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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 1978)
Board considers King-Boise pian PORTLAND OBSERl/ER Volume » No. J Thursday, January 5, 1978 10c per copy Inside Program Aids Victim» Page 3 Resolutions (or Smoker Page 3 Musical Honors King Page 4 Miracle Relived Page 6 The Portland School Board la to con sider the Boise/King redistricting plan at its Monday night meeting. The plan, would transfer incoming Freshman stu dents from portions of the King and Boise elementary attendance areas from Jefferson High School to Lincoln and Wilson High Schools. The School Board's decision on the proposal, part of the Newman Plan presented to the Board by Board member Jonathan Newman in June, was post poned because of widespread community opposition. The proposal was intended to lower the percentage of minority stu dents at Jefferson, which at that time was above fifty percent, mostly Black. Following opposition by many indi viduals and community organizations in cluding the NAACP, the Urban League, the Albina Ministerial Alliance, the Com mittee for Quality Education for All Children, and Schools for the City. Superintendent Blanchard recommended that the decision he postponed until outside their own attendance area only if January and that community representa it does not adversely affect racial balance tives offer a more acceptable solution. The Coalition advised the school dis To this end the Community Coalition trict that there would not he a problem of for School Integration was formed. On racial isolation at Jefferson if the district December 15th. the Coalition advised the would do the following: Board of Education that if the district's Strictly enforce the present attendance attendance policies were enforced, there area boundaries and limit the number of would be no problem of "racial isolation" genuinely qualified students attending (over 50 percent minority) at Jefferson. Benson and Monroe, with selection of If during the 1975-1977 school year, all those students made on a non discrimina of the students who had graduated from tory manner. Jefferson feeder schools had attended Strongly support the Jefferson magnet Jefferson, the school would have been pregram», broaden and improve them, 27.78 percent minority. publicize and make them available to all The district's statistics also show that students. although Jeffersdn is the tenth largest Provide a first rate faculty and curricu high school, it sends far more students to lum at Jefferson for the general program Benson than any other school - which in order to attract and retain neighbor drains Jefferson of many of its white hood and transfer students, Black and students. Also, sixty Jefferson area white. students attended Roosevelt, which is The School Board meeting will be held contrary to current district policy that on January 9th, at 7:30 p.m., at the Board allows students to attend high aetkmia Room, 631 N.E. Clackamas. Oregon workers over 40 find employment discrimination Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the passage of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, an updated edition of Up Against The Middle-Age Barrier, a 1971 report on the employment problems facing Oregon workers aged 45 to 65 has just been released by Labor Commissioner Bill Stevenson. “According to the study, 40 percent of the Middled aged Oregonians who en countered more than the usual difficulties in their job search felt their troubles were caused by the mere fact of their chronological and not by any age-related condition. Forty-five percent of the questioned personnel managers believed that per sons in the 45-65 age group whether looking for “just a job” or aiming at the "right job" faced greater handicaps than younger applicants. Another important finding indicates that even the person with specialized skills and training often encounter the middle-age barrier when competing with equally equipped but younger workers. Speaking of the psychological effects of age discrimination upon the older job seeker, the study points to "the para lyzing impact of defeatism upon the middle-aged.” The rejected become dejected and they begin acting out the stereotyped role of an "older person.” These actions maintain and fortify the Middle-Age Barrier. “Thus a dismal cycle of self perpetuating social injustice and waste of valuable human resources is created.” The report recommends that existing (Please turn to Page 6 Column 5) Public to review City of Portland’s proposed Housing Policy The City of Portland is considering adoption of a Housing Policy - a program for public and private action. Once passed by the Council, the policy is to become a framework to which all other programs related to housing will con form. Among the programs that the Housing Policy will effect are the Housing and Community Development Grants, the Housing Assistance Plan, and the Urban Development Grant Program. Funds available for new implementation will total $3,552.000. Home ownership and population com position have shifted in recent years. In 1976. 52 percent of the homes in Portland were ow ner occupied. In 1950,57 percent were owner occupied. The cost of hous ing has made purchase by low income and middle income families difficult. A home that cost $18,000 in 1955, would have cost $55,000 in 1977. The average sale price in August of 1977 was $43,450. Healing, utility and maintenance costs have increased from 70 percent to 100 percent over the past few years, causing increased housing deterioration. During the past fifteen years the population of Portland has changed little, but the population of the elderly and young adults has increased. The 30-44 age group has diminished, with many- young families moving to the suburbs. Households with children under 18 years have decreased by five percent, while single person households have increased twelve percent. Tacked onto the end of the policy, as Policy #6, is Fair Housing. This item was overlooked, but was added when the oversight was noticed by the Metropoli tan Human Relations Commission. The objectives of the Fair Housing policy are: • To provide equal access to housing for all people regardless of race, age, sex, color, religion, national origin, or mental or physical handicap. • To document violations of State and Federal civil rights laws related to housing in such matters as refusal to sell, lease, or rent; evicting a current or potential tenant, lessee, or buyer from housing: discrimination in the price of the property or in any other terms, privileges or services relating to the sale or use of housing; attempting to discourage sale or rental; or advertising in a way which indicates the landlord or seller prefers persons of a particular race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, or without physical or mental handicaps. • To educate the public regarding their rights to fair housing and the grievance procedures available to them in case of violations. • To encourage racial and economic mix to the extent possible in public- assisted housing. No budget is assigned to this function. Hearings on the Housing Policy will be held on January 11th, 7:30 p.m., at the Water Services Building, 510 S.W. Mont gomery; January 31st, St. Francis Audi torium, 330 S.E. 11th; February 1st, 510 S.W. Montgomery. Call 248-4519 for Housing Policy workshops scheduled for January 10th, 17th, and 25th. MHRC presents Peyton award The Metropolitan Human Relations Commission will present the fifth annual Ruaaell Peyton Award to Mrs. Marie Smith on January 14th. The presentation will lie made at a dinner, to be held at noon at Westminster Presbyterian Church. The MHRC makes the award each year to the person selected as having eontri buted to human relations in the metropo litan area. Previous recipients are: Thomas Sloan. John Mills, E. Shelton Hill and A. I-ee Henderson. Mayor Neil Goldschmidt will be the keynote speaker for the award luncheon and representatives of the City of Port land and Multnomah County, which joint ly sponsor the MHRC. will be present. The public is cordially invited to attend. Coal of the luncheon is $3. (Ml and reservations should be made by calling 248 4187. Mrs. Marie Smith, recipient of the 1977 award, is well known in the Stale of Oregon for her advocacy for civil rights and for the elderly. Mrs. Smith is a past president of the NAACP, Portland Branch, and was instrumental in the formation of the Northwest Area Confer ence of Branches. A dedicated NAACP member, she has also served as a board member of the NAACP Federal Credit Union. Mrs. Smith was a member of the Model Cities Task Force that organized the Senior Adult Service Center, considered to be one of the Model Cities Program's most successful projects and a model for senior service cen ters established throughout Multnomah County. She also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mrs. Smith is also known for her work with women's service organizations, hav ing been a state organizer and President of the Oregon Association of Colored Women's Clubs. She is also active in church and church related organizations. PROPOSED HOUSING POLICY FOR PORTLAND POLICY *1 EXISTING HOUSING: MAINTENANCE POLICY *4 NEW HOUSING The City will encourage and assist the continuing maintenance of existing residential proper ties, both single- and multi-family This maintenance will be accomplished through a voluntary housing maintenance code program to include marketing, inspection and financial assistance, aimed primarily at safety, sanitation, structural integrity, and energy conservation The City shall assist the pnvate sector in maintaining an adequate supply of single- and multi-family housing units This shall be accomplished by relying primarily on the home building industry and private sector solutions POLICY * 5 LOWER INCOME ASSISTED HOUSING POLICY *2 EXISTING HOUSING: MAJOR REHABILITATION Assistance for rehabilitation of housing beyond housing maintenance code requirements will be provided (1) If the assistance is supportive of general community development activity (2) on a voluntary basis, and (3) if policies »1 and »4 are being fulfilled T J * City will support and assist in planning for subsidized housing opportunities which are n t? r * hiCh Cann° * com Pe,e ln the market for housing In addition it is City policy that public housing be divided between elderly and non-elderly families propor donate to their representation in the City's total need for low income housing Public hou^riq a ^ h k S i s t ^ 66 Sma" n° m° re i r 30 Unte' loca,ed - a V e d :„e:u^ snould achieve as oroad an income mix as possible among tenants POLICY *3 HOME OWNERSHIP: FAMILIES POLICY *6 FAIR HOUSING The City shall encourage and support home ownership with emphasis on maintaining a housing supply for homeowner families with children to the greatest extent possible while providing appropriate housing situations for smaller household renters The City shall assist and encourage programs intended to provide equal access to housing for all people regardless of race, age, sex, color, religion, national origin, or mental or physical handicap ' In fo r m a tio n R e g a rd in g T h ia P ro p o s a l I PoHcv. w r i i i H U t c« N a S e ll—t Fotte? D*w«i CeelOT a f U w D ia h a Daah. S a c a a S B a a i. C M * H a ll I I Socttoo. 420 BolUtt», R o o . 610 I P oK laad caa k . a b l a u t h a w d w lafo n aa M o a Time running out for nuclear waste solution by Steven Schneider P N 8 - The unsolved problem of how to dispose of deadly radioactive waste now threatens the future of nuclear power in the U .8. The Department of Energy has warned that if action is not taken toon, the lack of storage space for nuclear waste might force the closing of 23 U.S. atomic power plants, starting in 1979. And the White House Council on Environmental Quality recently recom mended that the use of nuclear power not he expanded unless a solution to the waste problem is found soon. More than 3.000 tons of radioactive waste are now stored in temporary facilities, some of which already have sprung leaks. "The immediate problem," said one industry official, “Is that the utilities are running out of spare." During the next decade, U.S. nuclear planta are expected to generate nearly 20,000 more tons of radioactive waste. And President Carter recently proposed that the government store both this and spent nuclear fuel from foreign countries as well. Industry spokesmen, while praising the Carter proposal, agreed it was only an interim solution at best. “It is no more than a short term answer,” said Carl Waske, president of the Atomic Industrial Forum, “a way to avert a possible shortage of fuel storage capacity." Environmentalists were not at all pleased with the President's plan. "The public should not be misled into believing this policy will usher in new solutions." warned Richard Pollack, di rector of Critical Maas, the Ralph Nader anti nuclear organization. "The govern ment is in as much of a quandary about what to do with the waste material as it was two decades ago." Until last year, much of the utilities' radioactive waste was shipped to a reprocessing plant in West Valley, New York, where some of it was reconverted back into nuclear fuel and the rest into high-level nuclear waste, ultimately to be disposed of by the federal government. But in September 1976, Nuclear Fuel Services, a subsidiary of Ghetty Oil, abandoned the nation's only commercial reprocessing plant on the grounds that it wasn't commercially feasible. Then last spring, President Carter announced that commercial reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel would be postponed indefinitely because of the increased risk of nuclear weapons proliferation that it poses. Since then, the utilities have been requesting an expansion in the size of their temporary storage pools, but fed era! officials concede that expansion of those facilities ia not a long term solution for the storage of radioactive material - some of which must be safeguarded for as long as 250,000 years. Gordon Corey, vice-chairman of Com monwealth Edison, said several months ago that nuclear power would become uneconomical if utilities had to »tore their spent fuel permanently. This means that the federal govern ment must establish either a central storage facility or a permanent disposal Meanwhile, the wastes continue to eat away at the walls of storage tanks, and radioactivity is beginning to be detected in the earth, in streams and in the ocean. Some 18 different leaks accounting for the escape of 429,000 gallons of nuclear waste into the earth have been reported over the past twenty years at a military disposal facility at Hanford, Washington. These leaks, along with radioactive waste intentionally dumped in the area, have left the land "so badly contami nated,” according to a Ford Foundation report, “that it may never be cleaned up.” At Oak Ridge, Tennesee, nuclear burial trenches have intercepted the water table, and a creek feeding into the Clinch River has been found to exceed the maximum permissible concentration of radioactive material. The Maxcey Flats disposal site near Moorhead, Kentucky, also has been leak ing radioactive material, but at levels that do not yet pose a health hazard, according to Kentucky officials. I4ist summer, radioactive cesium was discovered in fish purchased in a Berkeley, California, market. Although there is no conclusive proof, some expert s suspect the fish may have been caught near the Farallon Islands, 50 miles off the California coast, where thousands of steel drums containing radioactive wastes were dumped 20 years ago and where cesium and plutonium have recently been detected in the water. site. 1 he problem is that no one seems to know how to store these highly toxic wastes. The real question is what do you do with the wastes that are there," said James Griffin of the Department of Industry spokesmen, environmental ista and federal officials all agree that waste disposal is the major problem now faring the nuclear industry, but disagree on how critical it ia. The moat immediate problem la in Energy. “Everyone's pondering that." Springing Leaks California where state law prohibits the licensing of additional nuclear power plants until the federal government adopts a waste disposal plan acceptable to the California legislature. Federal officials maintain that plant closings can be avoided and reliance upon nuclear power can continue to increase, but environmentalists disagree. 'To say that we're going to solve the waste problem is a hoax," contends Jeffrey Knight, Washington lobbyist for Friends of the Earth. “Pretty soon it will be time to call in the chips on the nuclear industry." Randy Bernard, of San Francisco's People Against Nuclear Power, predicts at least two reactors will be closed down this year. Nuclear industry official Scott Peters disagrees. “While time is getting short for some reactors," he said, “there is no immediate danger of a shutdown.” He conceded that some shutdowns might occur in the early 1980s but “only if nothing ia done." Industry believes that policy making decisions rather than technical break throughs are needed to solve the radio active waste problem. Meanwhile, the federal government - which is committed to putting a perma nent commercial waste repository into operation by 1985 - is having difficulty finding a location for it. "Nobody has accepted waste facilities thus far," a nuclear opponent noted. “Connecticut ia glad to have lota of reactors, but its citizens refuse to have any wastes stored there." The same has been true elsewhere. Vermont and I Louisiana passed legislation earlier this year that would make it extremely difficult to establish nuclear waste facilities there. statutes is open to question, the federal And legislatures in South Dakota and government is not looking for a show New Mexico have passed resolutions that down on the issue. also would bar or limit the federal “We’re trying to enlist the cooperation government’s nuclear waste disposal of local people,” says Energy Department plans. spokesman James Griffin. Last May, in response to public opposi The nuclear industry maintains that tion, Michigan Governor William Milliken the best way of winning public support is told federal energy officials that he to get a waste storage program into wanted his state removed from consi operation. “The only way we will deration as a waste disposal site. convince people is by doing a pilot project,” said Scott Peters of the Atomic In September, Illinois Attorney Gen Industrial Forum. eral William Scott told a House subcom All that is needed is a state that will mittee that “Illinois will not passively accept the project, and a way to ensure allow itself to become the nation's dump that radioactive substances do not leak ing ground for high-level nuclear waste." back into the environment for the next As states are approached as possible 250,000 years. locations for waste disposal sites, public | Steven Schneider monitors energy opposition rises. And while the constitu ,<olicy for the Ford Foundation-funded tionality of some of the anti-nuclear waste Third Century America Project.! NRC considers Trojan request The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commis sion's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board began hearings Wednesday on Portland General Electric’s request for permission to store more spent fuel at the Trojan site. PGE has applied for the amendment to their operating license because there is no place in the United States to store radioactive waste products from private ly owned nuclear reactors. PGE wants to double its waste storage capacity before the first spent fuel cells are removed in March of 1978. The hearings are being held daily at the U.S. Court House and co.uld last for more than two weeks. Three opponents of the PGE request are allowed to call expert witnesses and cross-examine PGE witnesses during the hearing Susan Garrett of the Coalition for Safe Power; Sharon McKeel and David McCoy. Approximately fifty per sons requested to give testimony. The State's Oregon Department of Energy and the Energy Facility Siting Council are also represented. Prior to the hearing, Lloyd Marbet of Forelaws on Board, called the five minute limit imposed on speakers from the public "an attempt to severely limit public participation." Peter Bergel told a press conference, "While I understand the need for the NRC to proceed with deliberate speed, it is Oregonians who will have to live with the decision for ten, twenty, or more years." I