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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2002)
Reaching for Respect 500 Hip Hop Fans Fight for Turf See Story, Metro Section, inside îA co t’ • City of Roses Committed to Cultural Diversity Volume XXXII • Number 43 Sniper suspects linked to Tacoma murder Long before a series o f sniper attacks terrorized the suburbs o f W ashington, D.C., the sus pects m ay have begun their reign o fterroron the W est Coast w ith the slaying o f a T acom a w om an and a shooting at a synagogue, police say. Gas Russians used was opium derivative T he m ysterious gas Russian forces pum ped into a theater to end a hostage crisis w as an opiate, a chem ical related to m orphine, Pentagon officials said M onday. T he gas killed 116 o f the hostages as well as the hostage takers. Auto dealergets probation, community service P o rtla n d a u to d e a le r S c o tt Thom ason pleaded guilty M on day to charges related to a hit- and-run and was sentenced to 18 m onths o f probation and 100 hours o f com m unity service. Student Opens Fire in Class A student opened fire in a class at the University o f Arizona nurs ing school M onday. A uthori ties said four people, including two professors and the attacker, w ere killed. I he attacker was a G ulfW ar veteran and an Arizona nursing student. Diplomat gunned down A n A m e ric a n d ip lo m a t in A m m an, Jordan w as assassi nated M onday in front o f his house, gunned dow n by eight pistol shots in the first such targeted attack on a US diplo m at in decades. Amish buggy accident kills 2 A horse pulling an Amish buggy apparently got spooked, send ing the buggy into a pond and drowning twochildren in the town o f Leon, about 40 miles south o f Buffalo. Also Sunday, a van hit a horse and Amish buggy, injuring seven family members in central Pennsylvania. Student drug tests constitutional R equiring drug tests o f stu dents w ho w ant to participate in extracurricular sports doesn ’ t violate search and seizure pro tections in the state constitu tion, the O regon C ourt o f A p peals ruled. T he decision up held the O akridge School D is trict in Salem , w hich excluded a student from playing volley ball after her parents refused to consent to have her tested for • drug and alcohol use. Dog shoots man In accident Pheasant season took an ugly turn for M ichael M urray, 42, when Sonny, his year-old En glish setter pup, shot him. Last Saturday, M urray w as lining up a photo o f the seven birds his hunting party shot. A loaded 12- gauge shotgun lay on the ground near the frisky dog, w ho stepped on the trigger and shot his ow ner in the ankle. www.portlandobserver.com www.Dortlandobser Foahlkh#*d Established in in I97n 1970 Wednesday • October 30. 2002 Principal puts faith in children’s success bv D avid P i . echi . T he P ortland O bserver a Principal Judy Bryant expects a lot from her students. In turn, her students expect a lot from them selves. In the six years since she took o v er a troubled H um bolt Elem entary, Bryant has seen test scores rise and the co nfidence o f students soar. Last w eek she w as honored w ith the M ilken Fam ily Foundation N ational E duca tor A w ard for outstanding service, along w ith $25,000. The aw ard sheds light on w hat has been a highly successful yet difficult adventure. “ I knew it w as going to be tough, b u t I d id n ’t know how to ugh,” B ryant said o f the w ork to put H um bolt back on its feet. W hen Bryant first cam e to the school in 1997, the building w as in disarray. Student perform ance w as slum ping, parents and teachers w ere frustrated. Bryant quickly m ade her expectations clear. She created a team atm osphere, bring ing com m unity m em bers and parents to gether in support o f g reater academ ic stan dards. “ W hen I cam e here I had a vision o fw h at it could be,” she said, “ 1 w as trying to get the best out o f the kids, and they rose.” B ryant grew up poor in a m ulticultural neighborhood in O akland, C alif., but her parents stressed the value o f education and activism. “ I w as com ing out o f the civil rights movement seeing positive black people doing positive things,” she said. “ K ids need ad v o cacy.” Bryant has spent her w hole career w ith Humbolt Principal Judy Bryant expects a lot from her students. Her tenacity has helped raise student achievement scores at the north Portland school that was once rated the lowest performing in the state. photo bv Portland Public Schools. She w as a curricu lum specialist for a num ber o f years and then taught at H osford M iddle School. She was vice principal at W est Sylvan, back w hen it w as the highest perform ing m iddle school in the state. “ It d o esn ’t m atter w here I’m at," Bryant said. “T he kids respect m e and w e com m u nicate.” B ry an t’s presence draw s attention. Third graders lining up to file into class after recess hush them selves as B ryant w alks w atchfully by. “ I like your hair today,” says one little boy. “W hy thank you,” answ ers Bryant, “w hat a nice com plim ent.” H er rapport w ith the children is natural. T hey sense her honesty and caring insight. T hey respect her expectations. D avid P i echi TT hk P ortland O bserver “ I really identify w ith kids. 1 see m y se lf in them ," she said. “S om etim es we d o n ’t see the intelligence.” For a while Bryant stopped eating in the faculty lounge, preferring to stay in her office. Soon she had up to nine girls eating lunch with her. Often the girls stayed through their after lunch recess ju st to chat and socialize. continued on page A6 Helpline Turns Tide on Displacement Community Alliance of Tenants tackles renters’ issues by D avid P lechl T he P ortland O bserver It’s hard to be a renter. B etw een slum lords, skyro ck etin g ren ts an d the ev er present threat o f eviction, the future m ay seem bleak, but help for renters is ju st a phone call aw ay. “ People are getting kicked out on a daily basis,” said A nita R odgers, director o f the C om m unity A lliance o f T enants (C A T ) the only te n an ts’ organization in the state. Its rental help hotline collects dozens o f calls a w eek. R odgers §aid the hotline gives callers inform ation about their rights and suggestions for actions they should take. M ost o f the calls are repair or eviction related. Reasons for eviction vary but C A T focuses its help on renters w ho feel they have been treated unjustly or are otherw ise confused and seeking advice. T he hotline is staffed by volunteers. M essages pile up quickly and are returned in order o f arrival as quickly as possible. Rodgers said her volunteers have lived through these sam e issues and w ant to give back. For m any renters, notice o f eviction com es as a com plete surprise. Landlords can issue a “30 day no cause” and term inate the rental agreem ent within a month. The form ofevic- tion does not legally require an explanation. R odgers said so m etim es ten an ts are evicted after requesting repairs o r sim ply ie the landlord d o e sn ’t like them. : tells the story o f one w o m an ’s apart - hat w as com pletely overrun with cock- js. She said the renter told the landlord the infestation to w hich he flatly d — " I f you d o n ’t like it, m ove!” lother w om an lived respectfully in a apartm ent for 6 or 7 years and w as r late on her rent. A fter requesting som e rs, she prom ptly received a 30-day no e. Arthur Payne gives credit to the Community Alliance of Tenants tor helping nis Park Terrace neighbors organize to keep rents at the north Portland apartment complex affordable. photo by D avid P i . echi TT he P ortland O bserver f We demand that urban renewal not be urban removal. — A nita Rodgers, C om m unity A lliance o f Tenants. “ S om etim es a landlord is tired o f som e one requesting repairs,” R odgers said. "R e taliation like this is illegal, but hard to prove.” A w ay from the hotline, C A T ’s efforts focus around o rganizing tenants against the loss o f subsidized section 8 housing. A s Interstate M ax, the Portland Develop- < m ent C om m ission and the city pours m il lions o f econom ic developm ent dollars into north and northeast Portland, Rodgers co n siders C A T to be a safety net against those that could be pushed out in the process. “ W e dem and that urban renew al not be urban rem oval," R odgers said. As rent costs rise and the econom y sags, m aking rent can be an issue. U nfortunately options are few for those seeking help. “There isn ’t a w hole lot o f m oney out there for rent assistance,” explained Rodgers. Rising rent costs m ake it hard for m any in the area and across the state. Landlords can raise rent every 30 days w ithout reason. There are no rent caps in O regon. “ If a new ow ner has a higher m ortgage they m ay double or even triple the rent,” Rodgers said. Fortunately, C A T recently lobbied for $ 150,000 in rental assistance and urban d is placem ent prevention funds. But R odgers said the long-term outlook is dependent on a reliable source o f funding for rental assis tance. “T here is a deep pow er im balance b e tw een landlords and ren ters, esp ecially people o f color, w ere w orking to change that,” she said. O ne o f the main w eapons in that fight has been resident councils and tenant unions. The idea is to organize tenants collectively. “ If you w ork together it is less likely that you will be individually retaliated ag ain st,” Rodgers said. W hen Section 8 subsidized housing c o n tracts m oved close to their expiration date at the Park Terrace apartm ents in north P o rt land, the private ow ner o f the com p lex es w anted to term inate the contracts w ith the hope that the units could be rented nt a higher rate. A num ber o f tenants, m ainly elderly, d is abled and prim arily A frican A m erican resi dents w ere threatened w ith displacem ent. CA T helped residents form councils w ithin each building. Renters w ere en co u rag ed to com e up with specific strategies in o rd er to retain the Section 8 status. continued on page A6 I
