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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.