Committed to Cultural Diversity
Z-<T o nt nt u n it o
(ru b a r
www.portlandobserver.com
September 6, 2000
50‘
Classical C hinese G ard en key presented to city
Overcome Addiction
Break the chains! Get free o f addictions.
Receive personal prayer for healing in a
loving family environment. Come as you
are. The meetings are at River o f Life
Church, the Melody Ballroom (6lh and
Alder) every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Call
503/230-1288.
Mayor Vera Katz and
Bob Naito accept a
handcrafted wooden
key from the Suzhou
Classical Garden
Architecture Company.
The symbolic key
marks the completion
o f the Classical
Chinese Garden at NW
Third and Everett. The
garden s official grand
opening is set fo r
September 14.
Senior A du lts Needed
Immediately
The Foster Grandparents Program is
looking for senior adults, at least 60 years
old o f age to help at-risk children in
Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas
counties. Children need positive role
models to assist them with reading,
developing social skills, and Clackamas
counties. Children need positive role
models to assist them with reading,
developing social skills, and more. Foster
Grandparents receive $200 a month tax-
free plus other incentives including meal
and travel compensation, paid time-off,
and sick leave. No experience needed.
Call 503/232-0007,ext. 202.
V olunteers N eeded at
Cascade Head Preserve
The Nature Conservancy o f Oregon
invites anyone interested in preserving
Cascade Head Preserve to participate in a
volunteer work party taking place on
Saturday, September 9. Located near
Lincoln City, this spectacular coastal
headland provides critical habitat for
native prairie grasses, rare wildflowers,
the rare Oregon silverspot butterfly and
one o f the few populations o f the Cascade
Head catchfly. Please contact Debbie
Pickering at 541/994-5564 or Molly
Dougherty at 503/230-1221.
Plans under way for
NE Portland
neighborhoods
by
Ground Breaking
Ceremony
New Beginnings Christian Center will be
having a ground breaking ceremony on
Sunday, September 17,10 a.m. at the new
property in Gresham. There will be free
carnival rides, food, music and beverages.
Ifyou are coming from Portland, head east
on 1-84. Take the 181 “exit, then head north
and turn left on Sandy Blvd. Watch for
signs. Call 256-6050 formore information.
The special guest will be Luis Palau.
KBOO Grateful Dead
For the last five years, Dougal Donaldson
has flown up to KBOO from the Bay Area
twice a year with his digital archives to
broadcast KBOO’s Grateful Dead Day.
Dougal is moving to Europe, and this may
be his last installment. Co-host Robyn
Shanti (ofKBOO's Dharma Wheel) will be
b ro a d c a stin g D o u g a l’s se le c tio n s
September 17"’, from noon to midnight.
Tune in to 90.7FM .
A Celebration of Courage
Everyone is invited to attend a benefit by
the Children’s Cancer Association called
Celebration o f Courage. This is to honor
c o u ra g e o u s c h ild re n facin g life-
threatening illness. The benefit will feature
live m usic, dancing, gam es, food,
beverages and fun activities for the whole
family. The benefit will also includes a
silent auction and raffle for a 2000 Mazda
Miata. The event will be held on Saturday,
September 23 from noon to 4 p.m. at the
W orld T rade C en ter in dow ntow n
Portland. Call503/244-3141.
D ick Levy and Larry Honn Kombet are the first to sign the certificate o f registry at the offical signing
ceremony September I.
Partners make it official
for
• First Domestic Registry Opens
In Portland
Radical W omen hosts guest speaker
Remona Cowles o f Street Roots, a local
economic justice newspaper, who will
report on how women are fighting against
poverty and homelessness. Leam ways
to jo in the struggle for decent and
affordable housing on W ednesday,
September 13, 7 p.m. at the Northwest
Neighborhood Cultural Center, Lower
Level, 1819 NW Everett in Portland. A
Multi-Ethnic Buffet will be served at 6:30
p.m., $6 donation. For childcare or more
information, call 503/228-3090.
Multnomah County’s Marriage License Section began
issuing Certificates o f Domestic Partnership Friday in
Portland.
The registry was created in part because gay and lesbian
couples are denied marriage licenses under Oregon law.
The new program is designed to serve a purpose similar to
marriage licenses, in that the domestic partner certificate is
kept on record as an official public document. But
registration does not entitle domestic partners to the legal
benefits traditionally available to legally married couples.
W omen O rganize
Affordable Housing
L ee P erleman
t or T he P ortland O bserver
Supporters ofthe registry include Mayor Vera Katz, County
Chair Beverly Stein and County Commissioner Lisa Naito.
To obtain the Certificate ofDomestic Partnership, registrants
must appear in person at the county’s marriage license
section in first floor offices at 501 SE Hawthorne
They must declare that they reside together and share
common necessities o f life, that they are not married or
registered as the domestic partner o f another person in
another lurisdiction; and that they are at least 18 years o f
age.
Domestic partners cannot be related by a blood kinship that
would bar marriage. They must be mentally competent to
consent to a contract, and must be each other's sole
domestic partner with the intent to remain so indefinitely.
In addition, the partners must pledge responsibility for
each other’s common welfare.
Registrant» are required to pay a fee o f $60.
Formore information, call 988-3027.
»
A citizen committee is looking at possible future plans for four
sites near Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and
Fremont Street.
The Fremont-MLK Vision Committee, under the guidance o f
the Portland Development Commission, last week reviewed
seven possible development schemes for the fully or partially
vacant sites on the boulevard: one each for the Grant
Warehouse site between Northeast Cook and Ivy streets,
one for the block immediately to the south, two for the former
King Market property at Northeast Fremont Street, and three
for a property on N o rth ea st B e e c h S treet P O P nw n« the K in o
Market site, and most o f the block at the Beech site. It does
not own the Grant
Warehouse or adjacent property, but consultant Domonic
Boswell said the agency hoped to acquire both “within six to
24 months.”
For the Grant property, consultant architect Don Arambula
suggested building 10 townhouses with streetffont store
fronts designed for “live-work” arrangements along MLK, a
structure with 42 units o f housing above 38 parking spaces
at the east end, and a landscaped private garden court in
between.
Alternately, on the block to the south, he proposed a single
multi-story building with office space along MLK, 42 housing
units above them, a roof garden for use by residents, and an
at-
grade 53-space garage accessed from Northeast Fargo Street.
Both plans for the Fremont site call for six town homes, each
with two-car garages, along the rear o f the site facing Northeast
Grand Avenue. Both call for a commercial building at the
comer, either one story tall or two. In between would be a
surface parking lot containing either 20 or 2 3 spaces depending
on the
size o f the comer building.
The Beech Street site is the largest, at 35,000 square feet, and
the most complex. At its southwest comer are two single
family homes whose owners do not wish to sell, and this is
reflected in all three development schemes. Also on the block
is the Muslim Community Center, 3801 N.E. Martin Luther
King Jr. Blvd., which may nor may not be incorporated into
new development. It is shown as a stand-alone property on
concept one.
The first concept calls for a 14,000 two-story retail-commercial
structure on MLK, the second an 188,000 square foot structure
taking the entire block face, the third a three-story structure
with seven residential units on the third floor. All three
proposals have a surface parking lot in the intenor o f the
block, but this contains 40 space in the first concept. 63 in the
second and third. The first concept calls for five town homes
fronting Northeast Garfield Street at the west end; these are
eliminated in the second and third concept because o f the
need to provide enough parking for the larger building.
The committee will discuss the concepts further at their next
meeting at 6 p.m September 5 at OAME, 4134 N. Vancouver
Ave.