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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 1983)
Luscious desserts OSU not that bad Page 8 Eliot fights zone change Pag« 11 Below PORTWND OBSERNER U«»»S 959-680-855 c»£«r /W/uXmsCo.. h r l * J Volume XIII, Number 50 September 28, 1983 25Ç Per Copy Two Sections Racial attack brings police abuse complaint G K A SSK O O TS N E W S . N . W. — A summer o f racial slurs, moped smashing and car chasing peaked in what was described by those in volved as a near riot. Sunday night in Pier Park. The event Sunday started with the adolescent bickering o f two 13-year- old girls — one Black and one white. Susan Jacobs, parent o f one o f the girls, said, " T h e argument started months ago over one o f the girls not approving o f the other wearing make-up. It has been a con tinuing thing all summer. On Sun day they went over to the park to fight Somehow adults got involved and it was turned into a racial thing." According to witnesses, a large party o f whites were having a bash and interjected themselves into the incident. They said what followed was pure hell for the pocket of Afro-Am erican families who lived in the Pier Park Apartments. Cedric Johnson said. " I was told by one of the neighbors' children that my daughter was being attacked in the park. I proceeded to the park and saw four Caucasians chasing my daughter with a stick. I stopped one and he took a swing at me. I grabbed him and then ten more people grabbed and started beating m e." Johnson said he was hit with sticks, kicked and punched with fists. " I f it weren't for a few individ uals who came to my aid, I would have been dead." Johnson also said that the police bypassed him as he was laying on the ground. "They started pushing the Blacks back while on the other side there was a crowd o f whites who had gathered, shouting, 'Let's get the niggers!' *’ On Tuesday night the residents who were involved met with District Attorney Michael Shrunk who told them that he had come to listen What Shrunk heard was repeated charges, from both Blacks and whites, about the unprofessional be havior exhibited by the Portland Police who responded to the call placed by Betty H ill. H ill stated, " I was at Pier Park and the police were making all the Blacks come back to the apartment. They took our bats that we were using for our protection. W hile the police were escorting us back, there were other Blacks on the other side o f the park getting huit. The police told us, 'Y ou mggeis ought to get back to the other side o f the park where you b e lo n g .'" The D .A . replied that the police could have been practicing crowd f Please turn to page 4 column 4/ 'Minority'sub decertified by Hobart Lotbian C a th y L akey. 7 year« old. a n d Eddie H arris. 8 years old. o b s erv e th e m ira cle o f Ufa th ro u g h th e m icro s co p e a t S t. A n d re w s C h u rch . (P h o to : R ich ard J . B ro w n ) (Pleas story on Pegs 12) U.S. Army practices mass burial The people o f West Oermany were outraged when they read an article in Stars and Stripos, the "authorized, unofficial publication o f the United States armed forces," that showed training for the mass burial o f U.S. m ilitary personnel. “ There were no flowers, few mourners and little ceremony Tues day as members o f Hanal's 26th Supply and Service Company trained for the task o f burying American service members,** the story began. The headline said, " U n it Practices Mass Burial Pro cedures" and photographs showed soldiers in a mass grave that had been dug with a bulldozer, in which there was "the body o f an emulated casualty.'* The article said this was the first time the Arm y had practiced mass burial and quoted S taff Sergeant Isiah Gibbs saying. " M s u burials would be resorted to only in cases o f massive loss o f life ." The reaction o f West Germans, many o f whom believe their country is to be the nuclear battlefield o f the future, was sharp. Oreen Party spokesmen called the exercise “ macabre” proof that all o f Europe "is foreseen as a mass grave and the lives o f thousands o f millions o f men are considered as a ‘ maneuver mass’ whose orderly disposal is now being practiced." A n editorial in the Frankfurter Hundcbau said. "T his kind o f thing, a demonstration o f this insen sitivity. can only inspire fear and quaking — before the specter o f nuclear w a r." “ Doesn't the A m eri can m ilitary understand that in the Federal Republic we are having a very serious discussion about the very existence o f our future?” The U .S. Embassy in Bonn was flooded with protests. The government o f the FRO sup ports the U.S. plan to deploy new cruise missiles in Western Europe, the nation has been the site o f mas sive anti-nuclear demonstrations and public sentiment is against the December deployment. The Reagan administration earlier announced its opinion that a "lim ite d " nuclear war could be waged and won. Congress has in cluded chemical warfare develop ment and training the military budget for the first time since Richard Nixon ordered an end to their manufacture. The people o f Europe, and espe cially o f West Oermany. believe that if any fighting breaks out between the U .S. and the Soviet Union, Europe will be the battleground. The Inspector General's office o f the Federal Highway Administra tion is conducting an inquiry into the subcontracting practices o f R .A . Hatch C o ., a major contractor in the Ban field light rail project. The inquiry concerns Hatch’s role in awarding subcontracts to Hopsing Construction Company of Salem, which is certified by the Oregon Dept. o f Transportation and the Federal Highway Adminis tration as a minority business enter prise (M B E ). The company has been able to snag subcontracts under the provisions o f the 1982 Surface Transportation Assistance Act. which mandates that at least 10% of federal construction funding must be contracted out to "sm all business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvan taged individuals." In August, T ri-M e t decertified Hopsing from participating as a minority subcontractor in the $6.9 million contract it awarded R .A . Hatch Co. for construction o f a 2.7 mile section o f the Banfield light rail line between 146th and 197th Avenues. Hatch had awarded Hopsing, as low bidder, over $1 million in minority subcontracts re quired in the original T ri-M et con tract. W hile 51% o f Hopsing is owned by Christopher C. Scarratt, a Japa nese-American. 49% of the company is owned by Richard N. Hatch, brother o f R .A . Hatch. An investigation by T ri-M e t M B E spe cialist Angelica Chatham showed that as far as management o f H o p sing was concerned, "evidence showed it was R .N . H a tch ," the non-minority owner. According to C hatham ’s report, Hopsing was found not to be an in dependent business, "whose owner ship and control by minorities is real, substantial and continuing, and goes beyond pro forma owner ship as reflected in its legal docu ments.” Details o f the relationship of R .N . Hatch to his brother's com pany are unclear. The Inspector General’s inquiry surrounds these issues, but it will be some time before the outcome be comes public, according to an F H A spokesman. The fact that the F H A is conducting an inquiry does not necessarily mean there is evidence of wrongdoing, he said. According to Chatham, a Black- owned firm . Winston Construction Co. of Battleground, Washington, has been substituted for Hopsing by R .A . Hatch But because it remains certified by the Oregon Dept. o f Transporta tion and the Federal Highway A d ministration, Hopsing continues work on another R.A. Hatch award ed minority subcontract: $1,437,976 for work on phase two o f the light rail project between N .E . 39th and 82nd Avenues. According to Kay Turner, con tract compliance manager with the Oregon Dept. o f Transportation, "Hopsing has qualified under our program from the beginning up to this point the state has had no reason not to continue certifying Hopsing Construction, Inc., which is at least 51% owned by an Asian A m erican." Hopsing has been de certified by the state o f Washington, according to Chatham. Chatham said her investigation uncovered a number o f issues which called into question Hopsing's role as a minority-owned and controlled enterprise. For one, she said, the minority owner o f Hopsing proved to be more a foreman than an actual com pany manager. He is paid an hourly rate, and has no office o f his own. but uses the same Salem office and phone as Richard N. Hatch. Hopsing’s by-laws, according to Chatham's findings, restricted the minority from making "indepen dent, unilateral business decisions o f the firm .” His management role consisted o f (in his words) "going over the papers" with R .N . Hatch Also, continues Chatham 's re port, " T h e minority slates to have contributed no capital to the firm to acquire interest. Money contributed initially is reported to have come from the non-minority owner” (R .N . Hatch). In addition, "T h e m inority states Please turn to page 2 column 4 Eliot Neighborhood Association fights assisted housing concentration Two C ity o f Portland bureaus disagree on the advisability o f re- zoning a two-acre site in the Eliot neighborhood so 30 units o f housing for handicapped and possibly 30 units for the elderly can be built. The Eliot Neighborhood Associa tion opposes the zone change. allocation. Building the appartments would require a zone change from R2.5, which allows single fam ily dwellings or row houses, to R l, which would more than double the number o f housing units allowed on the prop erty. St. Vincent de Paul Plaza, Inc., a housing organization o f St. Vincent 5c Paul Rehabilitation Service o f Oregon, has a S I.2 million grant from the U.S. Department o f Hous ing and Urban Development to build units for the physically and mentally disabled. Bethel Plaza. Inc., formed by Bethel A .M .E . Church, hoped to build 30 units for the elderly but their project was not included in H U D ’s 1983 The City's O ffice o f Housing Policy opposes the zone change. Eliot Neighborhood has the greatest concentration o f subsidized housing in the city, with 24 percent. There are 159 subsidized apartment units in five projects within four blocks o f the proposed site. According to 1980 Census data. Census Tract 23.01 is 44.7 percent below median income and 67 percent minority. The City and Housing Authority o f *i Portland policies call for scattering o f subsidized housing rather than concentrating it in a few neighbor hoods. The census tract is also 62 percent renter occupied, while the City average is 47 percent. The City's Housing Choice and Neigh borhood Stability Policy encour ages opportunities for home owner ship. Bob Clay, o f the O ffice o f Hous ing Policy, said the decision was very dose but his office felt the policy against concentration of federally assisted housing out weighed any potential for economic- activity the project would bring. The City Planning Commission staff recommended approval o f the zoning and the comprehensive plan to accommodate the projects. The Planning Bureau report said. "T h e site is vacant and should be devel oped with some kind o f housing, be it single-family, row housing, apart ments or special housing." O f concern to everyone involved is the state o f the property, which is owned by Angelo and Helen Lam pus The O ffice o f Housing Policy describes it as "b lig h te d ." The Planning Commission main tained that the poor condition o f the buildings is justification for devel oping the site. Eliot Neighborhood spokesman Robert Russell said the houses are "slowly falling down” and that the lack o f maintenance by the owner is no reason to change the zoning. Changing the zoning would allow absentee landlords to receive more money for the property, he said " A lot o f vacant land in Eliot is owned by people who live out of the neighborhood. People shouldn't bend policies to allow speculators to make more m oney." Angelo Lampus. owner o f the property, said, "neighbors see the land as a place for dumping garbage and old cars. How can we see any (other) person wanting to purchase land there." The Eliot Neighborhood Associa tion fears (hat a greater concentra tion o f housing, especially subsi dized low-income housing, will dis courage home ownership. " W ill people move to a neighborhood with too much assisted housing and buy houses that are surrounded by large rental units." Russell asked. He explained that the site is the only large piece o f land available for the development o f low-cost single fam ily housing. In a hearing before city hearings officer Paul N orr, Tuesday, the O ffice o f Housing Policy offered a compromise to change the zoning to R2, which would increase the density by 10 percent and allow the handicapped housing, but would apply only to the lots used by that project. The Planning Commission suggested zoning the entire site of R2 which would allow the handi capped housing and additional single family housing or condomini ums. or both 30 unit housing projects on the site. The zoning decision will be made within todays.
