O ctober 23, 1996 • T in P or h a n d O bserver
P age B 4
Historic preservations and urban tribulations
b \
P rof . M< K im
ex
B i rt
How do you locate ’African Amer
ican Historic Places’?
No problem! Just get in a cab at
the airport o f almost any major city
and tell the driver, "take me to City
Center!”
Some would say, “surely, you
jest?” and others’ equally uncompre
hending, would refer you to a partic
ular publication o f the National Trust
For Historic preservation, African
American Historic Places’. It is not
the case that this 623 page, excellent
ly designed guide doesn’t live up to
the promises o f its front pieces: “The
buildings, sites, districts, structures,
and objects in this volume are among
the 62,000 listed in the National
Register o f Historic Places' to date”
(1994).
The National Trust describes its
mission with enthusiasm. “ the only
private, nonprofit organization char
tered by Congress to encourage pub
lic participation in the preservation’
o f sites, buildings and objects signif
icant in American culture and histo
ry... an appreciation o f the diverse’
character o f our American cultural
heritage and preserves and revitaliz
es the livability o f our communities
by leading the nation in saving Amer
ica’s historic environments."
What you say! Lord, that sounds
good, but there is a fundamental prob
lem This program, as well-meaning
and as helpful as it is, was initiated in
1966 by Congress through the Na
tional Park Service (Dept o f the In
terior). By that time, as you well
know, president Lyndon Johnson's
"Great Society, Model Cities and
Urban Renewal (Removal) were gain
ing more momentu n by the day.
Across America, inner-cities better
known then as “ghettoes”, the princi-
pal habitat o f the nation’s 'N egroes’
(sic), were being transformed into
"City Centers."
As street cars and light rail disap
peared -- along with key African
American economic and social struc
tures ( and much else worthy o f pres
ervation) -- the ubiquitous 'transit
malls’ were brought on stage to ac
commodate the long queues o f noisy,
smelly, gas-burning buses. As I recit
ed here last month, access to a glori
ous, smog-free suburbia was imple
mented by applying acres o f con
crete to the hope, dreams and futures
o f millions o f hyphenated Ameri
cans.
I will always remember a time at
the university when my office was in
the ‘Urban Studies’ building. The
time was the early 1970’s and I en
countered a book which contained
key passages that I remember to this
day; “Urban Renewal: People Poli
tics And Planning”, Bellush and
H ausenecht, A nchor Books ed.,
1967. One particular passage had
special significance for me since I
had moved to Los Angeles during
the critical years o f urban “removal”
in Portland — returning to find a
Wells Fargo donates
for development
Wells Fargo announced two ma
jo r grants to non-profit community
organizations at news conferences
held in Eugene and Roseburg, both
on Sept. 17.
The bank donated $13,391 for
English as a second language class
es in Eugene, and gave $20,000 to
boost economic developm ent in
Douglas County.
Here are the details:
E ugene— The classes are the re
sult o f a partnership between St.
Vincent de Paul Society, Centro
l.atino Americano, Lane Commu
nity College, Centro de Fe and the
neighboring community. The free
classes are offered three times a
week year round during the day,
even free childcare, snacks and
transportation are provided.
In addition to English, class par
ticipants also learn basic life skills,
including how to read bus sched
ules, how to interact with school
administrators and teachers, how
to write a check, how to use the
telephone and how to read a utility
bill.
The class schedule was created
for Hispanic women who can not
attend other local ESL classes that
take place in the evening and have
limited child care available, said
Alysia Strand, St. Vincent de Paul
Society’s Housing Programs coordi
nator.
“The Eugene and Springfield pop
ulation is 5.6 percent Hispanic and o f
the adults in that group, 80 percent
have difficulty reading and writing
English,” said Strand, quoting statis
tics from the Eugene/Springfield
1995 Consolidated Plan. “The ma
jority o f this 80 percent are females
with children, who also have limited
opportunities to practice speaking
English.”
The classes began recently with
18 Hispanic women participating,
most o f whom are from Eugene.
Childcare is being provided to about
20 children through this program.
Organizers anticipate that up to 60
women will eventually participate in
the classes, which continue the rest
o f the year.
R o seb u rg —The $20,000 grant
was made to the non-profit Umpqua
C om m unity D evelopm ent C orp.
(CDC) for its Microloan Program.
The program lends amounts o f up to
$5,000 each to Douglas County en
trepreneurs who have no other ac
cess to capital to start or expand a
business.
“ We support the Microloan Pro
gram because it does more than just
make loans,” said Bill llubel. Wells
Fargo Southern Oregon district man
Voters react to
Dole’s attacks
Just as he feared, voters seem to be reacting badly to
Republican Bob Dole’s decision to denigrate President
Bill C linton's ethical standards, according to polling data
and voter interviews.
Dole, who trails Clinton by a wide margin two weeks
before the Nov. 5 election, hesitated for months before
deciding to unleash the “character issue” because o f
concerns it might offend voters and reinforce his own
image as a hatchet-man.
Since he went on the attack last week in a speech listing
what he called a litany ot C linton's ethical transgressions,
he has seen his position in the race erode even further. Two
polls released on Tuesday put him more than 20 percent
age points behind the Democratic president.
In a New York I imes poll, 63 percent o f respondents
said Dole was spending more time attacking Clinton than
explaining what he would do as president, a 13 point
increase over those reporting the same unfavourable im
pression last week.
Only 19 percent thought Clinton was spending more
time on attacks than policy explanations, even though his
campaign has in fact run many negative advertisements
about Dole.
Another survey by the Pew Research Centre earlier this
month asked if Dole had been too personally critical o f
Clinton. Fifty three percent said he had, 40 percent said no.
Only 21 percent said Clinton had been too personally
critical o f Dole, while 70 percent disagreed.
Interviews with voters who took part in a Reuters
survey showed even Republicans were turned o ff by
Dole's tactics.
"D ole's campaign has been absolutely horrible,” said
Michael W illiams. a recently retired oil company manager
from Amarillo, lexas, who said he would nevertheless
vote tor the Republican nominee.
“He seems to be throwing mud, which is what the
middle class is not looking for. They want specific an
swers to specific problems. I wouldn’t be surprised ifD ole
loses by a landslide,” Williams said.
Henry Engle, a dairy worker from Evart, Michigan,
said much the same, although he too plans to vote for Dole.
“Dole’s campaign has been quite negative. He has been
extremely personal. I don't like the advertising I'm see
ing,” Engle said.
Warren Wise, a teacher from North Canton, Ohio, and
another Dole backer, said the decision to go negative near
the end o f the campaign made it look as if he was
panicking
ager who is based in Medford. “This
program also trains the loan recipi
ent in the skills necessary to make
the business a success and follows
them through every step o f the way
until the new business can stand on
its own.”
M ike F oglia, W ells F a rg o ’s
retail banking sen io r vice p re s
ident and m arket area m anager,
p resented the check, along with
S utherlin B ranch M anager Bob
L ew is, who serves as the v o lu n
teer chair o f the U m pqua CD C
board o f d ire c to rs.
The CDC was formed in April
19 9 1 to provide affordable housing
and economic development oppor
tunities for the families o f Douglas
County, Lewis explained.
The Microloan Program, creat
ed in 1994, was initially capitalized
partly through a $ 10,000 grant from
First Interstate Bank and has assist
ed about eight area businesses ,to
date.
Through its Charitable Contri
butions Program, Wells Fargo Bank
seeks to invest in the communities
in which it does business.
The company has committed to
donating a total of $300 million
over the next 10 years to deserving
community organizations in the 10
states in which it does business.
concrete desert where nostalgia
should have reigned.
"All individuals with in a commu
nity have the necessary prerequisites
or resources for effective participa
tion regardless oftheir location with
in the structure o f the community.
We intend to analyze the validity o f
this assumption, and then - to antic
ipate our conclusion-discuss some
implications o f the ideology o f citi
zen participation for planners and
the planning process."
I immediately thought, "are these
folks serious, l've talked with dozens
o f old friends who were property
owners (before the removal) and,
because o f my years o f accounting
experience quickly was able to deter
mine that they were not paid any
where near the true economic worth
o f their properties - for the most
part " And the same economic short
fall applied in the case of the African
American property owners who were
“urban renewed” by the Emanuel
Hospital project "
Here, and overly-ambitious, multi
layered development plan to be fund
ed through the Federal “Taylor Act"
was still-born -- instead o f upscale
high rise apartments and business
opportunities which the displaced
could not have afforded in any case,
the city was left w ith acres o f aban
doned, drug culture-infected build
ings and residences which resem
bled nothing so much as a war-torn
area o f V ietnam, o f course, there was
the same loss of tax revenues as
occurred with the MLK/Union Ave.
debacle.
Next week we will closely exam
ine this concept o f community par
ticipation (and leadership) — real or
fancied. And we will examine and
earlier, long-term historical process
of"urban renewal" that traditionally
and deliberately has been ignored in
this country. We refer to the exten
sive loss o f very valuable, black-
owned downtown real estate in Amer-
ica’s major cities - “take me to city
center”.
Several years ago I had an oppor
tunity to review in this column a very
important but hard to find book which
is directly relevant to this phenome
non; E.G. Riching’s “Evidence of
Progress Among The Colored Peo
ple.” Published in 1908, it graphical
ly (and proudly) documents the great
economic strides made by African
Americans in urban America by the
turn o f the century.
Las, year, I was emphatically re
minded o f this 100 year-old ’renew
a l’ process when I participated in
Portland’s “Affican American Build
ing History project." This excellent
and very important program was
funded by that “National Trust for
Historic Preservation”, and compe
tently administered by Ms Cathy
Galbraith, executive director o f Port
land's Architectural Heritage Cen
ter.”
Continued next week
FDA approves new wound car dressing
AcryMed Inc., a medical device
company specializing in advanced
technology products for wound care
management, has received clearance
from the U.S. Food and Drug
administration (FDA) to market and
distribute AcryNoodles Absorbent
Wound Dressing.
The company intends to release
the product under the brand name
A cry D erm S tra n d s A b so rb e n t
Wound Dressing into the $335 mil
lion moist wound dressing market
within three months AcryDerm
Strands Absorbent Wound Dress
ing, covered by United States, New
Zealand, and European (pending)
patents, is a high exudate absorbent
moist wound dressing that is intend
ed for use in heavily exudating cav-
itated acute and chronic wounds.
our core technology, has been devel
oped and cleared for market in re
sponse to that challenge.”
A cryD erm Strands A bsorbent
Wound Dressing was designed spe
cifically to aid in the treatment o f
c a v ita te d w ounds w hich have
moderate to heavy exudate. Present
ed in a bound strand-like format, the
dressing has the flexibility to be eas
ily placed into a deep wound. Clini
cal studies have shown the dressing
to effectively manage moderate to
heavy exudate and to significantly
enhance autolytic debridement while
providing patient comfort.
The dressing can be used effec
tively with a wide variety of wounds,
including burns, abrasions, pressure
ulcers, diabetic ulcers, arterial insuf
ficiency ulcers and venous stasis ul
cers.
AcryMed Inc. is a closely held
medical device company that spe
cializes in the developm ent and
distribution o f sophisticated wound
care products that can be used in all
stages o f wound care protocols in the
professional hospital and alternate
site healthcare markets.
s REESE’S OIL, INC.
/¿[A
The engineering o f the product has
incorporated the com pany’s core
technology which is also used in
AcryDerm Sheet Advanced Wound
Dressing, currently marketed in sever
al geographic regions o f the United
States.
“ Wounds encountered in the clin
ical environment have increasingly
challenged healthcare professionals
and manufacturers to develop inno
vative protocols and devices to re
turn patients to health rapidly and in
a cost e ffe c tiv e m an n er,” said
AcryMed President and CEO Bruce
Gibbins. “AcryDerm Strands Absor
bent Wound Dressing, the compa
ny's second product to incorporate
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Joe L. Reese/President
N ovember i
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434 N.E. Failing St.
Phone #287-2121 or Cellular #318-7213
Garden hints from your OSU Extension Agent
•
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Put lime on western Oregon lawns.
Check potatoes in storage and remove any going bad.
Western Oregon: plant garlic for harvest next summer.
Western Oregon: bait garden, flower beds for slugs during rainy periods.
Fruit tree sanitation: to prevent possible spread of leaf diseases, rake and destroy
leaves from trees that were diseased this year.
• Place mulch around berries for winter protection.
• Tie red raspberry canes to wires; prune to 1 foot above the top wire or wrap the
canes around the top wire. Check for holes made by crown borers at base of plant,
treat with registered insecticides if seen.
• Western Oregon: good time to transplant landscape trees and shrubs.
• Prune roses to “knee-high” to prevent winter wind damage.
• Still time to plant spring-flowering bulbs, but don’t delay.
• Renew mulch around perennial flower beds after removing weeds.
• Western Oregon: Take cuttings of rhododendrons and camellias; propagate
begonias from leaf cuttings.
• Place mulch of manure over dormant vegetable garden area. A 3- to 4-inch
layer of leaves spread over the garden plot prevents soil compaction by rain.
• Cover rhubarb and asparagus beds with strawy manure.
• Plan erosion control; use mulches, fir boughs, etc., to prevent compaction from
rain and from soil washing.
• Moss appearing in lawn means too much shade, poor drainage, low fertility, soil
compaction, or thin stand of grass.
• Watch for wet soil and drainage problems in yard during heavy rains. Tiling,
ditching are possible solutions.
• Rake and compost leaves that are free of diseases or insects.
• Provide winter protection to built-in sprinkler systems; drain the system, insulate the
valve mechanisms.
• Reduce fertilizer applications to houseplants.
• Prepare lawnmower, other garden equipment for winter storage. Drain and store
hoses carefully to avoid damage from freezing
• Tie limbs of upright evergreens to prevent breakage by snow.
• Plant window garden of lettuce, chives, parsley.
• Plant shrubs and trees that supply food and shelter to birds, such as sumac,
barberry, and holly.
• Clean and oil tools and equipment before storing for the winter.
• Give winter shelter to tender evergreens; protect from wind and from desiccation.
• Place a portable coldframe over rows of winter vegetables.
• After blooming, trim chrysanthemums down to 4-6 inches.
Call 503-288-0033 to advertise in
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Monday thru friday
9am ti 6pm
Saturday
9am to 4pm
Recommendations in this calendar are not necessarily applicable to all areas and
varying climates o f Oregon. I f you desire more information, contact your county
office o f the OSU Extension Service.
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