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Œ‘!l IJortlanò ffibsm ier
August I, 2007
City Supports Housing Help
To offset gentrification trends
(A P i— The City Council has
presented a plan to slow the de
cline in school enrollment by help
ing pt>orer families continue to
live in gentrifying neighbor
hoods.
The $1.6 million package in
cludes rental assistance, gap
mortgages and grants to parent
and neighborhood groups.
Portland has lost 11,000 stu
dents in the last decade as poorer
families have moved to cheaper
areas. The wealthy people mov
ing closer to downtown often
send their children to private
schools.
The trend has cost the school
district tens of millions of dollars
a year in state money, so keeping
families in neighborhoods iscriti-
cal for the health of the district,
said Tripp Somerville, policy di
rector for the Portland Schools
Foundation.
Commissioner Erik Sten has
presented three contracts as the
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland ( ) bser \ er
Rosa Parks Way would intersect with Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard if an ad hoc group is successful in getting Interstate Avenue re
named in honor o f the civil rights leader who successfully raised national awareness of immigrant worker injustices. The MAX
transit station (above) doesn 'tyet reflect this year’s change of Portland Boulevard to Rosa Parks Way.
The Portland Chapter
of the L.I.N.K.S.
Interstate Name Change Proposed
Strivingtoeliminate social and
cultural inequities using nonvio
lent civic-involvement principles,
Chavez successfully raised na
tional awareness o f the injus
tices that workers endured on
N o rth
and
n o rth e a s t the West Coast.
He led an upstart labor union
Portland’s tradition o f recogniz
ing civil-rights leaders through in strikes and boycotts leading
streets like M artin Luther King to the passage of the 1975 C ali
Jr. Boulevard and Rosa Parks fornia Agricultural Labor Rela
W ay, may soon have a C esar E. tions Act, which spawned na
tional protections for farm
C havez Boulevard.
Local activists have com e to worker rights.
In Oregon, the first college in
gether with the intent o f renam
ing In terstate A venue after the nation for recent immigrants
Chavez, who organized migrant was nam ed for him, and many
farm workers in Oregon during of his followers becam e leaders
in city governm ents around the
the 1960s and 70s.
Street may
honor another
minority activist
first specific steps in what he calls
the Schools, Families. Housing Ini
tiative. Commissioners voiced ap
proval for the project, and the coun
cil is expected to take action this
week.
"This is the money the city would
spend anyway on housing, but
we've linked it to school policy,"
Sten said.
Most of the money, $950,000.
will go to the Portland Schools
Foundation for grants aimed at
p ro m o tin g
n e ig h b o rh o o d
schools, so newcomers will de
cide to send their children to them.
The grants could be for anything
from repairing broken windows
to designing an after-school pro
gram.
The two other components are
pilot p rojects. O ne p ro v id e s
$450,000 in rental assistance for
families w ith school-age children
in schools with high student turn
over. The other provides $200.000
for a cash reserve.
W illam ette Valley.
José and Kathy R om ero, the
P ortland couple leading the
nam e-change effort, hope that
a C esar E. C havez B oulevard
w ould encourage the larger
com m unity to learn about the
social, cultural, econom ic and
enviro n m en tal co n trib u tio n s
that L atin o s have m ade in
O regon.
So far, the Kenton Neighbor
hood Association has voted to
support the change by writing a
letterto M ayorTom Potter, who
recently stood up for immigrant
workers after a federal raid in
north Portland.
With Latinos now exceeding
&
tLhl |J o rtla n h © bserucr
12 percent o f the O re g o n 's
population, many are viewing
the current lack o f public trib
utes to American Latino lead
ers in the Portland area as an
ongoing injustice.
M embers o f the R om eros’
ad-hoc organization have met
with transportation officials, re
ligious groups, businesses and
agencies in an effort to ensure
an i nclusive and comprehensive
process.
S aying that the social ben
efits w ould far outw eigh the
costs, they hope to persuade a
large coalition to push for a
positive C ity C ouncil vote on
Oct 17.
Newspaper
‘Community School Supply Drive’
Seeking the communities support in the
ongoing effort to provide local children
with much needed school supplies fo r the
upcoming school year.
Donation Drop Site:
The Portland Observer Newspaper
4747MLKBlvd.
M onday-Friday
9 am - 5 pm
5th Avenue
Street Fair
Old Tow n/Chinatow n
August 2 • 5 -1 0 p.m.
Nero
Come join friends, family and
neighbors on First Thursday for a
BIG THING
DOWNTOWN
fun-filled neighborhood street fair
to celebrate the completion of light
rail construction on 5th Avenue in
Old Town/Chinatown.
Great food • Beer garden
Kids’ activities • Entertainment
Next S^Thing
International Star sets Concert Date
Loveness W esa o f Portland,
an international star and one of
A frica’s finest female artists,
will perform Ii ve inconcert with
her new home band called “The
W hite B antuz” on Saturday,
Aug. 6 at p.m. at W ashington
Park in southwest Portland.
W esa has established herself
as one o f the most prominent
I
African female artists on the
world stage. She is a musician,
dancer, and choreographer she
was the first woman artist in her
native country Zim babw e to
write, choreograph and produce
dance theatre shows performed
by mostly women.
W esa has traveled the world
as a cultural am bassador for
Zim babw ean wom en artists,
bringing to her audiences not
only traditional African dancing
and singing but she also does
drum m ing which used to be a
taboo for women in her culture
to be found behind the drum.
She is also spreading a m es
sage o f peace, freedom and un
derstanding through her works.
■
Music by MusicfestNW artists
S tops at the Street Fair,
First Thursday &
Pioneer C ourthouse
Square
Learn more at portlandmall.org
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