Volume XXVII, Number 21 Committed to cultural diversity. Max 21. 1997 CETÍ jl ' ^dnrtlanh (©bserber SECTION a t i m m u n i tuw*. a 1 e n ù a r Portland Women named Matrons o f Motivation Fair celebrated Family and friends are invited to attend the Boise-Eliot Elem entary School “M ulticultural Fair C elebration o f People,” Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The fair show cases the sc h o o l’s multicultural curriculum and share ’ s the methods used to teach culture and h eritage to kids. The fair is the cu lm in atin g ev ent involving participation of Boise-Eliot students, family members, staff and a host of com m unity vo lu n teers. For m ore information contact Betty Campbell or Eileen Isham at 916-6171. Bike Commute Day Over 200 cyclists will be arriving at Pioneer Courthouse Square Friday at 8 a m. for the Portland Bike Commute Day Festival. Delegations from 39 companies in the Bicycle Business Challenge will join the participants, along with city commissioners Charlie Hales and Eric Sten, Tri-Met Director Tom Walsh and Columnist Jonathan Nicholes. The Bicycle Transportation Alliance will be releasing a new report documenting the beneficial impact of federally-funded bicycle safety projects on traffic fatalities in Oregon. Heart health talk The Hollywood Senior Center offers a talk about how to manage daily activities, conserve energy and pace yourself if you are living with a congestive heart. Janet H an sen -T racy, cardiac rehabilitation specialist for Legacy Health System, will show a short video which is used in the hospital to explain heart failure in a non-technical way. She will also talk about sym ptom s of congestive heart failure and simple exercises to help the health o f the heart. Kenya film featured ♦ An Evening Safari to Kenya, a special benefit to raise money for the Chwele Public Health Clinic in Western Kenya, will take place May 31 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Portland State University M u lticu ltu re C en ter, 1825 S.W . Broadway. Peace Corps worker and filmmaker Dennis Burkhart will show and discuss his film “Kenya: The African Dream. For information call Grace Juto of the Harambee Project at 245-3812. Improve your driving Seniors are invited to improve your driving skills during a 55 Alive driving class Friday, June 6 at the Hollywood Senior Center. The class consists of two 4 hour sessions and costs $8 paid at the first class. A $1 donation to the senior center also is appreciated. Struggle documented Gay Resistance: the Hidden History, A new book about gay pride will be celebrated for a book singing event. June 11 at 7 p.m. at It's My Pleasure. 4258 S.E. Hawthorne. Tamara Turner, co-author, librarian and theater artists, will be present to sign books and discuss how knowing the proud legacy of organizing will help the sexual minority movement determine their goals and tactics in the fight for liberation. The first annual “ M atrons o f M otiva­ tio n ” Awards D inner was held on Sun­ day at JJ N orth’s G rand Buffet on N orth­ east Halsey, honoring Mrs. Fannie Lee Sm ith and Mrs Jean W ashington. There were 152 recipients, among them in the category o f M atrons o f Com ­ m unity was the past Publisher o f the P ortland O bserver N ew spaper, Joyce < ------Ä------------- Fannie Lee Smith St BXIISSIONS: Community ( 'alendar information " ill he given priority if dated tun weeks betöre the esent date. Jean Washington Church offers HIV care NE neighbors concerned about influx of drug users B y L ee P erlman The Ainsworth United Church of Christ may host a day center for people infected with the HIV virus. The church views this as a Christian service to people in need. That’s fine, say some neighbors, and the sexual orientation o f those to be served is no concern, but the presence among them of drug users is. Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon plans to sell its building at 3835 S.W. Kelly Ave., and thus needs a new home for its HIV Day Center. Ainsworth Church, 2941 N.E. Ainsworth St., a member of the inter-demoninational Christian service organization, has proposed to provide a new home for the service. The center provides a social gathering place, a free lunch, counseling, placement in transitional housing and other services to people suffering from the AIDS virus. Ac­ cording to director John Pitch, it serves up to 40 people a day. The church congregation was scheduled to vote on whether to offer space to the center in April, but the decision was post­ poned until late May in the face of commu­ nity concerns. Pitch, Ainsworth Church pastor Rev. Lynne Smouse Lopez and elder Edward Johns attended the May meeting o f the Concordia Neighborhood Association, at the urging of president Pat Messinger, to respond to such concerns. Chief among these is the presence o f drug users among the center’s clients. “If the church wants to do social service, fine, and we have no problem with people who have HIV (the AIDS virus), one resi­ dent at the Concordia meeting said. “But drug users support their addiction through criminal activity.” Others said that the neighborhood al- ready has a severe problem with drug selling and use. Some critics have quoted Pitch as saying hat up to 50 percent of the center’s clientele re “challenged by drugs.” Pitch says he ay have used the figure, but that any esti- ate is a guess since the center doesn’t creen its clients for drug use. He says that he estimate included recovering addicts and lcoholics. He adds that the center has rules against ringing drugs or paraphernalia to the pre- ises, selling them in the vicinity, showing p under the influence of drugs or alcohol, r even talking about them, with penalties or violations up to permanent expulsion, e adds that to his knowledge there have een no problems in the surrounding neigh- orhood as a result o f the center’s activity. Ironically, this last point is supported by ne of the center’s critics. William Scott, ho helped distribute a petition opposing he center’s relocation to Ainsworth, says he isited its current location in the Corbett eighborhood and talked to some neigh- ors. None reported any problems, he said, nd most weren’t even aware that it was here. Johns and others see this as a “tremen- ous” endorsement of the program. Scott oes not. The Southwest Kelly area is more mixed- se and less residential than Ainsworth, he ays. He is also unhappy with the church’s ttitude. When he attended a meeting to find out ore about the proposal, he was told that it as the church’s decision, and that only if he ecame a member would he have a vote. He elped circulate the petition, he says, be- ause he was “trying to find some informa- lion, and to let the pastor know that people anted information. The United Church of Christ has offered this northeast Ainsworth street site for a day center for people infected with the HIV virus. (Photo by Mark Washington) Other concerns raised were that the cen­ ter might create parking congestion from its visitors, and that it might attract homeless people to the area who would camp there. Pitch says that some center clients are in­ deed homeless, but that they are in transi­ tional housing, in shelters or friends’ homes rather than on the street. Most don’t have cars and will come by bus. Pitch agrees that the center might be bet­ ter located closer to downtown, but that so far they have not found a better space. Lopez says she thinks the current drug problem in Concordia is over-rated, and that the concern may be a mask for anti-gay biggotry among the center’s critics. At least some of those at the Concordia meeting were satisfied with the explainations given “I would like to commend the church,” One resident said. “I suppose there’s risk involved, when you try to do something meaningful there usually is.” Messinger says that he is satisfied that most of the concerns raised are “non-is­ sues.” Scott is not convinced. “I haven't heard anything from John Pitch, pastor Lopez or anyone else that makes me less concerned than I was two weeks ago,” he says. Alberta to show art monthly torchante; draw nlans for Walk on Alberta' appeal B y L ee P eri . man Hands work Vinyard Come and have fun in the sun and help kick off this year’s Art & The Vineyard, the annual benefit for the Maude Kerns Art C enter in Eugene. Energetic volunteers are need for three days of the Vineyard '97 celebration. July 4-6, as well as setup on July 3 and takedown on July 7. The festival features art, people, live entertainment, tasty crusine and the best of Oregon’s wines. W ashington. The late M attie A. C allier-Spears, the past religion editor o f the Portland Ob­ server, was also honored in the category o f M atrons o f M usic. There were over one hundred people in attendance. Evangelist M ary Green was the guest speaker. McKinley Burt Honored citizen Friends gathered at Reflections Books & Coffee Saturday to celebrate the 75th birth­ day of Professor McKinley Burt. Professor ♦ Most people don’t think o f Northeast Alberta Street as the next Pearl District, but it is planning its own version of the Northwest Portland nelghborhood’ s First Thursday art tour. Art Walk on Alberta will occur on the last Thursday of each month, beginning 6 to 9 p.m. May 29th. It will feature art exhibits at at least 12 locations along the street. There will also be free entertain­ ment, with Flamenco guitar by Tomate at G uardino Studio and the bluegrass group G reat N orthern Plains at Rexall Rose Cafe. The intent is to showcase the area, with the hope that art lovers and the curious will come back during the remainder of the month. “So much has changed here in the last few years that many people don’t realize what this area has to offer, or that it’s safe,” organizer Donna Guardino says. Emphasizing this last, she says that she, and other shop owners, live above their shops. The street “had gone so far down that it had to come back up," Guardino says. Why as a haven for struggling artists? Mostly because rents and land costs are cheap. “To succeed on Hawthorne Boulevard you’d have to start out knowing exactly what you were doing,” she says. By con­ trast, some Alberta merchants are first­ time shop owners creating a business out of a “pretty raw space.” Follow ing are the street num bers o f p articipating storefronts, follow ed by the business and the art being ex ­ hibited: 1438 - Roslyn’s Garden Cafe and Shades o f C o lo r G allery - C indy DeCecco’s stone and metal sculpture, William Rutherford’s and Leslie White’s mixed media. 1807 - Earth Concerns Thrift Store and Resource Center - recycled art. 1627 - Ken Wright - concrete and metal sculpture. 2403 - Rexall Rose Cafe - group show of painting, sculpture, collages and sketches. 2809 - Isaka Shamsud-Din - mixed media by the renowned mural painter. 2924 - One Stop Immigration - group show o f photography. 2929 - Judee Moonbeam - wearable fibre art. 2939 - Guardino Studio and Gallery - Handmade paper and prints. 2940 - Video-rama - Erin Proctor’s oil paintings. Maps are available at any participat­ ing storefront. Continue to page B6 * * SJa-i \ S