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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1999)
Page A3 ¿Eljc |Jnrtlau6 (O b s rn s rr------------ FEB. 17, 1999 Oregon Lawyers Step Forward To Help Oregonians Living in Poverty In 1996, D elia Lopez cam e to O r egon City Legal Aid office severely beaten and bruised but determ ined to end a long history ofdom estic abuse. Legal Aid lawyers obtained a restrain ing order against her husband, repre sented her in divorce proceedings, and secured her child support pay ments. Today, D elia is em ployed, and she and her children sleep at night. The 600,000 O regonians who live in pov- Home- Buying Fair The Fannie M ae Foundation and the Portland Trail Blazers are co-spon soring the third Fannie M ae Founda tion H om e-Buying Fair on Saturday, March 27,1999 at the M em orial Coli seum Exhibit Hall from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m ., and is free to the public. The fair is designed to increase hom eow nership opportunities for low-and m oderate-incom e potential first tim e hom e-buyers, by rem oving barriers. The fair will focus on the total hom e-buying process, includ ing how to qualify for a mortgage, repairing credit problem s and finding affordable financing. W e intend to have approxim ately 100 exhibitors at the fair. Exhibitors will include lend ers, housing com m unity organiza tions, real estate professionals, m ort gage insurers and counseling agen cies. In addition, w e w ill hold educa tional sem inars throughout the day in English, Spanish, Russian and Viet nam ese to allow consum ers to ask questions about the m ortgage loan process in a com fortable environ ment. W e have had the opportunity to educate over 7,500 residents on the hom e-buying process in the three previous hom e-buying fairs. O ur re search show s that at least 10% o f the people w ho attend one o f our fairs are able to buy a hom e w ithin six m onths to a year o f attending the fair. I f you are in the lending com m u nity, a governm ent agency or non profit, a realtor or have a product targeted towards first tim e hom e buy ers and interested in purchasing a booth, please call (626) 396-5310. Portland HUD P o rtla n d , O R - As a part ofB lack H istory M onth, the P ortland office o f the U nited States D epartm ent o f H ousing and U rban D evelopm ent (H U D ) is hosting “A nyw here but here: H ousing D iscrim ination in O r egon," a freestanding photographic exhibit chronicling the history o f dis crim ination in O regon. T he display w ill be open to the public free o f charge in the 7'h floor C onfrence Room o f the 400 B uilding in d ow n tow n Portland M onday through Fri day from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm for the rem ainder o f F ebruary. “ A nyw here but here” covers 250 years o f O regon’s history, from the first days o f w hite settlem ents to recent w aves o f im m igrants. The exhibit consists o f nine connected panels, using a com bination o f pho tographs, personal quotes and edu cational text to recount O reg o n ’s treatm ent o f racial m inorities and otherm arginalizedgroups. Forthose in te re ste d in le a rn in g m o re o f O regon’s history, the exhibit pre sents a fascinating survey o f our sta te ’s struggles w ith racial and cultural diversity. The 400 Building is located at 400 SE A venue on the Bus M all; the elevators in the first floor lobby can reach the 7th room Conference Floor. For m ore inform ation on viewing the exhibit at the H U D offices, please call L aurie V oshell a, 326-2391 or 326-2561. Formore information about future appearances o f the exhibit or how to host the exhibit in your com m unity, please call M ichael A nder son at (503)412-6000. erty have little or no access to medical care. T heycanbevictim sofdom estic abuse H om elessness is either a real ity or a very real threat. These indi viduals often need the help o f the legal system to obtain basic needs or to prevent violence to them selves andtheirchildren. Solutions lie within Legal Aid, the offices that provide the bulk o f the legal services to the poor. In O regon alone 30,000 people used the help o f Legal A id lawyers last year. U nfortunately, congress’ funding for Legal A id has steadily eroded in the past several years. A djusted for inflation and the growth o f the population in poverty. Legal Aid funding has dropped to ju st 72 cents for each 1981 dollar. O regon’s law yer have led the na tion in filling the gap left by Congress; they have formed the Cam paign for Equal Justice to raise money for Legal Aid lawyers and foundations. W hile many lawyers participate in poverty law clinics or take on the case o f needy clients for no fee, they also stepped forw ard to raise a record setting $516,000 for Legal Aid through the Campaign in 1997 and a record-setting $590,000 in 1998. Each section o f the Bar, including the Oregon Trail Law yers Association, corporate lawyers, large law firm s law yers, O regon W omen Lawyers, law professors at our three law schools, the Oregon Four New Electronic Signs Allowed Linder Court Order F o u r n ew e le c tro n ic b illb o a rd s w ill be a llo w e d to go u p u n d e r an o rd e r is s u e d y e s te r d a y b y U .S . M a g is tr a t e J u d g e D o n a ld C . A sh m a n sk a s. F o llo w in g c itiz e n c o m p la in ts an d tra ffic sa fe ty co n c e rn s a b o u t tw o e le tr o n ic b ill b o a rd s e r e c te d in D e c e m b e r, th e c ity o f P o rtla n d is s u e d sto p w o rk o rd e rs o n fo u r su c h s ig n s , w h ic h re c e iv e d b u ild in g p e r m its b u t w e re n o t y e t, e re c te d . T h e C o u rt fo u n d th a t, at th e tim e th e sto p w ork p erm its w ere issu ed , th e C ity o f P o rtla n d d id n o t p ro d u c e s u f fic ie n t e v id e n c e to d e m o n s tra te th a t th e s ig n s p o s e d a tr a ffic h a z ard. “ I u n d e r s t a n d th e C o u r t ’ s re a s o n o n g , b u t I ’m c e r ta in ly n o t h a p p y a b o u t th e r e s u lts ,” sa id C ity C o m m issio n er C h arlie H ales. T h e lo c a tio n s o f th e e le c rto n ic b illb o a rd s sig n s a llo w e d u n d e r th e o rd e r a re N E 2 8 lh A v e n u e and N E B ro a d w a y ; SE 122nd A v e n u e and D iv is io n ; N W V a u g n n S tre e t; an d SE 13,h A v e n u e an d T acom a. E le ctro n ic b illb o ard s are a lre a d y in s e rv ic e a t SE T h ird A v en u e an d M o rriso n an d at SW S ix th A v en u e an d G ran t. P e rm it a p p lic a tio n s fo r th e se six sig n s w ere su b m itte d p rio r to C ity C o u n c il a c tio n o n D e c e m b e r 2 3 , 1998, w h ich g av e th e C ity ’s T raffic E n g in eer au th o rity to reg u la te e le c tro n ic sig n s. T h e T ra ffic E n g in e e r is d ev e lo p in g re g u la tio n s th at w ill esta b lish c rite ria for w h ere su ch sig n s m a y sa fe ly o p era te. A n y e le c tro n ic b illb o a rd a p p lic a tio n s re c e iv e d afte r D e cem ber 23 w ill have to com ply w ith the new reg u la tio n s. T oday, the co u n cil w ill co nsider an a d d itio n a l m e a su re th a t w o u ld p ro h ib it e le c tro n ic b illb o a rd s an d sim ila r sig n s a lto g eth er. I f a p p ro v e d , the o rd ia n c e w ill go in to effect im m ediately. “ T h e o rd ian c e I ’ve b ro u g h t fo r w ard w o u ld ad d re ss th e n eg a tiv e a e sth e tic im p a c t o f th e se k in d o f sig n s, n o t ju s t the tra ffic sa fety is s u e s ,” H ales sa id . “ I d o n ’t b e liev e th e re ’s an y p la c e in P o rtlan d w h ere th e se sig n s w o u ld be d e s ir a b le , ev en if th e y w e re n o t d a n g e r o u s .” State Bar, and local bar associations throughout the state have engaged m friendly com petition to see w ho could raise the mosrmoney. Several Oregon foundations, including the Collins Foundation, the M eyer M em orial Trust, MJ M urdock Chartiable Trust, PGE-Enron foundation, and the Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust also have stepped forward with strong financial contributions. In fact, the C am paign has raised o ver $4 m illion for Legal A id since 1991. As Senator Ron W yden has said, “ the C am paign for Equal Justice show s that O regon’s legal com m u nity has a heart and a hardheaded com m itm ent to pick up w here the federal governm ent has shortsight edly left off. ” Oregon ’ s law yers have show n both determ ined and gener osity in this cam paign, dem onstrat ing their b elief that unequal for any body is injustice for everybody Business Community Supports Youth at the Zoo The Oregon Zoo recently received financial support from the business com munity to diversity and strengthens the ZooTeen Program. The sequent Foundation, Hie Herbert A.TempletonFoundation,andU.S.West Foundation have provided $15,000 to fund two years of the new ZooTeen Diversity Project, which will recruit at least 36 teenagers from underserved communi tis during the summers o f 1999 and2000.The ZooTeen program teaches students entering 9* grade to present educational programs to zoo visitors. ZooTeens also learn animal handing skills and develop job and career skills. Stu dents are asked to volunteer two half-day shifisaweekthroughoutthesummerThe deadline for application to the ZooTeen program is March 1. For more information or to receive application, call Karyn McGee, Y outh VolunteerCoordmator,at(503)220-2790. U.S. Bank donated $30,000to initiate Zoo Animal Presenters (ZAP); a pilot program to recruit underserved youth. Ten high school students have been selected from the Boys and Girls Club throughout the Portland metropolitan region and will soon begin paid intern ships at the zoo.The students will assist in the care o f the zoo’s education pro gram animal collection and serve as ambassadors to the public. In addition to animal care, the internships will re ceive training in public speaking and instruction in zoo science and conser vation issues. The ZAP team will continue their internships through 1999.