5 o¿ K years Tough Times in Shared Local artist, leaders get personal to help teens «f •Tcommunity service (Lije -íií?A ‘City of Roses' ■■EM J * * insid*''Me,r” íín rtían h (Ohseiner r m Established s~ in m 1970 .1 Committed to Culturjl Diversity Volume XXXVI. Number 40 11 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • October 4. 2006 T1 Week in rhc Review Freightliner to Cut Jobs F reightlinerC E O Chris Patterson says a decline in heavy truck de­ mand w ill meanjobcuts. The com­ mercial truck manufactureroffered buyouts M onday to its w hite- co lla rw o rk force, including I .‘XX) at its Portland headquarters. N Korea Plans I North Korea said Tuesday it w ill conduct a nucleartestinthe face o f what it claimed was "the U .S . e xtre m e threat o f a nuclear war." ratcheting up tensions amid international pressure to return to negotiations on its atom ic program. Amish School Girls Killed An attack on a tiny Am ish school- house amid the farm fields o f Lancaster County, Penn, was the n a tio n 's th ird d e a d ly school shooting in less than a week. Five children and the 32-year-old gun­ man died. Five other girls are hos­ pitalized, fo u r in critical condi­ tion. See s to ry , page A2. Rice Doesn't Recall Alert U.S. Secretary o f State C o n d o ­ leezza Rice said Sunday that she ca n n o t re c a ll th e n -C IA c h ie f G e o rg e T e n e t warning her o f an impending al-Qaida attack in the U n ite d S tates, as B ob Woodward's new book claims he did tw o months before the attacks on Sept. 11,2001. Ozone Hole Matches Record The "ozone hole" over A ntarc­ tica has matched the record size o f 11.4 m illio n square miles, the U.N. weather agency said Friday. Thin­ ning in the ozone layer, largely due to the chemical compounds chlorofluorocarbons leaked from refrigerators, airconditioners and other devices, exposes Earth to harm ful solar rays. Hastert Won’t Resign Speaker Dennis Hastert brushed aside any sug­ gestion o f resig­ nation on Tues­ day as H ouse Republican lead­ ers struggled to contain the fa ll­ Veronica Riley (left) and House o f Prayer volunteer Jesse Neal bring comfort and a helping hand to Janice Bradley (right), wife o f the House o f Prayer's pastor Darrell Bradley, after the black church was vandalized with racist graffiti. SWASTIKAS Trail Hate Supporters help church bounce back bv rvi r Racist vandals keep h ittin g the small town o f Longview, Wash., where for months they have targeted m in o rity places o f w o r­ ship and business, including a weekend incident where a grocery store, c ity park, skate park and the m ulticultural House o f Prayer were tagged w ith swastikas and racist messages. House o f Prayer Pastor Darrell Bradley stands over a hop scotch square that used to be a large swastika in Victoria Freeman Park, across the street from the Longview church. The park is named after a local civil rights pioneer. " I l was a ju m p in g revival and I can tell you the devil was mad," said Bradley's w ife Janice, who watched from next door w here she works as a caretaker forchurch B ishop E .M . Jackson, also A frica n American. “ Everywhere they hire black people they marked 'w h ite p o w e r.'" said House o f Prayer Pastor Darrell Bradley. continued M arr W ashington / T iil P ortland O bslrvlr As one o f only tw o A frica n American churches in I .ongview, the non-denomi- natioiial. House o f Prayer iscomprised o f about 50 members o f tw o separate congregations, including Hispanic and Latino residents w ho make up House o f Prayer II, w hich holds Spanish-speak­ ing services each Sunday afternoon. House o f Prayer II hosted a three-day revival that spilled out onto the front lawn Friday night, just hours before the vandals hit. S arah B lount Tin P ortland O bsi photos by on page A8 Kind of Gentrification out from an election-year scandal in v o lv in g sexually e x p lic it mes­ sages fro m a disgraced F lorida congressm an to h igh school male pages. Housing Costs Increase Oregon homeowners are spend­ ing a greater amount o f their in ­ come fo r housing than at the start o f the decade, according to Cen­ sus Bureau, reflecting the national trend o f soaring house prices and stagnant paychecks. r u o lo in S i O'C ossor / ì ì i i P om i is o < Disi kv i k You re in the retail core o f the Lents neighborhood when you see the familiar neon lights o f the New Copper Penny Bar and Grill. Lents is open for business rv S arah B i ot n i Tin P o rtland O bskrvlh Southeast Portland's Lents neighbor hixxJ has generated a lot o f interest tor residents looking fo r affordable housing and existing or aspiring business im ners in need o f a jum pstart anil helping hand. And unlike Portland Development C o m ­ mission projects like N orth M ississippi r i l o 111 in M ark W vsiiisi . io s /T iii P i ik I I anii O bsi hv I k New construction and more affordable homes make southeast Portland's Lents neighborhood a magnet for local families. Avenue that have people questioning the gentrification or displacement o f local resi­ dents. there is a strong focus on diversity. Call Lents the new, new China Tow n - w ith a quiet but rising bustle o f Vietnemese. Russian. Hispanic and A frican American populations. " There is a lot o f interest out there." A m y M ille r D ow ell o f PDC saidof Lents. "People see it as an affordable neighborhood and there's a real p lu ra lity out there for ethnic groups." M ille r I Jowell heads PI X "s I xn ts Rev ital- ization E ffo rt, w hich became .in I Irban Re­ newal Area in 1998. The agency w ill pump a total o f $75 m illio n into the neighborhooil until 2013. The sum seems modest when compared to the Pearl or South W aterfront w hich are somewhat o f a Disneyland fo r Portland developers. Renewal in the outer southeast com m unity, rather, is focused on street im provement and affordable ow ner­ ship. "C ertainly there are buildings needing improvement, and we have programs help­ ful for people wanting storefront im prove­ ments," M ille r D ow ell said. A meeting last January between the ( iresham InsuranceCo. and Assurcty N o rth ­ west, Inc.. P IX ' representatives and the Portland Department o f Transportation re­ sulted in the first significant redevelopment in Lents in decades. Assurcty plans to build its 30.000 square feel headquarters, bringing 40 jobs by next summer. T o help w ith the in itia l phase o f development. PDC w ill lease back approxi­ mately 3.000 square feet o f the space fo r one year. That means new retail and com m ercial space ¡scorning. PDC senior project co o rd i­ nator Pam Neal said. A fa m ily -o w n e d Russian and A rm e - continued on page A 8