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SECTION
The Death and Resurrection
Of light Rail, Part II,
by
I
Albina Community Bank welcomes investors, loan applicants, and community members to its
spacious new building on Martin Luther King Junior Blvd.
Your Personal Finance:
Money and the Sexes
B y C harles R oss
S pecial to the NN PA
In the never-ending battle of the sexes, a
survey of psychologists and researchers sug­
gests gender differences in the way men and
women view money.
Traditionally, men have been the breadw in­
ners, and so a man’s salary has been a scorecard
of his success. He feels it is a sign of his worth
and he strives to get more.
Women, on the other hand, tend to view their
salary as only one measure of professional
achievement, and are much less confident than
men about their long-term earning potential.
Women tend to emphasize job factors such as a
good boss or rewarding work rather than salary.
Although women now account for 46 percent of
the labor force, they still earn 26 percent less
than their male counterparts.
Impulse Buying
Cultural stereotypes usually depict women as
impulsive shopaholics, while men are viewed as
tight-fisted and sensible about spending. But,
according to a recent marketing research study,
fewer than a half of all men by their own clothing
and toiletries. On the other hand, more than four
out of five women take on the responsibilities.
Women seem to be expected to take care of the
family’s needs and thus may seem to be bigger
spenders.
Another study demonstrated that men and
women are identical in percentage when itcomes
to impulse buying. Women tend to treat them ­
selves and spend impulsively at a higher rate
than men in the first years of their careers, while
men are more impulsive later in life. Men are
also more likely than women to boast about the
amount of money spent on a car or house.
Saving Habits
Give the fact that on average, women outlive
their husbands by six years, and have almost a
50-50 chance that they will divorce, you might
think that they would be more eager to save. But
a recent study showed that women save only
about half of what men do.
Tradition seems to prevail that women de­
pend on men to provide for them. But the last
decade has brought about a change in the way
women view their work, in or out of the home,
and the way in which they control their money.
Many newlyweds have three bank accounts
- one joint and two separate accounts. It is not
wise to hide funds from your spouse because
this sets up barriers. Also, each spouse should
contribute to joint savings.
Taking Financial Risks
Many couples can see eye to eye on money
matters until it comes to investing. Most of the
time, men are more willing to take risks with
money than women. One reason is a m an’s
higher earning power, coupled with the fact
that overall women tend not to trust themselves
when it comes to finances.
A recent survey showed that 4 1 percent more
men than women said they knew how a mutual
fund works. Another study of high schoolers
found that men students arc almost twice as
likely as their female peers to consider them ­
selves very knowledgeable about money and
investments. In actuality, there is a little differ­
ence in knowledge between male and female
students.
For the most part, then, women tend to be
overly cautious about investments.
Borrowing Money
Money worries may have a couple on edge,
but chances are he’ll get more sleep at night
than she will.
A recent consumer study found that women
are more likely to than men to carry an unpaid
credit balance from month to month and have
more than $ 1,000 in credit card debt. But, when
it comes to big-ticket borrowing, such as a loan
for a small business or investment, women are
so risk-adverse that they often shun the oppor­
tunity to borrow.
This difference may be due to a lack of
confidence about their future earning power
and their ability to repay loans.
Men see large loans as a sign that they have
arrived, but are more apt to overextend them ­
selves and slower to admit the problem.
Men sleep much better because they tend to
sweep debt problems under the rug.
Charles Ross is host of the nationally syndi­
cated radio show, “Your Personal Finances,”
and author of “Your CommonSensc Guide to
Personal Financial Planning.’*
P rof . M c K inley B ir t
"A Streetcar named desire’ was a
long-running Broadw ay play by
famed Tennessee Williams. His mag­
nolia-drenched genre was that o f a
progressively decadent segment of
an earlier southern society.
However, there was nothing deca­
dent about a streetcar named "Ala­
bama". the plush. 800 horsepower,
90mph, light rail dreadnought built
in 1905 for the private use of H E .
Huntington, founder of the Los A n­
geles "Pacific Electric Com pany” .
Begun in 19(X). this huge, interurban
transit system was in its heyday the
world's largest, with a thousand miles
ot track connecting the city’s central
and downtown sections to suburban
bedrooms, industrial parks, regional
shopping centers and even to smal ler
port cities like San Diego.
Keep in mind that this fast, 'm od­
ern' system of urban transportation
was implemented in many American
and European cities almost A Hun­
dred Years Ago! As I reported last
week, Granville T. Wood, the super-
prolific black engineer began pat­
enting his "over90" Electro-Motive
Railway Systems back in 1888—the
year the American Catholic Tribune
of New York City pronounced him
"the greatest electrician in the
world.”
At the beginning of a ten-year
period spent in Los Angeles where
there were more opportunities in ac­
c o s tin g for an Africa American, I
often would ride one of the famous
"red cars” of the Pacific Electric Co.
to reach an outlying account. De­
pending on the lime of day or night,
this incredibly efficient people-mov­
ing system was like nothing so much
as a rocking-rolling, theater-in-the-
round, playing to comedy or trag­
edy, birth or death, and staging daily
impromptu concerts.
These American-made ‘red bul­
lets' were built by the same "St.
Louis Car Co." I cited last week (in
conjunction with "The Pullm an
Company”). And in the same man­
ner as their middle western counter­
parts, their incredible rate of accel­
eration made a believer of many an
unwary motorist - if they survived
the encounter.
The 'fun tim e’ was weekends
when the downtown office workers
and other commuters to suburban
concrete slabs were nowhere to be
found. The poor folks would take
over en masse. Strollers, bicycles
and shopping carts would come in
the back door while the motorman
was distracted.
Occasionally, on aSaturday night,
a happy, ribald throng of white, black
and Hispanic revelers would join
lorces to evict the operator and, mak­
ing no stops, clang their way through
every intersection from L.A. to Sail
Diego.
Man. I'd love to write a movie or
T V. script on that scenario on the
Los Angeles Red Line — “Big Red!”
But back to those more serious
and often tragic circumstances that
have directly proceeded from the
same voracious forces that trashed
A m erica's beautiful light rail sys­
tem. It was in my article of August
18, 1996, “Economic Development
- Criminal Justice Style" that I de­
plored the ruthless manipulation of
the urban renew al’ process to de­
stroy tens of billions of dollars in
minority - occupied inner-city prop­
erty — paving over the lives, dreams
and economys with freeways.
"The Smithsonian Journal O f His­
tory” series, "The Beginnings Of
M ass T ra n sp o rta tio n In U rban
America", (Parts 1 and II, 1966) has
depth and is insightful — but defi­
nitely will not document the key
roles played by A m erica's aulomo
bile and tire manufacturers and oil
companies in the thorough manner
o f investigation by James Howard
Kunlsler in 1993.
HisTouchstone publication. "The
Geography O f Nowhere: the rise
and Decline of America s Manmade
Landscape" details the deliberate
d ism a n tlin g and d estru ctio n of
A m erica's Mass Transit System be­
ginning in the 1930's, as leading
industries combined to build a limit­
less suburbia, helplessly dependent
on freeways and astronomical gas
consumption. There follows citations
for two very excellent reference
books for studying the development
of light rail in this country. Series
concluded next week.
A. Trolleycars. Streetcars, trams
and Trolleys o f North America, a
Photographic History” . A 1995 pub­
lication of Quintet Publishers Ltd;
London England . 128 pages of color
photos and detailed legends pbk.
ISBN 0-87938-979-9.
B “722 Miles: The Building Of
The Subways And How they T rans­
formed New York," Clifton Hood,
the Johns Hopkins Press, 1993. A
par excellence account with copious
chapter notes. 333pp. ISBN0-8OI8-
5 2 4 4 -7 (pbk)
Mildred Ollee's lifelong journey
By Bonnie Darves
Portland Community College
As a yo u n g A frican-A m erican girl
growing up in Louisiana, M ildred Ollce was
taught early on that the world was hers to
discover freely and — if she chose — to con­
quer. The messages from her family were: “You can be
whatever you want to be. D o n ’t let anyone hold you
back. D o n ’t engage in the politics of hate; life’s too
short.”
Those messages served her well enough when she
was growing up in a separated com m unity, while she
was living what she recalls as “a very protected life.”
Ironically, it was not until Ollee, executive dean of
P C C ’s Cascade campus, left the South and headed west
that she encountered the full force of what she terms
“the black tax” — the extra weight minorities carry.
She and her husband had just moved to a small
southeastern W ashington com m unity, Walla Walla,
which in the 1960s was an almost entirely white com ­
m unity, A wom an had called to invite Ollee to a N ew ­
comers Club meeting, and offered to pick her up. W hen
the woman arrived at the door and saw that Ollee was
black, she turned around, walked back to her car, and
left.
“I was shocked, of course, but the m ore I thought
about it the m ore I decided that I really should go,” said
Ollee. She went to the meeting, determ ined to take ad­
vantage of the invitation that had been extended to her.
“I had been brought up believing that you d o n ’t give in
to that kind of small-mindedness. I continued to go to
the meetings and eventually I made some friends, be­
came accepted in the com m unity.”
In some ways, D r. Ollee says, that experience —
and her decision to act on what she believed — formed
the basis for some of the philosophical principles that
continue to guide her endeavors.
It’s a philosophy that unfolds in bold statements
and m etaphors which, as she utters them w ith her char­
acteristic enthusiasm , sound fresh. She talks about her
lifetime com m itm ent to democracy, diversity and lib­
eral learning. She says educators must be willing to “step
over the edge” in teaching diversity and that higher ed
in s titu tio n s s h o u ld be “liv in g la b o r a to r ie s ” fo r
m ulticultural education. She speaks of P C C ’s Cascade
Cam pus as a “beacon shining brightly.” She is unw a­
vering in her belief that education is the most inspiring
and hopeful of hum an endeavors.
“I think everyone wants to be com petent, success­
ful. At com m unity colleges, we play a role in creating
that competence and helping people build on their suc-
“The message is: We welcome
you, but we have standards.”
cesses,” says Ollee, w ho also runs P C C O pen Cam pus
programs. “We are the dem ocratic p a n of higher edu­
cation. O u r doors are open.”
Ollee believes the “open d o o r” policy is not ex­
tended w ithout expecta­
tio n s — th a t s tu d e n ts
com ing to the co m m u ­
nity college must be will­
ing to meet the objectives
of the institution. “T he
message is: We welcome
you, but we have stan­
dards,” she said.
Since she arrived in
Portland a year ago, Ollee
has been w orking to ex­
tend Cascade’s welcome
mat to the com m unity at
large. She has been on a
fast track in this regard, Mildred Ollee
tireless in her efforts to
strengthen the cam pus’ ties w ith the com m unity. She
has staged meetings w ith N ortheast Portland com m u­
nity leaders — both business and governm ent — and
has solicited input through focus groups, with an eye
to plotting Cascade’s future direction.
She has come away from these meetings w ith a
strong sense not only of the cam pus’ historical role but
a growing understanding of where it ought to be headed.
“I’m w orking to identify the unique mission of Cas­
cade in the immediate and broader com m unity.” She
believes Cascade has made great strides in the cultural
diversity arena, but she stresses that it has “farther to
go” in expanding its ethnic representation.
“I would like to see all ethnic groups better repre­
sented on ou r campus. We have m any w onderful pro­
grams here. We just need to get the w ord o u t,” said
Ollee.
Reprinted with permission from CommuniTies, thecommu
nity newspaper o f Portland Community College.
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