Hage
MAY 20. IM9H
ï liv IJnrtUwb (Obeertirr
Is Portland's Water Supply In Trouble? I
B y P rof . M< K im
Bi
700,000 homes - in Portland and the
suburbs - depend on the city’s Bull
e\ eral months o íu aler qual­
Run Reservoirs But as the region
ity-related news article's
grows, that water system is about
suggest that this may be an
drained I he city is thinking about
area o f serious concern to a growing
long-range planning to the year2050.
number o f gov ernmental agencies.
( II2M Hill was awarded a S3 75.000
I ike many. I find that I have more
contract to find solutions."
than a passing interest in this funda­
Now w hat the W ater Quality Ail-
mental cnv ironmental issues. Not |ust
v isory Committee does is implied in
us a citizen troubled by even ail inti­
its title and the ailv isec is Portland’s
mation that there could be any level
Bureau o f W ater Works Monthly,
o f problem w ith this v ital resource -
the group meets tor sev eral hours to
but by th e e lo se u p ' lew asam eniber
hear and evaluate relevant issues
o f our city's "W ater Quality Advi­
brought to its attention by citizens,
sory Committee"; 1991. 1992. 1993.
technicians, land and resource man­
I certainly adv ise similar civ ic inter­
agers from other city, county, state
action
and federal agencies, academies, and
I look in my tiles tor that period
environmentalists. Not to mention,
and I find some very strongly ex­
'politicians'.
pressed concerns in the media - and
A serious effort is made to draw
I assure you that no new territory has
committee members from a diverse,
been intruded. In the Portland O r­
but relevant, spectrum o f professions
egonian for 21. December 1990 we
and civ ic interests. During my tenure
have the headline. "( ity ( ommis-
the group consisted ol about ten mem­
sions Extensive* Study o f \ \ aler Sup­
bers. whose occupations ranged from
ply in Metro Area"
engineers, medicine (County Health
" B u sin e s se s anil m ore than
f y
k i
S
officeranda practicing physician) to
a biologist, geologist, professor,
houseperosn. so forth. Ilovv broad
can you get'1 But it is surprising how
many important view points there ai e
on exactly how that precious and
most vital fluid, water, should be
treated and distributed. I he W ater
Bureau valued our input.
I am sure that the reader can ap­
preciate how any o f the abov e m em ­
bers might dev elop a particular posi­
tion bv simply reflecting on how his
own attitudes have been shaped by
the recent media Hurry. How about
that 3 29 98 special report. "M etro
f loats Rules To Shield Urban W a­
ters: Portland-area neighborhoods
would add vegetation along stream
banks and limit new construction on
Hood plains." Pardon me. but isn't
this w here 1 came in seven years ago?
Though I have cited the rather
general m akeupofthe W aterQ uality
group I am quite certain some read­
ers may have difficulty picturing me
sitting at that lone curved-rostrum.
You Can Now
Find Us On The
Web!
looking like a Metro Councilor,
forget now who recommended me
for the position (unpaid), but I do
recall that in filling out the C ity's
"Qualifications f orm". I did come
up w uh w hat I thought were several
excellent areas o f relevancy.
fo r the one tli mg I had ten years of
contracting w ith the I S. f orest Ser-
v ices, a job that at v arious times took
me to all o f the nine forests o f the
Pacific Northwest My activities re­
quired an interface with every per­
sonnel and operational element of
the nation's largest manager o f natu­
ral resources, l imber. Recreation.
Wildlife and W atershed.
Pul a big emphasis on that last
category for it's most contentious
component vv as Portland's ow n Bull
Run Watershed.
1 he story is fascinating and will
be continued next week, as well as
my experience as a technician in
monitoring water quality controls at
an Aluminum Plant - a 'self-con­
tained city’. (1967)
http://www.portland
observer.net
abrí
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Oregon W elfare Reform Is Not Only Saving Tax Dollars. It's Also Helping
Low-Income Families Achieve Self-Sufficiency.
( OX I IM F I) E R O M M l I R O .
We expect people on welfare to
work at becoming self-suflicient. This
includes spending 35-411 hours a week
in job training, job search and in
learning how to succeed - basics such
as showing up on time, doing what
you say you'll do and getting along
with eo-workers.
file only exceptions are people
whose disabilities prev entthem front
working, people who are in treat­
ment. and mothers with infants under
3 months old.
Granted, there are those who look
at O re g o n 's d e c lin in g w elfare
caseload and conclude. "It's the
economy. Stupid." But it that were
true, then other states with booming
eco n o m ies w ould be m atching
O regon's results. And they aren’t.
( hegon hasn't succeeded by accident.
< )ur entire wav of thinking has changed.
We used to take people's infor­
mation. rule whether they were eli­
gible for welfare, and then gel the
checks out on time. Now , our goal
includes helping people find alterna­
tives to welfare.
f o r exam ple, a fam ily recently
cam e to one o f our rural offices to
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w e lfa re c ase, we e n ro lle d the
breadw inner in f nglish-as-a-see-
ond-language classes and bought
him some tools. H e's now w orking
as a cabinet m aker at $9.50 an
hour.
All o f which may explain why
Oregon is recognized as a national
leader in not only changing welfare
as we know it, but also in helping
poor people improv e their economic
well-being.
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Keeping your visitors in cheek and paying your rent on time
every month are some o f the themes echoed in this housing
educational video "I tv ing l.arge-how to keep a rental."
“ Living l arge" video will premiere Thursday, May 2Sth at
Portland Community Col lege Cascade Campus. Terrell Hall room
122 from 7 pm-8 pm.
“This video evolved from working with Young Moms and
T eenagers around housing issues," said Sandra Johnson, C ase
Manager for Gift fam ily Services (i l l . I . (Gang Influenced
fem ale Team) was created to work with social, housing and
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“This v ideo is a creative tactic to engage and teach Young Moms
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I he premiere party will be videotaped to create a video within
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