Page 2 Portland Observer, February 18, 1982
Conversation with Chief Still
Grassrool News, N. IT. — Over the
last eight weeks various community
residents had complained about the
attitude and treatment they received
fro m the hands o f the P o rtla n d
Police D epartm ent. Detailed in an
article ir. the Observer (February 4,
p. 3) were incidents which ranged
fro m abusive arrest patterns to
handcuffing and holding a mother
and her 11-year-o ld son. W e took
the aggregate nature o f these com
plaints to the man in charge,
Portland Police C hief Ron Still.
In his office downtown where he
also recorded this interview C h ie f
Still said that it’s hard to comment
on each individual case because you
need to look at each case specifical
ly. “ There has been no change in
policy or procedure except that there
has been additional training in cul
tural awareness. Now that’s one as
pect o f who we are and what we are
doing. Any increase in complaints.
CHIEF RON STILL
again have to be looked at in d i
vidually.** .
C h ie f S till assured those in d iv i
duals who sent th e ir com plain t
through Internal A ffa irs that their
com plaint w ould be investigated.
Y e t, the in d ivid u als w ho com
plained said that the a ttitu d e re
ceived from employees in Internal
A ffa irs was in d iffe re n c e . “ W e ’ ll
look into it,** C h ie f S till directed
toward Police Info rm atio n O fficer
David Simpson.
Could this rash o f complaints be
occurring because P ortland Black
citizens are paranoid? C h ie f S till
doesn’t think so. “ I t ’ s d iffic u lt to
generalize. I think some people are
paranoid about the police. Those in-
voved in crim in al activities would
be. Straight people might be because
they have had little dealing with po
lice officers. T h at’s why I advocate
ride-alongs in police cars and volun
teer work in crime prevention. Get
involved with the police and learn
the scope o f the jo b . You then will
be able to see the real situation.**
C h ief S till added that no m atter
what situation a police officer finds
himself in, abusive language that’s
directed towards the officer has to
be swallowed as ,.art o f the job. He
concedes however, that an officer
can get tired o f it. “ But if an officer
cusseS back he will suffer repercus
sions.’*
Chief Still smiled as he showed us
the plaque given to him by the
mayor for a ffirm a tiv e action. Yet
when we traveled back to the North
east side, the arrogance o f the street
officers and the mistrust o f the peo
ple was not hung on a wall, but was
all aro un d . T he men and women
who com plained w ill not be
reassured that the o ffic e r knew a
member o f their race invented the
traffic signal. A ll they know is what
they perceived. They were treated
unfairly and that's not right.
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PDC plan More questions than answers
(Continuedfrom page I column 6)
W illiams and Russell will be devel
oped— through Urban Renewal— to
provide the com m ercial center to
serve this area. Although the PD C
proposal does not address the need
for housing development between
Williams and Union, this is part of
the Comprehensive Plan.
The program recommended for
this area is: identification, rehabili
tation and expansion o f commercial
or ind u strial sites; assistance in
packaging for developers; financial
and technical assistance for devel
opers; developm ent o f an o p p o r
tunity block; prom otion and m ar
keting; assisting with problems such
as parking, zoning, etc.
Upper Union Avenue
This area extends from Fremont
to Columbia and includes the largest
concentration o f unemployment, va
cant and underutilized land, and va
cant and substandard buildings.
“ Problems such as prostitution,
street crim e and blight have h in
dered the improvement and growth
o f the area and have lim ite d the
number o f new firm s entering the
area.”
The proposal is weak and unspe
cific in dealing with this district as
com pared to the C o lu m b ia and
Lower Union districts. “ The prob
lems affecting development o f this
area w ill be id e n tifie d , and those
that cannot be addressed through a
development program will be dealt
with through the C ity Bureau Task
Force, individual agencies and com
m unity groups and leaders.” Eco
nomic activities will include: target
ing financial assistance through ex
isting loan and grant funds, techni
cal assistance; a p ro m o tio n and
marketing program to draw busi
ness; assisting with parking, zoning
and regulatory problems.
There is no stated commitment to
select needed commercial or busi
ness enterprises and recruit them to
the area; there is no explanation of
the requirements fo r or the funds
available under the existing loan and
grant programs. It should be noted
that no Black-owned business has
been the beneficiary o f these funds.
The upper U n io n Avenue area
was added to P D C ’ s proposal fo l
lowing an October 20th hearing in
which community spokesmen com
plained that the area in greatest need
— central Union Avenue— had been
excluded. The new proposal does
not include the Alberta business dis
tric t, also o f prim e concern. A l
though the original target area de
scribed in the proposal included the
area to 42nd Avenue, the PD C pro
posal uses 7th Avenue as the eastern
boundary.
Community participation
There is no process outlined for
citizen participation and no new
citizen body will be created. A city
bureau task force made up o f the
various bureaus will inventory their
policies and programs that affect
the area and will meet regularly to
discuss new approaches and changes
Support the
t e Ü ° í5 ir n e s
4
in these policies.
There is no formal process for ci
tizens to m o n ito r the program or
have input in future decisions.
brought to you
every week
Budget
AMERICAN STATE BANK
The budget is confusing and non
specific. New money and existing
programs are mingled so it is d iffi
cult to determine what new commit
ment the city plans to make.
Oddly enough, the office of the Wall Street Journal
is NOT located on W all S treet, but on C ortlandt
Street in New York.
Commercial investor
rehabilitation loans
George Gershwin wrote his popular song "S w a
nee" in less than 15 minutes.
This existing program provides low-
interest loans for rehabilitation o f
commercial buildings. The 5200,000
is alloted to U nion Avenue and St.
Johns, with no specific amount des
ignated for Union Avenue.
During the R evolutionary War, some Am erican
leaders wanted to abolish English as our language
and use German or Greek as the official language of
theU .S
Economic development
revolving loan fund
5216,722 is available city-w ide;
5210,000 fo r m in o rities. This
existing loan fun d has made no
loans to m inority businesses in the
target area. W ill any specific
amount o f the minority set-aside be
designated for the Target Area? For
Union Avenue?
Industrial site development loen
fund
5419,425 has been earmarked for
the N ortheast T arget area. This
fund is used for industrial sites only.
W h at are the p riorities? W ill the
money go to Columbia, or will some
be retained for Union Avenue?
The PD C budget for 1982-1983 to
implement the Northeast Economic
Development Program is 5871,204.
O f this, 5144,090 is for personnel—
but is this existing downtown PD C
staff? Or does P D C plan to provide
additional staff for this project?
Budget for program elements
In c u b a to r b u ild in g : 5100,000.
This building w ould provide con
venient, low cost rent and services
for small business. Although includ
ed in the PD C budget, this building
is already in the planning stage and
will be funded by the Bureau o f H u
man Resources. The question is,
which bureau will manage the build
ing and will small business have to
deal with two bureaus?
L a n d b an kin g : 5 15 0,0 0 0. This
would allow PD C to purchase about
36 o f a block to facilitate develop
ment o f light industry. W ill this be
used for the Incubator Building or is
it to be a separate development?
Commercial/industrial district as
sistance: 525,000 is for direct assist
ance in support o f economic devel
opment activities carried out by for
mal organizations. W ill this money
go to River East, the organization
designated by the city to assist eco
nomic developm ent in N ortheast;
w ill a new o rg an iza tio n
be
developed; or will existing commu
n ity and neighborhood o rg a n iza
tions be funded?
M a rk e tin g : 5 1 5 ,0 0 0 fo r devel
oping and distributing information
about opportunities in the area. A l
though this is an in sig n ifican t
expenditure, more money and ener
gy is often spent on recruiting new
businesses than in aiding existing
business. It is a commonly accepted
p rin cip le that healthy existing
business will draw new business.
M in o rity business developm ent
p ro g ra m : 55,0 00 . W here w ill the
money g o — to a p a rt-tim e em
ployee?
I f the C ity is interested in devel
oping minority business why doesn’t
it implement its own M B E policy?
We do not do business with South Africa
American State
Union Avenue under construction
J
P D C does not c u rre n tly have an
M B E policy and the C ity Council
has not imposed one. Yet implemen
tation o f an M B E program by PDC
would be the largest in the state’ s
histo ry. P D C is in the process o f
spending 5300 m illion in construc
tion; a 10 per cent set-aside would
mean 530 million for minority busi
nesses.
M in o rity business loans: P D C
will seek 550,000 for business loans
for working capital. The guidelines
o f the existing Revolving Loan Fund
allow loans for working capital and
the money is available, yet loans for
w o rkin g cap ital have never been
made. I f there is now a commitment
fo r w o rkin g c a p ita l, why not use
that 5471,000?
City bureau task force: 55,000 for
coordinating city bureaus active in
the target area.
Parking lots: 5332,000 for federal
Economic Development A dm inis
tration funds to be used to develop
parking lots on Union Avenue. Are
parking lots the top p riority o f the
businesses on Union Avenue?
There are many questions the City
Council should ask:
Except for the parking lots, all of
the funds for this project will come
from Housing and Community De
velopment (H C D ) funds. Proposals
for H C D funds, which will be cut by
15 per cent next year, will go before
C ity council M a y 19th. I f those
funds are not made available to the
Northeast Target area, will the plan
meet an early death?
W h at are the im p lication s o f
Mayor Frank Ivancie’s appointment
o f his a d m in istra tive assistant,
M ark G ardner, to head H C D , the
only discretionary funds available to
the City? What is the M ayor’s com
mitm ent to working with the com
munity? What is his commitment to
Northeast?
Housing is not mentioned in the
proposal although it is a priority of
the community. High rise and other
housing will develop in the Lower
Union area, but what about Upper
Union? Can commercial enterprises
be drawn into an area that does not
have a strong residential area to sup
port them?
The proposal does not specify
who will operate the project. W ill
P D C run the p ro ject fro m the
downtown office? W ill it be a pro
ject at all, or will it be fragmented
pieces? W ill the P D C Union Avenue
office be retained?
Much is being made o f the M ay
o r’s plan for targeting Northeast for
econom ic developm ent. W h at is
P D C ’ s budget for economic devel
opm ent c ity -w id e , and what per
centage will go to Northeast? Is this
commitment?
(Next week: Neighborhood Hire)
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