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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 1981)
1 V. . Black History Issue: Black Music and Entertainers Minority absence endangers Public Service Bldg. City Commissioner Charles Jor dan announced at a Council meeting last week that he w ill defer support o f future construction payments to P a v a rin i/H o ffm a n Construction Companies u n til MBE guidelines are met. requisitions totaling approximately $4.4. m illio n dollars. Thus, the MBE u tiliz a tio n should ap proximate $440,000 given the level o f construction completed to date. However, to date, that level o f par ticipation approximates $27,000. As of February 19, 1981, the City Council has authorized construction Due to that small amount o f MBE participation to date, and the ab sence o f inform ation from a jo in t venture by Pavarini/H offm an as to how and when it w ill ensure the required p a rtic ip a tio n . C om missioner Jordan indicated at the C ity C o u n c il’ s session that P a v a rin i/H o ffm a n ’ s response re garding MBE p a rtic ip a tio n was inadequate, and he would not sup port further payment to the contrac to r u n til it complies w ith MBE guidelines. Section 12 in the Instructions to Bidders contained in the Public Ser vice Building contract indicates the $22 m illio n (plus) project shall be subject to all M in o rity Business Utilization requirements established by C ity Ordinance No. 147629. This ordinance, among other things, requires a designation o f lO®zo MBE p a rticip a tio n on capital im provement projects w ith an estimated value in excess o f $100,000. Thus, the IO<7# MBE utilization goal on the Public Ser vice Building should approxim ate $2.2 million dollars. Commissioner Jordan is currently investigating potential remedies available to the City should the con tra cto r elect not to com ply w ith these guidelines. A ll m inority business enterprises interested in participating on this project arc encouraged to initia te contact with the contractor to make known their capability and interest. PORTWND OBSERVER USPS 959-680-855 ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________ _______ _____________________________________ _____ Wacker: Asset or Liability W A T C H IN G THE W A TC H E R S : B ariki Stephens considers her roots w h ile v iew in g C harles T atu m 's sculpture at Black History W eek exhibit in Federal Building (Photo: Richard J Brown) Nigerian Legislative staff visits Salem Hv / ungai Kumbula Nigeria, A frica ’ s most populous ountry gained independence from Britain in 1960. After experimenting with a British style parliam entary system fo r her firs t 19 years, she switched on October 1, 1979 to a U.S. style constitution. The country was divided into 19 states, each with its own governor and state government while the Federal government in Lagos is in charge o f the whole country. The change-over, adopted after a national referendum, has necessiated a complete re orientation o f N igeria’ s entire legislative machinery. I hree legislative s ta ff members ihey insisted that that they were not egislators or politicians), spent the ast two weeks studying the sinkings o f the Oregon l.egi«tature. hide Eferive, a lawyer from the imo state House o f Assembly where he s the parliamentary clerk and Fati lman, from the Sokoto State House o f Assembly talked with Portland Observer A frican A ffa irs E ditor, Eungai Kumbula in Salem this past weekend. Rutus Faba, Ondo Stale Governor Liaison O fficer had left earlier. ‘ ‘ The trip was sponsored by the State Legislative Leadership Foun dation in Denver, Colorado and the purpose o f the trip was for us to see the American system o f government at w ork,” explains Fati as she scans her schedule. ‘ ‘ There were 38 o f us in the original group and we went to Den ver and Lincoln, Nebraska, belore splitting up into smaller groups. We visited Nebraska because it is the only state in the U.S. that has a unicameral legislature. A ll ot Nigeria’ s states are unicameral. The Federal government, though, is bicameral.” Jude then joined in to explain that after visiting Nebraska, the Nigerian delegation split into 18 groups to visit the 18 states that had agreed to sponsor their visit. Jude, Fati and Rufus chose and were able to get Oregon. I heir two week stay in Oregon has been quite hectic, to say the least, they met with Governor Vic tor A tiyeh and state Senator B ill M cCoy and Representative Jim Chrest. Both Portland Democrats had visited Nigerai: McCoy in 1977 and Chrest in 1979. Also hosting the Nigerian delegation were Ken Otto o f the Oregon Legislative A d ministrative and Alan Green. They have attended sessions o f the Senate, House o f Represen tatives, met w ith the Senate President, Speaker o f the House, M a jo rity and M in o rity Leaders, Secretry o f State, and the C hief Clerk o f Assembly. To watch the government at w ork, they visited such government agencies as local governmement. Chamber o f Com merce, Financial U n it, State (Please turn to Page 4 Col 3) ‘ ‘ Tw o visionaries changed some business and vocational train ing concepts in Portland, Oregon, and may have started a trend fo r education delivery that could provide a unique approach fo r com m unity college tra in in g nationawide . . . For-Goldschmidt (Mayor Neil) the vision contained a specific goal: an economic develop ment program that w ould inject some new life into the economy ol the C ity. DeBernardis (D r. Amo) pushed the idea to test the colleg’ s philosophy o f having the flexibility to meet specific needs o f the com munity in general, industry in par tic u la r.” So stated a P ortland Community College news release. In the summer of 1980, Wacker Siltronic opened the w orld’ s most advanced silicon fa c ility . Wacker S iltro n ic ’ s parent company is Wacker-Chemie o f M unich, G er many, owned by the Wacker family and Hoeschst AG. Wacker Siltronic produces hyper- , ure single silcion crystals and polished wafers fo r the computer industry. A few years ago a simple com puter weighed three tons and filled a large room . Now that com puter can be held in the hand. The replacement o f vacuum tubes with transistor, and then with integrated circuits, made the expansion o f the mini-computer industry possible. Because the speed and direction o f electricty though silicon can be regulated by charging the atom ic structure, silicon wafers are used to carry intergrated circuits. Integrated circuits are fabricated on and within silicon wafers, which are from three to four inches across and .020 inches th ic k . F ollow ing fa b rica tio n , the wafers are cut in to hundreds o f “ chips” - each w ith thousands o f circu it fu nctions, transistors, decodes and resistors. The com pany was highly recruited by the City o f Portland, as a labor - intensive, non-pollutive in dustry that would bring jobs to the city. In A pril, 1979, the bargain was struck. The P ortland Development Commission pledged the following benefits to Wacker: 1. Portland Development Com mission w ould carry out a urban renewal program in an area where “ the conditions have prevented proper development in a suitable manner.” - “ the Northwest Front Avenue In d u stria l Renewal P ro je c t.” The project w ould be financed through the sale o f $15 million worth o f bonds. 2. PDC w ould acquire the site and sell it to Wacker for $14,(MX) per acre by July 15, 1978. 3. PDC would acquire necessary land and build an access street from Front Avenue to the property. 4 PDC would improve access to the site from St. Helen’ s Road by signalizing the Front Avenue inter section and paving Front Avenue. 5. PDC w ould construct storm sewers to provide adequate drainage. 6. PDC would be responsible for site preparation by preloading an area 500 feet by 800 feet, at the cost o f $217,500. This w ork w ould be done by W acker and subtracted from the purchase price. 7. PDC w ould relocate the gas line located on the site and te r minate the gas line easement. 8. PDC would vacate the portion o f Front Avenue located on the site. 9. PDC w ould provide Wacker the right to construct a pipeline along the portion o f Front Avenue extending through the Burlington - Northern rail lines and to the Pen- nwalt property line. 10. PDC w ould acquire all in terests in the rock quarry located across St. Helens Road and te r minate all quarry activités. The C ity o f P ortland made the following agreements: 1. The C ity would assist PDC in carrying out the proposed N o rth west Front Avenue In d u stria l Renewal Project. 2. The City would provide man power recruiting and training for Wacker. 3. The C ity w ould send em ployees to Germany to advise Wacker on building code require ments at City expense. 4. The C ity would agree that its inspections o f the W acker plant would be limited to “ need to know” (Please turn to Page 2 Col 3) Ivancie welcomes EDAC board Welcoming the members o f the recognized Economic Development Committee Wednesday, M ayor Frank Ivancie asked the committee to be independent. "E co n o m ic development is a high priority in the w orld,” he said, and the City needs to watch the national scene. There arc bills in the Legislature that bear watching, he said, urging the com mittee to take independent positions on issues and to lobby them in Salem if they desire. “ The economic clim ate in Portland sets the pace fo r the State," he added, and the City must demonstrate responsibility to the State. Don’ t be dependent on the bureaucracy,” he cajoled them. “ I want to hear from you.” Louis Growney selected C h a ir man at the meeting, responded by asking the committee to oppose HB 2550 - the plant closure bill - which he called “ very d e fin ite ly a n ti business.” The b ill, which was in troduced at the request o f the AFL- CIO, requires employers with more than 50 employees to provide em ployers and the com m unity a one- year notificaion o f interest to close a plant or sig n ific a n tly reduce the work force. Staling that Oregon does not have a good w ork clim ate (social and political factors affecting industry), Growney said the committee should work on the business clim ate. He called this bill so bad that business would not come to Portland. A fte r some discussion, in which Phillipa Harrison, and Bill East o f the M arine Engineers explained that the purpose o f the b ill is to protect workers from unscrupulous employers, the m otion to oppose passed. Greg Batiste voted against the m otion and Luis Alvarez ab stained. Rather than work in economic development for the entire C ity, or fo r its lagging areas. ED AC w ill concentrate on the Northeast area to attempt to determine its needs ^nd opportunities. They w ill work with Portland Development Com mission to inpact all economic programs, w ill work with Training and Employment D ivision to seek (Please turn to Page 8 Col 5) land. Aaron Brown was in my class, Mayfield Webb was in my class, so there were two Black men and myself. A couple o f years before us, two Black men became lawyers in this tow n; Belton H a m ilton (pause)...and...I can’ t think o f the other one’ s name...so this state o f ours had very, very little in the way o f m in o rity professionals in the legal industry. I became a lawyer and naturally couldn't find anyplace to go to work w ith any firm . They weren’ t discriminating so much against me because I was Black; I ’ m positive they were discriminating at that time because Ihey simply didn’ t have any women working in their firms. But, that didn’ t bother me. I was use to setbacks. I opened my own practice and fellows came to me and asked could they become associates. I was in private practice fo r about eight years, was a trial attorney, tried lots of cases in court and then became a Hearings O ffic e r, which is now called an Administrative Law Judge w ith W orkm en Compensation cases. There, you preside over cases, the same as you do in a regular cour troom , except fo r the area o f in jured workmen. Tom McCall was the Governor by that time, and he called me in 1969, at work, early in the morning. I had known Tom McCall long before he became G overnor when he use to w ork fo r KGW . He asked me i f I was interested in being a D istrict Judge and I was flattered! (smile) and honored and flabbergasted! He appointed me with the abomination that he would feel horrible to 1 hink that the citizens o f this state, par ticularly Multnom ah County, were so prejudiced that they woul J not elect me to the o ffic e because I (Please turn to page 4 col. I) MERCEDES DEIZ Mercedes Deiz goes to Court By Nyewusi Askari ( In 1969, Oregon's Governor lo m McCall appointed Mercedes F.Deiz to the position o f D is tric t Judge. Four months later, she was elected overwhelm ingly by voters during the primary. In the first part of an interview granted the Observer she talks openly and frankly about her early years, her fam ily and the state o f the nation) Observer: For those o f us who are u n fa m ilia r with who you are, it is appropriate to ask, ju s t who is Judge Mercedes F. Deiz? Judge Deiz: I ’ m an old New Yorker, that's where I was born. I was raised in Harlem and I came West, as people know, in 1948 essentially to get a divorce, assuming that I was going back to M anhattan. W ell, I d id n ’ t realize that 1 had to live in this town for a whole year because there was no jurisdiction to get a divorce unless you had lived in a place for a year. I didn’ t know anything about things like that because I had never had a divorce. So, I lived here, got over my home sickness, and loved it, so I stayed. Then, the important things for me happened; 1 met Carl Deiz, we got m arried, had a couple o f children. The next great thing was the fact that I got a job as a Legal Secretary. A man whom I had never heard o f, called me at home when G ilbert was about 9 months old and said, “ Belton Hamilton told me to call you. I understand that you’ d like to get back to work and you have a new baby.” I said, "Yes, that’ s true, and I am sick and tired o f staying home.” He informed me that they were interested in hiring a Legal Secretary. 1 said, well, I don’t know anything about being a Legal Secretary, but I am a good secretary. He said, “ I ’ ll come out with my associate and visit you, so you won’t have to spend money on getting a baby sitter.” I thought to myself, man what a poor guy! I ’d never heard o f anyone coming to you, to see if you fit their needs. So Graham Walker, the first time I had ever met him, came to my home and hired me! I was good at what I was doing in those days. He suggested after I had been working for nine months, that I ought to go to Law School, which was a thing I had wanted to do anyway. He paid for my first semester, my husband encouraged me to go, and I got really good grades. The idea was to see how I would manage it. I wasn’t all that young, about 34 years old. I did very well and stayed for 4 years. I was the only woman in this night graduating class, at Northwestern College o f Law, right here in Port- >
