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May 28. 2008
Initiative Fighting for Children’s Health
continued
from Front
nize a need for addressing these
types of issues, but have concerns
about some of the specifics, includ
ing a $10 co-pay for visits with a
prim ary-care provider.
Geri W ashington, a Multnomah
Education Service District board
m em ber representing north/north-
east Portland and an organizer for
Oregon Action, said the co-pay pre
sents a continued barrier for low-
income families.
W ashington would prefer to see
better planning to coincide with
school districts’ budgets so that the
e x p e c te d in c re a s e o f s tu d e n ts
doesn’t create strain for facilities or
teachers, which are allotted based
on the previous year’s enrollm ent.
The campaign allays concerns that
the measure amounts to an unfunded
mandate by allowing school districts
to opt out of the program if school
boards deem the coverage unnec
essarily expensive.
photo by
R aymond R endi . kman /T iik P ortland O bserver
Martin Rivers collects signatures for an initiative that would provide health insurance for students in Portland Public
Schools. Signing (from left) are Sheridan Schlegel, Megan Anderson and Edyth Lee-Barnes.
The proposal calls for city bud
gets to cover the estim ated $4.05
million cost for the first two years of
the health insurance starting in Feb
ruary of next year, then school dis
tricts would be responsible for 66
percent of the program.
Petition organizers count on a voter
m andate and the success of ¿he
program’s first years for the political
pressure of continued funding. With
no exclusions for pre-existing condi
tions, the program would subject phy
sician-referred hospital services to an
annual $7,5(X) deductible.
Competitive bidding would recruit
contracts with local private insur
ers. The City of Portland would pay
bidders a $50 monthly maximum for
each child covered, and the contract
stipulates that the rate would not
increase annually more than the U.S.
Consum er Price Index.
“If the city votes yes, this is.what
we want, then the city’s leaders
have to respond, so you have the
potential to take much of the politics
out of it,” Deschaine says..
Vanport after 60 Years
OLD TOWN.
Ota Tbwn Pizza h as opened a second outpost dedicated to serving up our legendary pizza,
an d we w ant you to be among* the first to call it your new-old favorite restaurant.
M A K E H IS T O R Y A N D J O IN U S
F O R O U R G R A N » O P E N IN G C E L E B R A T IO N !
J u n e 5, 2 0 0 8
5 - 1 1 pm
6201 NE M artin Luther King J r Blvd.
Portland. Oregon 07211
503.200.5SS8
Door prizes a t 7, 8 & 9pm
E ntertainm ent bv Ethos Music Center*
D U RIN G J U N E A T O LD TO W N P IZ Z A V A N P O R T S Q U A R E
* G u e s t s w i t h p roof o f zip co d es o f 9 7 2 1 1 . 9 7 2 1 7 an d 9 7 2 1 2
RECEIVE 20% OFF THEIR FOOD ORDER
* G uests who presen t any past receipts from the original Old Town Pizza location
RECEIVE 20% OFF THEIR FOOD ORDER
sold will go to Ethos Music Center.
v
HBs
k WI
. .. . . ,
a Portland-based organization dedicated to the promotion of music and
musk-based education for youth in underserved communities
www.ethos-lnc.org
.
jh k
o
•
.S " '
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers surveys a levee near the Columbia River in
early 2007. Data from these surveys help owners determine a levee's level of
flood protection. Trees along some of the levees present an increased risk
becuase they were not designed for this type of vegetation.
continued
from Front
this year, despite the large amounts of
snow last winter approximating the
lead-up to Vanporf s demise.
"The Vanport Flood was a combina
tion of rain plus a lot of snow, and as far
as conditions we’re having today, we
certai n ly ha ve above-average snow con
ditions—the fortunate thing is that we
don't have the rain on top of the snow,”
says Harold Opitz, chief hydrologist for
the National Weather Service’s North
west River Forecast Center.
However, the predictability of flood
ing may become even harder with
global warming’s effects on weather
patterns.
“The risk boundaries are certainly
going to shift,” Opitz says. "The cli
mate-change baseline question is: What
is that warming going to mean? At this
point there are a lot of unknowns to us
that we're investigating how to ap
proach.”
The Army Corps of Engineers has
recognized increasing stakes for ac
countability, first after Vanport, then
1,1 ÎLÎorthntb (.Observer
USPS 959-680
after Hurricane Katrina. But limited
funding, shared liability and techno
logical unknowns continue to dog the
agency to this day.
Vanport was the result of a railroad
fill giving way, and it’s possible the
levy would have held without engi
neering to include freight traffic. A
similar situation can be found on the
C o lu m b ia -sk irtin g
N ortheast
Bridgeton Road, which was built on an
old levy not designed for street traffic.
While the corps' annual inspections
have determined such areas to be
safe, the inspectors would much rather
see money allocated for new levees
than to constantly worry over tree
roots, burrowing animals or human
activities compromising integrity.
Adding to the concern, the corps
built most of the levees in the ‘30s and
‘40s but now shares oversight with
local drainage districts.
“While we don’t own them, nor are
we responsible for the maintenance ot
them, we can provide collaborative
inspection and • recommendations,”
Echols says.
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