Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, August 02, 1995, Image 1

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    Volume XXV, Number 3 1
Committed to cultural d
Ready For Jazz!
August
Join In Celebrating Our
Roberta Flack will sparkle
for the 14 th Annual Mt.
Hood Festival o f Jazz.
Adieu Little
Princesses
The Portland Rose Festival
ends a 60-year tradition.
See Metro, inside.
See Metro, inside.
£ B nrtíanh ffîbseruer
WEEK
Americans Want
Packwood Hearings
Striking up a tune on the
Portland Community College
campus in north Portland are
Brandon Lincoln (from left),
Tiffany Grundy, Jaime Miller
and Mario Duke. The quartet
is part of the 128 students
enrolled in this summer's
Cultural Pecreation Band.
A New York Times poll found that
Americans support public hearings on the
Bob Packwood misconduct charges by a 2-
to-l margin. Asked whether the Senate
should hold “public hearings to investigate
allegations o f sexual harassment’’ against
Packwood, 60 percent said yes and 30
percent said no. The times also reported
that contributions to Packwood’s legal de­
fense fund dropped dramatically in the last
reporting period.
Katz Seeks Spirited
Portlanders
Mayor Vera Katz is seeking nomina­
tions for the 1995 Mayor’s Spirit o f Port­
land Awards. The awards will honor indi­
viduals or groups who have assisted with
implementing outstanding projects, en­
riched the community and neighborhoods,
provided citizens with special service or
fulfilled the needs o f others.
Portland Housing Prices Soar
Oregon Inmates To
Move
Oregon prison officials are preparing a
massive program to send 1,200 inmates to
other states to ease prison overcrowding.
Most o f the inmates would be sent to a
county jail in Texas where officials have
agreed to house them for about $35 a day. I
M ilitia Movement
Denounced
I
i
The militia movement threatens the
very fabric o f a democratic society and
Republicans should completely disassoci-l
ate themselves from the radical extremists
who threaten the viability ofthe party, Rep
Peter King, R-N. Y., wrote in the Washing­
ton Times last week. King said Republi­
cans have the duty to denounce the militias
and the paranoid and misguided thinking
that sustains them.
United Fund Accepts
Proposals
The Black United Fund o f Oregon is
now accepting proposals for its general
purpose grants program. A series o f $5,000
allotments will be made to community-
based groups or programs serving low-
income people in the areas o f economic i
development, education, health, human ser­
vices, arts and culture, and social justice.
For more information contact the Black
United Fund o f Oregon at 282-7973.
Pioneer Square Sells
Bricks
Pioneer Courthouse Square is selling
new “signature” bricks to be installed along
the Morrison and Yamhill sidewalks ofthe
square as Tri-Met completes its retro-fit for
the Westside light rail lines. Each brick
will cost $50 and can contain 24 characters.
To order call 223-1718
Medicare Marks 30th
Anniversary
Events were held over the weekend to
celebrate the 30th anniversary o f medicare.
Before passage o f Medicare, only 50 percent
of Americans were covered by health insur­
ance; today, 97 percent of senior citizens are
covered. Before medicare, 38 percent of
older Americans lived in poverty, today that
number is only 13 percent Said the Presi­
dent, “I’m not going to let the government
mess around with your Medicare.”
by
M ichael L eighton
ortland's housing prices are
skyrocketing and that’s no
joke.
P
Experts are saying that as the price o f
real estate goes up, it takes more savings and
financial resources to buy. And that can hurt
the percentage o f owner-occupied homes.
The upsurge, according to Howard Nolte,
executive director o f Home Ownership a
Street at a I ime or HOST, is because more
people are moving to Portland and sellers are
getting higher prices for their properties.
And, migration in the coming years is
not expected to let up, with an estimated
700,000 to a million new residents expected
in the tri-county area
Nolte observed that the wild leaps in
housing costs are squeezing out potential
buyers.
He said hundreds of people are pushed
out o fthe market with just a $5,000 increase
in the price o f a house.
Howard
Nolte
But “on the flip o f the ci
if you're renting, your rents
Forgotten War
Remembered
resident Clinton, dedicating
the new Korean War Veterans
M em orial, said that the
Americans who fought in that war set
a “standard of courage” for all
generations.
P
I hey set a standard of courage that may
be equaled but never surpassed in the annals
o f American combat,” Clinton said at the
outdoor ceremonv last w e e k th a t d r e w
A fax line now buzzes
at Humboldt
Elementary School as
demonstrated by
students and
Principal Laverne
Davis. This spring,
the school
participated in a Hose
Scholar essay
contest sponsored by
Pacific Power and
won the machine in a
drawing. “Supporting
education is a top
priority for Pacific
Power, ” said Don
Shaw, a Pacific
Power manager in
northeast Portland.
the scant attention given its warriors in the
United States, said “their sacrifices were not
in vain.”
I le said the conflict has been transformed
'from a forgotten war into a war most worthy
o f remembrance.”
Authorized by Congress in 1986, the
funds for the $18 million memorial were
raised through the sale o f commemorative
coins.
The stone and metal memorial includes
the likeness o f a weary group o f 19 GIs
wearing ponchos as they go on patrol. It
stands on the west end o fthe
Washington Mall, across from the a
memorial to those who served in the Vietnam
War.
ENTERTAINMENT
4
up, which makes the fixed cost o f a housing
Woodlawn, Portsmouth and St Johns
payment attractive.
Nolte is a Portland native who left a 22-
HOST is a non-profit organization that
year career as a television sales executive to
has been building affordable new homes in
take up the reigns at HOST.
north and northeast Portland for the past five
He said his father worked in the ship­
years. Most o f the properties are on vacant
yards during World War II and recruited
lots. They target streets and neighborhoods
many African Americans to work in the city.
for revitalization.
Nolte attended Grant High School and
“ We built this brand new home with
Femwood Elementary schools in northeast
1,350 square feet, 3 bedrooms and 1 and a
Portland.
half baths for $64,950,” he explains. It’s a
He said he later moved to the westside,
price private builders usually can’t touch.
but always had an affinity for northeast Port­
Currently, the group has launched the
land.
city's largest home construction project for
N olte’s concern for Urban decay has led
north and northeast Portland. It’s aim is put­
him to use his expertise to help others be­
ting more than 135 families in new houses
come home buyers.
over the next five years.
He shares in the jo y a fam ily experiences
1 hree o f its new housing developments
when they buy an affordable home. “The
are in Portland s poorest neighborhoods-
rewards o f this jo b are so great,” he said
SPORTS