Building Her Field of Dreams
Entrepreneur finds meaning in owning an art gallery
See Minority Business on page A6, inside.
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Volume XXXI
Number 40
"The City Of Roses"
www.portlandobserver.eom
Wednesday
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Established in 1970
October 03, 2001
Native Grass Seeded on Bluff Fire Site
4 contracting crew hired
by the city sprays a green
soil binder with native
grass seeds onto the
slopes of the Willamette
Bluff in north Portland
Monday. Thousands of
homes were threatened
this summer when the
hillside caught fire. Now
the concern is erosion
during the winter. The hill
was overgrown with
blackberry and brush
before. The project is
expected to cost about
200-thousand dollars.
BRIG H TO N, E ngland— British Prime
M inister T ony B lair issued a ringing
call for action against terror and sug
gested that the T aliban may not rule
A fghanistan m uch longer, saying the
T aliban regim e m ust “surrender the
terrorists o r surrender pow er.”
W A S H IN G T O N — P resident Bush
authorized reopening Reagan N ational
A irport w ith new security m easures,
including tw o m arshals on each flight.
T he airport w ill reopen this w eek.
photo by
ton /T hf .
B R U SSE L S — Belgian police have
uncovered potential links to O sam a bin
L aden’s terrorist netw ork throughout
Europe. T hey also provided the first
m ajor break in the U .S.-led w orldw ide
m anhunt for bin Laden. A nd, law en
forcem ent authorities say, the police
action disrupted w hat m ight have been
a deadly terrorist assault on the U.S.
E m bassy in France o r N A T O m ilitary
headquarters in B russels.
W A SH IN G TO N — The Supreme Court
ordered form er P resident C linton d is
barred from practicing law before the
high court and gave him 40 days to
contest the order.
*
M ark W ashing -
P ortland O b
server
Plan to Rebuild Columbia Villa Approved
W A SH IN G TO N — O sam a bin Laden is
acquiring com ponents fo r w eapons o f
m ass destruction from the R ussian
mafia. The W ashington Tim es said. Bin
Laden, key suspect in the U.S. attacks,
is also believed by U .S. intelligence to
have a nuclear w eapons laboratory in
side A fghanistan.
TE H R A N , Iran— Iran’s supreme leader
A yatollah Ali K ham enei ruled out Ira
nian help for any U .S.-led attack on
neighboring A fghanistan, saying that
the U.S. w as not “com petent” to lead a
global cam paign and calling U .S. b e
havior “disgusting.”
ZU G, Sw itzerland— A Swiss man in an
orange police vest sprayed assault rifle
fire and set off an explosive during a
session o f a state parliam ent, killing 13
people before turning the gun on him
self, officials said.
GAZA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT,
G aza Strip— Israel and the Palestinians
agreed on a series o f confidence-build
ing m easures aim ed at ending a year o f
fighting. T he tw o sides said they w ould
resum e security coordination and exert
m axim um efforts toenforce a cease-fire.
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Many o f the homes in Columbia Villa are World War II era structures that
been deemed obsolete.
?n. Gordon Smith and students from north Portland's lubman Miaaie scnooi
Grant is catalyst to revitalization of
World War II era neighborhood
U.S. Sen. G ordon Sm ith. R-Ore. visited
C olum bia Villa, a public housing develop
m ent in north Portland Friday, to announce
its receipt o f a $35 m illion grant to help
renovate the neighborhood.
T he “H ousing O pportunities for People
E veryw here” grant from the U.S. Dept. o f
H ousing and U rban D evelopm ent is d e
signed to revitalize severely distressed
lie housing.
Tie m oney will becom e a key part o f the
using A uthority o f P ortland's total $ 160
lion needed to replace obsolete hous-
> units and diversify the types o f hous-
>and incom e levels w ithin the com m u
nity. It also provides hom e ow nership
opportunities for public housing residents
in the Portland area.
A dditional financing includes $20 m il
lion from the City o f Portland, $5 million in
federal C om m unity D evelopm ent Block
Grant funds, and $ 15 m illion in urban infra
structure funds.
“T he new com m unity plan w ill give
families a greater sense o f com m unity pride
and children a greater sense o f security
and belonging," said Sm ith. "T his project
is not m erely about reconstructing build
ings, it is about changing lives.”
Built during W orld W ar II as tem porary
tend a ceremony last week announcing the approval o f a grant called HOPE
busing Opportunities for People Everywhere) to redevelop the city s largest
iblic housing development into a more livable community with better housing
iportunities.
housing for shipyard w orkers. C olum bia
V illa continues to be O re g o n 's largest
public housing resource and hom e to 1.200
residents. The plan to revitalize the neigh
borhood was supported by a host o f local
elected officials and organizations.
It calls for dem olishing current housing
structures and replacing them w ith more
dense, updated housing: altering the street
grid to create better flow and access to the
neighborhood; creating a new system o f
parks: and a village square to provide a
central gathering place for neighbors.
Portland City C om m issioner Erik Sten
called it one o f the m ost significant oppor-
tunities in P o rtlan d ’s history.
“This project will symbolically and physi
cally reconnect the people o f Columbia Villa
with the rest of the com m unity," Sten said.
The developm ent is also ex pected to
serve as a pow erful catalyst for m ore local
investm ents and involvem ent in afford
able housing for the area.
"T his is an unprecedented opportunity
for the C ity o f Portland to m ake a real
difference for m any fam ilies," Sm ith said.
“T ogether w ith residents and the su r
rounding com m unity, the H ousing A u
thority had developed a vision to envolve
C olum bia V illa in to a livable com m unity."
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5
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Jim Hill Wins
Support for
Governor
A S alem resident and form er state leg
islator w ho as treasurer becam e the first
black person ev er elected to statewide
office in O regon has won a big endorse
m ent in his race for governor.
Form er State Treasurer Jim Hill was the
clear w inner in an informal poll O regon's
I
D em ocrats held over the weekend to leam
which o f the party's three candidates for
governor has the most support.
Hill received 114 votes w hile form er
s ta te S u p re m e C o u rt J u s tic e T e d
K ulongoski cam e in second with 78 votes
and form er M ultnom ah C ounty C om m is
sion chairw om an Beverly Stein had 76
votes from party activists and officials.
The straw poll carries no official w eight
and does not reflect a cross section o f the
voting population in the state. But Hill
says h e’s pleased all the sam e w ith the
infotm al endorsem ent.