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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1997)
> • 'f'* . C y .- '•••! 4. « * i-i r «IM « h ■ •■>;• «i1 » • /*' S j Ä ^» •>* * * c ? _) S S f c î i  x ’X e -r. A - U 4 ? ‘ 3 5 • i* f • * r r • .< A T .4 * » X ' - w t u « - « Z t - / * X. * - y » « ,, 7 » . b W ♦,»■■> |fj Volume XXVII, Number 44 Committed to cultural diversity. tTIu' ^n rtlarth (JObserurr m u n in n t to a l e n h a r (Ü Student matinees Weekday matinees introduce young people to the magic o f live Theatre and the diversity o f the w orld’ s cultures at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N. Interstate. Upcoming produc tions include Vision del Jaquar, a b ilin gual musical tale o f Mayan myth and history o f the Guatemalan jungle, held Nov. 12 and Nov. 14 at 10 a.m. Holiday bazaar Over 85 tables o f handmade and home made items fashioned by seniors w ill be available at the annual "Home for the Holidays Bazaar” Friday and Saturday, Nov. 21 and 22 from 9 a.m. to 4 p in. at the Vancouver Parks and Recreation Department's Marshall Center, 10009 E. M cLoughlin Blvd. Seed the Future Leaving a legacy o f trees and stronger communities arc goals o f Friends o f Trees and its current Seed the Future campaign. The second year o f the cam paign is kicked o ff Saturday, Nov. 15 at Columbia Park in north Portland. Sugar addiction address Author Nancy Appleton presents a public lecture about addictions to sugar and “ how our diet affects our immune system” at the Ramada Inn Airport, 6221 N.E. 82nd Ave., Thursday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. Snowboard, ski swap Grant Community Snowboard and Ski Club hosts its second annual Snowboard and Ski Swap, Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 6:30 to 8 p in. at the Grant High Cafete ria. Transportation talks T raffic conditions and transportation options for the future are being discussed in public workshops by M etro’ s Dis cover the Choices series. Saturday, area residents w ill discuss the issues at the Oregon Convention Center beginning with registration at 9 a.m. Osteoporosis study African American women, 65 and older are needed for a study to provide answers to osteoporosis.. It is now known that African American women over the age ol 70 experience bone loss twice as fast as Caucasian woman o f the same age, but researchers are unsure why this occurs. Call the Center for Health Re search at 499-5571. Truth to Power Anita H ill w ill speak to her new book entitled “ Speaking Truth to Power," and to sexual harassment on Nov. 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Portland State U niversity’s Smith Center Ballroom. H ill's lecture is a benefit for the Job Equity Project, sponsored by the Y W C A o f Salem. Home buying advice Unsure i f you can afford to buy a home? Find out what it takes to buy a house by attending free classes about home loans, home buying and home own ership Classes are held each month, de signed for moderate income residents who are buying their first house To reg ister, call 282-7744. Stay warm this winter Don’t wait until winter to weatherize your home. Attend a free workshop to learn how you can stay warm and save money this winter. Call the Community Energy Project at 284-6827. SI BM ISSIO N S: Community ( 'alendar information will be given priority if received two weeks before tile event date. . SECTION B Housing boom spurs people to action Babysitting tips The Red Cross offers a babysitting class, an eight hour course for youth I I and older, teaching the responsibilities o f babysitting, job interviews, child de velopment, infant care accident preven tion, first aid, and what to do in an emer gency. For more information or to regis ter, call 280-1440. November 5' 1997 Race, poverty scholar says wealth benefits neighborhoods, not the neighbors B v N e II.H e II PERN discussion about black econom ics at the Urban League offices may have triggered some people's increased involvement in their government. "Portland has a greater accumulation o f wealth than any other African American com munity in the United States,” said visiting race and poverty scholar Prof. John Powell, who warned that "blacks are being pushed out as wealth is created.” "The wealth is b enefiting neighborhoods and not the neighbors," Powell told a group o f people representing organizations in Portland’ s Coalition for a Livable Future. He noted that land speculators are scouring north and northeast Portland, offering people lucrative payments for their homes. He cited ads offering to pay cash for homes, where people are offered $80,000 tor a home they thought was worth $40,000, and the speculators turning around to sell for $120,000. " It s a gold mine," he said, “ with people preying on those who don’t realize it." Blacks in other cities have suffered when federal housing regulations encouraged the Hight o f whites to the suburbs, followed by the factories and the jobs, Powell said. This has not happened in Portland. "But, even though it has improved tremendously here, we need more.” Race and poverty scholar Prof. John Powell (left) greets Robert Liberty of the landuse Unless urban sprawl is controlled, you Oregon. can’ t do anything about other issues like housing and jobs," said Powell. "Regional troit. Mich., was "more fragmented and more link housing to jobs. planning stops sprawl and directs resources segregated.’ because each surrounding suburb "It is essential that you are in the discus back into the city.” and town had its separate policies and plans sion o f zoning, and that you lead the discus "Y ou still have a city where people are Decisions, he said, were made to keep local tax sion. II you don't lead, other people w ill moving in and land is being used, because o f bases protected and kept policies in place for direct your lives," Powell said. the urban growth boundary,” he noted, ex uneven opportunities for people o f color. Attendees seemed to agree that when lo plaining that the issue can’ t be dealt with Powell also discussed practices like red cal governments offer tax incentives to com only as a neighbor hood problem, but as part lining neighborhoods, restrictive covenants, panies to locate in the city, those incentives o f the overall question o f regional urban and various loan requirements which have should be coupled with requirements for sprawl and how it affects people. limited opportunities for minorities. local hiring and housing. This would allow Powell told how his hometown o f De- He noted the importance o f policies which people o f color to keep their inner city A watchdog group 1000 Friends of (Photo by Neil Heilpern) residences and have job opportunities. One audience member pointed out that many decisions are made years in advance ol the final action and people who are not active on an ongoing basis find out about those actions too late to make a difference Robert Liberty, executive director for 1000 Friends o f Oregon, noted that “ lobby ists for the homebuilders w ill be at the Nov I 3 Metro hearing on the regional frame work plan," and urged people to attend Fitzpatrick, a leader in finding solutions Executive has seen worse and dealt with it Bv L ee P erlman ortland’ s inner-city housing c ri sis? Maxine Fitzpatrick has seen worse and dealt with it. That’s why she was recruited to find solutions here. As executive director o f Portland Com munity Reinvestment Initiatives, Fitzpatrick oversees the management o f 244 proper ties, most o f them single fam ily homes, purchased by the city from the Dominion Capital Corp, in 199.3. Among other things, the company sold homes to low-income people under con tracts with hidden clauses that made the purchase almost im possible; D om inion could then foreclose and regain its house. PCRI, a non-profit corporation, was cre ated by the city, principally commissioner Gretchen Kafoury, to manage the property. P The owners o f Dominion Capital were later convicted o f fraud. Fitzpatrick was recruited to head the new agency, after a national search by S. Brooks and Assoc., based on her work as director o f a housing devel opment agency in Milwaukee, Wise. "There are issues and prob lems there that far exceed what we have here." she says. Commissioner Eric Sten, who served on the PCRI board as a Kafoury aide, says that the first time it tried to hire a d i rector the board rejected all the candidates. On the second attempt. Fitzpatrick emerged as the outstanding candidate. "She's a unique person and was uniquely qualified for this major agency. PCRI's units rent for from $250 to $700 a month depending on their size, consider ably below the prevailing market rate. Fitzpatrick notes that a PCRI house on Northeast Schuyler Street rents for $200 a month less than a comparable structure across the street in much worsccon- dition. The agency sold 83 houses to occupants who had contracted to buy them from Dominion Capital. It brought the remaining properties up to code, in some cases spending so much the houses could not he rented at be- low-market rates. Last sum mer its board voted to sell job. Stein says. "She's smart. Maxine Fitzpatrick 20 such houses. energetic, personable, and has There may be other sales been involved with housing her whole adult in the future hut, if so, PCRI w ill buy other life. She's done everything from being a properties to replace them. Fitzpatrick says. low-income tenant herself to managing a for the need is greater today than it was four Urban League adds to board Russell Clinic offers dental care as part of HIV study he Russell Street Dental C linic has a long history o f conducting clinical research. Recently, the research focus o f this Oregon Health Sci ences University C linic has been on oral health protocols for HIV-positive patients. These studies have produced exciting, new information o f use to dentists and their patients throughout the United Slates. Most recently, the clinic has received funding from the National Institute o f Den- T CONTINUED TO PAGE B4 years ago. The “ revitalization" o f inner north east Portland has increased housing prices and made low-income housing harder to create. In fact, she says, PCRI is about to build its first new housing, five units on a lot at 130 N. Lombard St. The relatively low density is deliberate, for she is not a fan o f the large new housing projects now being built. “ W hat’s being done for home ownership is tremendous, but the new m ulti-fam ily takes on a different flavor,"she says. "It isn’ t as w ell-built or thought-out. Il costs just as much to develop, but you're not getting as much quality or quality o f life." Moreover, she says, it tends to isolate the poor. "You should spread the lo w -in come housing throughout the com m unity," she says. "Y ou shouldn't be able to tell who are the homeowners and who are the low- income.” PCRI provides other services for its tenants besides housing. Il w orks with organizations such as Self-Enhancement, Inc., the Cascade Aids Project and the Northeast Workforce Center to address needs and issues. Dr. Laine Rich of Oregon Health Sciences University will lead new dental research at Russell Street Clinic. (Photo by M. Washington) he Urban League o f Portland has elected Dr. D aniel Benrstine. Harry Hutt, Gary Tipton anil James Witncrs II as new members o f the board o f directors. T Daniel Bcmstine is the new president of Port land State University and the former dean of the University of Wisconsin Law Schixil. Harry Hull is senior vice president, marketing operations for the Portland Trail Blazers and Oregon Arena Corp Gary I ipton is site operations manager for Hewlett-Packard company's printer manufac turing facility in Vancouver. James Winters II is president o f United En ergy. the largest minority-owned business m Oregon.
