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F i o r i k it t u (lE /n s r r lir r
‘City of Roses
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Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVI. N um ber 25
1
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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