5Ü<
Minority Donors Urgently Needed
life saving
saving
¿ n Shortage
o n a g e uj o u f je
'W#
transplants hurt local community
_
•Community service
See See
story,
Metro
section
inside
story,
Metro
section
inside
e ^ n rtla n h ffibserusr
‘City of Roses’
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXV, Number 30
TlWeek¡n
TheReview
w w w .portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • July 20. 2005
P p h iiild in tf
Hurricane Aims at Mexico
H urricane Emily sw irled across
the G ulf o f M exico on Tuesday
and took aim once again at the
Mexican coastline, forcing thou
sands in the northeast and in
southern Texas to seek higher
ground. The storm was gather
ing strength as it barreled to
ward the coast, a day after rip
ping roofs o ff resort hotels and
stranding thousands o f tourists
along the M ayan Riviera, which
includes the resort o f Cancún.
Pakistan Nabs
Bombing Suspects
Police rounded up seven Islamic
m ilitants in Pakistan to deter
mine whether the London bom b
ing plot stretched to South Asia.
Investigators want to find out
w hether the bom bers received
tra in in g , e n c o u ra g e m e n t or
other assistance from extrem
ists in Pakistan leading to the
July 7 attacks aboard three sub
ways and a bus that killed at
least 56 people.
Tony Blair Appeals to
Muslim Leaders
Britain Prime MinisterTony Blair
appealed to M uslim leaders on
Tuesday to com bat the “tw isted
logic” o f terrorism and offered
to help them counter extrem ism
with reason.
LII’ Kim Sues Witness
L il’ Kim has filed a $6 m illion
law suit against one o f the two
men who gave w ounding testi
mony at her recent trial on p er
ju ry and conspiracy charges.
She was sentenced to one year
and one day in prison for lying
to a federal grand ju ry about her
involvem ent in a 2001 gun battle
outside a M anhattan radio sta
tion.
Integra Makes Top of
Most-Stolen Vehicle List
Revitalization
for Iris Court
in the works
by K atherine B i . ackmore
T he P ortland O bserver
It’s like a mini-version of New
Columbia, the north Portland neigh
borhood built from scratch after
scores of outdated and rundown
houses and apartments were de
molished. The new housing com
plex expected to undergo a major
facelift is the Iris Court housing
cluster, consisting of four public
housing projects located near the
intersection of North Vancouver
Avenue and Sumner Street.
“We spent a lot of time meeting
with residents and neighbors and
folks in the community and w e’ve
come to appreciate more fully the
need to revitalize this core of the
neighborhood. We thought the Iris
Court Cluster would be a great
jum pstart,” said Mike Andrews,
director of community revitaliza
tion with the Housing Authority of
Portland.
With a possible $16.4 million
Hope VI grant for redevelopment,
turning the distressed area into a
place where children can safely play
could become more o f a reality.
Like Columbia Villa, now New
Columbia, Iris Court is outdated
not only in the way it’s designed,
but in the age of the buildings them
selves. B uiltintheearly 1940s,two
of its biggest problems are the over
abundance of concrete and the lack
of security. There aren’t enough
green areas for recreation, and the
design of the property allows for
poor management in keeping out
siders out.
“The social side is that a lot of
P hoto by K atherine B lackmore /T hf . P ortland O bserver
Nichole Padilla lives in the Iris Court housing cluster in north Portland with her two daughters, 2-year-old Savana Dailey and 9-year-
old Marena Padilla. She's expecting a baby boy in October.
folks are just very low-income. vices at HAP.
While construction is being com ing prices skyrocketing due to
There are a lot of single moms try
The building plans include the pleted, the families in the pre-exist gentrification. Full assistance will
ing to raise kids, yet they only make addition of a community center, ing homes will be relocated. There be provided financially and men
minimum wage. Theireconomic sta computer lab and Albina Head Star, is some weariness about the dis tally to residents for 4 Vi years.
bility is not good at all. Hope VI is classrooms. A Community Sup placement, bu, HAP wants to make
“A couple o f years ago I headed
not just money to build buildings, portive Service plan would provide a genuine effort to bring back ev up the team that relocated 382 fami
but to provide job training and edu support services for residents with eryone who will leave temporarily. lies in 6 months,” Keating said.
cation to help people get back on the hope of increasing household It’s a necessity for the program to "We were able to do that success-
their feet,” said John Keating, as income through training, education keep this area affordable among the
continued
on page A2
sistant director for community ser and skill-building.
growing area around it, with hous
The 1999 Acura Integra coupe
was the m ost-stolen vehicle last
year and Integras from other
model years w eren’t far behind,
likely the targets o f street racers
w ho w ant their fast engines,
according to a report released
Tuesday. The 2002 BMW M
Roadster was No. 2 on the list
and the 1998 A cura Integra was
third.
Local Team
Advances
Hewlett-Packard
to Slash 14,500 Jobs
to State
C om puter and p rin ter m aker
H ew lett-Packard Co. said T ues
day it will cut 14,500 jo b s and
overhaul its retirem ent program
in a restructuring plan designed
to save $ 1.9 billion annually and
bring costs closer to those of
com petitors. The cuts - about 10
percent o f its global work force
o f 150,000 - will occur over the
next 18 months.
The Peninsula-Riverside Girl's Major Little
League team from north and northeast
Portland is playing for the state champion
ship this week in Eugene. The 11 to 12
year-olds won the Oregon District 1
championship by defeating Scappoose 17
to 1 on July 12. Coach Mark Washington
(second row, left) stands next to assistant
coach Shay Washington, and Mary Dunn,
president o f the Peninsula-Riverside
league. The team's assistant coach Andre
Preston is in the second row at far right.
photo by C harles W ashington /
T he P ortland O bserver
ä
c
O
o
1>
O x .S
c*
o
n
T
O'
ot
C
c
«
c-
50 O O
J.
c CM □
-
More Schools Fail ; Notices explain transfer options
M ore o f P o rtla n d 's pu b lic
schools serving low and moderate
income families have failed to meet
targets mandated by the federal No
Child Left Behind Act.
Parents of students at four of the
Portland middle schools were noti
fied on Friday tha, their children’s
school had failed to meet the fed
eral standards, bringing to half the
num berof middle schools failing in
the Portland area.
The parents of 2,097 students at
B innsm ead. G regory H eights,
Kellogg and Portsmouth middle
schools now have the chance to
transfer their chi Idren to a different
neighborhood middle school. The
letter said the children are eligible
for free transportation.
Under the No Child I>eft Behind
Act, schools are required to show
yearly progress for all students each
year, including those with disabili
ties. Last school year, 50 percent of
students had to pass the English
test and 49 percent had to pass the
math test to meet the federal re
quirement. Students in special cat
egories — such as those with dis
abilities or those learning English
as a second language — are also
required to make progress, but their
scores can be lower.
The four middle schools new to
the list failed to meet standards for
certain groups of students.
A school spokesw om an said
their status may change after tes,
scores are rechecked this summer.