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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.