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News Flash: Jesse's prisoners
As »he Observer went to press, Jesse Jeckson secured the releese of 26
political pnaoners in addition to 22 American pnaoners in Cuba Caetro agreed
to Jesse's request it the U S State Dept will grant visas to the Cuban pri
soners Castro will supply a plane if ground clearance can be granted by the
Federal Aviation Administration today
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PORTWND OBSERVER
Volume XIV, Number 36
June 27. 1984
25C Per Copy
usrs ■ » < ■ > «
Report exposes record
on city minority hiring
by Lamia Duke
Y o u n g s te rs h a v e a o m a fu n In th a aun In th ia
w aak'a catch it
G R A S S R O O T N E W S , N . H< —
There used to be a time when person­
nel m anagers said they could not
fin d any q u a lifie d A f r o , A s ia n .
H ispanic or N a tiv e A m erican jo b
applicants.
A recent evaluation o f the City of
P o rtla n d 's
A ffir m a tiv e
A c-
tio n /E q u a l E m p lo y m e n t O p p o r­
tunity statistics by the M etropolitan
H u m a n R elatio n s C om m ission
reveals that usually when the C ity
has had an o p p o rtu n ity to hire a
w h lla you can sum m er w aathar.
q ualified m in ority or wom an they
(Photo: Richard J. B rownl
have neglected to do so.
" A v a ila b ility is not the issu e,"
M H R C staled. “ A review of similar
governmental bodies in the Portland
w area indicates th at there is an
T his ca p , h ow ever. W ill not be
a v a ila b ility o f q u a lifie d can ­
maintained indefinitely, according
didates.”
to Ed M o rris , P U C teleco m ­
M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty , thanks to
m unications a d m in is tra to r. " T h e
the legacy of the late Leon Johnson,
cap w ill be re-examined in January
employs 10.45 percent m inorities,
o f 1985,” he said. " T h e P U C has
T ri Met has 16 3 minorities and the
not decided when or if the cap will
Port o f P o rtla n d has I I percent
be removed. O ur experience with it
minorities.
w ill be exam ined as o f Janu ary. I
The City employs only 6.9 percent
d o n ’ t think he w ill take the whole
minorities and 20 7 percent women.
cap o f f — maybe just move it up to
" T h e C ity is still o n e -th ird aw ay
$30 or so.”
fro m reaching p a rity fo r both
Gales added that since the cap in
wom en and m in o ritie s , and fo r
the Portland area will be lower than
H ispanics and N a tiv e A m erican s
fo r other areas o f the state.
they are 57 percent fro m p a r ity ,”
"P o rtlan d business customers could
M H R C continued
q u ite possibly be b etter o f f than
M H R C also questioned the C ity ’s
business customers in other parts of
co m m itm en t not only to A f f i r ­
the state."
m ative A c tio n but to fairness in
Usage charges fo r business
hiring practices.
customers will include, as of October
" In the first nine months o f 1983-
1st, a $7 hunting fee per line (hunt­
84, there were 37 positions where a
ing switches an incom ing call
woman or minority were among the
autom atically to (he next line if the
top three candidates and they were
first line is busy); $5 per month per
not hired."
lin e fo r lin e c o n d itio n in g ( " e le c ­
Kay T o ra n , A ffirm a tiv e A ctio n
tronic enhancem ent” o f the lines);
D ire c to r for the State o f O regon,
the measured business line rate o f
said, "Those statistics suggest there
$32.25 m entioned e a rlie r, and the
is not the fu ll co m m itm en t one
charges for outgoing calls figured by
w ou ld expect fro m m anagers or
tim e and distance. Long-distance
supervisors. T o show a commitment
calls w ill be added on separately,
you recruit qualified protected class
since P N B no longer d ire c tly
members— w om en, m inorities and
provides that service.
the handicapped— and hire them ”
For distances of 0 to 8 miles, the
"Som e people call that preferen­
charges w ill be 5« fo r the firs t
tial treatment, but it is not. It simply
m inute and 2< for each ad d itio nal
m inute; fo r 9 to 12 miles distance,
fPlease turn to Page 13, Colum n I )
Rate changes concern business
by Catherine Siegner
The
h a n d fu l
of
telephone
customers who showed up Friday at
the M asonic T em p le to hear s ta ff
m em bers fro m the P u b lic U t ilit y
Com m issioner’s o ffice explain new
m a n d ato ry m easured rates fo r
businesses were d ivid ed in to
basically two groups: those who had
trouble understanding the complex
new rate system, and those who un­
derstood it pretty w ell, and d id n ’ t
much care for it.
F ra d d y a P a ta tt haa ra a lg n a d
from th a Portland Urban Laagua
affective D ecem ber 1984.
T he P U C has decided th at as o f
O cto ber I , 1984, all businesses in
O reg o n w ill be sw itched to a new
system o f telephone service called
m easured rates. T h is b asically
means th at instead o f payin g the
current flat rate of $40.93 per month
for one line, or $58.63 per line per
m onth fo r a system w ith b utto n s
and multiple numbers, all Portland
businesses w ill now pay a base rate
o f $32.25 per line, per m onth plus
access charges and optional feature
charges, plus usage fees fo r every
outgoing call. These charges w ill be
based on how far aw ay the call
recipient is and how long the call
lasts.
Business customers are concerned
that their monthly phone bills from
Pacific N orthw est Bell (P N B ) w ill
skyrocket under the new plan. PU C
s ta ff said the new system is an a t­
tempt to make business customers
who use the phone system more, pay
th eir fa ir share, instead o f sub­
sidizing heavy users by spreading
the costs am ong a ll business
customers.
T im Gates, staff economist with
the P U C ’ s Salem o ffic e , to ld the
group that business customers' rates
will be guaranteed not to rise more
than $15 per m o n th over cu rren t
bills because o f a " c a p " the P U C
has ordered on the new system. The
cap, estimated to cost slightly more
than $2 m illio n an n u a lly , w ill be
paid by Pacific Northwest Bell.
means you w ill have a more
representative work force.”
Each C ity bureau falls under the
jurisdiction o f a city commissioner.
Iro n ic a lly , the re p o rt shows that
those com m issioners w hom you
would expect to see m ore are the
ones hiring less.
C o m m issio ner M ik e L in d b e rg
had an o p p o rtu n ity to hire 6
minorities and 6 women, according
to M H R C ’ s evaluation, and he did
not.
Elsa Colem an, assistant to L in d ­
berg, said, ‘ ‘ I ’ ve discovered that
we have some w ork to do. There
were some situations in which there
were o p p o rtun ities to hire and we
did not.”
Colem an questioned the specific
num bers o f M H R C ’ s re p o rt, but
said. “ T h e intent or message is
rig ht M ik e and I talke d a m onth
ago and we feel there is a problem. ”
She said L in d b e rg plans to start
focusing on rccrui ment and reten­
tion.
T h e personal s ta ff o f C o m ­
missioner Charles Jordan reflects a
commitment to A ffirm ative Action
that can be seen and not just heard
However, the Department o f Public
A ffa ir s , which he oversees, had a
chance to hire three women and did
not.
Al Jameison, assistant to Jordan,
confessed, " W e have not come
down hard enough on our bureau's
heads of departments.”
Jam eison said that Jo rd an in ­
structed him to write a memo, "A n d
he did not w ant it to be s o ft. He
wants them to hire w om en and
m inorities when they have the op­
portunity.”
Commissioner Strachan, a strong
advocate o f wom en's rights, failed
to hire one m in o rity and fo ur
women. She said she could not an­
swer why she neglected to hire them.
"T h o s e positions did not come to
me. Positions w ithin the bureau are
hired by bureau managers, then we
are to ld .”
Strachan said she was also in the
process o f develop in g a m em o,
" T h a t reviews what they have done
and i f a q u a lifie d m in o rity or
women makes the top three o f the
C iv il Service list Bureau managers
must prove to me why they should
not be hired ."
She stated that she will call for the
re in s titu tio n o f the C ity 's Equal
E m p lo y m e n t
O p p o r tu n ity
R egulatory com m ittee to m o n ito r
and evaluate the Affirm ative Action
performance o f the City.
Coors insults Blacks,
boycott follows
A fte r months o f negotiations, a
national Black coalition has called
for an econom ic w ith d ra w a l cam ­
paign against Coors Brewery. The
neg otiatio ns
w ere
institu ted
following inflam aiory statements by
owner W illia m C oors in which he
aitribuled the economic problems of
Black-governed A frica to " ...a lack
o f in te lle c tu a l c a p a c ity " on their
part.
The talks, which centered around
a trade agreem ent w ith the Black
c o m m u n ity , represented the first
tim e a c o a litio n o f A fric a n
Am erican organizations, including
the N A A C P . Operation P U S H , the
A .M .E . Church, C A L P A C and the
people A g ain st Racism at C oors:
According to the c o a litio n ’ s co-
c h a irm a n , M r , Fred Rasheed,
National Director of the N A A C P ’ s
Econom ic Developm ent Program ,
"C oors has insulted the intelligence
o f A fric a n -A m e ric a n s again by
proposing a n a tio n a l incen tive
covenant that does riot take in to
consideration the present and future
value o f the Black consum er-
market, for its product."
Grand opening at Union Square
by Nathaniel Scott
U n io n Square, on N .E . U n io n
Avenue and M orris Street, will hold
its grand opening Friday and Satur­
day, July 6th and 7th, but for Larry
W ills o n , owner o f the p la z a ’ s 24-
hour-a-day Convenient Food M a rt,
it w ill be business as usual.
T h e C on ven ien t Food M a rt
opened its doors in Septem ber o f
1983, W illso n said. " W e were the
First tenants (in the plaza).”
Since the opening o f the food
m a rt, fo u r other businesses have
moved into the plaza: Sunshine P iz­
za, T h e F lo w er King F lo ris t,
R o n ald o 's Ice C ream Store, and
N ik e ’ » Shoe Store. T h e shopping
complex is a Five-store plaza.
Willson said the area has " a lot o f
p o te n tia l. There is a lot o f tra ffic
going up and down U nion Avenue,
both day and n ig h t,” he added.
" W e have been well accepted by the
neighborhood and the com m unity
in general."
H ow ever, W illson does not view
the area as all peaches and cream;
there is a thorn sticking in his side.
" T h e only problem I ’ ve encoun­
tered is that Union Avenue seems to
be a haven fo r pim ps and
p ro stitutes," he said. " T h e law en­
forcem ent (th e P o rtla n d Police
Department) is doing nothing about
it .”
N evertheless, he m ain tain s that
the construction for new businesses
in the area continues at a rapid pace.
Union Square, according to John
W y k o ff, spokesperson fo r the
square's grand opening, " I s the
o u tg ro w th
of
the
P o rtla n d
D e v e lo p m e n t C o m m is s i o n ’ s
(P D C 's ) redevelopment policy in the
N o rth -N o rth east; p articu larly that
on U n io n A v e n u e ." He added that
beyond encouraging businesses to
develop there (on U n io n A venue),
" P D C also set aside Federal G rant
Block money that was in the C ity ’ s
housing and development program
to encourage this kind o f develop­
ment through low-interest loans.”
T w o hundred and fifty thousand
C ity dollars were used by the P D C .
he said. In addition, " A union that
was looking for a socially conscious
in v es tm en t,” invested some o f its
pension fund m oney in the U n io n
Square p ro je ct. A t press tim e, the
name o f the union had not been
verified.
But what has been verified is the
arch ite ctu ra l w ork o f H o w ard
G la ze r. The designer o f U n io n
Square had this to say about his
w o rk: " I w anted to m ake a
statem ent
through
arch itec­
tu re -s o m e th in g which would have
the im pact to help tu rn around a
decayed area ”
The S outhland Corporation, parant com pany of
7-Eleven atoraa, announced the opening of a naw
7 Eleven with a ribbon cutting on Friday. June 22nd
Tha atora. at 33rd and Kllllngaworth repreeents tha
40th 7 Elavan atora to ba opened In tha East Portland
araa. Il-rl Bob Sandoval. Financial Conauttant. Pro
feeelonel Training Systems; Charles Miner. 7 Eleven
R aid Rapraaantatlva Tralnaa; Olna W ood. Advertl
sing Manager. Portland Observer- Eileen Tarry. 7-Ele-
ven Dlatrict Manager; Dave Husk. 7 Eleven Real Ea-
tata; Samuel Brooke. Präsident NE Buelnaaa Boot
ta n . Pam Jordan. Hoat of Dialogue. KPTV 12; John
M oaar. 7 Elavan Araa Salee M anager; Calla R oran,
P ro gram D e v e lo p m e n t A a a la ta n t. P o rtla n d D e ­
velopment Commission
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)