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PORÏWND OBSERNER
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25C
Bogle/Clark Address
Neighborhood Association
by Jerry Garner
"W e are handcuffed in our at
tem pts to make a m ore effective
governm ent by a system that
creates delays
w orks at cross
purposes
duplicates work
and is w a ste fu l."
The above statem ent came from
Portland City Commissioner Dick
Bogle
Bogle made these com
ments last Tuesday before a group
of about 50 people during a North
east Coalition of Neighborhoods
meeting at the King Facility
Bogle was at the neighborhood
association meeting prom oting City
Ballot Measure 51 and 52 The tw o
measures, w hich will be before the
voters in the November 4th general
election, are designed to update the
C ity’s civil service system
Measure 51 w ould concentrate
personnel management in the Per
sonnet Department.
Measure 52
w ould exempt high ranking city
managers hired after December 31
from the civil service process
Bogle said that reform is urgently
needed to update the C ity’s 83 year
old civil service system
"It is a
system that is antiquated, cumber
some, ineffective, and unable to
respond to the issues of the day
It is a system that is out of synch
w ith society and a rapidly changing
work environm ent ’’
Furthermore, he said the absence
of centralized management in the
Citv personnel system has caused
problems
"Chief among them is
the fact that the City cannot imple
ment uniform personnel practices
because of the complete separation
of the functions of civil service from
the functions of the personnel
bureau."
Bogle said that the separation is
further com plicated by the commis
sion form of governm ent the City
has. saying that under such a sys
tern, elected officials serve dual
roles as both adm inistrators and
legislators
During his ten m inute presenta
tion, Bogle gave those in atten
dance a brief history lesson on the
City's civil service system, telling
them that the City of Portland's
Civil Service Board and its opera
G la d ys M c C o y , c a n d id a te , M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty C h a ir
Alcohol and Drugs:
tions are products of a governm ent
reform m ovem ent that took place
during the early years o f this cen
tury.
"C ivil service reform was intend
ed to elim inate the practice of poll
tical patronage and the so called
spoils system
To guard against
this practice in the early 20th Cen
tury, the conventional approach
was to place the authority for deci
sions on employee selection, pro
m otion, and separation in indepen
dent comm issions and boards,"
Bogle said
Bogle said these boards and com
missions were to be separate from
the political body and municipal
managers to prevent outside politi
cal pressures
This resulted in the
creation of the Portland Civil Ser
vice System into the City Charter
The Civil Service Board was given
the authority to classify all offices
and employm ent in the City service,
hold
com petitive
examinations;
establish registers of qualified per
sons and make public rules regar
ding examinations, prom otions, and
removals
" A t the time it appeared like a
good idea whose bine had come ,
The problem is this is*1986 Many
changes have taken place in public
personnel m anagement since the
creation of the Portland Civil Ser
vice B o a rd ." said Bogle
Bogle said the present civil ser
vice system results in delays in the
most routine personnel matters
such as testing, prom otions, class
such as testing, prom otions, classi
fications,
and
reclassifications
"T h e result is a frequent use of tern
porary appointm ents and a loss of
qualified applicants This means a
loss of not only ti.ne and efficiency,
but taxpayer dollars ”
Bogle told the audience Measures
51 and 52 w ould make City govern
ment e fficient, responsible to the
needs of citizens, accountable, ef
fective, enhance the governm ent s
ability to attract and retain high
quality employees, and w ill bring
the personnel system out of the
dark ages and into the 20th Century
Mayor Clark told the same audi
ence that they should support Mea
sure 2b 19 * This measure w ould
result in the approval of a S65 million
general obligation bond to construct
the Oregon C onvention and Trade
S how Center
The bond w ill be
financed through properly taxes
and through an increase of 6 to 9
percent room tax on hotels, and
$5 million assessed on area bust
nesses.
Clark said passage of Ballot Mea
sure 2b 19 w ould immediately pro
vide 900 construction jobs and 3.400
direct and indirect jobs once the
center was in operation He said, in
the future, tourism w ill be one of the
state’s main providers of |obs
"D u e to the lack of an adequate
convention center, Portland ranks
last when com paring it to other
west coast cities in convention
bookings
Unless the convention
center is built, we will continue to
lose those convention dollars to
Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego
and other c itie s," Clark said.
Bar Holds Reception
by Jerry Garner
The Oregon State Bar’s A ffirm a
tive A ction C om m ittee and the Mi
nority Scholarship Program, Inc ,
held a reception last Friday in the
W illam ette
Center’s conference
rooms in honor of firm s participa
ting in the Bar’s Summer Clerkship
Program, M inority Scholarship Pro
gram contributors and recipients,
new m inority Bar adm ittees; and
law students
During 1986, seven m inority law
students
received
scholarships
through the Bar s M inority Scholar
ship Program
They are: Coleen
Miller, Cynthia Pevehouse, Tony
Alvarez,
Roberto
Reyes Colon,
Joseph Ochoa and Robert Deve
ney
The Scholarship Program pro
vides academic scholarships to out
standing ethnic m inority students
w ho attend law school in Oregon
According to Lee Coleman, Direc
tor of the Bar s A ffirm ative Action
Program, scholarship awards are
granted on the basis o f academic
performance, financial need and
w ork experience
The am ount of
each award depends upon an evalu
ation of the student and the funds
available each year
The fo llo w in g foundations, cor
porations, and contributors were re
cognized for their contributions to
the M inority Scholarship Program
Portland General Electric; Associa
tion of Oregon Black Lawyers, Ore
gon Law Foundation, Charlie Harris;
Pacific
N orthw est
Bell;
Bruce
Posey; and Leonard B Netzorg,
Preston, Ellis ft Holman.
Since the inception o f the Bar's
A ffirm ative A ctio n Program in 1973,
the Percentage o f practicing mino
rity attorneys has increased from
48% to 2 1 % in 1986 This year 22
m inorities were adm itted to the Ore
gon State Bar
Call-To-Action Leadership
Conference Slated
by Jerry Garner
The Oregon Assembly for Black
A ffairs has announced plans for
its "S ix th Call To A ction Leadership
Conference" to be held on January
31, 1987, at the Chumaree Comfor
tel in Salem
According to Calvin 0 L. Henry,
President of the Oregon Assembly
for Black Affairs, "T h e purpose of
the conference is to bring together
persons concerned w ith the political
»
developm ent of Blacks throughout
Oregon and to develop strategies
for legislative a c tio n ."
The first Call To A ction Leader
ship Conference W orkshop was
held on January 22. 1977. at Willa
m ette University in Salem
Over
fifty Blacks from around the state
attended the conference for the pur
pose o f scrutinizing the plight of
Blacks in Oregon, to determine di
rections w hich should be taken, and
to decide a course o f action that
could be collectively implemented
As a result o f the 1977 confer
ence, the Oregon Assembly for
Black Affairs was founded for the
purpose o f im proving the political,
educational, social, legal, and eco
nomic status of Blacks in Oregon
During the 1987 conference, the
Oregon Assembly for Black Affairs
w ill also host a "R ecognition Ban
q u e t" in celebration o f its tenth
year anniversary and w ill use the
banquet to recognize both present
and potential leaders
For more inform ation and details,
contact The Oregon Assembly for
Black A ffairs by w ritin g to P 0
Box 12485, Salem, Oregon 97309
Going on the Offensive
Gladys McCoy, candidate for M ultnom ah County Chair, today presented
highlights of her six point program to deal w ith alcohol and drugs
The
domestic issue for the next decade will tie the epidemic of chemical depen
dency that is sweeping the country
McCoy stated ridding that "very
age group, social economic class and institution is already experiencing
broad and deep im pact from this problem Public concern w ill continue to
grow and disenchantment w ith current policies and strategies w ill m ount
McCoy i ontinued, Jail and prison overcrowding, and the breakdown of
the criminal justice system are due largely to the increasing abuse of drugs
and alcohol ’ ’ She points to the prison population com posed of 80% for
crimes com m itted either w hile under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or
to gam resources to purchase the chemicals, or lor com m on e in illegal
intoxicants
M cC oy's six (mint program calls for action that she terms reasonable to
do under existing policy ” M cCoy s program will
1 expand the alcohol and drug treatm ent system by doubling the public
expenditure of funds M ultnom ah County currently expends S3 9 m illion
annually, while the State of Oregon spends S12 million
2 Provide "n o w a itin g ” access to appropriate intervention, by ai com
m odating the required variety and mix of services
3 Provide for tourniquet sentencing on crim inal charges for those who
need treatm ent Sentences w ill not bo considered served until treatm ent
has been successful
4 Chat ge the focus from "ju st the dependent person" to the entire (ami
ly of the dependent
5. Charge the M ultnom ah C ounty Sheriff to protect the runaway throw
away children throughout the County
6. Charge the M ultnom ah County A lcohol and Drug Manager w ith deve
loping strategies for coordinated drug enforcem ent prevention education
and employee and student assistance programs
Looking to the future, M cCoy foresees an explosion of base drug derive
tives and new synthetic substances This explosion will outpace our ability
to classify and outlaw the possession of these substances She ante ipates
that new ontrepeneuis w ill enter into this substantial drug industry tiecause
of an expanding market, the relative ease of entering into the business, the
minimal risk o f the crim inal justice sanctions, large profits and tax avoi
dance.
McCoy states that drugs are increasingly present and socially ,iccepted as
recreational tools in all age groups, inr luding children in elementary school
"T h e long term consequences from such a megatrend are alarming.
M cCoy observes, citing the fact that already substantial numbers of chil
dren, some as young as 10 years, are perm anently outside of parental or
state control and living on the streets, hustling to gain their supply o,
chemicals.
McCoy believes that it is likely that many of the new drugs will have grea
ter addictive qualities Such now drugs w ill pose new and acute health
life hazards and have dangerous behavioral and health side affects
"A s the new drug products come on line, and as the com petition for
sales increases, we can expect to see prices drop, M cCoy warns, w hich
w ill lead to increased dosages and subsequently increased medical emer
gencies ”
McCoy underlines the necessity to prom ote now policies and strategies
to address this reality of American culture in a new age "T h e research,
theory construction and consensus building should start now , M cC oy
states, adding that "a national or state of Oregon com m ission should be
established and funded to begin this critical task
" I understand that some of this initiative calls for actions at other levels or
branches of governm ent, or w ith other olected o fficia ls," M cCoy said
"T h a t is the nature o f our system, but not an excuse for lacking the leader
ship that stands accountable for results I stand ready,” M cCoy continued,
" to work w ith public officials at the several levels of governm ent and w ith
our citizens to mobilize ourselves to address this social and public health
concern.
" I have said on many occasions that m y opponent and I are very different
on the issues This is one issue where I believe my extensive experience in
education and hum an resources, and m y co m m itm e n t to people spurs me
to take on this issue. It needs to be done, and I am ready "
A Z
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