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‘City of Roses’
See story, page A2
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Established in in 1970
1970
Established
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVIII, Number 17
www.portlandobserve
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • April 23. 2008
TlWeek in
The Review
Watch Out!
Clinton, Obama Battle
H illary R odham C linton and
Barack Obama col lided Tuesday
in the Pennsylvania primary, the
last of the big-state contests in a
D em ocratic presidential cam ­
paign growing more negative the
longer it goes. A d efeat for
Clinton could spell the end of
her candidacy. But a sizable win
would strengthen her claim to
being the stronger general elec­
tion opponent.
Traffic rules evolve as
more cyclists share road
by R aymond R endleman
T iii : P ortland O bserver
Free after 26 Years
A Portland m an's brother who was
locked away 26 years for murder
was granted a new trial and freed
on bond Friday with the help of
two attorneys who came forward
with a client's confession after he
died in prison. See story, page A3.
Record Gas Prices
in growth o f bicyclists
is a good problem for
Portland to have.
Hunger Crisis Looms
Jk
The UN food agency said the world
faced a “silent tsunami" of soaring
food prices that threaten to plunge
more than 100 million people into
hunger, leavinga$755 million short­
fall in its budget.
Americans Die Earlier
Forced to Stay in Iraq
The Army has accelerated i t s !
policy of in voluntary extensions
o f duty to bolster its troop lev­
els, despite Defense Secretary
Robert G ates’ order last year to
limit it. Pentagon records show.
Since May o f 2007, the num ber I
of soldiers forced to remain in \
the Army rose 43 percent to |
12,235 in March.
Ancestry investigated
State authorities on Monday be­
gan running DNA tests on over
400 children removed from a po­
lygamist compound this month in
west Texas to determine if some
were born to underage mothers.
Iraqi Prisoners Released
More than a hundred detainees
were released from Iraqi-run
prison on Monday as part of the
largest wave o f releases since
the war began. The governm ent
set men free to reintegrate those
accu sed o f re la tiv e ly m inor
crim es and to ease the strains on
a prison system operating well
beyond its capacity.
With the deaths of two cyclists
in bike lanes solidly etched into the
city’s collective memory, efforts are
underway to leave no excuses for
hitting people who aren't protected
by a ton of steel.
The latest traffic-safety tool is a
painted green box that's clearly
marked for bicycles only at key
intersections. The installations are
designed to move motorists back a
few feet so that they can see the
two-wheeled commuters
and avoid a blindsiding one
in a right-hand collision.
Bike boxes come after the
tragic deaths of two bicy­
clists last October, when
young lives were crushed
under the wheels of trucks
turning right from intersec­
- Alison Hill Graves, outreach
tions on West Burnside and
coordlnatorfornortheast Portland's
North Interstate. The driv­
CommunityCyclingCenter
ers said they didn' t see them
before it was too late.
Giving cyclists a legal and vis­
More encouraging news comes
ible place to idle when waiting fora from how the multiplying tens of
red light will not solve all the dan­ thousands of bike commuters each
gers for a growing population us­ day have not brought more fatali­
ing alternative transportation, of­ ties over the years. One theory cred­
ten due to financial constraints. its motorists with becoming for ac­
Nor do the evolving traffic rules customed to looking out for bicy­
protect bicycling riders equally.
clists, especially where they can
The Portland Office of Trans­ form more than 10 percent of the
portation has added bike boxes for traffic on some streets and bridge
Hawthorne Bridge and downtown
continued
on page A5
commuters, for example, but not for
T The huge explosion
The average cost for a gallon of
unleaded regular hit a record high
in Oregon Tuesday, reaching $3.58
a gallon as the national average
eclipsed $3.51 a gallon. Analysts
say the price jump is tied to crude
oil inching toward the $ 120 a barre 1
as investors seek a high return.
Researchers have found the un­
expected in life expectancy: Un­
like every other industrial coun­
try, the U.S. may have peaked at
age 77 due to a sizable portion of
rural areas w ithout access to
h e a lth y fo o d s o r re lia b le
healthcare, placing Americans
behind Bosnia on this year’s CI A
W orld Factbook list.
the bike-accessible Steel and
Broadway bridges on the north side
of town that have seen 30 percent
increases in bike traffic over the
past year when the Hawthorne saw
15 percent increases.
City Commissioner Sam Adams,
whose staff oversees PDOT's ef­
forts to encourage bike safety, ac­
knowledges that problematic inter­
sections across the city need rede­
sign. Other efforts have been fo­
cused on education like "I Brake for
People" and "See and Be Seen.”
photo by R aymond R endi . eman /T he
P ortland O bserver
A newly installed green bike box, designed to provide more safety to bicyclists, gives Rod Bennett
a space to wait his turn in traffic before proceeding through an intersection at Hawthorne Boule­
vard and Southeast 11th Avenue.
Portland Development Commission on New Course
Reaches out to
neighborhoods
by R aymond R endleman
T he P ortland O bserver
Heads of the city's most power­
ful agency forchange acknowledge
their previous mistakes and vow to
improve how the 50-year-old Port­
land Development Commission
reaches out to neighborhoods.
A history of slash-and-rebuild-
style urban renewal has created
pockets of for-Iease structures
along with empty lots in many parts
of town. Seeing the effects of dras­
tic changes on neighborhoods, the
Mark Rosenbaum, PDC
development leaders are restruc-
chairman
Bruce Warner, PDC executive
director
luring the organization to include
the needs of current residents while
rem aining p ro a c tiv e about
Portland's opportunities for hous­
ing and job creation.
"W e’ve learned from those mis­
takes," Bruce Warner, executive
director of PDC, told the Portland
Observer. "Too much for many,
many years there hasn't been en­
gagement with the community talk­
ing about the priorities."
P D C s reorganization last week
has the goal of making neighbor­
hood-specific departments able to
provide com prehensive plans,
rather than requiring districts to
rely on centralized housing and de­
velopment departments.
The internal changes only pro­
vide the framework for what the
organization hopes will create po­
litical impetusfortransforming how
projects are planned. The commis­
sion currently complains of tied
hands when it comes to spreading
wealth more evenly over various
urban-renewal districts.
"The problem that PDC has in­
herently is that we're by law limited
as to where we can spend our
money,” says Mark Rosenbaum.
PDCchairman.
Meanwhile, existing tools of the
agency to generate funds will con­
tinue to affect the city. Planned
continued
on page A5
Wielding Influence
on Public Policy
Commissioner gives voice to
minority point of view
is ongoing review of the Portland
Plan, the overdue update of the
The Portland Planning Commis­ Portland Comprehensive Plan. This
sion could be considered the city's w ill mean consideration of a large
official "think tank."
number of interrelated issues and
Although the City Council has policies, some of them at odds with
been known to modify or ignore its each other, to mark a coherent di­
advice, the commission has great rection for the city.
influence on decision-making. Its
In one of their newest members.
volunteer members receive brief­ Andre Baugh, they've got the right
Andre Baugh guides public policies as a member o f the Portland Planning Commission.
ings from public agencies, hold man for the job.
public hearings, conduct work ses­
Baugh is not the first African-
sions that have been known to last American to serve on the commis­ the project manager of the North­ the Portland Development Commis­ nanced construction projects.
more than eight hours at a stretch, sion James Harris and Ron Sykes east Martin Luther King Jr. Boule­ sion in particular, to work harderto
"I don't think I'm representative
and make recommendations on have held positions there - but he vard Redesign Project for the Port­ recruit and retain minorities and of minorities, but 1 can give voice to
matters of public policy.
is one of the few and at the moment land Office of Transportation. Later, women in building-trade appren­ a minority point of view," Baugh told
as a volunteer, he was one of the tices, and to utilize minority and
Their latest assignment, cour­ the only one on that body.
c o n tin u e d
on p a g e 4 3
tesy of MayorTom Potter's office.
Hisexperience includes work as first to push the city in general and women contractors on city -fi­
by L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
I
I