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April 7, I * »
Researchers Say Youthful Community Partnership
Hostility May Lead To
Finances Oregon Convention
Heart Disease
Center Expansion
Young people who exhibit high
hostility are about 2.5 tim es more
likely to have coronary artery cal­
cification - a strong predictor o f
early heart disease - than those
who exhibit low hostility. 1 hat s
according to a prelim inary m edi­
cal study being done by research­
ers led by C arlos Iribarren, MD,
PhD, o f K aiser P erm anente’s D i­
vision o f R esearch in N orthern
California.
Dr. Iribarren presented the re­
search result M arch 24 at the
American Heart Association s39
annual Conference on C ardiovas­
cular Diseases, Epidemiology, and
Prevention in O rlando, Fla.
“The field o f psychosocial de­
term inants o f cardiovascular d is­
ease is an active area o f research,
said Dr. Iribarren. "W hile earlier
studies have uncovered hostility
as the key com ponent o f ' Type A ’
behavior in m iddle age, no study
until now has looked at the rela­
tionship betw een hostility during
young adulthood and early th ick ­
ening o f the arterial w alls know n
as su b clin ical a th e ro sc le ro sis.
The study o f subclinical ath ero ­
sclerosis is im portant because it
could allow us to have an im pact
early in the heart disease process,
said Dr. Iribarren.
The study relied on psycho­
logical questionnaires and state-
of-the-art diagnostic imaging tech-
scored low ,” said Dr. Iribarren.
nology. H ostility is an aspect o f
“ In addition, those w hose h o stil­
personality m ainly characterized
ity rating increased over the p e­
by a cynical view o f the world and
riod
betw een the tw o q u e stio n ­
by an ag g re ssiv e re sp o n se to
naires w ere also m ore lik e ly to
stressful situations.
have coronary c a lc ific a tio n .”
“ We assessed hostility using
The link betw een hostility and
an extensive questionnaire," said
presence
o f coronary calcification
Dr. Iribarren Participants in the
could
not
be explained by other
long-running m ulti-center Coro­
know
risk
factors such as sm ok­
nary Artery Risk D evelopm ent in
ing,
LDL
(“bad”)
ch o lestero l, or
Young Adults (CARDIA) study
high
blood
pressure.
T he study
were given a standard question­
was too small to draw firm conclu­
naire at their first visit in 1985-86,
sions about the role o f h o stility in
and again during a five-year return
separate race or gender groups.
visit in 1990-91. The questionnaire
Dr. Iribarren said he and his co l­
was given to black and w hite men
leagues plan to do further research
and women between the ages o f 18
across a larger group to get ad d i­
and 30 at the initial visit.
tional data.
Ten years later, a volunteer
O ther investigators in the study
subgroup o f 374 participants re­
were
Drs. Stephen Sidney, also from
turned for an exam ination w ith the
Kaiser Permanente’s Division o f Re­
diagnostic im aging equipm ent.
search; Kiang Liu, from the Univer­
U sing electron-beam com puted
sity o f Chicago; Jerome Markovitz
tom ography (EBCT), researchers
and Jeffrey Roseman, from the U ni­
looked for deposits o f calcium in
versity o f Birmingham in Alabama,
the coronary arteries. These cal­
and Diane Bild, from the N ational
cium deposits are considered a
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in
marker for the formation ofplaques
Bethesda, Maryland.
- fatty substance in the inner lin­
K aiser Perm anente is a non­
ing o f the artery w all and a key
profit,
group-practice prepaym ent
ingredient in the disease process
program
serving the health care
that can cause heart attacks.
needs
o
f
8.6
m illion members in 17
“W e found that those p a rtic i­
states
and
the
D istrict o f C olum ­
pants who initially scored high in
bia,
including
440,000 people in
h o stility w ere about 2.5 tim es
N
orthw
est
O
regon
and Southw est
m ore likely to have coronary a r­
W
ashington.
tery calcificatio n than those who
Portland Mayor Vera Katz, Metro
Presiding Officer Rod Monroe, Metro
Executive O fficer Mike Burton,
Multnomah County Commissioner
Serena Cruz and representatives from
the local hospitality industry’ today
unveiled a funding plan that will fi­
nance a scaled back expansion o f the
Oregon Convention Center (OCC), a
project that stalled last November after
area voters rejected a ballot measure
that would have tied a portion o f the
center’s expansion costs to property
taxes. The finance package is the result
of months ofwork by the Mayor’ office,
Metro, local and hoteliers and the car
rental industry. In the near future, the
city o f Portland, M etro and the
Multnomah County Commission will
meet to approve the plan’s final details.
“We heard the voters loud and
clear last fall,” explained Mayor Vera
Katz. “Even though survey after
survey shows that residents support
the expansion o f the convention cen­
ter and appreciate its benefit to the
community, we learned that those
same citizens do not want the fund­
ing o f the project to affect their prop-
Middle School Conference
The m iddle school experience
may be a defining experience in a
young p erson’s life. In fact, says
Dr. Hayes M izell, m iddle schools
em body the best hope to influence
the choices young adolescents
make. Mizell keynotes In the Middle
’99, a N orthw est Regional Educa­
tional Laboratory conference on
May 10-11 at the Double Tree Ho-
tel/Jantzen Beach, Portland.
(M izell’s keynote is May 10 from
2-3 p.m.) In the Middle is one o f the
few conferences in the country de­
signed for m iddle school teachers,
counselors, and adm inistrators.
M izell is director o f the Program
for Student Achievem ent at the
Edna M cConnell Clark Foundation
in New York City. The foundation
supports model middle school sites
throughout the country that build
on student achievem ent through
broad reform strategies. In his key-
note he will discuss the transforma­
tions that must occur in both schools
and classrooms to improve student
perform ance. Standards, assess­
ment, contextual learning, and other
important components o f reform are
on the discussion agenda.
O ther keynoters are consultant
Dr. Elaine Johnson speaking on
“Brain Compatible Teaching and
Learning,” and Judy Seal, vice
president o f the Long Beach (CA)
Education Research Project where
middle-school reform was the start
o f a nationally recognized commu­
nity effort to turn around kinder­
garten through university educa­
tion, and a sinking Long Beach
economy.
Now in its second year, the con­
ference is geared to offering fresh,
research-based strategies and in­
novations, all the w hile show cas­
ing model programs and resources
that promote high student achieve­
m ent th ro u g h sta n d a rd s-b a se d
learning and assessm ent, curricu­
lum mapping, contextual learning,
com m unity partnerships, and ser­
vice learning. O nsite tours take
p a rtic ip a n ts to a c tu a l m id d le
schools and classroom s, and in-
depth w orkshops features an array
o f experts sharing their knowledge.
The conference W eb site, which
offers detailed information and reg-
is tr a tio n ,
is
at
h ttp ://
w w w .n w r e l.o r g /e d w o r k / I
m iddle.htm l. Fees for the full con­
ference are $275 for individuals,
and $250 per person for a team.
(Reduced fees are available for
those registering prior to A pril 19,
1999). Conference information and
registration are available through
e-mail to itm @ nw rel.org and by
telephone: (541)346-3537.
PDC Pushes C orporate
W e lfa re For Adidas
erty taxes. That made it very impor­
tant for us to pull together to develop
an alternative expansion plan that
both accomplished our goal and re­
spected the wishes o f the voters.
And for that I want to thank the
hospitality industry for making this
possible. Both physically and finan­
cially, this is not the same project we
took to the voters in November.
"W e are proving that government
and business can work together, and
that we can devise creative, cost-
effective solutions to the problems
we face,” said Monroe.
“This outstanding public-private
partnership is an investment in the
region’s tourism econom y,” ex­
plained Burton. "I am pleased with
those businesses that stepped up to
the plate and became our partners in
this joint venture. This alliance al­
lows the Oregon convention Center
to regain its competitive edge and
illustrates what can be accomplished
by working together.”The new fi­
nance package, which is designed to
fund a slightly smaller version o f the
original OCC project, is based upon
commitments from the City o f Port­
land, Metro, Portland hotels and lo­
cal rental car outlets. The total cost
o f the expansion is $85 million, down
from $95 million in the original pro­
posal.
The expansion, which is expected
to break ground in April 2000, has
been assigned a tentative two-year
construction time line. The slightly
revised project will include 80.000-
85,000square feet ofexhibition space,
a 35,000-square-foot ballroom, 30
breakout rooms, and two levels of
underground parking with 1,000
spaces. As orginally proposed, the
expansion will extend out from the
south side o f the existing OCC build­
ing, covering what is now a surface
parking lot.
According to D ’Alessandro, the
expansion comes at a critical time.
Because the majority o f Portland’s
major competitor cities (Salt Lake
City, San Diego, Seattle, etc.) have all
recently expanded or are in the pro­
cess of enlarging their convention
facilities; Portland needs this project
to stay competitive.
Scholarship Awards Offered
ly MS Association
In a national essay com petition
known as PROJECT: Learn MS ‘99,
high school and college students
may compete for college scholar­
ship aw ards. Sponsored by the
M ultiple Sclerosis A ssociation o f
America (MS AA), PROJECT: Learn
MS ‘99 is designed to educate
students about MS - a crippling
disease which affects young adults.
The essay com petition is open to
high school juniors and seniors,
and college freshmen and sopho­
mores. Entries must be postmarked
by June 5, 1999. Students may ob­
tain an official registration form by
contacting their high school En­
glish department, by calling 1-800-
LEARN MS, or by em ailing to
msaa@ msaa.com.
For the sixth year, M SA A ’s
PROJECT: Learn MS encourages stu­
dents to write a 500-1000 word essay
on how multiple sclerosis impacts a
person and his or her family on a daily
basis. Each essay must be typed and
doubled spaced, and can take the
form of a letter, poem, or feature story.
MSAA is a national nonprofit
organization providing direct patient
care programs and services to assist
those suffering from MS. MSAA
services include peer counseling,
support groups, free loan o f thera­
peutic equipment, barrier-free hous­
ing, symptom management research
and therapies, educational literature,
no-cost M RI’s and other vital pa­
tient programs.
Multiple Sclerosis Association of
America, 706 Haddonfield Road,
Cherry Hill, NJ 08002
3:17 a.m .
You’re asleep.
We’re w orking to make
sure your alarm goes off.
Community Groups Demand Full Public Hearings
No Tax Breaks without Living
Wage Jobs!
The Portland Development Com-
m ission continues to pursue “cor­
porate w elfare” instead o f com m u­
nity welfare, according to the Jobs
with Justice coalition. Citing a pro­
posal to grant approximately $2 mil­
lion in tax breaks to Adidas America,
In., the coalition o f thirty labor, com­
munity and religious groups blasted
the PDC for “again pursuing a failed,
trickle-dow n policy which creates
few jobs and those m ostly very
low-waged."
Jobs with Justice called for full
public hearings on the PDC proposal,
in the evening and in North Portland.
The coalition denounced the City
Council’s decision to lift a two-year
moratorium on the “enterprise zone”
tax break strategy which is supposed
to create goodjobs for low-skill work­
ers in North Portland. Despite incom­
plete performance data, and knowing
that only one out of ten jobs retained
or created by the zone went to zone
residents, the Council opened the
door last week for the Adidas pro­
posal. PDC wants the state legisla­
ture to alter the enterprise zone law to
allow a break for Adidas to move their
c o rp o ra te h ead q u arters from
Beaverton to the North Portland site
of the former Bess Kaiser Hospital.
“ M oving 500 w orkers from
Providence Health
Plans Help “Bag
Child Abuse”
April is Child Abuse Prevention
M onth, and over 1000 Providence
H ealth Plans’ em ployees are w ork­
ing together with Parents Anony­
mous o fO regon.Inc. to “Bag Child
Abuse.” Providence em ployees are
collecting and donating used cloth­
ing and household items to Parents
A nonym ou»of Oregon. The sale o f
these items goes to support the
P a re n ts A n o n y m o u s sta te w id e
Child Abuse Prevention Program
which includes a statewide parent
support helpline, free weekly par­
ent support groups, free children’s
programs, and parenting education.
Providence Health Plans believes
that it is their responsibility to give
to the com m unities which they
serve. Parents anonymous is dedi­
cated to the promotion o f parent
leadership and education to create
safe and nurturing environments
for children
Beaverton to North Portland will not
create decent jobs for the needy.
Adidas is not creating living wage
jobs, not here in the USA, not over­
seas in its production sweatshops.
At best, Adidas corporate headquar­
ters will employ some high wage en­
gineers and executives from outside
the neighborhood while employing
some very low wage custodians, se­
curity guards, food service, childcare
and clerical workers from inside the
zone.” said Jamie Partridge, chair of
the Living Wage Campaign, “this type
o f job creation is happening already,
without tax breaks to fabulously
wealthy corporations.”
Iftax breaks are granted to Adidas,
says JwJ, the City Council should at
least insist that all jobs pay a living
wage, which is over $ 10 per hour for
a single person and over $16 for a
family o f three, according to the re­
cently released Northwest Job Gap
study. The coalition urged the City to
insist that Adidas pay full health
benefits, pledge neutrality toward
workers efforts to organize into labor
unions, hire 80% o f workers from the
zone, and pay back all abated taxes if
they fail to meet these goals.
Jobs with Justice also called for
an independent audit o f the enter­
prise zone’s past performance in cre­
ating living wage jobs for low-in­
come residents, suggesting the Port­
land D evelopm ent Com m ission
could not be relied on for an objec­
tive assessment.
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