5()j¿ College World Series Champs! I» years •'commune service^ Oregon State University celebrates celebrates national national baseball baseball title of •'community service (Lite 'YLT“* c tf ' s. zr"\ i F i o r i k it t u (lE /n s r r lir r ‘City of Roses ‘f it V n f P n tp t’ r . . - L l ! . l ____ I m -m _____ .1 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity Volume XXXVI. N um ber 25 1 l vvww.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • lune 28. 2006 Gentrification in National Spotlight T1Week in The Review Gift May Cure Diseases B illio n a ir e in v e s to r W a rre n B u ffe tt’ s contribution o f about $1.5 b illio n a year to the B ill & M elindaGates Foundation w ill be used to seek cures fo r the w o rld ’ s w o rs t diseases and im p ro v e Am erican education. B ill Gates said Monday. “ There is no rea­ son we can’ t cure the top 20 dis­ eases,” Gates said Sizer Earns Chief’s Job Rosie Sizer be­ came Portland's permanent po­ lic e c h ie f on Thursday. She served as in - terim chief since A p ril when Der­ ric k F oxw orth was placed on leave pending an investigation into a sexual re­ lationship w ith a police clerk. M a yo r Tom Potter said he con­ sidered a national search but se­ lected Sizer after com m unity and C ity C ouncil members supported her. Voting Rights Act C iv il rights advocates urged Con­ gress on Monday to quickly renew provisions o f the Voting Rights A ct o f 1965, saying the "heart and soul" o f the act is under attack by Southern Republicans. Limbaugh's New Tangle Rush Lim baugh could see a deal w ith prosecutors in a long-run­ ning prescription fraud case c o l­ lapse after authorities found a bottle o f Viagra in his bag at Palm Beach International A irp o rt. The prescription was not in his name. Rapid changes follow pattern in other cities Portland is gaining national attention fo r what has been a local issue fo r the past several years: gentrification in historically black neighborhoods. The W ashington Post has spotlighted the accelerating changes in Portland and Seattle, already the whitest m ajor cities in Am erica, now losing their only h istorically black neighborhoods to new residents. The Post found both cities are experienc­ ing what they call "d o w n to w n demographic bleaching,” an invasion o f young, w e ll- educated and mostly white newcomers buy­ ing up and rem aking neighborhoods and districts. In Seattle’ s Central D istrict, the b irth ­ place o f Jim i Hendrix and once home o f the young Ray Charles, what had been the largest b la ck-m a jo rity com m unity in the Pacific Northwest has become majority white. Local demographers were cited in the Post’ s feature pro file last week, fin d in g that w hite population grow th since 2(XH) has gained momentum, w hile the percentage o f black residents appears to have fallen to less than 40 percent in once m ajority A frica n American neighborhoods. W ith real estate prices ro llic k in g upward at about 25 percent a year, the Post said, the Seattle Central D istrict appears to be getting w h ite r and richer by the month. Portland residents were also interviewed: saying the heart o f their black com m unity is gone. “ It’ s destroying us, socially and p o liti­ ca lly,” one Portland neighborhood activist told the paper. “ It is ju st a total inconve­ nience and disrespect to black fo lks." The new spaper reported a flig h t o f black residents to suburbs, e ith e r be­ cause th e y ’ ve sold th e ir homes o r have been forced out by h ig h e r rents, s p lin te r­ ing the c o m m u n ity by geographic d is ­ persal and ra cia l in te g ra tio n . W hite gentrification is a relatively recent issue in north and northeast Portland, but the Post said other m ajor Am erican cities have undergone sim ila r changes, including Harlem, the D istrict o f C olum bia and many photos by I saiah B ouie /T he P orti . ami O bserver Amnesia Brewing on Mississippi Avenue and Beech attracts two couples from Kansas City who find the accommodations sim ilar to brewpubs they recently visited in Germany. cities in C alifornia. They attributed the shifts to a desire to escape long commutes and the relative hous­ ing bargains in black neighborhoods. N ot everyone view s the changes as negative. The Post reported census f ig ­ ures, suggesting blacks in Seattle and P ortland have not been displaced in to homelessness and that they are not eco­ n o m ic a lly worse o f f in the suburbs than they were d o w ntow n. In m any cases, housing in the suburbs is newer, schools are better and crim e is low er. But that means people w ill have to find new places to embrace black heritage, Norman Rice, Seattle’ s first and only black mayor, told the Post. C h u rc h e s p la y a c e n tra l ro le in g e n trification's scope, and the Post found that some black churches in both cities have moved o r opened second locations in the suburbs. Others, they found, have jo in e d suburban w hite churches to avoid long drives back into the city. Postal workers Joey Corless (right) and Kelly Eaves find a moment o f relaxation between deliveries on Northeast Alberta Street. continued ' y f on pone A3 Secretary Steps Down Transporta­ tio n Secre­ tary Norman Mineta, the only Demo­ crat in Presi­ Five Days of Waterfront Blues ‘I’m HIV positive’ dent Bush’ s Cabinet and one o f its three remaining original members, w ill step down July 7. Mineta had been plagued at times by back problems and spent months w o rk­ ing fro m home and the hospital. County Health adopts email warning system (A P )— f t ’ san e-m ail no one wants to get. But M ultnom ah County health o f­ ficia ls hope its new anonymous e-m ail Missouri Building Collapses R escuers saved n ine people trapped in the rubble o f a three- story building that partially co l­ lapsed during an Elks Club dinner service w ill help alert people at risk for a sexually transmitted disease, espe­ c ia lly those who m ight not otherwise fin d out. “ There's no easy way to say th is," an e-m ail text reads, "b u t I want you to know that I ’ m HI V positi ve. I f you don' t know your status, please get tested so o n ." inClinton. Mo., but theclub's leader was found dead early Tuesday, about 12 hours after the ro o f fell in. Portland has jo in e d inspot.org, a ser­ vice that sends electronic cards to part­ ners o f people diagnosed w ith sexually transmitted diseases. Recipients c lic k on the cards to ac­ Harper, ’ Australia 's Male Vocalist o f the Year. Music of New Orleans gets special focus Portland's downtown skyline explodes in color during the Waterfront Blues Festival, an annual event returning to Tom McCall Waterfront Park Friday, June 3 0 through Tuesday, July 4. Portland music lovers w ill jo in Blues enthusiasts from throughout the w orld fo r the 19lh annual Safeway W aterfront Blues Festival. Friday. June 30toTuesday, July 4 at Tom M cC a ll W aterfront Park. This year's festival w ill focus on the music o f New ( Jrleans and the G u lf Coast, a special e ffo rt tocelebrate the music and musicians from areas devastated last fall continued I on page A3 cess a Website w ith inform ation about local STD services, including agencies that o ffe r testing o r counseling. T ra d itio n ally, this new s came in per­ son o r by phone. But the delicate task has gone digital as com m unication — and sexual advances — increasingly go online. “ It's another approach to STD pre­ vention using the current technology," said Margaret Lentell, who manages M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty H e a lth Department's Sexually Transmitted Dis- continued y f on page A2