Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, March 13, 1996, Image 1

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Volume X X V I, Number 11
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Committed to cultural
diversity
See page A 7.
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Best Friends
“Buddies, " a new half-
hour comedy on ABC
features diversity on
grand scale.
Frank Bruno and Mike
Tyson are “trash talking. ”
Who will win Saturday’s
duel?
Tri-Met’s Westside Light-
Rail project passes hurdle
with a big check from the
federal government.
.-
March 13, 1096
Tyson-Bruno
Fight Looms
Westside Rail
Triumphs
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See Sports, page A6.
See Arts & Entertainment, page B2.
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V 250
——
_
Northeast Development Inches Ahead
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I ee P e r lm
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a n _______
____________________
Ians for a new grocery store and
a brew pub on Northeast 33rd
Avenue have m ade some
progress.
Griffey To Replace
Strickland
Seattle M ariner Ken Griffey Jr. has re­
placed Trail Blazer star Rod Strikland on a
dow ntow n Portland mural. N ike w hite­
washed the Strikland image last week and
then painted the Griffey depiction over the
weekend on the south facing wall o f the
G overnor Bui Iding at 408 S. W. Second Ave.
Before Strikland, former Blazer forward
Jerom e Kersey adorned the wall for Nike.
Dole Sweeps In
Primaries
Sen. B ob D ole erased any doubt that
h e ’s the leader o f the Republican candi­
dates for President by sw eeping to wins in
eight state prim aries last week. “ I think it’s
over. I think h e’s the nom inee,” said House
Speaker N ew t G ingrich, R-Ga. But on
Saturday, Pat Buchanan won the presiden­
tial preference vote in M issouri to show his
cam paign still has life.
Flood Help Put At
$1 Billion
Sen. M ark O. H atfield, R-Ore. last week
proposed $1 billion in federal disaster re
lie f to help the Pacific N orthw est and other
regions that have suffered devastating
floods and storm s this winter. Ifapproved,
the am ount w ould m atch the disaster relief
after M ount St. H elens erupted in 1980.
Roger Staver, United G ro c ers’ d ev elo p ­
ment director, recently told C oncordia N eigh­
borhood A ssociation that a piece has fallen
into place for the creation o f a new T hriftw ay
g ro c e ry o n N o rth e a st 3 3 rd A v e n u e at
K illingsw orth Street.
The retail grocery cooperative has been
seeking a new , expanded store on the site
since the old W ilshire Park T hriftw ay closed
in the sum m er o f 1994. A m ajor stum bling
block has been a required zone change for
part o f the site.
In 1993, as part of the A lbina Com m unity
Plan, the city rezoned a satellite parking lot to
residential use.
City officials now say the action was a
mistake but, to reverse the process. United
Grocers would have to meet the city’s No Net
Loss Housing Policy. This would mean rezon­
ing land elsew here in Portland to replace the six
housing units that could be built on the lot.
A fter a y ear o f searching, U nited G rocers
found a way.
H O ST C om m unity D evelopm ent, a non­
profit agency that specializes in building
below m ark et rate houses for first-tim e
hom eow ners, is seeking som e zone changes
for a developm ent in St. Johns near N orth
C olum bia B oulevard.
A ccording to Ted G ilbert o f H O ST, they
will rezone land designated for open space to
residential use and increase the allow ed d en ­
sity o fan o th e r parcel. Last year HO ST agreed
A WOrker surveys the site o fth e Proposed new Thriftway store on Northeast 33rd Avenue. Phoiöby Mark Washington.
to link its project to the United G rocers
application.
N ow , Staver and G ilbert say, H O ST is
ready to subm it its application, allow ing the
T hriftw ay project to m ove forward.
This is not the sto re’s only hurdle. They also
need to close Northeast Emerson Street be­
tween 33rd and 34th avenues, and the Portland
Office o f Transportation, which reviews such
requests, is not enthusiastic about the idea.
Last A ugust, at a pre-application co n fer­
Habitat Completes
19th Home
Portland Habitat for Humanity celebrat­
ed the com pletion o f their 19th hom e Satur­
day. The home is located at 1503 N.E.
Holman. Construction was sponsored by the
Portland Rotary Club and Neil Kelly De­
signers. Habitat for Humanity plans to build
six additional homes in northeast Portland
this year for low-income families.
P r o m ise K ing
t was hard for Claudia L.
Webster ofthe Oregon Depart­
ment of Human Resources not
to be grim at last month’s statistics on
HIV\AIDS.
'W '-
I
If anything, W ebster w ho heads the state
HIV education program , is m ore frightened
about the degree o f risks faced by people o f
color.
Figures reveal a very gloom y picture o f
rising AIDS cases am ong ethnic com m uni­
ties in M ultnom ah County.
W hile AID S cases am ong w hites shrinks
from 85 percent o f the cases in 1994 to 84
percent cases in 1995, the disease affecting
people o f color rises from 15 percent in
1994 com pared to 16 percent last year.
I n test i ng pregnant women for HIV, hea Ith
officials found the virus was present in 7 out
o f 1,455 cases am ong people o f color. For
the w hite population, the cases o f HIV
am ong pregnant females was 3 out o f 13 ,3 0 1.
O f the 2 ,2 14 w ho died from the virus in
M ultnom ah C ounty, 249 o f them were peo­
ple o f color
W ebster says that is alarming considering
the fact that the minority population consists
Journeyman
electrician Ron
Coffman and
apprentice Renee
We nee install
conduit at the
future community
center for Self
Enhancement,
Inc.
OSU Students
Boycott Classes
A series o f racial incidents has led to
boycott o f classes at O regon State U niver­
sity. The Black Students o f O regon State
U niversity announced the one-day boycott
last week in hopes o f reducing racial ten­
sions on the C orvallis cam pus and creating
a better atm osphere for learning.
PDX Growth Sets
Record
SEI Lays Foundation
C
onstruction of a new communi­
ty center for Self Enhancement,
Inc. is now in the foundation
stages.
Portland International A irport set a
record for the m onth o f January w hen it
posted an 11 percent gain in passengers
this year. Special airline fares offered dur­
ing the month accounted for the growth
w hich m ore than offset canceled and de­
layed flights due to the poor w eather, ac­
cording to airport officials.
based on reactions at previous m eetings, but
a num ber o f hom eow ners on N ortheast 34th
Avenue are strongly opposed. D espite this,
Staver says. United G rocers already has about
40 percent o f the signatures it needs, and is
confident o f getting the rest.
" I f we d id n 't think w e could build this, we
w ouldn’t have stuck with it so long,” Staver
said. “As much as I detest a tw o-year wait to
▼
Continued to page B4
AIDS Statistics Raise
New Fears For Minorities
“Cow” Arrested At
Convention
Animal rights activists interrupted a con­
vention in Portland last w eek o f the N orth­
w est M eat Processors at the A irport H oli­
day Inn. D ressed as a “cow ” , Peter Young,
20, Seattle, sprung from under a table
during the conference and chanted “meat
is m urder,” for 40 m inutes. Y oung was
finally arrested by Portland police.
ence, traffic engineer Ken Lindm ark told
Staver, "M y prelim inary recom m endation
w ould be for denial. This m eets so few o f our
criteria.”
D espite this, Staver said, “The city says it
w o n ’t approve this, but if you give them a
good reason why they should, th ey 'll listen.”
I hey do need to obtain signatures o f ap ­
proval from tw o-thirds o f property ow ners
within 400 feet o f th e street. The neighbor­
hood as a w hole seem s to support the store.
The facility at 3920 N. Kerby, is being
build on the form er site U nthank Park, land
donated from the Portland Bureau o f Parks
and Recreation.
SEI is a non-profit organization dedicated
to helping inner-city youth achieve success
by choosing positive options to drugs, gangs
and crime. SEI counselors, coaches and teach­
ers w ork to help students im prove grades and
attendance, build self-esteem and create ca-
O
93%
reer opportunities.
The general contractor for the new facility
is D rake G eneral Contractors. Electrical work
is being done as a com m unity service by
C hristenson Electrical, a local m em ber o fth e
N ational E lectrical C ontractors A ssociation
and the International Brotherhood o f E lectri­
cal W orkers.
“This center is gong to be a real boon to our
c o m m u n ity ,” s a id O m a r S h a b a z z ,
C hristianson foreman. “ W e’re proud to be
part o f helping make it real.
The center is scheduled to be com pleted in
Septem ber.
0
93%
0
91%
0
91%
o fo n ly 14.7 percent ofth e county population
A frican-A m ericans account for 12 per
cent o f the total U.S. population and repre
sent m ore than 32 percent o fa ll AIDS cases
according to Dr. M. Keith Raw lings, a Port
land physician.
N ational statistics estim ate that one in 33
black men, aged 27 to 39 are HIV infected
T he figures equally show the disease as the
leading cause o f death am ong white m ales
T he virus has never been an exclusively
gay disease. A bout 52 percent o f fem ale
AID S carriers in M ultnom ah County are
heterosexuals. O verall, people o f color now
account for 50 percent o f a l l AID S cases
am ong w om en and children.
It is on this prem ise that the M ulticultural
H IV /A ID S A lliance o f O regon was born
The m ission o f the organization is to devel
op, m aintain and advocate for com petent
culturally-appropriate HIV prevention and
health service delivery system s.
W ebster said the alliance will represent
A fric a n -A m e ric a n s, H isp an ic s/L a tin o s
A m erican Indians, A sian-A m ericans, Pa
cific Islanders, newly arriving im m igrants
international students and oth er racial/m i
nority populations living in the state.
0
90%
White
0
86%
0
87%
0
85%
0
84%
This Graph shows AIDS affecting people o f color have doubled over the
past seven years, while for the white population it has dipped from 93
percent u f th e c a s e s in 1987 to 84 percent last year.
14%
7%
♦
'87
9%
10%
♦
__0—-
9%
▼
0
88
'89
*90
'91
7%
♦
13%
♦
15%
♦
16%
♦
People of Color
■92
'93
‘94
'95
R
EDITORIAL
A2
HEALTH
HOUSING
SPORTS
A4
A5
A6
ENTERTAINMENT
B2
RELIGION
CLASSIFIEDS
B3
B5