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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2006)
• » a • •; .S 50¿ MLK Business Grows F years Leesha Posey expands E-Mat Cafe of See Metro, inside W- •Scommunity service ¡tu n t P n c p c ' ‘City of Roses iLìnrtlatrò (Dhservœr r- . Volume XXXVI, Number 43 T1 Week in Thc Review Katrina Settlements Uneven An AP investigation reveals that Hurricane Katrina victim s living in white neighborhoods o f Loui siana were three tim es as likely as those in black areas to seek and get state help in insurance dis putes. See story, page A2 Presidential Run Considered Sen. Barack O bam a a c know ledged S u n d a y he w as co n sid ering a run for president in 2008, backing off previous state ments that he would not do so. The Illinois D em ocrat said he would not m ake a decision until after the Nov. 7 elections. Independents Favor Dems Tw o w eeks before the midterm elections. Republicans are losing the battle for independent vot ers, w ho now strongly favor Democrats on Iraq and other major issues and overw helm ingly pre fer to see them take over the House, according to a new W ash ington Post-A B C N ew s poll. l i , i i . Established in 1970 African Americans much less happy with street by S arah B lount T he P ortland O bserver Black businesses and organizations are less happy with their non-m inority counterparts when it com es to opinions o f N orth east Alberta Street. Portland State University professor Daniel Sullivan has ju st com pleted a study com piling the opinions o f the changes on the street known for new residents, art galleries, restaurants and storefronts. photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver A m ong al I people, there was a general sense the neighborhood is losing its diversity, especially longtim e African A merican Passerbys find interest in Northeast Alberta Street, but a new study finds declining racial diversity and affordability among the concerns o f Alberta business owners. businesses and organizations. Sullivan, an associate professor o f soci ology. evaluated responses from 88 busi nesses, churches and non-profit organiza tions on or near the thoroughfare between N ortheast 11th and 30th Avenues. He said he chose to study the street because, unlike most neighborhoods in Port land, it is racially and econom ically diverse. F o rm e r E n ro n C hief Executive Civil Rights Museum Support College Costs Top Inflation College price increases slowed this year but they again topped inflation, and financial aid isn’t keeping pace. Tuition and fees at public four-year public colleges rose 6.3 percent to an average o f $5,836, according to the College B oard’s annual “Trends in C ol lege Pricing” report. Adding room and board makes a year o f col lege average $12,796. At private col leges, the price is $30,367. Natural Resources Shrinking Humans are stripping nature at an unprecedented rate and will need tw o planets' worth o f natu ral resources every year by 2050 if current trends continue, accord ing to a report published T ues day by the W orld W ildlife Fund and the Global Footprint Network. s <6 s •4* 4 è O er • & o' « At « American. “Many o f us here would love to keep the m ulticultural elem ent,” said one artist sur veyed, “ but it’s controlled by econom ic forces.” A concern for 60 percent o f respondents was affordability. Renters and art studio operators feel the most vulnerable to dis placem ent, regardless o f race. B la c k r e s p o n d e n ts tended to believe that there are m o re p ro b le m s on A lbertathandootherraces. For exam ple, 64 percent o f black resp o n d e n ts state that “police not caring" is a problem , com pared to only 28 percent o f other respon -Portland State University dents. Seventy-nine per professor Daniel Sullivan cent o f blacks surveyed see racial tensions in the neigh Most disagreem ents over the changes borhood as a problem , com pared to only 45 on Alberta fell along racial lines. percent o f those questioned from other races. “W hat really surprised me is it seems like A lthough m ost respondents liked the I expected a lot more disagreem ent,” Sullivan Last Thursday art w alks, African Am ericans said. "It seem s most people like w hat’s w ere half as likely to view it positively. going on, except A frican A m ericans.” Sullivan is careful to say his study was He found that many w hite respondents not an effort to prom ote particular change, em brace the idea o f diversity, but feel n oth but rather an attem pt to reduce biases am ong ing can be done about it. Som e even lament continued on page AS the fact that few o f theirclientele are African What really surprised me is it seems like I expected a lot more disagreement. It seems most people like what's going on, except African Americans. Skilling was sen tenced M onday to 24 y ea rs in prison, the last top official o f the energy com pany to be punished for the accounting tricks and shady business deals that led to the loss o f thousands o f jobs, more than $60 billion in Enron stock and more than $2 billion in em ployee pension plans. The Coca-C ola Co. announced M onday it is donating $ 10 mi 11 ion worth o f prim e dow ntow n land to the city to develop a civil rights museum in the Atlanta, Ga. hom e town o f the Rev. Martin Luther K ingJr. Wednesday • October 25. 2006 Alberta’s Racial Lines Skilling Gets 24 Years S www, port landobserver. com Committed to Cultural Diversity photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver Tri Met driver Mary Carter takes charge o f the ft 72 line bus as it makes it way through the Northeast Alberta business district. Changes Coming to Kaiser Emergicenter Vague officials say no closure but to expect redesign by S arah B lount T he P ortland O bserver K aiser P erm anente’s Interstate South cam pus, which houses an Emergicenter, will undergo m ajor changes that could possibly be instated by the end o f this year. Exactly what changes the urgent care facility will undergo are unclear. As o f now, nothing is closing on the cam pus and no solid plans are currently in place, but a coalition o f Kaiser partners - com prised o f its labor unions, a physicians group and health plan adm inistrators - have met five times over the pas, couple months for a mass review o f the types o f services offered, thc hours o f operation and whether “to strengthen the paitient/phsysican rela tionship". “T he planning com m ittee is meeting through the end o f thc month to determ ine exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to get it done in the most effective way possible," said K aiser spokesm an Brad Brokaw. “Everything is on the tahle.” Brokaw w ould not elaborate beyond those details. The five-building Interstate cam pus is second larges, in the Portland area, behind Sunnyside Medical Center. It has been a critical com ponent and keystone to thc neighborhood, especially since Bess Kaiser Hospital on North G reely A venue (now the Adidas cam pus) closed in the late 1990s. A Radiation O ncology C enter was opened at the Interstate cam pus earlier this year. photo by Brokaw said constant evaluation is stan dard at the Interstate cam pus as well as all K aiser Facilities. continued on page A3 M ark W ashington /T he P ort ,. and O bserver Kaiser Permanente officials say “everything is on the table" for the future o f its Emergicenter on North Interstate Avenue. The urgent care facility replaced services lost when Bess Kaiser Hospital closed in the late 1990s.