Jefferson to Open Campus at Killingsworth
50¿
Laurels blocking school from street will be torn down by volunteers
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See story, Metro Section, inside
P i t v rk f D n c n c ’
‘City
of Roses
Volume X X X II •
WWW.
D O ftla n d o b s e r
www.portlandobserver.com
F
c f a h l l c h f d in
7H
Established
in IQ
1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Number 38
Wednesday • September 25. 2002
Columbia Villa Resurrection
Residents face
relocation during
complete
reconstruction
by W ynde D yer
T he P ortland O bserver
A reunion celebration for fami
lies with children bom prema
turely and cared for in the neo
natal intensive care unit at Provi
dence St. V incent H ospital
draws Barbara Stone and her
daughter, Amber (from left),
along with Barb Ratto.
U.S. Lowers Terror Alert to
Yellow
WASHINGTON— Two weeks
after putting the nation on high
alert. President Bush lowered the
nationwide terror alert back to
code yellow because o f disrup
tions in the al-Qaeda terrorist
network. Officials stressed that
Americans should remain alert.
Mom Who Beat Toddler
Says She was Upset
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The
woman caught on video beating
her 4-year-old daughter in a de
partment store parking lot will
probably plead guilty and seek
mercy from the court, her lawyer
said.
Miss Universe Fired,
Panamanian to Take Over
NEW YORK— For the first time
in its 52-year history, the Miss
Universe Organization has fired
the woman wearing its crown.
Oxana Fedorova, a 24-year-old
Russian law student, was ousted
four months after she won the
pageant, the organization said.
U.S. Poverty Up and
Income Down in 2000
WASHINGTON — The U.S.
poverty rate rose for the first
time in eight years and house
hold income fell last year, a
double dose o f bad economic
news that coincided with the
first recession in a decade, the
Census Bureau said.
Britain: Iraq Has ‘Military
Plans’
LONDON— Iraq has “military
plans” for the use o f chemical
and biological weapons, Britain
in a dossier o f evidence about
Iraq’s development o f weapons
o f mass destruction.
Illinois Reports West Nile
Case In a Dog
Veterinarians in Illinoishavecon-
firmed the first U.S. case o f West
Nile virus in a dog. The infected
dog was an 8-year-old Irish set
ter-golden retrievermix that may
already have had a disease that
weakened its immune system.
Entrepreneurial
Spirit Suffering
SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. en
trepreneurship is not what it was.
For the first time in more than 50
years, entrepreneurs are failing
to lead the United States out o f
recession, governm ent data
suggest. Fewer start-ups mean
fewer new jobs and innovations.
The streets o f Columbia Villa go round
and round. They never seem to get any
where. It’s hard to find a way in, and even
harder to find a way out.
Playgrounds and parking lots dot the
landscape. They act as the only landmarks
between nearly identical houses — houses
that literally turn their backs on the sur
rounding Portsmouth neighborhood.
Villa children play on wide open grassy
spaces as parents watch from their front
steps or open windows. Residents read on
plastic lawn chairs under age-old shade
trees or tend gardens behind the chain length
fences o f their tiny back yards. Occasionally
a dog barks or the No. 4 Fessenden bus
passes swiftly through.
It feels like a place that time forgot.
“I’m in seclusion from the rest o f the
world out here,” said Sheila Ramzy, a long
time resident o f the Villa.
O regon’s largest public housing project,
with 462 units spread out on 69 acres o f land
is as rich with history as it is with stigma.
Built during World War II to house shipyard
workers, the Villa became the first home for
many low-income minorities in Portland.
After Van port was destroyed by flooding, it
became a refuge for many o f the city’s ’
African Americans. During the 1980s, the
Villa’s reputation was tarnished by gang
violence, drug use and rising crime.
Ramzy said she remembers when she
knew all the police on a first name basis.
When she was younger, she partied a lot.
People still get rowdy, she said, but these
days it’s quiet most o f the time. Even though
she thinks the Villa is a good place to raise
a family, Ramzy would prefer to be some
place else.
“I don’t want to live in a circle anymore,”
she said. “My daughter is 1 1 .1 want her to
live on a real street - a street with sidewalks
and streetlights and a store closer than a mile
away.”
Soon, Ramzy will have her wish.
NO ONE WILL BE DISPLACED
Columbia Villa is slated for demolition. In
its place will risea $ 150million mixed-income
housing community with 370 public hous
ing units and 250 apartments for house
holds earning up to 60 percent o f the area’s
median income. Also included in the plan
PCC Cascade
Celebrates
Longtime Villa resident Shelia Ramzy, in the doorway o th e r apartment, with her niece Synovia Williams, 6, and her nephew,
Anthony Barber, 10. Ramzy hopes she will g et a Section 8 rent subsidy voucher that will allow her to move to another
residence. “I don 't want to live in a circle anym ore," she said.
photo by W ynde D yer /T he P ortland O bserver
? My daughter is II. I want her to live
on a real street - a street with
sidewalks and streetlights and a store
closer than a mile away.
— Sheila Ramzy Columbia Villa resident
will be 50 apartments with no income restric
tions, 180 homes available for sale and a
village square.
Funding for the rebirth oFColumbia Villa
comes from a $35 million grant from the
federal Department o f Housing and Urban
Development’s HOPE VI program, federal
tax credits, bond sales and the City o f Port
land. Under federal guidelines, reconstruc
tion o f the site may take 54 months from the
conclusion o f demolition. Deconstruction
will begin no later than January 2004 and the
project should be com pleted in 2006. The
Housing Authority o f Portland has already
stopped filling vacancies and a preliminary
relocation plan is underway to find homes
for the 1,300 residents during construction.
“No one will be displaced,” said John
Keating, Assistant Director o f Community
Revitalization Services for HAP.
Keating said the residents o f Columbia
continued
on page .46
Alliance Promotes Year Round Learning
Ceremony to kick-off
construction schedule
The Cascade Campus o f Portland Com
munity College will celebrate the expansion
o f the campus boundaries and break ground
on a new site at 1 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 3.
The ceremony will take place across the
street from the Cascade library at North
Killingsworth and Kerby streets. The con
struction site is the future home o f a physical
education complex.
The celebration, with PCC President
Jesus “Jess” Carreon and Cascade Campus
Executive Dean Mildred Olee, ushers in a
new era for Cascade, following years o f
planning that envisioned a greatly enhanced
educational facility for local residents. The
college has had an educational presence in
north and northeast Portland for 32 years.
A bond approved by voters two years
ago provides $56 million for Cascade cam
pus projects.
In the first phase o f construction, Cas
cade will add approximately 25,000 square
feet to the Jackson Hall Science Building
with six new science labs; building a 35,000
square foot physical education complex;
and renovating the Student Services build
ing.
continued
y^
on page AS
Woody Broadnax o f the
local Juneteenth organi
zation and Rebecca
Black o f Oregon Out
reach acknowledge a
new partnership at the
northeast Portland
campus o f McCoy
Academy.
M ark
W ashington /
T he P ortland O bserver
photo by
Northeast Portland’s McCoy Academy
is adding classroom support for African
American history and education in gen
eral with a new association with Portland’s
Juneteenth group. Juneteenth is the an
nual event celebrating the end o f slavery
in the United States, held in many parts o f
the country on June 19.
The idea at McCoy Academy is to make
educational progress for African American
kids a year-round effort with June 19 serving
as a time to celebrate the culmination o f
months o f effort and instruction.
W oody Broadnax o f the Juneteenth or
ganization and Dr. Thomas Booth o f Albina
Community Bank, have teamed up to teach
a year-round leadership class at McCoy,
school officials said.
McCoy is one ofthree alternatives school
continued
y^
on page A6