50j¿
VOTE
^com m unity service
IL Ite
‘City of Roses’
Ballots Go Out Friday
Must be returned by
8 p.m. on May 20
Cinco de Mayo Fiesta
Arts, music and folklore
celebration opens Friday
See story, page A6
For more information, call Multnomah
County Elections 503-988-3720
ìJorthxnó (©irsewer
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVIII. Number 18
TLWeek in
The Review
Remarks Anger Obama
Democratic presi
dential candidate
B a rack O b am a
said T uesday he
was outraged by
the latest divisive
com m ents from
his form er pastor and rejected the
notion that he secretly agrees with
him. See story, page A2.
, a
www,portlandobserve
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • April 30, 2008
Mayoral Hopefuls Sound Off
Longtime business leader Sho Dozono and City Commissioner Sam Adams are the leading candidates for
Portland mayor. The Portland Observer sat down with both last week to get a better sense of the issues.
Court Approves Voter ID
States can require voters to pro
duce photo identification when
they go to the polls, the Suprem e
Court ruled M onday, upholding a
R e p u b lic a n -in s p ire d law th a t
D em ocrats say will keep some
poor, older and m inority voters
from casting ballots.
More Democrats Register
Starting out the year with about
70,000 more registered D em ocrats
in Oregon than Republicans, the
advantage has grown to 153,587
with a surge o f new voter registra
tions in advance o f the O regon
May 20 Primary. Democrats gained
m ore than 10,000 in ju st the past
few days.
Bill Clinton Visits
A gym in downtown
P o rtlan d ’s L incoln
High School finalized
a six-stop Oregon tour
for former President Bill Clinton,
who spoke to around 1,0(X) people
Saturday about health, energy and
education issues on behalf o f his
wife, as the school's administration
tried to uncover a senior prank that
made national news.
Economic Pessimism Grows
Soaring gas prices and w eaker jo b
p ro s p e c ts m a d e A m e r ic a n s
gloom ier about the econom y in
A pril, sending the C onsum erC on-
fidence Index down in April to its
weakest point since just before the
U.S. invasion o f Iraq.
Sam Adams, who grew up in subsidized housing, stresses economic justice.
Sho Dozono brings employment-boosting experience with various populations in
Portland and abroad.
Transportation com m issioner D iverse background leads
turns attention to schools
candidate on jo b s crusade
by R aymond R endleman
T he P ortland O bserver
Sam A dam s has been in charge o f trans
portation issues during his four years on
the City Council, but has w idened his po
litical efforts in the m ayor’s race to also
focus on education and econom ic justice
issues.
C iting a statistic show ing 43 percent of
8th graders in P o rtlan d 's public schools are
not graduating high school, A dam s would
raise funds to support local schools, espe
cially through program s like the Black Par
ent Initiative and the N ative A m erican
Youth A ssociation for populations hard
est hit.
The money w ould com e from increased
taxes for the 1,000 largest businesses in the
city, m any o f w hich have paid less than
$ I (X)yearly, while som e 13,000small busi
nesses would receive tax cuts.
A dam s, 44, told the Portland O bserver
that he developed a sense of making tough
choices while grow ing up on Food Stamps
in the Small coastal town of Newport.
A gas tax that h asn ’t been adjusted for
inflation since 1991 has left the Portland
transportation departm ent in a state o f grow
ing crisis, according to Adams. W hen m ak
ing tradeoffs within the financial limits, he
prioritizes safety over potholes and con
gestion, preferring to pay for crossw alks
and traffic signals rather than paving. His
proudest accom plishm ent is the large re
duction in the num ber o f pedestrian/bike
injuries per 1,000 as the population most
vulnerable to cars has doubled.
T he result o f 21 tow n-hall meetings
continued
on page A6
by R aymond R endleman
T he P ortland O bserver
Sho D ozono has a diverse background
that he hopes to use as m ayor to bring more
jo b s to the city through an econom ic-stim u
lus plan and his role as a w orldw ide am bas
sador to bring new industries to Portland.
The candidate has already led coalitions
on the grassroots level to raise tens o f m il
lions o f dollars in em ergency funds for Port
land Public Schools, and internationally for
the victim s o f 9/11 and the tsunami that
struck Southeast A sia on C hristm as Eve of
2004. D ozono, 64, points to his deep roots in
advocating for the city to argue h e'd be most
effective in creating partnerships.
Bom in Japan, Dozono m oved to Portland
at the age o f 10 and attended public schools
on the eastside. then spent his late 20s and
early 30s teaching social studies and Japa
nese at Grant High School.
Troubled by the white Hight from the
inner city during the 1970s, D ozono worked
for much o f the '80s on the M etropolitan
Human Relations Commission, which Mayor
Tom Potter brought back last year as the
Human Rights Com m ission. D ozono sees
such civil-rights work as key to the advance
ment o f the entire city.
The first person o f color to chair the
M etropolitan Cham ber o f Com m erce (now
called the Portland Business A lliance and
chaired by African-A m erican businessman
Sam Brooks), D ozono would be Portland's
first m ayor o f color.
“ I’m ru n n in g to break dow n those b a r
riers," he says. "1 c a n 't say that I can w alk
in the shoes o f an A frican A m erican — it’s
continued
on page A 6
aM B H m M W M V M M M O M M M M W aM nS M nw aH M M M M nE
GM to Lay Off Thousands
Sagging pickup-truck and sport-
utility-vehicle sales have forced
General Motors Corp, to lay off
about 3,500 workers. The w orld’s
largest autom aker by sales said
M onday that the cuts were brought
on by weak dem and due to high
gasoline prices and an economic
downturn.
Rose Garden Liable for Fall
A 43-year-old Vancouver woman
who fell from a 42-foot balcony at
the Rose Garden won $ 2 .1 million
from a Multnomah County jury on
M onday.Tam my Matson said there
were no wami ng signs tel I i ng people
not to sit on the ledge, while lawyers
for Oregon Arena Corporation said
no reasonable person would have
used it as a seat.
Squid Holds Mysteries
Scientists hope their study of a 1,089-
pound, 26-foot long squid that
would make calamari the size of trac-
tortiresifcutupw illhelpdeterm ine
how the colossal creatures live.
I
Tough Road Lies Ahead for TriMet
Balancing diesel
prices with
commuter
services
by R aymond R endleman
T he P ortland O bserver
T riM et w ill need ad d itio n al
sources o f funding or a m iraculous
slow dow n in the rise o f gas prices
to offset a loom ing crisis for the
region's public-transportation sys
tem giving nearly 100 m illion rides
a year.
A lready, capacity nears a break
ing point during the rush hours,
and the agency has been forced to
put off buying extra buses and trains
to keep up with increasing demand.
“W e're getting a little bit behind
because o f the tight econom ics,”
Fred H ansen. T riM e t's general
m anager, told the Portland O b
server.
The problem has becom e crys
tal-clear for the largest buyer o f
diesel fuel in the state at 6.5 million
gallons per year, an am ount which
exceeds an average w eek o f the
W illam ette River’s flow. TriM et
budgeted for $2.31 a gallon for the
fiscal y e a r's bulk diesel price, but
the tax-free, pcr-gallon cost has a l
ready surpassed that figure by $ 1.34
due to the particular dem and for
diesel worldwide, the dollar's weak
ening com pared to other curren
cies, speculation and the ever-
sm aller am ount o f fossil fuel left to
pump.
T he solution, alth o u g h te m p o
rary and u npleasan t, is a largcr- TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen catches the Line 6-Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard bus
than-usual increase in the fares south on route back to his office from a meeting at the Portland Observer.
I
t
this S eptem ber. H ansen is n 't yet
sure ju s t how m uch m ore than
in f la tio n 's fiv e c e n ts in c re ase
TriMet will call for, but he expresses
confidence that the am ount will be
less than the 25-cent hikes going
th ro u g h in m e tro p o lita n areas
around the country.
F in d in g w ays not to cancel
routes co n stitu tes a m ajo r co n
cern because rid ersh ip , spurred
by even h ig h er ja c k s in auto-gas
prices, has increased city w id e by
a few percent each y ear for d e
cades. O th er areas, like the Inter-
I
state Y ellow M ax and 6 -M artin
L uther K ing lines serving north
and n o rth e a st P o rtla n d , h av e
seen m ore than dou b le the c ity 's
a v e r a g e p a s s e n g e r in c r e a s e
la te ly . F r e q u e n t- s e r v ic e b u s
routes, w hich com e at least every
15 m inutes and co n stitu te m ore
than h alf o f rid ersh ip , have re
m ained at 16 of m ore than 90 lines
for m ore than three years because
o f funding constraints.
“ Buses are really important cur
rently because they make up about
two thirds o f the trips." Hansen
says.
Reliance on the diesel-based bus
system will decrease, as Hansen
predicts that next y ear's com ple
tion o f the G reen l.ine Max through
do w n to w n and along 1-205 to
Clackam as will reduce the system 's
tilt tow ard buses to 55 percent. The
proposed Max line to M ilwaukee,
crossing the W illamette on a new
bridge nearO M SI, will also help the
ratio, but that change isn 't slated
until 2015.
T he agency has an en v iab le
continued
on page A J