August 17, 1994
Serving the community through cultural diversity'
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Bike Fair Teaches
Traffic Safety
Contact Lens Study
Starts
Festival Features
Sporting Events
North-South Rail Tax
Proposed
:Children pick up some tips on
safety and are given free helmets
during a traffic fair at a
neighborhood market.
See Metro, inside
Pacific University’s Family Vision
Center is recruiting patients for a
contact lens study.
Soccer, tennis and golf are part o f
Lake Oswego’s 3rd International
Festival.
Portland voters will decide if taxes
should help pay for new Max rail
line.
See Vancouver, Page B2
See Sports, Page B3
See Health, Page A 5
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New Bank Proposed For N/NE
Plan Would Boost Lending To Inner Portland Residents
apital is being raised to open a
community bank to make
loans to residents and
businesses of North and Northeast
Portland.
C
Jaguar Reports
Increases In Black
S taffin g
In response to a national outcry from
African Americans over its internal poli
cies for hiring, upgrading, having black-
owned dealerships and using black sup
pliers, Jaguar Cars o f America president
Michael Dale says that, “some eight per
cent of Jaguar’s U.S.’s management is
now African American, up from zero at
the time o f the change o f management
(purchased by Ford Motor Co.) o f Jaguar
U.S. in 1990. Moreover, these statistics
need to be placed against the fact that
during the same period, Jaguar U.S. over
all headcount was being reduced by 38
percent to improve our cost competitive
ness. It may be argued that there remains
room for further progress, but the direc
tion is strongly positive.” Dale says that
the number of dealers has been reduced
leaving very little opportunity for new
dealer recruitment. He also said that he is
“Personally concerned and sensitive” to
the broader context of increasing African
Americans’ involvement with his com
pany.
Health Care Reform
A coalition of black health care pro
fessionals have initiated a full-scale pro
gram to su p p o rt having P resident
Clinton’s health care plan passed with the
universal health care provision included.
The grass-roots organization comprised
of over 20 black groups supports Senator
Edward Kennedy’s Senate Bill and says:
"Health care reform is a matter o f life and
death for many African Americans be
cause they die at a higher rate from pre
ventable diseases than other American.”
Their report says that most o f the current
problems o f black health can be cured
with better health program. They say
approximately 55 percent blacks are
uninsured or underinsured and over three
and a half million blacks work but have
no health care insurance. They also re
port that: African American infants are
twice as likely as white infants to die
before their first birthdays; African
American men are less likely to receive
bypass surgery than white men, even
though heart disease is the number one
killer o f black men and breast cancer is
the leading killer of black women be
tween the ages o f 15 and 54 and cervical
cancer is the number two killer o f African
American women between the ages o f 15
and 34.
The bank would be m odeled after
Chicago’s SouthShore Bank, a financial in
stitution which helped revitalize depressed
parts o f Chicago. SouthShore is considered
one of the most successful development banks
in the country.
Leon C. Smith is the chief executive
officer of the venture, called Northeast Port
land Community Bancorp., which currently
has an office at PacifiCorp Financial Ser
vices, 825 N.E. Multnomah St.
“We’re optimistic, committed to mak
ing it happen and in as good as a position as
any bank has seen,” Smith said.
The bank would follow the SouthShore
model by offering loans to borrowers who
otherwise have trouble getting credit be
cause of past credit troubles or other prob
lems.
Smith said his goal is to invigorate North
and Northeast Portland neighborhoods be
yond a stereotype o f abandoned businesses
and dilapidated houses.
Currently, the area suffers from low
mortgage lending. As an example home loans
to North/Northeast neighborhoods occurs at
just 61 percent o f the city as a whole, Smith
said. And in the inner-city neighborhoods of
King, Vernon, Piedmont, Humboldt, Sabin
and Boise, that drops to 35 percent.
Another problem shows up when look
ing at lending to blacks. The African Ameri
can population has only 0.7 percent of the
business loans made, while accounting for
7.5 percent of the city’s population.
The new bank would reduce its lending
risks by relying on government guarantees
and grants.
Smith was named the chief executive
officer after a national search. He was for
merly CEO of Seattle’s Emerald City Bank
and served at SeaFirst in Seattle and in bank
ing positions in Boston and Chicago.
He said the new bank has about $2
million in capital from the settlement of a
lawsuit between PacifiCorp and several other
groups. PacifiCorp was sued by environ
mentalists for its use of ratepayer money in
recovering losses on two nuclear plant
projects.
The bank is trying to raise another $4
million through a public offering this fall.
Francene Grewe (left) and Patricia Beckman outside a Northeast Portland home advertised for sale. A federal housing
program now provides no-interest loans as down payments for first-time home buyers.
Bankers Promote Home Loans For Inner-City
by
M ichael L eighton
People who thought they couldn’t buy
a house because they don’t have the
down payment are getting help.
Under a program called Project Down
Payment, a first-time home buyer can buy a
house in many o f Portland’s inner-city neigh
borhoods with a minimum $ 1,000 cash pay
ment towards the purchase.
The program offers zero-interest loans
on down payment and closing costs and
market-rate loans, currently at about 8 per
cent interest, on the mortgage.
For many people, that means they can
invest in a home at the same cost or even less
money than renting.
Almost any bank participates in the fed
eral program. but N orwest Mortgage ’ s L loyd
Center branch has been out promoting the
project.
“We want to help people get into a house
before they lose hope," said Francene Grewe,
N orw est branch m anager. Grewe said
Norwest is committed to helping revitalize
and stabilize Portland’s inner city and has
contributed $48,000 to the project.
She said home owners tend to make
neighborhoods more stable, safer from crime
and take better care of their properties.
Project Down Payment is great for single
mothers or families who have no savings for
closing costs, but can afford monthly pay
ments, Grewe said.
The loans are targeted for households
with incomes at 20 percent below Portland s
average medium income, which would be
$33,850 a year for a family of four.
Fifty percent of the funds are set aside
School Offices
Open Thursday
For Student
Registration
Chavis Fails To S e ttle
Suit
An attempt by NAACP Executive
Director Benjamin Chavis to settle a sex
discrimination suit against him has ap
parently backfired. First, Mary E. Stansel,
the woman who threatened the suit backed
out of a settlement and filed the com
plaint. Then Chavis drew criticism when
it was learned he offered to pay Stansel
$322,000 not to file the suit.
for minorities.
Participants must also have lived in the
program’s targeted neighborhoods for six
months. These neighborhoods include all of
North Portland and most of inner-Northeast
and inner-Southeast Portland.
Another requirement is that applicants
attend a home buyer class offered by the
Portland Housing Center, a non-profit
agency.
Income, debts, credit history, employ
ment and savings are reviewed to develop
house purchase plans and become pre-quali-
fied for a home purchase. Initial paperwork
can be done at participating banks.
Grewe invites anyone who feels they
may qualify for the project to call her at 235-
1940. You may also contact the housing
center at 282-7744 or the Housing Authority
of Portland at 228-2178.
Clothing Drive, Health Clinic Scheduled
Caleb McGuire, 6, (left) and Malcom Barnum, 8, stack clothing at the Low Income Families Emergency Center
at 2746 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. In preparation of a clothing drive giveaway and free health
Immunization clinic to be held Aug. 27 at 10 a.m. at Peninsula Park Community Center, North Portland
Boulevard and Albina Avenue. SEE HEALTH, PAGE A5 INSIDE.
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EDITORIAL
HEALTH
HOUSING
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Principals and secretaries will be in all
Portland school offices beginning Thursday
(Aug. 18) between 8 am . and 4:30 p.m. to
handle new student registration and answer
questions from parents.
Parents wishing to enroll their children
in prekindergarten and kindergarten classes
must bring the child’s birth certificate and
immunization records to complete registra
tion. All new students in other grades must
have immunization records to register in
school.
Orientation sessions for freshmen and
other high school students are scheduled
before school officially begins on Sept 8
Parents and students can call their neighbor
hood school for orientation dates and times.
Teachers and counselors are scheduled
to return to schools Aug. 30 for planning.
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