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