J une 9, 1993 • T he P ortland O bserver
P age A4
Stye ^ o rtla n h (©hserurr
City Sponsors Forum: “How
Can We Help You Buy A Home?”
Portland Development Commission Expected
To Approve Funds For Rehab Of 105 Low-
Income Units At Broadway Building And
Purchase Option On St. Francis Hotel
project and the Broadway tenants is
The Portland Dev elopment Com­ city’s Energy Office.
just
phenomenal," said City Commis­
Because the building is occupied,
mission (PDC) is expected to approve,
sioner
Gretchen Kafoury. The deal
at its June 9 meeting, a $2.6 million rehabilitation hinged on finding tem­
PDC
put
together is a very smart one
loanforthe rehabilitation of 105 single- porary relocation housing for 70 ex­
which
actually
buys equity in the St.
room occupane)’ (SRO). low -income isting tenants of the Broadway. This
Francis
and
secures
a valuable asset.
housing units at the Broadway Build­ task was made difficult due to the lack
The
real
w
inners
will
be the Broadw ay
ing under the Downtown Housing of av ailablc and affordable rental hous­
tenants w ho w ill soon enjoy safe, reno­
ing
in
the
Central
City
In
unique
Preservation Partnership. The build­
vated. affordable housing."
ing is located at 10 N.W Broadway agreement forged between HAP and
Without the acquisition and re­
the
owner,
the
Broadway
tenants
will
and is owned by a limited partnership
habilitation
agreement between PDC
with the Housing Authority of Port­ be relocated to the St. Francis Hotel,
and
HAP,
the
fully-occupied Broad­
1110 SAV. U th, by July 1, 1993 at
land (HAP) as general partner
way
Building
would
,ab.l.ta- their current rent levels. The reloca- w a y B u ^ m g w have
o ^ been closed
Total project cost for rehabilita-
res • c
huildimr will
tion of the Broadway is $4.3 million tion is expected to last t t uration o an
cally short supply The building will
c
o
n
stru
c
tio
n
,
approxim
ately
10
which includes a $1.6 million acqui
be renovated under the Downtown
sition and predevelopment loan ap­ months, and tenants will be assisted Housing Preservation Partnership
proved by PDC in 1992 Construction by N orthw est Pilot Project T he
(DHPP), a consortium of organiza­
will be financed through a variety of Broadway 's only commercial tenant.
tions formed in 1989 and dedicated to
Lotsa
Pasta,
has
renewed
its
lease
for
sources including PD C's loan of $2 6
the preservation of affordable SRO
million, a $100,000 State of Oregon five years, and will close temporarily
housing
the
City.
IlO
U M IIK in
111 U
» v v Central
u i u a i v.
» » j . Members
Housing Development Grant, and a during the renov ation under terms of arc PDC Central City Concern. Port-
$279.000 Affordable Housing Pro­ a compensation agreement.
land Metropolitan Chamber ofC om -
T he relocation w as possible
gram Grant from the Federal Home
mcrce, and HAP The Partnership has
Loan Bank of Seattle sponsored by w hen it became known that the
renovated 483 units of new low-in­
Security Pacific Savings Bank. $1.9 132-umt St. Francis was for sale
come
housing since its beginning.
million inequity is anticipated through and had a less than 30% occupancy
In the past DHPP has purchased
level
C
o
m
m
issio
n
er
K
a
fo
u
ry
’s
the syndication of federal Low-In­
and renovated vacant and dilapidated
come Housing Tax Credits and His­ office requested that PDC negotiate
buildings turning them into afford­
toric Tax Credits. Construction and the purchase of the St. Francis. PDC
able housing. The Partnership s two
permanent financing, which will ev en­ staff have negotiated a six-month pur­
most recent examples arc the 95-unit
tually reduce PD C's commitment, is chase option and, as with all DHPP
Sally McCracken Building and the
pending with Bank of America and projects, the actual purchaser of the 63-unit Shoreline Building. Preserva­
will allow PD C's tax increment funds property will be a non-profit organi­
tion of existing affordable units, like
to be used on other Commission zation.
those at the Broadway, are also in
“The
partnership
between
the
projects The project also expects an
Keeping w ith DHPP goals.
City,
PDC.HAP.
Northwest
Pilot
energy grant
for 1 $42.000 through ---
the —
I tit 11 1U
"How Can We Help You Buy A and other homeowners, w ho will share
Home” is the focus of a Wednesday information about loans, credit, dow n
June 2 public forum on affordable payments and the application Par­
housing. The meeting is spearheaded ticipants w ill be asked to fill out ques­
by the city’s Community Preservation tionnaires listing their biggest con­
aiid Development Department , to help cerns, and these will be analy zed and
low and moderate income people be­ ranked for discussion by the group.
The meeting is limited to 50 people
come homeowners.
The
m e l information
i u u r i l l a u v i t we
n v gather
g a u iv » will
»»»
The forum is the first step in
serve as the basis for development of
the city’s plan to help encourage plans and programs of inv estment in
dev elopment of new low -cost housing
the neighborhoods and will be shared
in V a n c o u v e r’s n e ig h b o rh o o d s
w uh local lenders, says Horowitz. “A
The plan calls for a public/priv ate
better understanding of the credit
p a rtn e rs h ip p ro g ra m th a t w ill
needs of Vancouver citizens is criti-
use Community Development Block
cal to developing a partnership be-
Gnint (CDBG) funds with.lender hinds,
tween lenders and the community.”
The
The goal
goal is
is to
to make
make home
home ow
ow nership
nership a a
The next step calls for the al-
reality for people who may think it is
ready-formed Community Reinv est-
out of reach, says Linda Horowitz,
ment Act Working Committee to meet
Vancouver City Council member.
The foruin is geared to educate w itli lenders to assess the most com
people about the entire home-buying moil problems confronted by lenders
process. Participants will leave the in prov iding loans for low-cost hous­
r
.
opportunity to discuss their questions ing. The committee will then dev clop
and concerns with city staff realtors a Community Investment plan It
Pacific Power Ranks Among
The Least In Utility Cost
Another nation-wide comparison
of inv estor-ow ned electric utility prices
ranks Pacific Power among the least
cost prov iders in the United States.
The N ational A ssociation of
Regulatory Utility Commissioners
(NARUC) conducted a survey of 184
investor-owned utility service areas in
the country. The results showed, for
the period between summer 1991 and
summer 1992. that Pacific Power in
Oregon ranked 11 onN A R U C 'slistof
the 25 least expensive utilities.
A study released in October by
the Edison Electric Institute revealed
similar results.
Pacific Power m anager Carl
Talton said despite a 3.2 percent in­
crease in the Consumer Price Index
over the 1991 -92 period, the company
continued to make good on a pledge
made five years earlier to keep prices
stable.
“Pacific Power is strongly com­
mitted to cost control. We’ve worked
very hard to find every possible dollar
of savings, while maintaining good
customer service.” Talton said.
Pacific has taken steps, including
acquisition o f low-cost energy re­
sources, ensuring the company will
remain a low-cost providcrof electric­
ity and that future prices will remain
competitive over the long term. Those
resources include conserv ation, as w ell
as inexpensive southwest thermal
power resources and transmission.
Talton added that there arc pres­
sures outside Pacific's control that
may force northwest utilities to raise
prices later this year. He is particu­
larly concerned about the impact of
the
B o n n e v ille
Pow er
Administration’s proposed rate in­
crease, saying it could affect local
customers .
The NARUC report also pointed
out that utilities which prov ide energy
efficiency programs for their custom­
ers help those customers lower their
overall energy bill.
"The real cost of energy can be
found in the final bill, not just in the
kilowatt-hour price” said Talton. "Pa­
cific provides twill low prices and
aggressiv e energy efficiency programs.
So, customers w ho participate in our
programs can make an already low-
priced product an exceptionally good
deal.”
tv
Kafoury To Announce
Major Housing
Development
City Com m issioner G retchen
Kafoury will hold a press conference
on Thursday , June 10th at 12 noon at
the St. Francis Hotel, located at 1110
SW 11th At the conference, Kafoury’
will announce the details of a City
engineered deal to secure the St.
Francis as low-income housing. The
building will play a key role in allevi­
ating a growing housing crisis down­
town, and will be used first as tempo­
rary housing for the tenants of the
Broadway Hotel who will have to be
relocated for the summer.
A fter the p ress co nference,
Kafoury and Susan Emmons, Execu­
tive Director of the Northwest Pilot
Project, will host a celebration for the
tenants of the Broadw ay Hotel
The City of Portland has secured
and preserved the St. Francis Hotel as
permanent affordable housing for low-
income, poor and homeless people.
Come join us in a celebration.
T H E
be served.
PORTLAND OBSERVER
"The Eyes and Ears ol the CommunilY'
O ffic e : (503) 2B0-0033
Fax U: (503)200-0015
New & used books
on Business, Music,
& African-American
Studies
POWELL’S
CITY OF BOOKS
9 am - i r pm M o n d a y th o u g h S atu rd ay
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U se d b o o k s b o u g h t every day till 8:30 pm
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M dvertise
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will contain action steps including
public education on low income hous­
ing and home ownership, and provid­
ing assistance with down payments
with CDBG funds.
The city’s “How Can We Help
You Buy a Home” forum has been
planned to help lenders develop a hous­
ing program
in compliance with the
.................
federal Community Reinvestment Act
(CRA). The Act requires banks and
savings and loan associations to help
meet community credit needs tnclud-
ing those of people who live in low and
moderate income neighborhoods,
The forum will be from 6 to 9 p.m.
at the Ft. Vancouver Community Lt-
brary, downstairs in Library Hall, 1007
E. Mill Plain Blvd. Refreshments will
228-4651
M
“Serving The Greater Northwest'1
R&T
PAINTING & WALLCOVERINGS
INTERIOR • EXTERIOR
__DEWEY TAYLOR II
Owner Operator
(503)282-5033
COMMERCIAL
• RESIDENTIAL
yjrw r*,
L
* INDUSTRIAL
Memorial Coliseum
Management Transition Begins
Oregon Arena Corporation an­
nounced first steps toward assuming
management of Memorial Coliseum
on July 1, including plans to hire 41
full time employees.
Last November, Oregon Arena
Corporation (OAC) and the City of
Portland signed a Dev elopment Agree­
ment to permit construction of a new
multi-million dollar sports and enter­
tainment complex. As part of that
Agreement, OAC was asked by the
City to take over management of Me­
morial Coliseum from the Metropoli­
tan Exposition and Recreation Com­
mission (MERC).
O A C s agreement with the City
included a commitment to give seri­
ous consideration to all MERC/Coli-
scuin employees who were interested
in employment with OAC. They also
committed to enter into a First Source
Agreement with the Portland Devel­
opment Commission (PDC) which
involves utilizing JobN ctasa primary
C
I l i p i U M A . recruitment
I V V . l U I U i w . 1 1 1 i resource
v a v w .v »
.
-
employee
PDC's
JobNctprogramisaconsortiumproject
involving many of the tri-county area
employment and training resources,
both public and private It was created
to assist new and expanding compa-
mes with job recruitment and hiring
* j j ;. ___ il., n OAC
a r agreed lA
Additionally,
to fni.
fol­
low the City's First Source program
hiring targets for 5()%of all new hires
to be residents of the City of Portland
30% of all new hires to be residents of
the inner North/Northcast Enterprise
N
nrth/N nrtheast residents
Nortli/Northeast
residents and
and th.
that
49% of the indiv iduals offered posi­
tions (20 of 41) are City of Portland
residents. “This means that we expect
to exceed the City's goal of 30% new
lures from the North/Northcast En­
terprise Zone and that we arc on
Zone
Over the last two months, OAC target when it comes to the percent­
has conducted interviews with all age of new hires who are Portland
Coliseum employees interested in residents,” stressed Williams.
“Our objectiv e was and will con­
employ ment w ith OAC. The corpora­
tinue
to be to hire the best available
tion also utilized JobNet through the
employees
for each position, said
six area State Employment Division
Williams
"I
wish we could have hired
offices and the NE workforce
everyone
who
applied for work, but
Center, according to Rudy Wil­
with
thousands
of applicants, I insure
liams. OAC Director of Human Re­
people can understand that we had
sources.
Two weeks ago, MERC issued some very tough decisions to make.
"In the long run, the 41 jobs
lay off notices to all current Coliseum
offers
wc arc extending - today reflect
employees. Today, , OAC
Vllipivjvva.
xz-.vz rcpiescnla-
—...........
live scheduled onc-on-onc meetings only a small portion of the total num
with all current Coliseum cmplovccs ber of new employment opportunities
who had gone through the OAC job that will result from theOregon Arena
application process ,0 advise each in- Project.” said Williams “Wc look
dividual of O A C's hiring plans
forward to working in partnership
More than 53% of the available with JobNet and feel that together wc
positions (22 out of 41) have been have made positive steps towards
offered to current Coliseum employ- honoring our commitments top the
ccs, according to Williams. He also City, to form er M ERC/Coliscum
noted that of the candidates referred employees and to our community,
by JobNet. 47% of the selected new especially inner Nortli/Norllieast Port­
hire candidates (7 of 15) arc inner land.”
w h ere sh e h elp s stu d en ts w ith their School Savin gs accounts
and in planning for th e future. In her d aily resp on sib ilities at
th e bank, Leona and her staff help adults w ith real loans for
higher education, rem odeling and hom e purchases. If you
i v u u j
• • t
■ v
At 8:30 a.m. each W ednesday, Leona Chin v isits local sch ools
,<< 4
have financial dream s, call Leona at (206) 487-6860. S h e’ll do
everyth in g p o ssib le to m ake them com e true.
T h a t’s Different. T hat’s W ash ington M utual.
An Equal Housing Lender
FDIC Insured
* • ♦ » M
» 43 * *
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