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♦
a n J I ndustry
Thriftway to renovate
Rather than wait to build the
store it wants someday maybe.
United Grocers will try to reno
vate and reopen its Wilshire Park
Thriftway in six months.
W illiam Seidl. d irecto r of
property management and store
development lor the grocery co
operative, told the Concordia
Neighborhood Association last
week that United Grocers is of
fering $500,000 toward the re
modeling of the 20.000 square
foot facility at Northeast 33rd
Avenue and Killingsworth Street
to anyone willing to operate it.
He is now negotiating with "a
w ell-know n Portland g ro cer”
who manages several stores in
the Portland area, whom he de
clined to name.
Roger Staver. Seidl’s prede
cessor. tried for two years to build
a new, 35-40,000 square foot
store on the site after the Wilshire
Park Thriftway closed in 1995.
In meeting with the neighbor
hood. he argued that a larger
facility was necessary to compete
with other chain stores in the
area.
Seidl, who replaced Staver ear-
lier this year, agreed that a larger
store at this site was “the best
option. Unfortunately, we can ’t
do that."One obstacle was the
need to vacate one block of North
east Emerson Street to the south
in order to obtain enough prop
erty. At a hearing last year, mayor
Vera Katz and commissioners
C harlie H ales and G retchen
Kafoury indicated they would op
pose any such attempt. “Charlie
Hales said, ‘No w a y ,'” Seidl
said Another problem was the zon
ing. Council rezoned the site and a
satellite parking lot across North
east Emerson Street for commercial
use, as United Grocers asked, but
gave them a Commercial Storefront
CS designation. Under this zone,
any new or expanded building must
be next to the sidewalk.
This meant acquiring a row of
commercial properties along North
east Killingsworth Street, and UG
was unable todo so, Seidl said. Even
if they had, land use reviews for the
new store could take two years, given
continued hostility to the project from
some Northeast 34th Avenue resi
dents, he said.
Staver had fought for an expanded
store because he teit that one within
the existing building could not com
pete with other chain stores. Seidl
said that was "true to some extent."
However, he said, it could follow the
lead of the Zupan’s chain, which
offers quality “specialty" products
in stores ot 15.000 to I 8,(MM) square
feet. It would have "slightly less
product selection” and stock fewer
items. "It can’t be a Fred Meyer, and
trying to go halfway w on't work," he
said.
"There’s no such thing as a per
fect grocery store," he added. “People
say they want a bigger selection.
That translates into size, and size to
a big eyesore.”
One older resident, who declined
to give her name, indicated Seidl’s
approach would suit her line. “Older
people don’t buy as much, and they
don’t need as much selection," she
said. "They want good quality and
don’t want to go into a mega-store."
Another resident, Mallory Pratt.
said she feared the new grocery
might be a “ghetto store" in which
higher prices are charged for the
same items available elsewhere.
Several said the store needed to
be better run than it had been in its
final years. One woman said she
drove far out of her way to avoid
shopping there “by whatever name
it was that month. It was dirty, the
staff w asn’t helpful, I didn't feel
secure, and I left with a bad feel
ing.”
Steve Makinster of Northeast
34th Avenue, behind the store,
said the new operator needed to be
responsible the whole property,
not just the entrance.
Seidl said the store’s landscap
ing and appearance needs improve
ment. “ I have a ten year old daugh
ter, and I’m generally proud to
show her the stores I’ve opened,"
he said. “When we drove by this
one, I was embarrassed."
He was encouraged to believe
the store could succeed by
driving around the rest of the
neighborhood, he said. “ I see
how nice the lawns are,' he said.
That show s concern and com
m itm ent. W e’ve had a lot of op
portunities to sell this property,
but we have a com m itm ent to the
neighborhood.”
It is returned. With the excep
tion o f some nearby neighbors,
residents have strongly supported
the re-establishment of some sort
of store on the site. "I don't re
member a neighborhood associa
tion that was so interested in a
project of this size." Seidl said.
“I'm trying to figure out how to
bring that to bear."
Teen work permits no longer needed
Bureau of Labor and Industries
Icials want to remind employers
d parents that teenagers no longer
ed work permits in order to go to
irk Work permits joined dino-
jrs in extinction nearly two years
o when the legislature eliminated
: requirement Work permits had
en a tradition-a rite of passage to
; workforce—for decades. Most
egonians remember getting one
they worked during their teen
ars. But many can’t accept that
irk permits are just a memory.
“A lot o f parents don’t believe us
ien we tell them we eliminated
the permits.” says public informa-
tion officer Joan Stevens-Schwenger.
“They want them anyway. One parent
even offered to pay for one!” Stevens-
Schwenger noted that some employ
ers are erroneously requiring them
and sending kids and their parents to
the bureau for the obsolete documents.
A Ithough the perm its are a thing o f
the past, kids, their parents and em
ployers shou Id be aware of ch i Id labor
laws still covering working teens:
Minor, ages 14 through 17, no
longer need work permits, but they
must provide a proof of age to their
employer.
Employers must verify the age of
the minor. Acceptable proof of age
documents include: a birth certifi
cate, a driver’s license or ID card
with a photograph, a US passport, or
a hospital record o f birth
Employers who need more in
formation about the regulations
should call BOLI’s Technical As
sistance for Employers informa
tion line at 503-731-4073 in Port
land. Parents and teens seeking
information can call Wage and
Hour Division offices in their area:
Portland, 503-731-4074: Bend,
541-388-6330: Eugene, 541-686-
7623; M edford, 541-776-6270;
Pendleton. 541-276-7884; Salem,
541-378-3292.
Where are our buffalo? Ill
P rof . M c K inley B urt
Several readers directed their
>st heated com m ents to last
¡ek’s quote to the effect that "we
acks)” should have available to
r economic development struc-
es the incredible talent o f the
rican American technological
niusesyou frequently have cited
lis was a black business woman
(erring to my article o f 6 / 18/97
T he p ro b lem h e re c e n te rs
lund that vast socio-economic
If existing between those Afri-
n Americans who show up in the
itistics as “having made it" in
■ms o f education, income, hous-
g and other amenities relating to
e quality of life' - and the masses
the inner-cities, including the
tructurally-unemployed’
The fast-changing nature o f our
onomy has seen the disappear-
ice o f the many traditional jobs
i which the less-educated could
¡pend, what with the contraction
’ the work force as technology
places manpower or jobs are ex-
irted abroad This reduction of
e quality o f life leads to certain
¡emingly contrad icto ry state-
ents such as we find on page 156
the National Urban League Re-
jrt. The State of Black America
)96: Rising Urban Employment
icreasingly Coexists with Rising
overty.”
In order to connect these issues
t us consider the points made
tiring my May, “Neighborhood
apital “series Particularly, that
j
there is a wealth o f human capital"
in the form o f information, educa
tion and even social and spiritual
assets. But we are further informed
that there can be no viable economic
orsocial structures unless w e’ com
municate with each other. And we
know that effective communication
between the haves and the have nots-
-between a number o f local leaders
and the folks’ - is rare in most
communities.
More on that later for right now,
I wish to apply this logic to the even
greater disassociation and commu
nications gap between the general
population (us) and those super
achievers ourcorrespondent believed
could aid their fellow African Ameri
cans in building the kind of eco
nom ic and technical stru ctu res
owned and operated by other Ameri
cans; including some of the most
recent immigrants.
As usual, le, me pu, things in the
real-time mode o f my actual experi
ence. In the middle 1950s, I went
down to a bustling, thriving Los
Angeles metropolis with the intent
o f developing my accounting and
adm inistration skills to a much
higher level than was possible here
in Portland That worked very well
and in past years I have described
the experience as a working model
for the young and ambitious, a stu
dent or in the neighborhood. To use
the metaphor o f the native Ameri
cans on the come-back trail, I and
my peers were trying to get some
“buffalo" back for African Ameri-
cans.
We were soon to find that any
meaningful interaction with the
black “Super-achievers” was no
more likely than with the same
genre o f whites at the top.
Big, wealthy black insurance
companies and asset management
institutions told you point blank
that they had no time or inclination
to discuss “ building community
economles” because they were qu ite
successfully financing the plants
and inventories o f white super
markets, furniture stores and the
like (“good, safe white money,
b o y ”).
I and a neighbor, who was a I
young real estate broker, tried to
talk with our landlord, an African
A merican who owned a dozen
apartments o f fifty units or more.
He had parlayed an older tenement
rented in daily shifts to war time I
shipyard workers, into a real estate
fiefdom, with the help o f as many
as six trust deeds on one piece o f |
property. His partner, also black,
had built up a multi-million dollar
trust deed operation by advertising
for investors in Scandinavian news
papers. And these were two of
many No Go!
It’s all gone now, isn’t it? Social
engineers and government fiddle
with “ Enterprise Zones” and vari
ous “ Black and Latino Survival
Strategies” they're termed The di
nosaurs failed to seize a niche’
opportunity and what happened?
Concluded next week.
it shows a lack o f willingness to be
part of the solution to this prob
Continued from front
♦
Rho said the list o f incidents is
being unfairly used against her
The incidents on the list are
appropriate for considering the re
newal request, said McGrew, based
on a 1989 "neighborhood livabil
ity law” that holds licensees ac
countable for the behavior in and
around their area.
A May 8 memo by OLCC re
gional inspector Richard S. Miller
indicated he had two meetings with
the store’s owners in the past two
months and “ suggested uniformed
security for the lot as an effective
deterrent o f gang and drug activ
ity, alcohol consumption, and gen
eral loitering problems
K /n g F o o d M a r t ow ner Elaine Rho is
The memo notes that Elaine
fighting to k e e p her s ta te lic e n se to
Rho had followed suggestions for
se ll b e e r a n d wine.
security officer candidates offered
care facility or drug rehabilitation
by police sergeant Harry Jackson but
center,” mentioning Albina Head
hadn’t found one
Start and The Nanny’s House and
M iller’s m em o acknow ledges
the drug and alcohol rehab center
Rho’s assistance to police to “detect
Protect for Community Recovery.
the 15-year-old minor with alcohol
All are within a block o f the store.
in the lot.” He said Rho agreed to
The association also objects to
ban from the lot individuals listed in
new package stores because o f asso
the police reports.
ciated neighborhood problems, she
Miller also noted that King Food
said.
Mart did no, accept an OLCC invi
“The (city) report was written by
tation to attend training sessions on
a
few
people,” said Rho. “ I his is my
preventing illegal sales ot alcohol to
livelihood
and they are trying to take
miners, checking identification and
it
away
from
me. They are targeting
detecting false identification. As a
my
store
only
because o f where I
result. OLCC last December started
am
.”
a 90-day program in which it told
Rho told The Portland Observer
store officials that underage decoys
that
changes in the neighborhood
weld be sent to attempt liquor pur
have caused many o f the problems,
chases.
not the store’s practices. Admitting
In an Oct. I, 1996 letter to John
the validity o f a few citations for
and Elaine Rho, M illeraccused them
liquor sales to minors, she said it
of “contributing to the area prob
was
not unlike many other stores
lems by selling beer and malt liquor
where
these infractions occur.
in large containers, the drink o f
She
also complained detractors
choice among street drinkers and
want
her
to stop sales o f objection
gang affiliates, and crack pipes use
able
products
which she says are
ful to only those engaged in illegal
legal and sold by other retail outlets
activities.”
in Portland, including pipes and pipe
Eliot Neighborhood Association
land use chairperson Aviva Groner
two w eeks ago contacted Mike
Sanderson, the bureau o f licenses
official in charge o f the investiga
tion, and listed reasons to deny the
renewal.
In addition to the police list of
objections, the association “categori
cally opposes the sale o f malt liquor
and the sale of malt beverages in
containers larger than 16 ounces,
she said.
Groneralsosaidassociation policy
"discourages the sale of alcohol
within 500 feet o f a licensed child
lem."
But later, Rho did stop sales ot
the pipes.
Rho said criticism about sales
o f the high content o, alcohol in
malt liquors sold at her store were
unfair.
“ It is not only gang members
who drink malt liquor and not just
young people, she said, noting that
many local residents preferthe prod
ucts in question. She said people
whocriticize the store for selling the
malt liquor “just present mal, liquor
as a gang member drink and then
say I create the gang problem."
She also complained that the
citations about drug trait icing in
the parking lot includes numerous
occasions when police pulled over
vehicles and "they used my park
ing lot" and put that down as the
location o f arrest
Rho expressed fear that she is
being rai Iroaded, w ithout proof about
several complaints, to eliminate the
store from a neighborhood that is
undergoing transformation and be
ing upgraded on many fronts.
"I got rid o f fortified wine and my
neighbors were with me, she said,
noting that “Alot were upset. This
neighborhood has changed in the
last year, with new people, white
people buying houses and changing
things. I am the one getting sacri
ficed.”
She also noted that during a re
cent appearance at the Eliot Neigh
borhood Association, she was only
allowed seven minutes to present
screens.
“ It is not against the law to sell
those pipes,” agreed McGrew, “but
her case.
“ I couldn’t say much,’ she noted
“Two members came in late, after
we said everything. They had al
ready made up their minds. The vote
was 3-2.” against renewal.
“Through deliberate inaction or
the inability or fear to act...the owner
and employees are in part directly
responsible for the decline o f the
neighborhood,” said neighbors Lisa
Gereg and Timothy Edwards.
Happy
Birthday
Cynthia!
I Love You, M a rk
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