision was 1« have been made the previous week, no decision had lw*«*n presented to ACA. Jackson interpreted this delay and lack of contact as an act ol bad faith. He told PDC that if the harassment and thr«*ats to homeowners did not stop he will ''close down PDC". 1 can stop this federal monev. If you don't think so, you have another thing coming." I Oc per copy The appointment of John H. Powell to the Chairman ship of the Equal Employ ment Opportunity Commis sion ended a bitter lH-hind the scenes battle to replace W illiam H. Brown, III. Brow n. a former Philadelphia lawyer, won more EEOC cases than any previous chairman. Brown was appointed to th«- Commission in 1966 by President Lyndon B. John son. He was appointed chair man bv President Nixon in 1969. replacing Clifford L. Alexander, Jr., a stormy figure who was chairman from 1967 to 1969. It was widely reported that Alex andcr's hard nosed prodding of some reluctant industries'- job bias infuriated conserva lives and resulted in his dismissal. Brown wished to remain as head of EEOC. He said, "I* think this is critical to the life of the Commission at this point, because I think we are right at the point where we are b«*ginning to do some very significant things as far as Title V II is concerned. If lh«*re is a change in the chairmanship now, no matt«*r who that person is or how- good he is. there w ill be an inevitable slow down, a slacking off." EEOC administers Title V II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which bans employment discrimination. Most em plovers with 15 or more em ployees who deal in inter state employment are under the act. "W'e have jurisdic tion over state and l<x-al governments, over educa tio n a l in s titu tio n s , o ve r unions and joint apprentice ship training programs, over state employment services or private services, and over any employer with 15 or more employees." Brown points out. In January of 1973, EEOC won a landmark case against AT&T. Th«* world's largest corporation agreed to pay $15 million back pay to minorities and women and $36 million each year for five years. More important, the recruiting and promotion sys tem has b«*en chang«*d. Within the past year 140 suits have been filed through out the country. 116 of them against employers and unions. .Although Brown wished to serve another term as chair man to continue the work he has started, he was not re a p p o in te d by P re s id e n t Nixon. The new appoint«*!* is John H. Powell, Jr., who has served as General Counsel to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights since 1970. Before joining the Civil Rights Com mission, he was an attorney in New York City and Long Island for 11 years. After serving as an assistant U.S. Attorney and associate coun sel to then Speaker of the New York State Assembly Joseph Carlino, he was in private practice from 1961- 1966 and on the legal staffs of the Celanese Corporation and the Inmont Corporation from 1966 1970. Powell. 42, is a graduate of Howard University, received his JD degree from the H arvard U n iv e rs ity Law School, and received a Mas ter of Law degree from New- York University Graduate School of Law. City explains funds The regulations of the Treasury Department require that an annual report of actual use of revenue sharing funds be filed with the Office of Revenue Sharing. The first report from the City of Portland, which is now being filed, lists expenditures of $340.512 for the year ended June 30. 1973. For this period the City of Portland has received a to ta l of $10.488,152 in revenue shar ing funds beginning with the first payment of $4.169.841 received on Ifecember 11, 1972. During this same period the City of Portland has received interest earn ings on these fu nd s o f $95,867. The policy of the City of Portland to spend revenue sharing funds was deter mined from an evaluation of total City needs to be funded by all City resources. The expenditure of the $340,512 prior to the 1973 74 budget was for purposes w hich the Council considered should be authorized prior to the 1973 74 budget. A total of $154.710 was used for equipment acquisi tion, and $185.802 was used for updating of budgeting and accounting procedures and maintenance of existing City-owned structures. Soul Food Fair hit Mrs. Clara Peoples, man ager of the Oregon State Pair's firs t Black-owned b«x>th, is thrill«*d by the re sponse the booth is receiving. Located in restaurant row, Mrs. Peoples and hers assis tants are serving soul fo«xl. Business is overw helm ing and visitors from across the state are numerous. Mrs. peoples also reports Black participation through out the fair - in employ ment and in exhibits. "I am encouraged to see a truly representative fair for the first time," she told the Ob server. "There are people from all walks of life and all ethnic groups at the fair." The fair, held at the State Eair Grounds in Salem, ex tends through Monday, Sep tember 3rd. Sheriff issues warning Sheriff J. Bard Purcell. Director of the Multnomah County Department of Public Safety, warned holiday boat ers concerning the low water levels now existing in the Columbia River and its trib utaries, especially during low tide. there are a "few" problems and that it is a standard procedure for contractors to put liens on homes wh«-n the bills are not paid. He agr«*ed to set up a unit that will investigate every complaint The ACA also complained that minority contractors do not receive an equitable share of PDC’s federally funded work. PDC had agreed to the possibility of transferring administration of the Model Cities Home Repair Program Brown out: Nixon appoints Powell Multnomah County Dis trict Attorney Harl Haas announced the employment of Lee Matthews as a deputy attorney for his office. Matthews, who is 24 years old, is a graduate of Lewis and ('lark Iaiw School. He attended W'East High School and Treasure Valley Com munity College, and grad uated from Ia-wis and Clark College in 1971. He was a research consultant for the National College of State Trial Judges in 1971 and a teaching assistant for the Council on Legal Education Opportunity in 1972. He was a Legal Intern for the Mult nomah County District At torney's office in 1972 73. Additional appointees are: Jane Wiener, graduate of Lewis and Clark laiw School; Charles Wiseman, graduate of Lewis and Clark l a * School; Mary Martha McNa mara. graduate of University of Notre Dame laiw School; anil John DeWenter, grad uate of Georgetown Univer sity Law Center. The new attorneys will replace members of the de partment who have resigned to enter private law practice. ACA is receiving from dis satisfied homeowners. Dor Silvey. PDC rehabili tation officers, aid the work is guaranteed for a year. Homeowners claim that once the check is signed they find it impossible to interest PDC in the warranty agreement. Kenward said "the job is between the owner and the contractor", but that com plaints about the quality of the work should be invest! gated. Kenward admitted Low water dangers exist at all points along the Col umbia. except within marked navigational channels. A particularly critical area is the South Channel that b«>dy of water which lies south of Lemon and Govern ment Islands. Sand bars which have not been seen before are now jutting out at various sites normally used as small l*>at ing areas. Special attention should be given to "Slow Boat" warning signs. Community cleanup huge success Residents, the Portland De-' fruit punch. Community velopment Commission, and Care donat«*d food and money a number of service organiza for food was contributed by tions and businesses com Commissioner's Schwab's of bined efforts Saturday, Aug fice, Mr. Luther Strong, and ust 25 to clean up the Boise- the Portland Development Humboldt neighborh«K»ds. Commission. Thirty six National Guards Cardboard boxes for the men from Camp Withveombe, clean up were donated by aided by 20 members of the White-Mann Co., Sears, and Environmental Youth Cru Montgomery Ward. Future saders, picked up enough Products provided box stor trash to fill nine ’ 20-cubic age. yard drop boxes, rune 2'» Baldwin Sanitary Service ton trucks and three pickup prov ided drop boxes at a trucks. reduced rate. Commissioner Anderson’s office arranged Twenty-six area residents dump privileges at the Solid prepared and served lunch Waste Disposal Area to the clean up campaign N«*ighborho«id Cooperation workers at the Neighborhood was excellent as residents Development Office. 4000 used the opportunity to clean N. Mississippi. Continental out garages, attics and to Bakery donated bread and gather up fail yard clippings pastries. Model Cities Agen during the eight hour cam cy contributed four gallons of paign.
