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Beer Tax
Brouhaha
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beer tax would
pay fo r addiction
services
Habitat Builds Green
See story, page A2
‘City of Roses’
Volume XXXVIV, Num ber 12
Non-profit builds
homes with highest
environmental standards
See special coverage, page A7
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • March 25. 2009
Gang War Front Lines
Experts say
violence
was allowed
to fester
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
W hen a rash o f gang violence broke
out this w inter it left several young
b la ck m en d ead , a co m m u n ity in
shock, and a city scram bling to put
people back at ease. The city reacted
quickly to put a lid on the violence,
and shuffled funds to put more gang
outreach w orkers on the front lines.
But how effective will these efforts
be?
People com bating gangs know that
the gam e has changed. D ecades o f
gentrification in north and northeast
Portland has rearranged the African
American community. Programs to ad­
d re ss th e p ro b le m have b ee n u n ­
evenly applied, according to experts
in the battle, allow ing the problem to
fester.
According to gang outreach work­
ers, getting services to people who need
them is now increasingly difficult.
North and northeast Portland was
w here the city ’s A frican A m erican
community once laid down their roots.
People shopped, socialized, did busi­
ness, went to church, and raised fam i­
lies together. The area was described
as blighted with crim e, but there was
a netw ork o f people who looked after
knew one another.
"T hose w ere the days w hen you
could leave your door unlocked," said
A vel G o rd ly , w h o g rew up n ea r
Prescott and G oing Streets and went
photo by M ark
W ashington /T he P orti - and O bserv er
Rob Ingram, director of the Portland Office o f Youth Violence Prevention, tackles an upsurge in gang violence at the site of a recent gang-related
shooting. The March 19 violence during the lunch hour on North Killingsworth Street and Haight Avenue, one block from Jefferson High School
and Portland Community College, sent the high school into lockdown.
on to be elected the state's first fe­
male A frican Am erican state senator.
G o rd ly re m e m b e rs sto p p in g at
M axine's G rocery on the way hom e
from school and consistently being
asked about school and goings on in
the neighborhood. A dults cared about
the next generation and were quick to
put kids back on track if they strayed
from the straight and narrow.
"It really was an extended family,"
said G ordly o f the area.
"We found time to break the ice,"
said C harles Ford, who has lived in
the area since 1967. Since then he
watched the com m unity lose its an­
chor, and become less stable.
In the early 1970s, things began to
change. A fter the building o f the free­
way and M emorial Coliseum cleared
homes and churches, an aborted ex­
p a n s io n by Im m a n u e l H o sp ita l
pushed out black-ow ned businesses
and dem olished hom es even more.
The expansion went unfinished leav­
ing a large vacant space.
"It was like an open wound," said
Gordly.
As the African A merican com m u­
n ity w as b e in g sc a tte re d , g an g s
started moving in.
Gordly, who was one o f the first
people to sound the alarm when she
noticed that young people were begin­
ning to identify as Bloods and Crips
early in the late 1970s, while she was
working for community organizations.
But the plea for more attention to the
continued
on page A l l
Rental Fees Blindside Youth Sports
Leagues scramble to pay costs
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
Each spring and summer. P ortland’s sports fields are
filled w ith the city ’s youth playing gam es that have been
cherished for generations. This year will be no different,
but it’ll be more costly.
In the past, Portland Parks and Recreation has imposed
an hourly rate on adult sports leagues while applying a
less-expensive fiat rate to youth leagues, m aking it more
affordable for the area’s younger athletes.
However, with severe budget cuts in the offing and an
increasing dem and for sports fields, the parks bureau has
been phasing in more expensive rates. Last year youth
sports leagues began paying an hourly rate for the first
tim e. This year it jum ped substantially.
T h e ju m p has b lin d sid ed P o rtla n d 's y outh sp o rts
leagues, and left them scram bling to pay for it.
M ary Dunn, the president of Peninsula Little League-
w hich serves 215 kids, said that she d o esn 't know how
bad the costs will be for her league o ffh an d , but said that
they were bad enough to put it in the red.
She said that Peninsula didn’t hear about the fee increases
until they had collected annual registration fees from fami-
continued
on page A l l
raoroBY M ark W ashingtois / T he P ortland O bserver
Peninsula Little League President Mary Dunn takes to the Irving Park athletic field with players turning out for the spring
softball Season. Sports leagues in the city have been hit with higher rental costs because of city budget cuts.
„Week in
The Review
Volcano Spews Ash
N ew trem o rs at A lask a's
M ount Redoubt are prom pt­
ing speculation that the vol­
cano could be in a phase that
will lead to more instability.
T h e 1 0 ,2 0 0 -fo o t v o lc an o
erupted six times Sunday and
M onday, spewing clouds of
gritty ash high into the sky.
Spring Break Hate Crime
A uthorities say they are investigat­
ing an assault on tw o men on the
beach at Seaside as an anti-gay hate
crim e. T w o 22-year-old W ashington
state men reported early Sunday that
three to four people beat them uncon­
scious. T he tw o were treated at an area
hospital.
Top-Flight Soccer Coming
M ajor League Soccer C om m issioner
D onG arberand Portland Tim bers and
Beavers ow ner M erritt Paulson an­
nounced Friday that Portland has been
aw arded the league’s 18th team, with
MLS play to begin in 2 0 1 1 at a reno­
vated PGE Park.
Regulating Financials
The nation's top economic officials
argued Tuesday for unprecedented
pow ers to regulate and even take over
financial g o liath s w hose collapse
could imperi 1 the entire economy Presi­
dent Barack O bam a agreed and said
he hoped "it doesn't take too long to
convince Congress."
regular gas in Oregon bumped up to
about $2.07 a gallon Tuesday, which
is about three cents more expensive
than it was a week ago.
Wage complaints Bungled
T he L abor D ep artm en t regularly
bungles its handling o f com plaints
from workers who say their bosses are
cheating them on overtim e pay or
com m itting other labor violations, an
undercover investigation found.
Gas Prices Inch Upward
G as prices in Portland and the rest of
Oregon jum ped up this week. A ccord­
ing to AAA. the price o f a gallon of
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