I •«'.
Page 2, Portland Observer, July 17,1966
Alberta Street improvement
by Robert Lothian
JOHN WOODS
New director of city
personnel
by N a th a n iel Scott
The new director o f city person
nel, John W oods, expects to make
his initial recommendation to the
C ity Council by the first o f Septem
ber.
In a recent interview, he said, *‘ l
don’t make snap judgments.”
Woods was Commissioner Dick
Bogle's first bureau head appoint
ment. His duties as director o f person
nel include employee relationship,
affirm ative action, compensation and
administrative responsibility over the
operations for the Civil Services D ivi
sion.
He also has the responsibility for
making salary recommendations for
non-union employees who work for
the city.
Previous to coming to Portland,
Woods had been director o f personnel
for the state o f Nevada.
He has been involved in public
service work, in one form or another,
for the past 25 years. And his motto is:
” 1 am me and whatever job I get I will
give it my best shot.”
Woods characterizes his new posi
tion as one that is “ not in disarray.”
However, he admits, "There are
probably some organizational changes
I am going to make.”
Whatever "organizational changes"
Woods intends to make, does not
mean getting rid of personnel because
all budget cutbacks had been made
when he joined the city.
The changes (hat Woods has in
mind are ways to streamline the sys
tem and make it work mare efficiently
For instance Woods said he is not
only looking at the number o f m inor
ity working for the city, but equally
so, the kinds o f jobs they are in.
"People can play all kinds of games
with numbers,” he said, adding that
he has a basic problem with people
who are married to the past. " I f I
were married to the past, I would still
be a slave," he said.
Woods is a native of Atlanta, Oa.
He earned his Masters degree at the
University o f Denver. And at age 54,
he is a veteran air force pilot and has a
wife, LaM onte, who teaches school,
and two children, a daughter 13 and a
son 12.
Woods said whenever policies in
volve Commissioner Bogle as the pri
mary moving force, his dialogue will
be with him. Otherwise I will have
dialogue with the mayor’s office and
the other commissioners, he said.
He added that protocol demands
that he make his report known to
Commissioner Bogle before present
ing it to the full council.
Woods has wanted to live in Port
land for some time and considers this
the last leg o f his moving days. And as
soon as time and circumstances pet
mit, he intends to become active in
the community.
He said, “ I f I were to summarize
me, I ’d say I am a pretty simple,
simple-minded person.”
Harold L. Johnson has a vision. He
sees the blighted N .E . Alberta Street
corridor as it could be 20 years from
now.
Johnson, 29, founded the Alberta
Development Corporation in April,
and the A lb e rta Street Merchants As
sociation in January. As president of
A D C , Johnson has staked his future
on the future o f the Alberta business
district from Union Ave. to 33rd
Ave. He thinks that a revitalized A l
berta district could be the model core
area that could pave the way toward
revitalizing other areas in inner
Northeast.
Johnson envisions his develop
ment company playing a leading role
in the process, helping new businesses
with planning, design and construc
tion. Job creation will be a welcome
offshoot, said Johnson.
Sixty businesses operate along the
corridor, often next to abandoned
and boarded up storefronts. Many of
the once active shops closed as the
district spiraled into decline after
W W II. Drugs, prostitution and re
lated crime contribute to problems on
the west end. About five percent of
the corridor’s businesses are minority
owned. Nearly 70 percent of its struc
tures are designated to be in poor or
bad condition.
Johnson wants to bring the district
back, with a mall, with landscaping
and with magnet businesses that can
attract more business. His objective
is Io make Alberta Street a nice place
to stroll, to window shop, to have a
bite to eat, and to bring some pride
back to the community.
I t ’s not all talk, either. Johnson’s
efforts paid o ff earlier this year with
the opening of a new magnet bust
ness, the Olympian Fitness Center,
1829 N .E . Alberta St. A D C is now in
the process o f developing professional
offices at another site, he said.
Alberta Street has seen develop
ment schemes before, but they didn’t
meet with much success. " I think we
have the formula that can get it done
for the first tim e," said the energetic
former disc jockey and television re
porter.
But it w on’t happen without the
participation o f business owners —
Johnson feels strongly about that.
D ia l’s why he organized merchants
along the corridor into an associa
tion.
Organized, merchants can enlist the
aid o f neighborhood associations,
work with city and Portland Develop
ment Commission officials, possibly
get an urban development grant,
Johnson said.
Johnson has met with the mayor,
the office o f neighborhoods, histori
cal commissions — anyone who will
listen. Such contacts led to the U n i
versity o f Oregon School o f Archi
tecture sending up a group o f students
for a spring project. They produced
five schematic design options that
could be incorporated into a long
term development plan for the cor
ridor.
One of the options calls for a tower
and pedestnan mall with street trees
and landscaping at 20th and Alberta.
Other plan ideas call for landscap
ing, better street lighting, bus shelters
and more telephone booths along the
corridor Manv suggestions for im
provement are related to reducing
crime. As a creative solution, Johnson
called for a security system, the coat
of which could be shared by many
merchants, reducing its price. "T h a t
way we can eliminate the bars and the
boarded up windows and still have
that sense of security.”
Eaverns are another problem, he
said — 10 altogether between Union
and 33rd. Tw o were closed by the
O L C C , one after complaints from the
community about drugs and crime re
lated to the tavern trade. The Pub, at
16th and Alberta, was the scene o f a
racial argument that provided the
impetus for the recent police shoot
out.
“ W hy not talk the tavern owners
into creating more o f a bistro atm o
sphere attractive to a wider spectrum
o f neighborhood residents?,” asks
Johnson. " I f it has to be beer and
wine, we don’t need hangouts," he
said. "W e need something with at
mosphere.”
Johnson had to hurry to another
round of meetings to talk up his fa
vorite subject. " I ’m optimistic,” he
said on leaving. " W e ’re going to see
some real quality changes in this
neighborhood. I t ’s going to change
the mind set, the quality and char
acter o f N .E . Portland."
Mental
Health
Service
(Continuéefro m Page I. Column 6)
Slattery continued.
"T h e structure is to help the men
tally ill when they become dangerous
and since those who are marginally
dangerous aren't receiving care will
end up becoming dangerous," she
added.
Also, mentally ill patients have the
right to refuse medication. “ Some
times they are in a no-win situation,"
Slattery said.
She predicts more cases such as
Graves’ , because there is no preven
tive treatment being offered to chil
dren or those not considered danger
ous.
"Mental Health workers are ashamed
of what they did to the mentally ill
and these private core agencies are not
spending their money wisely. They
are not working as a team ."
There were good intentions when
the issue of deinstitutionalization be
came popular But it failed and the
latest casualties are tommy Graves
and Mrs. Alberta Tate.
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The tower would offer a panorama of
Portland from Northeast to down
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On the day before he died in a po
lice shoot-out at a house near N .E.
16th and Alberta St,, Thomas L.
Graves told a teenager who was mov
ing into a nearby house, " Y o u ’ll be
sorry you moved into this neighbor
hood."
Graves had gotten into an argu
ment later that day at The Pub Tav
ern, 1526 N .E . Alberta St., before re
treating to his house, where he began
shooting in a rage.
Many taverns line Alberta Street, as
do many blighted and boarded up
storefronts. The district has seen
better days. I t ’s not the kind o f en
vironment designed to make neigh
borhood residents feel good about
themselves.
Responding to the blight along the
Alberta corridor, the Concordia
Community Association decided last
week to organize a volunteer effort to
help restore the exterior of the A l
berta Theater building, 3000 N.E.
Alberta.
" I think it’s time we involve our
selves in actual physical improvement
o f our neighborhood environment,”
said M ario Ed man, association pres
ident.
The project’s purpose is to help
make the area along Alberta Street
more livable, said Edman. Neighbor
hood volunteers, working in coordi
nation with the congregation of the
Macedonia Temple Church of God in
Christ, which occupies the building,
will help with painting and restoration
of the historic structure’s exterior
during weekend work parties, said
Edman.
The church congregation has im
proved the interior o f the building,
but needs help with the exterior, ac
cording to Edman. " I t ’s a small
neighborhood church and they don’t
have the funds to do anything to the
outside," he said.
" I t does have some nice lines on the
stucco facade and I think properly
decorated it would be a very hand
some building. . very nice to look
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Edman said the volunteer fix-up
idea developed in meetings with H a r
old Johnson, president of the Alberta
Development Association, and with
J. W . Booker, pastor of the church.
Johnson has been working for a year
to organize Alberta corridor mer
chants into an improvement effort.
He has already brought one new mag
net business to Alberta Street — the
Olympian Fitness Center, 1829 N .E .
Alberta St.
Johnson and community associa
tion members suggested (hat follow
ing Concordia’s example, the two
other neighborhood associations con
cerned with the Alberta corridor,
Vernon and King, could also "adopt
an eyesore."
" W e have an organized base of
support along the corridor,” Johnson
told the group. " I think that when we
can get some bodies together we can
get some work done in a very short
time. I t ’s time to take that leader
ship.”
Johnson suggested that the paint
scheme be consistent for the entire
corridor, but one neighborhood resi
dent wondered whether the cost of
materials would be prohibitive.
" I ’ll bet you a dime to a donut that
M iller Paint will donate materials,
that Neil Kelly will donate materials
......... I don’t think materials will be a
problem ," Edman replied An archi
tect who lives in the neighborhood has
already looked at the building, and a
Concordia woman who works at the
Oregon Historical Society is re
searching the history of the Alberta
Theater, he said.
"L on g before summer’s out, we
could do this, and it would feel really
good," Edman continued. " I think
we’ll be able to turn around a situa
tion that every body moans about, but
nobody wants to do anything ab o ut."
"W hen you’re done, come over to
my house; I need some help with
my garage,” quipped an association
member
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