Taking Flight
Feeling Good
Dance company
inspired by the
black experience
See Metro, back page
Destiny's Child defies
odds by regrouping
See Focus, page A5
1
lauft
'City of Roses’
Established in 1970
Volume XXXIV
Number 47
w w w .portland observer.co m
Committed to Cultural Diversity
T,Week¡n
TheReview
Wednesday • December I. 2004
Fire Bureau Behind
on Minority Hires
NAACP President
Steps Down
NAACPPresi-
d ent K w eisi
M fume is step-
pi ng down as
the head of the
nation’s o ld
est and largest
c iv il rig h ts
Kweisi M fum e
g ro u p ,
a
spokesman said Tuesday. The
organization’s legal counsel,
Dennis Hayes, will serve as in
terim president while a national
search is conducted
Environment haunted by past racism
Canadians Protest
War, Bush
P re s id e n t B ush s o u g h t to
p a t c h u p r e l a t i o n s w ith
C a n ad a a fte r y ea rs o f b ic k e r
ing, fly in g th ere fo r tough
h em isp h e ric and global talks
am id b o istero u s d e m o n stra
tio n s from o p p o n en ts o f the
U .S. le d -w a r in Iraq.
Shriver Supports
Presidential Run
M aria S hriver believes there
should be an am endm ent to
th e
U .S .
C o n s titu tio n
th a t
w o u ld
a llo w
her
hu sb an d ,
G ov.
A rn o ld
S chw arzenegger, to run for
president - but she has her
doubts that it will be enacted.
U S Death Toll in
Iraq at Record
photo by
Fueled by fierce fighting in I
Fallujah and insurgents’ co u n
terattacks elsew here in Iraq,
the U.S. m ilitary death toll for
N ovem ber equaled the high
est for any m onth o f the war,
according to casualty reports.
Teen Sentenced
to Life Goes Home
Lionel Tate, the Florida youth |
once sentenced to life in prison
for the death o fa playm ate, can
return to his m other’s hom e
w hile he serves probation, a
ju d g e ruled. T ate, 17, was the J
y oungest person in m odern i
U. S. history to be sentenced to
life in prison.
Most Want Roe
V. Wade Upheld
A m ajority o f A m ericans say I
P resident B ush’s next choice
for an opening on the Suprem e
Court should be w illing to up
hold the landm ark court deci
sion protecting abortion rights, I
an A s s o c ia te d P re ss p o ll
found.
Marsalis to
Perform Jazz Narrative
T rum peter W ynton M arsalis |
will star in the prem iere o f a90-
m inute jazz concert narrative |
he com posed - “Suite for H u
m an
N a tu r e "
-
at I
W ashington’s Lincoln Theatre |
on Dec. 10.
s
M ark W ashington /T hf , P ortland O bserver
Downtown
Holiday
Tradition
Portland's downtown living room, Pioneer
Courthouse Square, turns festive with a
giant evergreen decorated for Christmas and
the holiday season. The tree was lighted
during a ceremony Friday to help kick-off the
shopping season for area retailers.
photo by
M ark W ashington /T hf P ortland O bserv e
Lt. Teddy M a yes o f Fire Engine C om pany 1 3 is a rare firefighter o f color in th e city o f Portland.
by J aymee R. C i ti
T he P ortland O bserver
bureau also struggles with retention o f people o f cola
About 89 percent of white men stay on the job, compare
With a past smattered with civil rights violations and
to 76 percent o f minority men.
accusations of a “good ole boys" culture, the Portland
City Commissioner Erik Sten, who oversees the Fir
Fire Bureau has failed to attract minorities to its ranks.
Bureau, says he's confident that the few new minorit
The number o f firefighters of
hires view the bureau asa welcom
color has actually dropped from
ing environment. Still, he says
13.4 percent to 12.9 percent since
more can be done in recruiting.
2002.
“T here's been a real push ove
Officials blame the reduction
the last six or seven years to diver
on minorities retiring from the
sify the bureau and w e're makinj
bureau, though the numbers also
progress but we still have quite :
show poor progress in recruiting
ways to go," Sten said.
a new, diverse force.
Firefighting officials say the;
- City Commissioner Erik Sten
O f potential firefighters re
spend time recruiting at collegt
cently taking the bureau’s qualifying exam, only a campuses, job fairs and cultural events to reach mort
handful were minorities. The bureau will draw its force minorities and will continue aggressively recruiting peoplt
over the next two years from this pool o f applicants.
of color to the profession.
Few minorities hold high-ranking positions in the
continued
on page A4
bureau, with none ranked higher than captain. The
I
There \ been a real
push over the last six
or seven years to
diversify the bureau...
Call Center to Occupy Neglected Site
Big plans fo r
Vanport Square
scaled back
by L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
How the mighty Vanport has been swept
away.
In place of what was once a half-million
square Exit mixed-use mega-development
for the heart of inner-northeast Portland, the
Portland Development Commission is now
proposing to renovate just a fraction o f the
once touted Vanport Square.
Current plans call for remodeling the old
Frank Chevrolet dealership on Northeast
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Sumner
Street into an electronic calling center, em
ploying about 300 people, in addition to
adding about 7,000 square feet of retail space.
For this purpose, PDC would use $7 mil
lion o f tax increment funds from the Oregon
Convention Center Urban Renewal District,
plus $3 million from the new federal New
Market Tax Credits program.
Original plans, conceived in 1999, called
for revitalization of the entire western edge
o f the boulevard betw een A lberta and
photo by
M ark W ashington /T hf . P ortland O bservei
The form er Frank C hevrolet d ea lersh ip on N o rth ea st Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, o n e block so u th o f Killingsworth
S tre et, is s e t to b e c o m e an electronic calling c e n te r jo b s ite with h elp from th e Portland D ev elo p m en t C o m m issio n .
Killingsworth streets, containing a major
grocery store, housing, public plazas and
underground parking.
Local African-American entrepreneurs
Ray Leary and Jeana W oolley, as well as one
ot the city s largest developers, the Gerding-
E dleni orp.. creators o f the massive Brewery
Blocks in the Pearl District, were behind the
plans, but somehow, the pieces never came
together.
The developers were able to make sales
agreements with only four of six homes on
Northeast Garfield Avenue that would have
to go to make way for the project's anchor
tenet. Multnomah County, which ow ns the
Multicultural Senior Center, a former J.C.
Penny store, was willing to consider a sale
but not at terms the developers could meet
The planned underground parking provei
prohibitively expensive.
Most importantly, planners were unabli
to obtain an anchor tenant, negotiation
continued
on page A 4