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The Portland
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Portland, OR
Permit No. 1610
(Ob se
1 Volume XXX.
Number 26
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
MLK Safeway dedicates $5 million to
store improvements
Palestinians Reluctant to
Agree to Summit
Legionnaires’ Outbreak
Suspected in Japan
Island Appears to be
Erupting Underwater
TOKYO - Underwater eruptions have
apparently begun around a smal 1 Japanese
island in the Pacific, according to
seismologists who warned ofa destructive
explosion if volcanic activity neared the
coastline. More than 2,500 people have
been evacuated from their homes since a
series o f earthquakes started shaking
Miyakejima, about 120 miles south o f
Tokyo. The intensifying earthquakes are
a sign that magma moving beneath the
earth is approaching the surface.
Zimbabwe”s Ruling Party
Wins Majority
HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert
M ugabe’s ruling party won a narrow
majority in Zimbabwe’s parliamentary
elections despite historic gains by the
opposition and strong signs o f discontent
with its 20 years o f rule. With results
announced in all 120 parliam entary
districts, Mugabe ’ s party captured 62 seats
to 57 for the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change. Theclosely contested
race was unprecedented in a country where
Mugabe and his party have ruled virtually
unchallenged since independence from
white minority rule in 1980.
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The Safeway store located on Northeast
Martin Luther King Boulevard will receive a
$5-million remodel and expansion that will
upgrade and modernize the store to better
meet the needs o f area residents, according to
Lyle Waterman, Safeway’s Portland division
president.
Waterman presented a proposal and received
approval for the store’s expansion last
Tuesday, June 20. The store, which was built
in 1965, is located at 5920 N.E. Martin Luther
KingBlvd.
Safeway will host an open house in early
August to present preliminary plans to area
residents and to offer an opportunity for
community feedback.
The open house will give residents a chance
to view photographs, artists' renderings and
the preliminary store layout and design.
Residents who attend the open house will
have an opportunity to spéak with designers,
architects and Safeway marketing staff.
“This store belongs to the community and it
needs to reflect what our neighbors and
shoppers want,” Waterman said.
The company plans to expand the store from
33,000 to 39,000 square feet by adding onto
the north side and the front o f the store.
Waterman said. In addition to the extra 6,000
feet, the store also will get two additional
checkstands, new, state -of-the- art freezer,
re frig e ra tio n and c o o le r c a se s, new
checkstands, lighting, floor tile and interior
and exterior paint and décor.
.Safeway has analyzed a remodel at the
location for quite some time. The current
growth and expansion o f the MLK corridor
were triggering events for the remodel.
The decision to renovate the 35-year-old store
shows the company ’ s commitment to remain
a fixture in Northeast Portland despite acurrent
situation regarding the store’s liquor license.
Waterman said. Safeway’s liquor license is
being contested because checkers mistakenly
sold alcohol to minors during four police
stings during a 15-month period in 1998 and
1999.
Since those stings, Safeway has implemented
stronger policies and training procedures to
ensure that clerks are more alert and aware o f
alcohol sales. Waterman has a zero tolerance
policy regarding sale o f alcohol to minors.
Clerks who sell alcohol to minors are terminated
immediately.
The results o f the steps Safeway has taken are
producing positive results. The store has
passed every police sting and internal
Safeway sting operation since mid 1999.
(Please see ’Safew ay’ page 6)
Chinook Winds Casino launches superbuses
Mexican Candidates
Entice Voters with Loot
NAUC ALP AN, M exico- As the Mexican
electorate becomes more sophisticated -
and races become more competitive - the
price o f wooing votes is rising. Over the
past few weeks candidates have given
away televisions, tool sets and washing
machines and delighted crowds with pop
. concerts, circuses and strippers. One o f
the most creative attempts to buy votes
can be found in a gritty industrial suburb
; o f Mexico City, where the ruling party
mayoral candidate has been picking up
the tab for a circus since April 14.
Islamic Law Proclaimed
in Nigerian State
ABUJA, Nigeria - Muslims in Nigeria’s
north cheered the formal declaration of
Islamic law, despite an upsurge in religious
violence that has already killed thousands
o f people and forced many o f the region’s
minority Christians to flee. Kano, the fourth
and largest Nigerian state to adopt Islamic
law, or sharia, has a history o f ethnic and
t
Interstate Urban
Renewal District
underfire
BV L
JERUSALEM - Adopting a tough stance
ahead o f Secretary o f State Madeleine
Albright’s arrival, Palestinian officials said
the time is not right for a Mideast summit
and suggested that Palestinian statehood
will be proclaimed this fall - with or without
Israel’s blessing. Albright was en route to
the Mideast to assess prospects for a
U.S.-hosted summit in which Barak and
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would try
to form the outlines o f a final peace treaty
due Sept. 13. Arafat is reluctant to agree to
a summit, saying the gaps are still too
wide.
TOKYO - A suspected outbreak o f
Legionnaires’ disease has caused the
death o f one man and the hospitalization
o f another 13, health officials say.
Authorities have closed a public bath in
Ibaraki stating that all 14 men had used in
order to isolate the bacteria that causes
the disease.
50*
June 28, 2000
Chinook Winds Casino <S Convention Center located in Lincoln ( it)
officially launched two "wrapped" Portland city buses (Tri-Met)
during a news conference June /9. The 40-ft buses featuring the
Casino and the Oregon coast is expected to attract attention lor both
the casino property and the coast.
In the month o f June, the Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians is
celebrating thefifth anniversaryof'Chinook H inds. the Tribe s 159,000
square foot casino and convention center, located on prime coastal
property overlooking the Pacific Ocean
Chinook Winds was first a 10,000 square foot temporary fai llit)
known affectionately as The Tent, with only 250 slots, 12 card tables
and a small deli, located within shouting distance of the site of the
Tribe's permanent casino and convention center
In November o f 1994. the U.S Congress passed HR 4719. which
designated eleven acres in Lincoln City to be a part of the Siletz
Reservation and therefore eligible for gaming under IGRA.
Chinook Hinds, as we know it today, has been evolving since that
time. "It 's like Las I ’egos at the sea shore, taunts its promoters and
supporters.
A gaming mecca breathtaking location, an array of delicious
dining possibilities, plus the biggest names in today s entertainment
Chinook Winds host many charitable events, sponsors numerous
community activities, and makes not only monetary contributions
to various non-profit organizations, but provides assistance through
in-kind services, technical support, and free use of casino facilities.
Come see us and see.
i
ee
P e RI.EM AS
The proposed Interstate Urban Renewal
District was attacked by three different
camps, for three distinctly different
reasons, at a the Portland Development
commission hearing last week.
Originally intended to generate $30 million
to help pay for the cost of a new light rail
line running along N orth Interstate
Avenue, as recommended by an advisory
committee. The district has grown to 3700
acres and stretches at points from the
Burlington-Northern rail line to Northeast
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It is
expected to generate more than $300 million
for local improvement projects over the
next 20 years.
Under an urban renewal district’s tax
increment financing, property taxes in
excess o f those in place when the district
was created are set aside for the exclusive
use o f projects within that district.
Multnomah County executive Beverly
Stein noted that this would mean a loss of
$90million for social services in the county.
The only way for the county to recoup the
loss would be to float tax levies, she said,
and since such levies couldn’ t be collected
in urban renewal districts the burden on
the remaining territory would have to be
higher.
“ I’m a strong supporter o f light rail, and I
want to see it succeed,” Stein said. “I’ve
always been a strong supporter o f urban
renewal." However, she added, “ Sticker
shock would be an understatement” to
describe her reaction to the steering
committee’s recommendations.
While conceding that “no one acted in
bad faith,” and that there was extensive
public involvement in the process, she
said, those involved “were not told o f the
costs o f their actions, only the benefits.”
The revitalization o f North Portland
communities will need investment in
“human infrastructure” as well as physical,
she said.
The district’s guiding principles forbid
the use o f property condemnation by PDC,
at least at present. H ow ever, som e
community spokespeople, especially
representatives o f the Eliot neighborhood,
said the prohibition wasn ’ t strong enough.
One, Pauline Bradford, a 55-year resident
o f the area, said that the promises and
goals of previous efforts "didn’t happen.”
She added that success is measured by
“who benefits and who’s displaced.”
C o m m issio n m em ber N oell W ebb
qestioned such a strategy. She said that
the Lents community, which had also
p ro h ib ite d
co n d e m n a tio n ,
had
encountered difficulty as a result. Another
commission member, Douglas Blomgren,
said the issue was one o f “trust and fear"
based on past “misuse” o f condemnation.
The commission agreed to take a second
look at more specific language in July.
S everal peo p le te stifie d th a t they
supported urban renewal, but not the
proposed rail line. One, Jerry Johnson o f
the Arbor Lodge neighborhood, who
served on an earlier advisory committee,
argued that the project would be “an
inappropriate use o f urban renewal funds.
She added that the project had proceeded
“on a much faster track" than similar
projects, with less time for planning.
The district as w ritten had several
supporters. David Eatwell o f Kenton
declared, “North Portland needs and
wants this district. For o f all, it's our turn.
W e've waited 40 years to heal the wounds
of(the) 1-5 (freeway) to heal." Responding
to Stein he said, “A revitalized community
will put less stress on social services."