Page A6
November 17, 1999
-
ÿtarUanb ©heeruer
Business
(ffbaarutr
Cuomo invites agencies to apply Feds face tough decision on rates
for HUD gun buyback funds
A ssociated P ress
CONTRIBLTED STORY
tor T he
P ortland O bserver
The US Department o f Housing and
U rban D evelopm ent w ill begin
accepting applications this week for
$15 million in grants to fund the
purchase o f up to 300,000 guns from
people around the country, in the
largest gun buyback program in
American history.
HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo today
invited public housing authorities-in
partnership with police and sheriff s
department-to apply for the grants,
which will be used to buy back guns
for about $50 each.
Each housing authority and law
enforcement agency applying jointly
for a grant will be eligible to get up to
$500,000 in HUD funds- enough to
purchase up to 10,000 guns at $50
each. While some large cities are
expected to seek maximum funding,
smaller cities are expected to operate
smaller buyback programs.
A notice o f availability issued by
HUD and published in the Federal
R eg ister
o ffic ia lly
n o tifie s
communities across the nation about
the grants explains the process o f
will be encouraged to support the
buyback program s by donating
additional items to people turning in
firearms.
HUD will also provide funds to help
administer the buyback and to study
the effectiveness o f gun buyback
programs, and could provide funding
to more housing authorities and police
departments in the future if the pilot
initiative is expanded.
Several cities around the country have
conducted gun buyback program in
recent years, but none has even come
close to purchasing 300,000 guns.
These local buyback programs have
collected anywhere from a few dozen
to a few thousand guns.
The buybacks are designed to reduce
the toll o f gun violence, which each
week claims an average o f 600 lives
and injures another 1,800 people in
crimes, accidents and suicides around
the United States.
To reduce the availability o f guns, all
guns purchased with HUD funds will
be destroyed, unless it is determined
that a gun was stolen or is needed for
an ongoing law e n fo rc e m e n t
investigation. Stolen weapons will
be returned to their lawful owners.
Local law enforcement agencies will
be required to follow specific
recovery, tracing and destruction
procedures in dealing with firearms
p u rc h a se d u n der the b u y b a c k
initiative. This includes tracing o f
guns through the Bureau o f Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms and National
Crime Information Center, as well as
ballistics testing.
applying for the funds. Information
and a fund application can found on
HUD’s web page at www.hud.gov.
Applications are due December 3.
Funding will be awarded on first-
com e first-serve basis. Housing
authorities will distribute the HUD
funds to local police departments to
conduct the buybacks in December,
to enable families to replace guns
with cash and gift certificates during
the holiday season.
"When we empower communities to
join together to reduce the number of
guns on o ur streets, we make
neighborhoods safer and make the
lives of children more secure, "C uomo
said. " I encourage communities to
apply for these grants to prevent
needless death and injuries caused
by guns."
HUD's gun buyback and Violence
Reduction Initiative was announced
by President Clinton in September.
HUD has used the time since then to
finalize details o f the initiative.
Local officials will decide whether to
distribute the $50 per gun buyback
fee in cash, or in the form o f gift
certificates for food, toys or other
goods. In addition, local merchants
Census 2000 approaches,
Northwest community
leaders meet
C O
N
T R
for T he
1 B
U
T E
P
S
T O
R
Y
-
Federal Reserve policymakers gathered yesterday for one
of the toughest and least predictable interest rate meetings
in recent history as suspense mounted among investors
over the outcome.
The closed-door meeting o f the rate-setting Federal Open
Market Committee was clouded in so much uncertainty
that financial markets were split right down the middle on
the odds o f a third increase in borrowing costs this year.
The central question facing the 10 voting members o f the
secretive committee is whether the world’s biggest
economy, after more than eight years o f expansion, will
eventually slow down by itself. If it will, rates should be
left alone. If it won’t, rates should be raised to keep the
economy from overheating.
Federal officials have acknowledged that finding the right
answer has seldom been more difficult, increasing rates
now might open them to charges o f being over-zealous,
while waiting a bit longer until inflation shows up more
clearly in the data could make the Fed appear dangerously
behind the curve.
Reams of economic data have not helped to make a clear
case either way. Increases in wages and consumer prices
have been tame to date, but the nation’s labor market is
getting ever tighter and commodity and import prices are
on the uptick.
"It’s a very close call, but if the Fed is to be pre-emptive,
a (tightening) move in November would be a valid
decision,” said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of
America Private Bank in Jacksonville, Fla.
ROCKYRELATIONS
The eagerly awaited meeting follows small rate rises in
both June and August aimed at reining in a consumer-
fueled boom in the U.S. economy, which grew at an
amazing 4.8 percent pace in the July-September period.
But whether or not those moves actually succeeded in
putting a lid on growth going forward is an issue still hotly
debated among economists and Fed officials.
The Fed’s ability to restrain the buoyant U.S. consumer
will depend in good part on the future course o f stock
prices, which have been a key force behind the spending
extravaganza.
Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, whose relationship with
the stock market has long been rocky, has repeatedly
warned that runaway gains in stocks will not be sustainable
forever. The Dow alone has risen more than 17 percent
since January, even though it has recently come o ff the
years’ high.
"Clearly, asset prices are an important variable for the
Fed,” said veteran Fed watcher Sung Won Sohn, chief
economist at Wells Fargo Bank in Minneapolis.
Not that anybody at the Fed believes interest rate policy
should or could be used to influence the price o f stocks
or other assets. Greenspan himself has insisted he will not
try to second-guess the judgment of millions o f investors
whose collective actions determine the course o f stock
prices.
"It’s a strange world w e’d be getting into if the Fed started
going after the stock market,” said James G lassman, senior
economist at Chase Securities Inc. in New York. That
would be a dangerous game.”
LASTCHANCECAFE
But few inside or outside the Fed would doubt that a
sustained slowdown in the red-hot U.S. economy can be
achieved without letting some air out o f sky-high stock
prices.
With financial markets’ trust in Greenspan’s stewardship
o f the U.S. economy unbroken, the Fed’s previous two
tightenings have done little to make stock investors less
optimistic about the prospects for continued strong growth
ahead. Another small rate rise on Tuesday would be
unlikely to change that.
“Right now, a rate rise would not kill off the economy or
the stock market,” said Wells Fargo’s Sohn. "To me, it
would be sort o f a safe insurance policy.”
Should policymakers decide to hold off on a rate move
now, they will get another chance to tap the brakes at their
next and final meeting this year on Dec. 21.
But many economists doubt they will run the risk o f adding
to potential upheavals caused by the Year 2000 computer
problem, which would put off any rate rises until next year.
P ortland O bserver
With Census Day (April 1) only six months away, city and county officials and
representatives o f community organizations throughout the Northwest
gathered in Portland, Oregon for an intensive two- day conference on Census
2000. More than 250 delegates and Census Bureau representatives attended
the conference. The main focus of the conference was to provide information
and strategies to ensure r. complete and accurate count in every community
throughout the states o f Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Several hundred
Complete Count Committees have been formed throughout the three states to
provide advice and support to the Census Bureau to promote participation in
the census, and assist in recruiting in their communities for the thousand of
census employees who must be hired to carry on census operations during
Census 2000.
During the conference, delegates were addressed by Oregon Treasurer Jim
Hill, who stressed the economic impact o f the census and importance o f an
accurate count in legislative redistricting and congressional apportionment
that is based on census numbers. Delegates also heard from Alan Porter, the
state o f Idaho ’s liaison to the Census Bureau, who as Idaho’s demographer,
has been closely involved with the Census Bureau’s advertising campaign, the
first in the history of census, which will begin in November, and will feature
radio, newspaper ads as well as outdoor promotions. A key topic at the
conference was "Census in the Schools,” an imaginative program to provide
teachers with information about the census forclassroom discussions to teach
students how the census is used by governments, business and community
groups to plan for the future. A number o f Complete Count Committees
throughout the Northwest have been working for as long as a year on plans
to promote the census in their communities. A workshop panel on “Best
Practices” allowed committees who have well-developed programs and plans
to share information with committees who have been formed. Michael Bums,
deputy regional director for the Census Bureau’s Seattle Region, which
includes Idaho, Oregon and Washington as well as Alaska and Northern
California, told the delegates that community involvement was crucial to a
successful census. “Census 2000 cannot be the Census Bureau’s census. To
be successful, it has to be Portland’s census; it has to be Seattle’s census; it
has to be M cM innville’s census; it has to be your community’s census. You
know your communities, we do not. We need your help in identifying areas
where extra effort will be needed to get the word out on the importance o f the
census to everyone in your community. We need your help to find good people
in every community who would like to work for us during the census. With your
help, we can be sure that your communities are fairly counted, and fairly
represented in the allocation o f federal dollars for essential programs for the
people who live there. With your help, we can have the best census in history.
Just buy any
DIRECTV System
And subscribe to
DIRECTV
Total Choice
Programming.
Get 32 Free
Premium Movie
Channels including
HBO, Starz! And
Showtime
Offer ends Jan 16, 2000
For Two Months, You Get:
• 32 Free premium movie channels,
including 7 HBO, 4 Starz! & 5
D IR E C T V
Showtime channels
• Over 25 Free Specialty Sports
Networks, including Speedvision, Outdoor Life Network,
The Golf Channel and over 20 Regional Sports Networks
DIRECTV
E ntry Level System :
Single output
Free se lf install kit
T urbo video receiver
IR R em ote control
$99.95
Kalia Durham
Independent Technology
Consultant
(888)845-4128
w w w . handtech. com / nuconcepts
I
<
I
I
All product*, term * and condition* are *u b|*et to change Conault any U.S. Bank location tor current information Rataa a * low a * 875% Rataa and Iina »da »ary dapondmg
K .C O t/1
on credit underwriting parameter* 0 1 9 9 9 U S Bancorp U S Bank Member FDIC
<