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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 1990)
-4T -» f c . k » i ' t » »qjapwi'C < ■ < « ♦ • ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ '♦ ■ • « <►«*#»< # > » ■ » • -♦ • » ♦ * ♦ * * ♦ ♦ « ♦ ♦ , PO R TL ERVER Volume XX, Number 42 "The Eyes and Ears o f The Community" 25<P October 31,1990 First Interstate Bank Announces Community Lending Center and Home Ownership Program First Interstate Bank has announced plans to open a Community Lending Center at its W alnut Park branch on Martin Luther King Blvd. In addition to offering the Bank’s standard loan pro grams, this lending center will focus on lending to first time home buyers in inner-city neighborhoods. Robert Ames, president o f First Inter state Bank, announced the creation of the lending center and, at the same time, unveiled a new bank program designed to help low-and moderate-income people buy homes. “ First Interstate has an ongoing commitment to assist home buyers in all areas o f the state and across the eco nomic spectrum” Ames said. “ The Com munity Lending Center and the new mortgage program are sound, progres sive efforts to continue to m eet that co m m itm en t” The idea for the Com m unity Lend ing Center grew out o f jo in t efforts commenced last April by Janice W ilson, senior vice president o f the bank’s Metro W h a t ever ha ppened to m in o r ity business Part 3 PAGE 5 T o p ic fo r H is /H e rs O ld e r M e n and Y o un ger W om en, O ld e r W om en and Y o un ger M e n PAGE 6 East Region, and Dick An derson, senior vice presi dent o f Residential Loan Services, to develop ways to increase the bank’s lend ing in inner-city neighbor hoods. According to W ilson, “ One o f the goals o f the Community Lending Cen ter will be to meet the needs o f as many neighborhood home buyers as possible. ’ ’ The Community Lend ing Center will open in December with a staff of three including manager Ralph Nickerson. N icker son comes to First Inter state Bank with fifteen years experience in real estate lending in the Portland area. In addition to provid ing information and counseling to indi viduals looking to buy homes, the new lending center will offer homeowner- ship seminars at times and locations convenient to the neighborhood residents. The seminars will be held in cooperation with community organizations, and will Grace Collins Receives ’’Champion For Children” Award Evelyn Collins, long-time op erator of the Grace Collins Day Care Center on N.E. Russell S t in Northeast Portland, was honored recently as the 1990 recipient o f the “ Champion for C hildren” award. The award is given annually by the Edgefield C hildren’s Center, Inc. o f Troutdale, Oregon, and is presented to an individual whose accom plishm enst have benefilted children and/or high lighted the needs o f children and fam i lies in the community. Ms. Collins, one o f five nomi- 3,000,000 and no accidents PAGE 7 O bserver E n d o w m e n ts o f B a llo t M easures and C andidates PAGE 8 Grace Collins nees, was nom inated by Edgefield board member Tom Steam s and was presented the award at a special dinner/dance at the M arriott Hotel on October 25. The G race Collins Center, named after Ms. C ollins’ mother, has operated for over 35 years, serving more than 10,000 children, mostly low-in- come. Ms. Collins in known in North east as the “ foster godm other’ ’ o f many former recipients o f daycare at the Collins Center and in conversations with some, they state that they can think o f “ no in dividual more deserving” . address topics such as: • how to budget the money needed for closing a home purchase; *how to be prepared for the increased cash requirem ents o f the total housing expense; *how to ev alu ate home financing program s that are available; and •how to anticipate and prepare for home m ainte nance. The concept o f F irst Interstate’s center is sim i lar to one o f the proposals in a report recently issued by Gretchen Kafoury, Port land city com m issioner- elect. The new lending p ro gram will com m ence w ith the December opening o f the center. Major features of this program designed for purchasers who will occupy the hom e include: •First Interstate Bank will donate funds to a non-profit organization to pro vide a grant o f 1% to be applied toward down payment on both conventional and FHA loan requests. •A flexible housing expense to gross income ratio. •Recurring monthly obligations can be used for credit verification. •M inimum down paym ent •No extra fees for lower loan amounts. •M ortgage Credit Certificate pro gram availability. The program is sim ilar to a plan announced earlier by U.S. Bank. “ As one o f the state’s real estate lenders, we are eager to offer viable programs that will increase the availability o f residen tial loans,” said Dick Anderson. “ In combination with program s offered by other banks, this will serve to strengthen the inner-city and community as a whole. W e know one program will not fit every one. We will continue to look for lending programs that we can tailor to fit the in dividual needs o f home buyers.” Building a New Urban League In 1987, the Urban League o f Port land received monies toward a capital fund project to remodel and renovate the Mentzer Building which was across from the L eague’s present headquarters on North W illiam sand Russell. The League received $150,000 from the Collins Foundation, S5.000 each from KATU Channel 2 and Vanexco, a subsidiary of Alcoa Aluminum. Because of the vari ous financial problem s that the League became entangled after that time, the Mentzer Building and other properties were sold. One o f the priorities o f the present League President, Dr. Darryl Tukufu, was to clear up some loose ends. This meant going to these past funders and paying back monies that were held in reserve. The League was granted permission by Vanexco and KATU to use their donate funds for capital improvements or add to the general fund respectively. The League recently approached and returned $150,000 to the Collins Foun dation with a proposal in hand seeking $ 120,000 for capital funds to include the renovations for the relocation and ex pansion of the League’s Whitney M. Young Learning Center, miscellaneous renovation at the Urban Plaza, the pur chase o f telecom m unication equipment, computers, and a van to be used for all League program s and a challenge grant of $30,000 toward the establishm ent o f a program stabilization fund. This grant must be matched by an additional $30,000 grant and will provide money for the development and start up of programs at the League with a requirem ent that the program be able to pay the money back to the stabilization fund within one fiscal year. The stabilization fund will provide an expanded base for the development of program s at the League. Roberts Centers Campaign Around Social Programs BY ANGELIQUE SANDERS A d o p tio n is K id S tu ff PAGE 11 INDEX News Religion Locker Room Business Opinion Election Classifieds Bids/Sub Bids 2 3 4 5 6 8 12 13 Don't forget to vote on Tuesday November 6. G overnor candidate Barbara Roberts, in an attempt to bring up living standards for lower-income Oregonians, is focusing her campaign on social pro grams. Her first priority, should she take office as Governor, is to re-vamp financing o f education, as the burden of education in Oregon falls to property taxes, causing disproportionately high state taxes and an inability to expand or improve education with limited reve nue. Her proposal is to lift the burden of education from homeowners, and enact a 5% sales tax (which would not be included in necessities such as food, housing, utilities, and medical expenses). Roberts expects that, while the sales tax would barely affect lower-income citi zens monetarily, it would give them “ a better chance for prosperity through quality education.” “ Ballot five [the property lax measure] would be the worst decision we could make for Oregon,” Roberts said in an interview Saturday. “ It af fects programs o f police protection, low income families, and human services..any time we cut back, social programs pay first!” Roberts also has proposed a seven-point battle plan against crime and drugs, including: •more prison cells •longer, tougher mandatory sentences •mandatory inmate work programs •prison drug treatment i ntensive supervision of parolees •registration o f sex offenders •community policing and crime preven tion P a rt of the focus for c o m m u n ity “ c le a n -u p ” using this s e v e n - p o in t plan is the problem that, currently, 61% o f O regon’s inmates end up back in jail. At a cost of $2,000 per year for in tense supervi- sio n -n o t just parole, but to ensure that ex-inmates arc adhcrcing to drug reform programs, at tending work, and “ succeeding” out side o f p riso n -it is a much cheaper plan than paying the tens o f thousands it costs to return crim e-com m itters to jail for a year or more. In a statement Issued by Roberts’ campaign, she slated that “ Oregonians should not accept a tragic loss of their personal safety and security. We abso lutely cannot tolerate that some of our kids will inevitably get involved in gangs and drugs-throw ing their lives down a rat h o le -a n d destroying grieving fami lies in the process...Frohnmayer has a record he can’t defend. H e’s been O re g o n ’s Attorney General for a decade...a CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR: Secre tary of State Barbara Roberts (Democrat) and Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer (Republi can) face off in Novem ber sixth's election. The Observer did not have the opportunity to inter view Mr. Frohnmayer. decade during which w e’ve suffered the greatest epidemic o f crime in our state’s history." And in fact, in those ten years, crim e has taken staggering leaps: Linn County reflects a 36% rise; Josephine County, 35%; and Lincoln County, 40%. Drug offenses have climbed 275% in Marion County, and 405% in Multnomah County. O regon’s sex crimes have jumped 24%, and 13% for rape. Health care is another issue Roberts is faced with, and she proposes a comprehensive program for O regoni ans, that will: help small businesses afford quality health care for employees ■reduce health care costs by cutting ad ministrative overhead and reducing du plication of e x p e n siv e m e d ic a l te c h n o lo gies • im p r o v e m e d ic a l care in ru ral commu nities • c o m b in e employees’ health in- su ra n c e with work ers’ com pensation •create a comprehensive plan for O re gon communities ■facilitate senior citizens’ coverage ■keep the Office of Health Policy under her strict jurisdictions. As it stands, nearly one in six O regonians has no health care coverage at all. Roberts seeks to change that. As for affordable housing, families making 50-80% of the median income arc having trouble finding af fordable places to live. Roberts wants to establish “ vitality zones” , in which poorer neighborhoods would be lifted (through special tax credits to develop ers who invest in rehabilitating those areas) thus also em ploying residents of those neighborhoods. She expects to pull $80 m illion from the legislature’s general fund and form a new Oregon Housing Trust Fund to finance housing projects and assist em ergency shelters. To build up Portland’s North/ Northeast communities, Barbara Roberts wants to build up com m unity service programs, and steer youth away from drugs, ‘ ‘because, let’s face it,’ ’ she said, “ poverty is linked to crim e. Prevention at youth is the key. W e should give youth a sense of belonging, without belonging to a gang...the black com m u nity’s support to such program s is the key.” When asked if there’s anything she’d like citizens o f N ortheast Portland to know about her, she said, “ I think the unique thing I have [as a governmental candidate] is I’ve been there; I ’ve been poor. When you’re there, you feel cor nered, like there’s no w ay out...w e need a governor who respects diversity, who works against racial hatred. I think my record is very clear.” Roberts is endorsed by Port land’s Rainbow Coalition, the Oregon Black Political Convention, and O re gon’s Black Leadership Conference. »