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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.
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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.