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¡PORTLAND OBSERVER
939-680-85$
Volume XIII, Number 51
October 5, 1983
25C Per Copy
t> t r » FvNuA«,« C o , lot. IM I
Eliot neighborhood
opposes housing plan
The Eliot Neighborhood Im
provement Association voted 36-5
to continue its fight against the de
velopment o f a 3O-unit housing pro
ject for the handicapped in the Eliot
neighborhood. It w ill appeal the
recommendation o f a City hearings
officer to re-rone the block to allow
construction of the project.
Eddie Newingham, Nural Willie Jr., and teacher
William P. Floyd work on auto body repair at the
Portland Opportunities Industrial Canter.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
Body shop trains youth
by Lanita Duke
Grassrool News, N . W. — The true
definition o f On the Job Training is
functionally being carried out at
Portland Opportunities Industrial
Center's auto-body shop.
Instructor W illiam P. Floyd stat
ed, "O u r purpose is to provide peo
ple in the community the opportun
ity to learn a different skill. W ithin
this program we teach them the ba
sic fundamentals o f auto-body re
pair and refinishing. We touch
ground on painting and every other
skill in the trade ”
The students are first accepted
into the regular P O IC program.
Once accepted, C E T A funds their
presence at the auto-body school.
When 26 weeks pass, Floyd said,
"W e have a job placement program
and we have worked with indivi
duals around the neighborhood who
hire our students." W ithin the last
5 Vi months Floyd has graduated
four students. " T w o o f our students
are presently gathering funds to
open up their own shop.”
Floyd stated that the key to
P O IC ’s body shop is care and
patience. " W e are not in the market
to get the money.
" W e have quite a few satisfied
customers. They have turned us on
to their friends." He also said he be
lieved their prices to be competitive.
" A t least ten dollars an hour less
than the other auto-body shops.
However, we make sure the car
owners understand that we take our
tim e.”
P O IC 's body shop provides ser
vices the same as any other auto
body shop. " W e straighten and re
pair dents. Also we perform com
plete paint jobs, pen-stripes and de
tail work. We try to touch ground
on everything within the tra d e ."
Floyd has always tinkered with
cars. A graduate from Benson High
and the 18-month program at P o rt
land Com m unity College's auto
body and refinishing program, prior
to PO1C he worked for various
commercial shops and a Ford
dealer. " I t started as a hobby for me
and I just stayed with it. I will al
ways enjoy working on cars. It's
great to see it come in a wreck and
leave looking like new ."
The auto body shop will accept
cars in need o f surface repair as long
as the public understands that stu
dents will work on them. The ad
dress is 3223 N .E . Union.
C ity hearing officer Paul N o rr,
following two public hearings, des
ignated the lots which St. Vincent de
Paul plans to develop as R-2 devel
o p m e n t— w hich includes houses,
court-style apartments or rowhouses
— and attached a covenant that al
lows development for handicapped
or senior housing. The property is
now zoned 1-2.3, which is for
houses or rowhouses. St. Vincent de
Paul, on behalf o f itself and Bethel
AMF. Church, had requested R -l
medium-density apartment zoning
Zr»e 'h - «nttr*
in n u n « I in n
The meeting, the first called since
the issue was raised two months
ago. was attended by approximately
persons. Sprinkled among the
ung, apparently middle class
whites who are relatively new to the
neighborhood, were residents o f the
Unthank senior citizen housing pro
ject whree the meeting was held.
Absent were the Black residents o f
the community— only four Blacks
being present.
This absence was explained by
one Black woman who said she re
ceived her meeting notice in the mail
that day and not previously heard
about the dispute. A man said he
had read about the meeting in The
Oregonian and called that news
paper to ask where the meeting was
to be held. You don't need notices,
he said. "Every homeowner in the
neighborhood gets a paper, or can
get a paper."
Phil Conti, member o f the Land
Use Committee, explained that the
neighborhood position was to retain
housing and that this block (aside
from the frontage on Union) is
zoned for row housing T o zone the
property for the 30 units for St. V in
cent de Paul Society's handicapped
housing and for the possible later
building o f 30 senior citizen units by
Bethel A .M .E . Church, would in
crease density and preclude using
the property for owner-occupied
housing.
Conti said the reason for the
meeting was that the Land Use
Comm ittee is not really representa
tive o f (he community and it had a
responsibilty to inform the commu
nity residents.
Bob Russell, a member o f the
Land Use Committee, said the issue
was not the need for handicapped
housing (the City says 4,000 units
are needed) or the fine reputation of
St. Vincent de Paul. The issue is the
concentration o f subsidized (low -in
come) housing and the preservation
o f land for home ownership. Eliot
neighborhood has 20 percent subsi
dized housing and this project
would bring it to 24 percent, he ex
plained. This is not appropriate,
based on the City's policy to "avoid
concentration" and "th is was the
time to say stop." Eliot is a "good
diverse neighborhood," and " p u t
ting in certain types o f projects will
destroy that diversity."
Oordon Shields, volunteer for St.
Vincent de Paul, said the agency op
erates a training center for 150 to
180 handicapped persons on Union
and Alberta. In M ay o f 1982 they
applied to H U D for funds to buld
residences. They now plan to build
30 units on five lots, three on Knott
(2 blocks west o f 7th Avenue) and
two on Russell (3 lots west of 7th
Avenue). There would be 3 2-bed-
room units, 3 studio apartments and
24 one-bedrooms units. Residents
would be handicapped persons who
are capable o f independent living,
most o f whom would be trainees or
employed graduates o f the (raining
centers. This site would give easy ac
cess to the training center, to trans
portation, and to work sites.
St. Vincent de Paul contacted the
immediate neighbors— on Knott,
Russell and 7th Avenue— and o f 31
contacts they received 30 positive re
sponses.
Prefaced with such statements as
" I have nothing against handi
capped housing or elderly housing,"
"There's no question about the
good work St. Vincent de Paul is
d o in g ," " It 's nothing against St.
Vincent and Bethel - uh - uh uh -
A M E Church— the issue is land
use." the discussion continued
Ollie Smith said his biggest con
cert is the increase in crime across
the country and in Eliot. The pro
posal would place handicapped and
elderly at the mercy of "th e dudes
shooting heroin, sniffing cocaine,
gambling all d a y ," on 7th Avenue,
"m aking them vulnerable to the vul
lures." He spoke against apart
ments or another set of row houses.
" W e don't want to end up like ( In
cagoor New York in the fu tu re."
A woman said it "is im poriant to
look at it in terms o f a higher piob
lem— the land use problem " Smith
added, " I f the zone is changed lor
this facility, the City H all bureau
crats will get with developers and
make changes for individuals."
A recent "transplant from Chi
cago" said the South Shore o f Chi
cago is a good example o f concen
tration o f subsidized housing "W e
don't want to see concentra
tion . . . " Another added, "T h e re ’s
so much in the neighborhood now,
we’re losing the neighborhood."
Everyone was not against the pro
ject. Fr. Chuck Lienert o f Immacu
late Heart Church said he had dis-
cussed the issue with his parishion
ers: "1 talked to old-time residents,
Black and white, and found consis
tently that people say we need peo
ple in our neighborhood."
Jim Howell tried unsuccessfully
to gel precise inform ation about
how the zone change would affect
density. He reminded the Land Use
(Please turn lo page 4 column 4)
Soviets propose nuclear freeze
The Soviet Union called on the
United Nations to adopt a resolu
tion condemning nuclear war as
"the most hideous crime against
m ankind ." and called for a nuclear
freeze. C hief o f the U .S .S .R .’s dele
gation to the United Nations Oleg A
Troyanovsky also accused the U.S.
o f "w ar hysteria" and questioned
the advisability o f the U .N .— an o r
ganization dedicated to peace— hav
ing its headquarters remain in the
United States.
The freeze proposal came in a let
ter from Soviet Foreigh Minister
Andrei G rom yko to U .N . Secretary-
General Javier Perez de Cuellar,
read to the General Assembly by
Troyanovsky Tuesday. G rom yko
declined to appear at the U .N . when
he was barred from landing at civili
an airports in New York and New
Jersey.
" O u r proposal is to cease, under
effective verification, the buildup of
all components o f nuclear arsen
als ," Troyanovsky said, "including
all kinds o f both delivery vehicles
and weapons, to renounce the de
ployment o f new kinds and types o f
such arms, to establish a m orator
ium on all tests o f nuclear weapons
and o f new kinds and types o f deliv
ery vehicles, and to stop the produc
tion o f fissionable material for the
purpose o f creating arms.”
Grom yko's letter said the Soviets
"consider
it
possible
for the
U .S .S .R . and the U .S .A . to be the
first to implement it on a bilateral
basis by way o f example to other nu
clear powers."
Troyanovsky said, " T h e imple
mentation o f that initiative would
markedly raise the degree o f trust
among the nuclear weapon coun
tries and would make it possible to
move decisively toward breaking the
vicious cycle o f the arms race.
Moreover, this would also promote
the reduction and, eventually, com
plete
elimination
of
nuclear
weapons.”
He condemned U .S. plans to de
velop M X and Midgetm an intercon
tinental missile, the B -l bomber and
the neutron bomb. He accused
Washington o f engaging in a policy
that "runs counter to the age-old
yearnings for a peaceful l i f e . . and
is at variance with the interests of
the
peace-loving
m ajority
of
states."
He charged that the U .S. wants
military
superioity
while
the
U .S .S .R . wants to maintain a rough
parity between the two sides.
President Ronald Reagan an
nounced his latest position Tuesday
— the "b u ild d o w n " option that
originated in Congress. Reagan’s
plan would require that two missile
warheads would have to be de
stroyed for every one produced, and
three submarine-launched warheads
eliminated for every two new ones
produced.
" L e t me em phasize," Reagan
said in a Rose Garden ceremony,
"th at the United States has gone the
extra mile. Everything is on the ta
ble.”
King bill progresses to vote
Ronald Reagan has indicated for
the first time that he would not veto
a bill to make D r. M artin Luther
King, Jr.'s, birthday a national holi
day.
Senator Jesse Helms threatened a
filibuster against the bill on Monday.
Among other charges Helms leveled
at King was that he followed a phil
osophy o f "action-oriented M a rx
ism " that is "n o t compatible with
the concepts o f this co u ntry."
Helms also charged that " I think his
whole movement included C om m u
nists at the highest possible levels."
Senator Edward Kennedy, in an
angry exchange with Helms, ac
cused him o f using "R ed smear"
tactics to defeat the bill.
The bill will receive support for
Republican Senators who fear op
position to the King holiday, which
has strong support o f Black voters.
will nurt their parly in the coming
elections. Seventeen Republicans
are up for re-election. In addition
to persuading Reagan to agree to
sign the bill. Senate M ino rity Leader
How ard H Baker, J r., personally
introduced the bill and pledged to
help break the filibuster.
The bill, already adopted by the
House, 338-90, would make the
third M onday in January a national
holiday effective in 1986
" H e ’s been out o f step for many
years," Rep. Robert Garcia (D -
N .Y .) shouted during the debate.
" H is filibuster will go down to de
feat in spite o f Jesse Helms; we will
have a national h o lid a y." O n Tues
day, Helms suddenly dropped his
filibuster threat, agreeing to a de
bate and vote on October 18th and
19th.
Commissioner Charles Jordan greats an admirer — Krundu Adair —
who was w ith har parents, M r and Mrs. Donny Adair, at Jordan’s
birthday party.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)