www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
May 31, 2000
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Pepsi Waterfront Village offers fun for all ages
The Rose Festival waterfront activities is
celebrating its 30“' anniversary' in Tom
McCall Waterfront Park. This year brings
several new improvements. On Thursday,
Ju n e 1, fro m 5-11 pm ., the P epsi
Waterfront Village (formerly Pepsi Festival
Center) will be having its grand opening
with events co n tin u in g u n til June
I /.Changes implemented during the 1999
P epsi F estiva l C enter in clu d ed the
fo llo w in g and received fa v o ra b le
community support based upon responses
from civic leaders and the Association’s
market research:
■ Introduced fenced midway area
■ Charged a modest evening admission (S3
from 6 pm. until closing)
• Closed an hour earlier on most nights (at
I I pm. instead o f midnight)
■ Enhanced additional safety coordination
with the Portland Police Bureau
■ Expanded both the Skill and Thrill Zone
and the children’s entertainment area
Purchased a new fu ll sized castle façade
to highlight the entry to the Kids ’ Kingdom
Improved signage and banners
Asa result o f 1999 's successes, the Portland
Rose Festival Association is continuing
the effort to refocus this unique community
celebration. In future years, the Association
hopes to create programming that involves
the Willamette River's eastside walkway
and initiates water entertainment activities.
A Day at the Fair
The Leadership Development program at
Portland State University, in partnership
with organizations such as the Black
United Fund, Albina Ministerial Alliance,
Center for Community Mental Health, and
the U rban League, is o rganizing a
co m m u n ity fair to b rin g to g e th e r
Portland’s North/Northeast residents and
connect them with nonprofit organizations
that help to build healthy and successful
futures. The event will be on June 3, from
10 am - 2 pm. at the Matt Dishman
Community Center, located at 77 NE Knott.
Entertainment and face painting provided.
Call 503/282-7973.
2nd Annual Garden Festival
& Plant Sale
Prizes, free food, pony rides, a raffle to
Reno, info booths, garden demonstrations
and tours, plants and bird houses all await
you at the 2nd annual Garden Fair on
Sunday, June 6'h from 1 to 4 pm. at Our
Garden, located at GarfieldandNE. Failing
(! block west o f Martin Luther King and 2
blocks north o f Fremont). Joining them
this year is Growing Gardens, a volunteer-
powered nonprofit that brings gardens
and education workshops to poor people
throughout the Portland area.
Mittleman Jewish Center
Celebrates 85 Years
With 85 years o f providing service to the
Local projects grow with foundation support
Portland community, the Mittleman Jewish
C o m m unity C en ter ce le b ra tes this
mi lestone ’vith an Anniversary Party bash
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at the MJCC on Saturday, June 3 from 9
pm. until midnight. Featuring Johnny
Limbo and the Lugnuts, the MJCC invites
everyone to join in the celebration. Put on
your dancing shoes and party to Portland’s
most enduring, fun loving rock and roll
band performing classic hits from the 50’s
and 60’s. Call 452-3428.
Oregon Bigot Busters
Oregon Bigot Busters are canvasing local
com m unities to oppose the O regon
C itizens A lliance’s (O CA ) anti-gay
initiative, the “Student Protection Act,”
on Saturday, May 27,h and Saturday, June
3, 2000. The “Student Protection Act” is
an effort to legalize discrimination against
queer students and teachers in our public
schools. This “green light to gay bash”
initiative would violate free speech rights,
and cen so r library and curriculum
materials. Call 228-3090.
Bridging the Hunger Gap
For the first time in Portland history, an
evening on the Hawthorne Bridge will
become the hottest ticket in town. On July
Fourth, 800 generous supporters o f the
Com m unity projects in N orth/N ortheast
Portland got extra support from a long-time
friend this spring when the PacifiCorp
Foundation announced its local Pacific Power
fund grants.
“This community has a strong commitment
to its people through a wide range o f programs
and projects that make a real difference in
people’s lives,” said local Pacific Power
Business M anager Sheila H olden, who
presented checks on behalfofthe foundation.
“ W e’re part o f the history of the community
and w e’re proud to continue our support of
important local projects.”
The foundation’s aim is to enhance the
quality oflife in communities served by Pacific
Power, including projects ranging from park
improvements to arts festivals. In May smaller
grants focused on education and research
yielded $21,000 for local agencies in addition
to more than $50,000 in other grants given for
civic and cultural improvements, health and
welfare and arts and cultural organizations.
Among the agencies receiving broader grants
was The Black United Fund, which accepted
$35,000 for its Center for Com m unity
Development program. The grant matched
PacifiCorp and Pacific Power employee
(Please see 'Pacific Power' page 4)
Oregon Food Bank will dance and dine on
the east end o f the Hawthorne Bridge to
the !4 mile long Starspangled Blues party.
Irvington Covenant Church to hold groundbreaking ceremony
As part o f the 13,h annual Safeway
Waterfront Blues Festival, this one-time-
only event will raise funds toward an
ambitious capital campaign. Senators
Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden will serve
as Honorary Co-Chairs for the event.
“House Coats”
Join the Bosco-Milligan Foundation for a
program on selectin g h isto ric a lly -
appropriate paint colors foryour home on
Saturday, June 17 from 9:30 am. - noon at
the Temple Ballroom, a former Masonic
Lodge, at 6401 SE. Foster Road. There will
be a one-hour slide program on historic
house colors from the 1840s to the 1930s,
with special attention to the house styles
o f Portland and a painting contractor will
speak about “d o -it-y o u rse lf’ house
painting, and will also discuss the process
o f hiring and working with a painting
contractor.
1
BY/LEE PERLESÍAS
of T he
P ortland O bserver
On Saturday, June 3, at 5 p.m. Irvington
Covenant Church will hold a symbolic
groundbreaking and supper to celebrate
construction o f its five-story Covenant Village
housing project.
The structure on Northeast Martin Luther
King Jr. Boulevard north ofNortheast Mason
St. will provide 104 “assisted living” units for
seniors and the disabled who can live
independently but need help with certain
functions during the day. Actual construction
should begin in mid-June, according to church
spokesperson Rebecca Neff-Townsend.
It is not altogether welcome news to some
neighbors and the King Neighborhood
Association, which unsuccessfully opposed
the project on the grounds that it was out of
scale with the single family neighborhood to
the east.
à
In an appeal before the Portland Design
Commission, King Association land usechair
Jennifer Marcicek said that w hile King
“welcom es services such as an elderly
housing project provides,” the project “does
not meet the scale and character o f the area.”
She noted that most other buildings on the
boulevard, including the McCoy Village
housing project to the north, were three stories
or less. Those that are higher tend to be
further from single family homes, such as
Albina Comer, or reduce their scale as they
approach such homes, such as the Irvington
Place development on Northeast Broadway.
The three- foot setback from the east property
line that Covenant Village will provide is “not
sufficient," Marcicek told the commission.
King representatives also raised concerns
about parking: the building will have just 13
off-street spaces to accommodate residents,
visitors and a staff of 25. Further, Marcicek
and neighbor Scott 1 anier said, parishioners
from IrvingtonConvenant Church immediately
to the north already occupy all spaces on
Northeast Grand Avenue each Sunday.
However, as planner Denis Lachman said, the
building’s height “strikes to the heart o f a
major citywide issue: how to make major new
development compatible with adjacent single
family residential neighborhoods.
A complication is the fact that although
Northeast Grand Avenue across from the
church is occupied by single family homes, it
is zoned for RH for high-density housing.
Lachman and the Design Com m ission
speculated that the land facing the new high-
rise would eventually have a similar sort of
use.
Former King land use chair Stephen Foust
says that the neighborhood had recommended
high-density zoning for areas where the
existing housing was judged to be in relatively
poor condition. King also placed zon i ng I i nes
through the middle ot blocks so that streets
would have the same sorts of land uses on
each side. H ow ever, he adds, “ New
development should still be in scale with
what’s around it.”
Marcinck and Lanier argued that Covenant
had contributed to the problem by placing its
church building in the middle o f the block.
Had it been placed at the north end, they said,
the new housing could have been built lower,
yet contain the same number o f units.
Neff-Townsend says the zoning would have
allowed a building 75 feet high. “I have to
defer to cur our architects and planners, who
looked at this four ways from Sunday,” she
says. “We recognized the neighborhood’s
concerns, but we had to make this a viable
project."
She notes that Covenant has identified a need
for600assisted living units for families within
two miles o f the site. “The flip side o f this is
the services w e'll bring to the community,”
she said.
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