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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1982)
t lira Francea Schoen-’.'ewcpapor Peoa Unlvsralty cf Oregon Library b u te n e , C r e r o n 97<133 Special Food Section Mayor Andrew Young Peyton Award Page 3 An interview: Steve Johnson Page 14 Page 7 PORTLAND OBSERVER USPS 959-680 855 From resistance to quiet sabotage by Bjarke Larsen Pacific News Service K A T O W IC E , P O L A N D — Fear and resignation, tempered by a pro found belief that history cannot be reversed, that some o f the reforms brought forth by the independent labor union Solidarity will survive— this was the atmosphere pervading southern and western Poland ten days after the military takeover. A t that tim e 3,00 0 coal miners were still on strike in Poland's two largest mines, H u ta Katowice and Ziemowit, near the city o f Katowice in Silesia in southern Poland. Ru mors told o f strikes in the B altic port cities o f Gdansk and Szczecin, but except for these three cities, the army seemed to be in full control o f the situation. In the first days after the military takeover, the roads were covered w ith troops, and tanks and a r moured cars were placed on all stta tegic corners in the cities. Yet by De cember 17, the army had begun to return to its barracks, and by D e cember 19, when I entered the coun try, it was possible to drive through large areas o f Poland w ithout en countering a single military vehicle. Apparently the military rulers felt so secure that they left actual street patrols to the " M ilic ja ,” the police, and concentrated their effo rts on the few factories where workers continued to strike. But for most Poles these strikes seemed doomed. People found it pointless to fight the new regime. " W h e n Jaruzelski and the new army chose to take over al. »ower, it was no use to fight back. We just have to give up and wait for better times, or else the situation will de velop into something even worse,” most people said, hinting at the pos sibility o f a Russian invasion. Others, however, have only given up the face-to-face confrontation o f strikes or factory occupations. In stead, they try to fight the regime by working slowly and in e ffic ien tly . Several people also told o f workers sabotaging facto ry m achinery. There is no measure o f how effect ive this strategy has been. But it was given credit— or blame— for recent failures in the gas and electricity supplies. In several cities street lights failed altogether or burned only interm it tently. Use o f gas supplies was for bidden for fear that irregularities in the supply could lead to explosions. In the area around K atow ice, where miners have barricaded them selves underground, m ilitary units have surrounded the mines. Several times a day helicopters were seen January 7, 1982 Volume X II, Number 13 250 Per Copy Tw o Sections New ownership, new management, new direction The P o rtla n d Observer, in its plans fo r 1982, is em barking on a new program . W e feel that Portland needs an alternative voice, and we plan to f ill that b ill. W e w ill address all issues and pinpoint the facts as we see them. We w ill honor those w ho deserve being honored and expose the exploiters everywhere. W e plan to be the voice o f a ll the people— B la ck, w h ite , brow n and ye llow — to b rin g love and togetherness to P o rt land and to cancel out the hatemongers o f the w o rld who try to keep people apart. W e plan to have the best sports section in the area, giving our readers insight on sports fro m the local and national per spectives. I f there’s a big event on the West Coast we w ill have someone on o u r s ta ff there re p o rtin g the tru e facts o f the game. O ur supreme goal is to report the news w ith o u t bias and to b rin g love and jo y to the people o f the area. W e hope that 1982 w ill be a good year fo r everyone. I f it ’ s newsworthy we’ ll be there. A l M cG ilberry, M anaging E d ito r (Please turn to pane 4 column 4) Oregon residents face deep budget cuts Snowy day in Portland. . . . (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Warm weather is just around the corner! Governor Victor Atiych delivered his proposed budget cuts Monday. The cuts are designed to turn $237.2 m illio n from the state budget be cause o f decreased funds available. The recession has hurt Oregon. Unemployment has reached 11 per cent and is expected to be over 12 per cent by February. Bankruptcies — corporate and personal— are at an all-tim e high. In the past two years budget cuts have elim in ated over 2,000 state employees and programs have been drastically reduced— es pecially human resources and edu cation. The Governor recommended cuts totalling $147 m illion and revenue collections o f $100 million through a wine and beer tax and earlier col lection o f withholding taxes and de linquent taxes. " I view Hum an Resources as an insurance p ro g ram , a va ila b le to Oregonians when a financial catas trophe occurs,” G overnor A tiyeh said. " M y proposed reductions place the highest priority on m ain taining essential programs for those who have nowhere else to turn. For the other state agancies, my p rio r ities were to m aintain crucial state services o f public safety, economic development, and revenue produc ing activities.” The Governor did not touch the property tax-relief program through which the state pays 30 per cent o f home-owners’ property tax bills. He did propose that property tax-relief be tied to income. "T h e state cannot continue to provide property tax- relief payments to those who make over $50,000 when we cannot afford to provide the needy w ith critical health and social services.” The shortage o f revenue comes both from the decrease in taxes col lected due to the recession and re sulting unemployment and business failure, and to policy changes. During the late 1970s the Legisla ture increased the amounts and the percentages o f the general fund that goes to tax relief and local govern ment aid. Between 1969 and 1979 lo cal aid (m ostly Basic School Sup p o rt) rose from 32 per cent o f the general fund to 39 per cent; tax re lief rose from 4 to 9 per cent. By the 1977-1979 biennium 48 per cent o f the general fund went to lo cal government and tax relief. While expenditures for state government increased by 134 per cent, aid to lo cal government increased 250 per cent and tax relief 604 per cent. The 1979 Legislature enacted a (Please turn to page 4 column /) GOVERNOR ATIYEH American dream dropped from consumer price index by Prank Fiviano ■ Pacific News Service Just a little more than a year from now , a central principle in the Am erican dream w ill be o ffic ia lly laid to rest. Simply put, the principle held that the common man in this country not o n ly had an in alienab le right to property, but that property should be a common expectation. America was to be a nation o f homeowners. Now the Reagan adm inistration has taken steps toward a landmark policy change which w ill, in effect, acknowledge the w ith d raw al o f home ownership from the m a in stream o f American expectations. Beginning in 1983, the D e p a rt ment o f l abor has announced, m onthly Consum er Price Index (C P I) estimates o f the U .S. cost o f living no longer will include the cost o f buying a home— prevailing mort gage interest rates and the current market value o f real estate. In addi tio n , the p ro p o rtio n o f the C P I which is accounted to housing will be reduced to 14 per cent o f the in dex, from its present 25 per cent. A ccording to Com m issioner o f Labor Statistic Janet L. Norwood, the change is intended to more ac curately measure the cost o f living. Because relatively few Americans purchase homes in any given month, she argues, unstable interest rates and soaring real estate prices are not relevant to the actual living costs o f most citizens. The new policy has been warmly received in Congress, where it is viewed as an e ffective means o f curbing federal budgetary increases in such areas as Social Security, the food stamp program and govern ment pensions, which are adjusted against the C P I. It has been con demned for the same reason by pen sioners and labor officials. But the long-term significance o f the new C P I lies in its less obvious social im plications, rather than its direct effects. In short, the Reagan price index will make official what a substantial number o f Americans already have painfully discovered in recent years: the emergence o f a vast chasm in the U n ited States between those who '**'*"* purchased homes in the era o f low interest rates and reasonable real es tate, and those who never will own a home. The latter category includes most young people and recent immi grants, as well as millions o f other who waited too long to enter the housing market. It is a chasm measured not only in dollars and dreams, but also in his toric political import. Since the day that Abraham Lin coln signed the Homestead Act in 1862, the U .S. government has ac tively endorsed the concept o f a so ciety composed almost entirely o f property owners. The concept was modernized by Franklin Roosevelt in 1934 with the Federal Housing Authority (F H A ), which guaranteed the loans that made property owner ship possible for ordinary working people, and eventually spawned the nation's suburbs. The policy o f the Reagan adm in is tra tio n . on the other hand, dis guises— and tacitly endorses— a new division o f American society along property lines. Disguised though it may be. that division hardly is subtle. Less than 10 years ago it s till was possible, even in high-priced C a lifo rn ia , to purchase a city home at a monthly cost o f little more than $200. T o d ay , a renter in v irtu a lly any American city must expect to pay in excess o f $500 for a modest ap a rt ment, and look forw ard to yearly rent hikes as well. By contrast, the 1972 home buyer's mortgage pay ments remain $200— with property taxes frozen in some states. (Please turn to page 12 column I)
