Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, February 05, 1981, Page 6, Image 6

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    From the Board Room
By Gladys McCoy
BOOST program, w hich assists young people applying for college
and id e n tify fin a n c ia l aid . held a w o rk session a t M a t t D is h m an
C en ter w ith students and th e ir p aren ts. G lenn H e rm a n , w ith his
Steven, com pletes application form s,
Norma Freedman recieves help and advice from BOOST counselor.
(Photo: Richard Brown)
p aren ts M r. and M rs . H erm an N. G reen and b ro th e rs M a re and
Willie Brown seeks City Council seat
By Nyewusi Askari
Willie Brown, a concerned
citizen, is running for City Council;
the seat vacated by Mayor Frank
Ivancie. Although new to the arena
of City government, he has some
very definite ideas about how City
government should be run. In this
interview, he discusses some of
those ideas.
Observer: Just who is Willie
Brown?
Brown: Willie Brown is a concer­
ned citizen who decided to get in­
volved with politics because of the
kinds of things that’s been going on.
I’m referring to the high taxation,
Tri-M et, M etropolitan Service
District; they want to become a
taxing body, Port of Portland
already is, and I just think it’s time
that the citizenship got involved
with City government. They are
talking about they are not making
enough money or they are spending
too much money, well, if the
citizens got involved they’d know
why.
So Willie Brown is the type of
person who’ve worked all of his life
on a couple of jobs, has owned a
couple of businesses in the area,
graduated from Roosevelt High
School, Portland Community
College with a degree in Business
Administration with emphasis on
economics. In all I’m looking at
going to school, and at the same
time, obtain my bachelor’s degree
and hopefully my master’s degree in
Business Adm inistration and
Business Law.
Observer: What motivated you to
run for City Council?
Brown: I got involved with
weatherization, first to stop the
mandatory
aspect
of
the
weatherization act that the City
Council was trying to push through.
Because 1 don’t think that people
need to have mandatory weatheri­
zation. They know certainly if they
are cold and they don’t need the
sheriff to come out and tell them to
put some insulation in their homes.
One of the Council’s favorite
words is mandatory. They want to
make everything mandatory. They
act as if the citizens don’t have the
intelligence to understand the dif­
ference. City Council needs to give
the citizens more credit; after all,
the citizens are paying their wages,
so the Council work for the citizen­
ship and not the other way around.
Observer: What are some o f the
changes y o u ’d like to see take place
in the policy o f Council members?
Brown: I’d like to see more
Council involvement with the
citizens to the point where Council
members get out from behind their
desks, go out and listen to what
citizens are talking about.
Observer: What are some o f the
things that the citizens you 've talked
with would like to see changed in
area are saying is, it’s a beautitul
street to drive on, but it’s not
bringing any business into the area.
What it did was strip the business in
the area
from
the
small
businessman. People told Mayor
Ivancie and some of the other
people involved, that they didn’t
want the project, that they needed
parking. Certainly they can’t park
on the street.
This choice to ignore what the
citizens and businesses were saying
has affected a lot of the businesses.
50% of the business is gone. If they
have no place to park, certainly they
can’t get in. I know myself because
I’ve spoken with a number of small
businessmen who are located on
Union Avenue. Questions are
asked: Why leave the area? Is there
something that the area can do to
keep the jobs in the community?
The City council says no, we can’t
expand or we can’t change our
parking status here. Those are the
kinds of things I’ve been asked and
have heard the people talking about.
I think City Council needs to get out
of their easy chairs, get on their feet,
get out there and talk to these
people, instead of trying to make
those decisions behind the desk.
terms o f the policies that come from
City Council?
Brown: Well, the biggest thing
I’ve seen is that they want to be in­
volved. When they say no they don’t
want that, they don't want to be
forced into having whatever kind of
project they want them to hdve.
Union Avenue is one of the exam­
ples and certainly there are many,
many more.
There are many things the citizens
want to do and when they go to
testify, and like I’ve been in front of
the City Council and they make you
feel like you are stupid. Being con­
cerned you feel like you’re on trial
and my God that’s got to change.
I think that’s all a part of it so if
they belong to the City, they’ve got
to feel like they can make some of
the decisions. Some of the
businesses downtown, they have
been in business for a number of
years, in fact, they’ve made down­
town what it is today. And what the
City Council wants is to allow com­
panies to come in from out of the
state, to go in and demolish the
buildings and businesses. That’s the
people life blood. They’re trying to
move the folks out and th at’s the
wrong way.
Does this apply to the Onion
A venue Project as well?
Brown: The Union Avenue
Project is just one aspect. What the
citizens and business people of the
My advice to citizens is, “ get in­
volved.” People have criticized
people like Ron H erndon, but
whether you like Ron or not, he has
chosen to get involved. He has
chosen to participate. If more
citizens would have gotten involved
earlier, the schools would be in
better shape. One cannot criticize
from his/her easy chair, while
watching television.
I’m for citizen involvement in
City government. But most of all.
I’m for political honesty. Those
who are supposed to be making
political decisions must began to be
more honest with the people who
elected them; the people who pay
their salaries. I’m for honesty, the
restoration of the peoples trust in
local government.
Workshop studies teenage parenthood
Which girls are most likely to
grow up and find themselves preg­
nant and alone as teenagers can
almost be predicted by pre-school
age according to professionals who
work with pregnant teens.
But, there are ways to prevent
that grim forecast from happening,
says
Mary
Erlandson,
co-
chairwoman of the Oregon Alliance
Concerned with School Age Parents
(OACSAP) and discharge and
follow-up coordinator for the
Neonatal Intensive Care Center
at University Hospital.
A full day workshop will be held
Monday, February 16, at the Child
Development and Rehabilitation
Center at the University of Oregon
Health Sciences Center. The
workshop will focus on understand-
ng early adolescence as a means to
uevent
teenage
pregnancy,
t eachers, nurses, counselors and
>ther professionals are invited.
The workshop is sponsored by
everal groups, including the OAC­
SAP, the Oregon Program for
Sexual Health, the Crippled
Children's Division and the Division
for Perinatal Medicine, all at the
UOHSC. Also involved are Planned
Parenthood
and
Continuing
Education for Girls, an alternative
school for pregnant teens and young
.mothers and a part of the Portland
Public School District.
“ We have to look back at our
own adolescence and see what our
family values were and how they af­
fected our decision m aking,’’
Erlandson said, “ and how peer
pressure affected our decision
making.” She believes that many
teenage pregnancies would be
avoided if the girls were helped
when they were young, and before
they find themselves pregnant.
“ When 1 see young kids in our
obstetrics clinic, they just stand out.
They are the kids with low self­
esteem, kids with poor family role
models, the kids that never fit into
the mainstream.’’
Lecture topics will include talking
to children about sex related topics,
If you care about your
city and neighborhood,
and your right to voice
your opinion —
Get government back
in the hands of
THE PEOPLE'
Vote
WILLIE
BROWN
City Commissioner ||
value exercises in attitude changes
and dealing with parents and
teenagers living together.
Erlandson stressed that the focus
of the workshop goes beyond
distributing contraceptive devices.
“ Girls won’t talk to you about that,
because they think it immoral to
prepare for sex.” She said for most
girls, sex is something that generally
overwhelms them.
There will be a $20 fee for the
workshop.
INTERESTING
FACTS
Brought To You Every Week
By A MERIC A N ST A TE BA NK
It seems hard to believe, but Texarkana, Texas is
closer to Chicago, Illinois than it is to El Paso, Texas.
•
Columbus received pay equivalent to only about
$300 for discovering America.
•
W hat’s the fastest moving thing in the world?
Nothing can move taster than light.
American State
Bank AN INDEPENDENT BANK
Head Office
2737 N. E. Union
Portland, Oregon 97212
Today the M ultnomah County
Animal Contr.ol (MCAC) allows the
animals to “ Die with dignity’’,
using sodium pentobarbital, a drug
that puts them peacefully to sleep.
No longer are animals euthanized in
a decompression chamber.
A study by the Board of County
Commissioners has shown the
sodium pentobarbital method to be
a more humane treatm ent of the
animals. It has also proven to be less
expensive for the county. Fewer
person-hours are needed to ad­
minister the drug and machine
m aintenance costs have been
eliminated.
Even with this drop in costs,
overall inflation problems are af­
fecting the shelter and untimately
the animals. An increase in fee sche­
dules for the MCAC was recently
approved by the board.
1) Dog licensing has risen from
$12 yearly for fertile dogs to $15; $5
for sterile dogs.
2) Replacing a license now costs
$2.
3) Freeing impounded pets will
cost $20, and each succeeding im­
poundment is $40.
4) Daily care costs are an ad­
ditional $3 for dogs and $10 for
livestock.
5) Licenses for dog facilities are
up from $30 to $50, and the cost of
a facility for exotic, wild or
dangerous animals has jumped
100% from $50 to $100.
A status report on the results of
County Commissioner
the increase will be made in June.
Further, Ms. Betsy Williams,
manager of the shelter, has re­
quested time to review the full
Animal Control Ordinance with a
thought of other revisions.
The shelter facilities, located ai
24450 W. Columbia Hwy., Trout­
dale, serves all of Multnomah
County. Its purpose is to protect
human health and life from
animals; animals from other
animals; animals from the cruetly of
some people; property; and to
protect the environment.
MCAC has five functions in
reaching these goals: educating the
public; m aintaining health and
welfare of the animals sheltered in
the facility; enforcing laws in the
community and mediating neigh­
borhood differences over animals;
licensing animals and animal
facilities and registering livestock;
and euthanizing unclaimed animals
brought to the shelter.
The shelter was built in 1971 when
the City of Portland contracted the
county to enforce city leash laws
and shelter animals. A second wing
was built in 1973.
In 1975, the program expanded to
include a veterinarian, an education
coordinator who educates the staff
and
prepares
inform ational
material, a spay/neuter rebate and
a licensing program. It also began
working with national humane
societies and attracting national at­
tention.
NOTICE OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF
THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED WAY
OF THE COLUMBIA-WILLAMETTE
To the members of United Way from Clackamas, Multnomah and Wash­
ington Counties in Oregon and Clark County, Washington.
You are hereby notified that the Annual Meeting will be held Wednesday,
February 18, 1981 at noon at the Marriott Hotel, Salon E, Portland, Oregon.
Make reservations in advance with June Allen at United Way, 718 West
Burnside St., Portland 97209, Tel. 228-9131.
A total of twenty-six directors will be elected to serve terms of three years.
Anyone who contributes to United Way is a member. Members who cannot
attend the lunch at noon are urged to attend the business meeting at 12:25
p.m.
For a free booklet with more easy tips on saving energy
and money, write “Energy,” Box 62, Oak Ridge, TN 37830.
Nam e ________________________________________________
Address ___ ______ ______________________________
C ity ________ __________________________________
State
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