Page 4 Section III Portland Observer, February 25, 1982
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Is the City really committed?
The most valuable section in the Portland De
velopment Commission’ s economic develop
ment program for Northeast Portland is the jobs
program. Unemployment in inner Northeast is
twice that o f the city; the unemployment rate of
inner Northeast non-whites is more than twice
that o f non-whites in the city; the unem
ployment rate o f inner Northeast males is twice
that o f other males. For 16-19-year-olds, the un
employment rate in inner Northeast is three
times that o f youth from the city as a whole.
The proposed jobs program would attempt to
match unemployed or underemployed in d iv i
duals with existing jobs. An outreach program
would Find vacancies throughout the metropoli
tan area and assess the needed requirements. A
Centralized Clearing House, as part o f the C ity’s
CETA program, would provide information to
prospective employers and employees. This
would ensure that residents o f the area would
know where jobs exist and would have assist
ance in applying for employment.
The program could be extremely useful, espe
cia lly in assisting com m unity people to fin d
where and what type o f jobs are available. The
keys to this program are the commitment o f the
City Council and the selection o f a director.
^vn’i th and Staff
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o
Proudly Present
o
The program was conceived and developed by
City employee Jimmy Brown. Brown not only
has the experience with employment programs
and CETA, but he is perhaps the only person
with those credential who also can relate well
both to the captains o f industry and to the
community at the grassroots level.
We can judge the true com m itm ent o f the
Mayor and the City Commissioners on this ap
pointment alone. Brown in the position w ill
demonstrate commitment; his absence will point
to lack o f concern for the people o f the area.
They always suffer most
The House o f Representatives has adopted a
budget package designed to raise more taxes to
help meet the $310.8 million state budget deficit.
The package calls for a 3.9 per cent income tax
surcharge to raise $39 million, a 3C-per-package
cigarette tax to raise $11.3 m illion. It also calls
for a lowering o f the maximum payment
through the property tax relief program in which
the state general fund pays 30 per cent o f the
homeowner’ s property tax. Lowering this pay
ment from $355 to $220 would save $42.2 m il
lion.
The State Senate does not like the plan and is
considering dropping the cigarette tax and mak
ing other changes. State Senator John Powell,
Chairman o f the State Revenue Committee, is
afraid the new taxes w ill hit the same people.
The man w ith an $80,000 home who gets less
property tax relief is the same man who will pay
cigarette taxes. Too bad.
Senator Powell should remember that it is al
ways the same people who are hurt by budget
cuts—children, the elderly, the poor.
f i COUPLE ITIOK£ STfPS BACKWARD!, F0ÍKS?)
(AND I THINK^VCRYTHINfr tl/IU B £ F IN f. J
CORA SMITH HAIR DESIGNS
FOR WOMEN AND MEN
727 S.W . 12th - 228-0038
Terror in El Salvador
(Continued fro m page 1 column 4)
sphere— people who would have
found their own proper path if it
weren’t for Washington’ s political
and economic support to that army.
It is the generous American people
who pay for this support— at the
cost o f social welfare programs in
the United States. Yet this Goliath
o f dollars is used against a people
evidently disposed to follow in the
footsteps o f our martyred Monsig
nor Romero, who believed that the
Christian who fights for others lives
forever, even though his body may
die.
Salvadorans admire America’s
democracy, but cannot understand
the popular campaign mounted by
the Reagan administration to pro
test the crackdown in Poland, while
Salvadoran workers are subjugated,
massacred and tortured in the
prisons of San Salvador.
Meanwhile, we the unarmed, the
intellectuals, the non-violent, form
part of a wandering caravan of ex-
iles, politically persecuted for the
crime of attempting to express our
opposition to the brute force o f a
murdering army and millions of dol
lars worth of U.S. arms.
I f the government o f the United
States would only comprehend that
the truth cannot be hidden behind
President Reagan’ s certification
that the human rights situation in El
Salvador has improved. The truth
has no political color and it sounds
hypocritical to condemn martial law
in Poland, while a romance exists
between Washington and El Salva
dor’s military criminals whose cor
rupt martial law regime is being
sustained with American money.
The ideal would be for those dollars
to support the legitimate aspirations
of the Salvadoran people.
But if the imagination doesn’t
stretch that fa r— even though it
would earn the U.S. the gratitude of
a new nation— at least the dollars
should not serve to create in Central
America the catalyst for a new
world war or a replica of Vietnam.
They should serve to arrange nego
tiations with the insurgents and the
army.
The question is whether the dollar
ought to serve to exterminate a
people which is becoming more rad
icalized every day, or whether they
ough to serve the advent o f a much
wished-for political, social and
economic democracy for the Salva
doran nation. I believe that is the
choice.
Our history shows us that here a
reprimand by a representative of the
White House traditionally has been
sufficient to “ put into line’’ a dicta
torship sustained by American
arms. Meanwhile, the Salvadoran
people continue to ask themselves
why Americans desire a democracy
for themselves, but for us sustain
the most fearful, criminal and cor
rupt of dictatorships.
© Pacific New» Service, 1982
Portland Observer
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