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City of Roses
Established In 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXIII • N um ber II
TlWeek¡n
TheReview
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • March 24. 2004
Urgency on Vanport Project Grows
U.S. Divided on War
A year after the start o f the Iraq
war, the American public is di
vided over how much the United
States government should spend
in Iraq and on what will happen if
U.S. troops leave, polls found.
Tenn. Proposes Law
Against Homosexuality
The county that was the site of the
Scopes "Monkey Trial” over the
teaching o f evolution is asking
lawmakers to amend state law so
the county can charge homosexu
als with crimes against nature.
Thousands Protest
War in Portland
One year after anti-war protester
shut down bridges, freeways am
intersections, resulting in 135 ar
rests in Portland, roughly 2,(XX
demonstrators marched calml;
through the streets of Portland
Many carried flowers - and in i
reference to Vietnam-era protests
handed out daisies and flowe
petals. Several veterans carried <
casket through the streets, drapec
in an American flag.
Jackson’s 1st
Accuser May Testify
T he p ro se c u to r in M ich ael
Jackson's child molestation case
is considering asking a boy who
reached a m ultim illion-dollar
settlement with the entertainer to
testify before a grand jury, ac
cording to a published report.
Hamas Founder
Assassination Prompts
Retaliation Threats
Israel killed H am as founder
Ahmed Yassin in a helicopter mis
sile strike outside a Gaza City
m osque M onday, prom pting
threats of unprecedented revenge
by Palestinian militants against
Israel and the United States.
photo by
Minority developers
pressured to
make a deal soon
by L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
Pressure is mounting for a minority-led
group of developers wanting to transform
the western edge of Northeast Martin Luther
King Jr. Boulevard, north of Alberta Street,
into a major retail center covering several
blocks in the heart of Portland’s African-
American community.
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principal visionaries behind the new Adidas
store on theeastside of King, Jeana Woolley
and Gerding-Edlen Corp., creators of the
Pearl District’s mammoth Brewery Blocks
project.
The proposal has $8.4 million in urban
renewal monies earmarked for it, including
a loan and funds for associated traffic im
provements.
Portland Development Commission Di
rector Don Mazziotti has lent his backing to
the venture despite several delays, but
recently w arned that if “sig n ifican t
progress” wasn’t met by June, the agency
would have to "seriously re-evaluate” its
financial backing.
Some parts of the original scheme have
already been abandoned.
Acquisition of the northernmost block,
owned by Multnomah County, has been
relegated to a “second phase.” Housing
development has been scaled back and un
derground parking has been abandoned.
Last month, the Oregon Convention Cen
ter Urban Renewal Advisory Committee,
questioned whether there was community
support for “the current, scaled-down ver
sion.”
on page A2
continued
Police increase
presence at northeast
elementary
by J aymef . R. C m
T he P ortland O bserver
Patients on some popular antide
pressants should be closely moni
tored for warning signs o f suicide,
the government warned Monday
in asking the makers o f 10 drugs to
add the caution to their labels.
One of the world’s leading makers
of video games. Electronic Arts, is
donating $8 million to University
of Southern California’s School
of Cinema-Television to expand
the university's interactive media
program.
The Vanport Project, a major retail eco
nomic venture planned for Portland's larg
est ethnic and minority neighborhoods,
continues to enjoy popular support, but it
faces a June deadline to make significant
progress in its strategy .
As originally conceived, the project
would have included 300,000 square feet of
development on five square blocks, in
cluding underground parking, various
types of housing, a cinema multiplex, fit
ness center and a 60,000 square foot gro
cery.
Backers include African Americans Ray
Leary, a local entrepreneur and one of the
Girl Escapes King School Kidnapping
Suicide Caution for
Antidepressants
Video Game Maker
Donates $8M to USC
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Ray Leary keeps alive a dream to re-develop a row o f warehouses, vacant lots and other properties on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, north of Alberta Street into a
large-sale retail destination benefiting local residents in the heart o f Portland's African-American community.
A composite sketch of
the man who kidnapped
a girl from King School.
Portland Police
Officer Ron Cash
and Lew Frederick
of Portland Public
Schools, oversee a
boost in security at
King Elementary
School in northeast
Portland following
the abduction of a
third grader from a
school hallway. The
girl escaped by
yelling and kicking
the kidnapper after
being put in his
vehicle.
photo by M ark
W ashington /
T hf . P ortland
O bserver
Police released a composite sketch Mon
day in the hunt fora man who walked into King
Elementary School and kidnapped a nine-
year-old girl.
Uniformed officers have also kept watch
outside the northeast Portland elementary
after the incident Thursday. The third-grader
was taken from a stairwell while walking to
class after meeting with a counselor. She
escaped unharmed by yelling and kicking the
attacker after being dragged to his car and
driven away from the school.
She ran home and returned to school with
her mother and another adult to report the
attack and call the police.
The school, at4906N.E. Sixth Ave., was on
lockdown Thursday and resource officers
guarded the school on Friday. Safety proce
dures are being reviewed, according to Lew
Frederick, a spokesman for Portland Public
School.
The perpetrator entered the school through
the front door, the only unlocked daytime
entrance to the school. School officials were
investigating why a bell that alerts the office
when the door is opened was not working.
Normally, visitors enter through the front
door and are instructed to check in at the front
office.
“The fellow never made it (farenough) into
the hallways where an adult, a teacher or
another student might have seen him ,”
Frederick said. "This was pretty brave; about
as brave as you can get.”
Thursday’s attack was the first Portland
school abduction since 1992. In that attack, a
man kidnapped a 12-year-old girl from a hal I-
continued
on page A2