The Motion Picture
’’Ride" Is Coming
To A Theater Near
You
to**"0***'
Aquatic Staff
Sought
March 2 7th Get ready to
go fo r a "Ride” you'll
never fo rg et.
$ee Entertainment, page ll
For Rayne Haughton, life
is not meant to he dry, the
! 9 year old finds himself
teaching young children
how to swim on their own.
BULK RATE
11.5. POSTAGE
PAID
See Metro, inside.
Coupon's
Inside!
PORTLAND, OR
PERMIT NO. 1610
(Obse
New Buyer for Rosemont Site
Bv L ee P eari . man
he Portland Development Com
mission plans to purchase the old
Rosemont School site in the Pied
mont neighborhood and draw up a master
plan for its future use.
Steve Rudman, director o f the Bureau
of HousingandCommunity Development,
said the development commission will con
sider allocating funds for the purchase o f
the 7.6 acre former Catholic school at 597
N. Dekum St. He adds that if the com m is
sion does not vote the money the city may
make other arrangements to acquire the
property.
In January the city acquired an option to
purchase the land
from Central City Concern, a non-profit
corporation, good until April 14. C C C ’s
own option to purchase from the Sisters o f
the Good Shepherd expires May 14.
CCC has been try i ng to develop the property
since 1995. Its first proposal included building
upto75unitsofhousingtorrecoveringalcohol-
ics and drug abusers and their families. This
drew opposition from the Piedmont Neighbor
hood Association, which said that putting such
a large "fragile population” so close together
would defeat their efforts to stabilize the area.
Last year CCC and developer Brian
McCarl proposed to convert the property’s
historic former convent to 60 units o f as
sisted living housing, construct another
building with 50 more units o f elderly
housing, and devote most o f the site to
Old Rosemont School site in the Piedmont Neighborhood.
owner-occupied housing.
For this last element CCC approached
(Photo By M. Washington)
HOST Community Development, another
pied housing development. HOST consid
citing financial com m itm ents to o th er
non-profit whose specialty is ow ner-occu
ered the proposal but backed out in January,
projects, CCC executive director Richard
T
Clinton Praises U.N.
Chief Annan
President Clinton praised U.N. chief
Kofi A nnan’s deal with Iraq and said the
Secretary-G eneral deserves praise for
helping avoid an armed conflict. Annan
met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
last month and hammered out a deal giv
ing unfettered access for U.N. inspectors
to Iraqi palaces. The agreem ent averted a
possible U.S.-led military strike against
Baghdad after Iraq refused to allow weap
ons inspectors check certain sites. Inspec
tors have been back at work and have
reported no difficulties gaining access.
Annan also was expected to appeal forthe
United States to pay the $ 1.3 billion dol
lars in back dues it owes the United Na
tions.
Floods Drive Thousands
From Homes
The entire town o f Elba may be moved
after two levee breaks and two floods
since 1990. Jam es Lee Witt, the director
o f the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, toured the area today and he said
moving Elba is a possibility. He said it
would be up to the residents. The latest
flood came Sunday when a Depression-
era levee tailed. About 2,000 people were
left homeless.
Senate: Try Saddam
As War Criminal
T he S en ate w an ts Iraqi p re sid e n t
S addam H u sse in to be tried as an
in te rn a tio n a l w ar c rim in a l. T h e S en
ate voted 9 3 -0 to u rg e th e c re a tio n o f
a U n ited N a tio n s trib u n a l “ fo r the
p u rp o se o f in d ic tin g , p ro se c u tin g and
im p riso n in g S addam H u sse in .” Sen.
B yron L. D o rg an , D -N .D ., to ld the
S en ate that S addam had u sed c h e m i
cal w e a p o n s on his e n e m ie s, b o th in
sid e and o u tsid e Iraq , had w ag ed w ar
ag ain st Iran and K u w ait, had attack ed
Israel and had p lo tte d th e a s s a s s in a
tio n o f fo rm e r P re sid e n t B ush.
What’s the track like now for north-south light rail?
B y N eil H eilpern
Rep. Joseph Kennedy
To Retire
R ep. Jo se p h P. K en n ed y II a n
n o u n c e d he w ill not run for re -e le c
tion and p lan s to le a v e p o litic s to run
the n o n p ro fit a g en cy fo rm erly headed
by his late b ro th e r, M ichael. K ennedy
is the e ld e st son o f th e late Sen. R o b
ert F. K en n ed y and is a six -te rm c o n
g ressm an . T h e aid e said th at th e death
o f M ichael K en n ed y in a sk iin g a c c i
dent in D ec e m b e r w as a big fa c to r in
the decision. K ennedy last A ugust said
he w ould not run fo r g o v e rn o r, a l
th o u g h he w as v iew ed as a h e av y fa
v o rite . K e n n ed y , 45, w ill lead the
C itiz e n s E n erg y C o rp ., a n o n p ro fit
h eating a ssista n c e c o rp o ratio n he took
o v e r a fte r M ic h a e l’s d eath .
Harris says.
The agency approached other housing
providers, but was unable to come up with a
satisfactory arrangement, Harris says. He
adds, “Owner-occupied housing is beyond
the scope o f our mission. With the decision
to pursue this kind o f housing. Central City’s
role in the project was greatly diminished,
and so was our interest in it." This, plus the
cost of pursuing the project, convinced him
that turning the property over to the city was
the best way to ensure that it is used for low
cost housing, he said.
Rudman says the city plans to conv ene a task
force of city and community representatives to
create a master plan forthe property’s use. It will
be similarto the process thecity pursued with the
former Kennedy School, later converted toa bed
and break fast and brew pub by the McMenamin
brothers, but will be less "open-ended," he said.
With Kennedy School the task force considered
al I possible uses for its future use. At Rosemont
the city is committed to housing ofsome sort he
said.
Betsy Radigan o f the Piedmont Associa
tion says the process could clarify “some
unanswered questions w e’ve had all along,
such as whether the old (convent) building
can be saved.” However, after talking to
Rudman, she says the process "will reopen
some old issues we thought we had re
solved, such as the place o f low-income
rental housing in the plans.
Rudman says the process will not begin
with a “blank slate - we understand the
desire to preserve the convent.” However,
he added, “W e aren’t bound by the previous
agreement." Providing low-cost housing is
a city priority, he said.
Light rail stations like this one at LLoyd Center will become part o f the landscape
between Clackamas Town Center and North Portland in the future.
(Photo by Neil Heilpern).
A map of alternative routes and stations
for the planned South-North Light Rail sys
tem looks like a connect-the-dots mass tran
sit spider web designed to serve Portland’s
growing transportation needs.
I he ultimate shape of that web depends on
a public input process, started last week with
a series of open houses for public review of
the recently released Draft Environmental
Impact Statement. The document gives an
overview of benefits, costs and impacts o f
extending existing light rail system toa South/
North corridor between Clackamas Town
( enter and North Portland.
The line would travel from Clackamas
I own Center, through Milwaukie and con
tinue over one o f two possible Willamette
River crossing routes to the west side. One
would travel on current railroad right of way,
stop at OMSI and cross a new bridge south o f
the Marquam Bridge. A different span goes
over Ross Island, heading downtown via
Johns Landing.
Routing considerations include displace
ment comparisons, costs, and decisions about
serving existing populations on the east side
or encouraging new development in Johns
Landing as an alternative to extending urban
growth boundaries.
After joining the downtown transit hub,
light rail would cross back over the river to
the Rose Quarter where two more alternate
routes are being considered to North Port
land.
One would follow the 1-5 corridor, acces
sible to pedestrians along current streets east
o f the existing freeway. The other would be
carved out o f a portion of Wheeler/Russell
Streets, Interstate Ave and North Lombard.
Open houses for people to review the
options were held Saturday at the Oregon
Convention Center and Monday at the Kaiser
Town Hall Ballroom on N. Interstate and the
Portland Building.
Upcoming open houses included 4-8 pm,
Thursday, at New Hope Community Church
(Interstate 20 and SE Stevens Road), and 5-
8 pm, Monday, March 23, at the Public
Safety Building in Milwaukie.
FDA OKs Cheaper
Osteoporosis Test
T e sts for c rip p lin g o ste o p o ro sis
are g e ttin g e a sie r and c h e a p e r. The
Food and D rug A d m in istra tio n a p
pro v ed H o lo g ic ’s S ah ara b one test,
the first o ste o p o ro sis te st th at does
not use X -ray s. W om en can ju s t slide
a foot into a little m a c h in e and learn
m in u te s la te r if th e ir b o n es a re d a n
g e ro u sly th in . T he d e v ic e uses high-
fre q u e n c y so u n d w av es to asse ss a
w o m a n 's b o n es by m easu rin g the d e n
sity o f h er heel. P a tie n ts w ill pay
about $40 a test. T y p ic a lly w ith an X-
ray, p a tie n ts a re c h a rg e d $127 per
test. O ste o p o ro sis a fflic ts an e s ti
m ated 10 m illio n A m e ric a n s, m o stly
eld e rly w om en.
4
Breakfast at the Portland Marriott Hotel with Hugh B. Price. President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League. Mr. Price was in Portland for the
awards banquet of the Portland Urban League, that was held on March 12. 1998. And to promote the 8 7 year-old organization's annual convention, which begins on
August 4 in Washington, D.C. and the theme of this year's gathering is Economic Power: The Next Civil Rights Frontier. Right Picture: From left: Gary Ann Taylor of
The Portland Observer Newspaper and Hugh B. Price President and CEO of the National Urban League. Left Picture: From Left: James Winters and Lawrence J. Dark
President and CEO o f The Urban League of Portland.