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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.