Page A3
A p ril 8. 2009
Activists Decry 12 Lane Bridge Expansion
continued j ^ f r i m Front
Fuglister, who said that she
wants to make sure that people
have plenty of choices for how
they commute, including car
pooling and mass transit. "We
need to think a lot more about
the people side."
Jen Williams, a longtime en
vironmental justice advocate
who served on river crossing
task force said that she repeat
edly raised concerns about how
the influx of traffic would affect
air quality in north and north
east Portland, but was ignored
or drowned out. She also wor
ries that more cars will affect
water runoff.
"They just got quiet and told
you 'we'll tell you later,"' said
Williams of how her concerns
were responded to.
Fuglister and Williams also
claim that the task force met in
Vancouver at hours that were
inconvenient for most north
Portlanders and that the task
force voted on the proposal
before the public comment pe
riod had ended.
Hal D en g e rin k w ho co-
chaired the task force denied in
an e-mail that W illiams’ con
cerns were drowned out or that
meetings were held at inconve
nient locations. He was silent
on the claim that the taskforce
voted on the proposal before
the public comment period was
over.
Sylvia Evans, a longtime en
vironmental justice advocate
from inner north Portland, is
quickly expanding, Portland
could wind up with gridlocked
traffic in dow ntow n if steps
aren't taken to ease the flow of
traffic, and adding that the 12-
lane option could bring light rail
to Vancouver.
Adams also points out that
the Colum bia River Crossing
decision had the blessing of
a C om m unity and E nviron
mental Justice Group. Further,
he said that a representative
from DEQ will be on the over
seeing committee as well as a
counterpart from W ashington
state, negating the need for
the health and environm ental
ju stic e advocates proposed
by Fritz.
H ow ever, F ug lister, who
holds a master's in environmen
tal science, is still worried that
that the 12 lanes will put enough
tailpipes on the freeway to sig
nificantly pump more toxics into
the neighborhoods that line it.
Additionally, Fuglister, Will
iams, and Fritz allege that the
Columbia Crossing group's en
vironmental justice representa
tives were cherry picked be
cause they lacked expertise in
environmental justice issues.
photo m J ake T homas ZT he P ortland O bserve
Fritz adds that health and
Environmental concerns over the proposed 1 2 lane 1-5 Portland-Vancouver bridge drew opponents to a downtown
environm ental justice advo
Portland rally on Sunday.
cates are needed in the next
cent of the vehicles were from posal saying that cars spew out phase of the planning.
also concerned about 12 lanes. ferent states."
The Columbia River Crossing
more emissions when they're
According to Carley Francis, Oregon.
"It will render that neighbor
is a very complex project and
Portland Mayor Sam Adams, idling in gridlocked traffic.
hood uninhabitable," she said Columbia River Crossing pub
More lanes, Adams argues, won't be finished until 2018 or
of the proposed bridge’s effect. lic information officer, 55 per who led the council to support
"1 don't think my health or my cent of drivers crossing the the 12-lane option, is quick to would improve the flow of traf later, and it could be how it
neighbors’ is worth sacrificing bridge during daylight hours point out that he lives ju st fic resulting in fewer pollution might be modified in the mean
for someone else's privilege to have W ashington tags. Ten blocks from the freeway. He emissions. He also argues that time.
live, work, and play in two dif percent were trucks and 32 per defends the 12-lane bridge pro w ith the a rea's p o p u latio n
people," said Pastor R obin
Wisner, a CRT volunteer. He
explained that different cultures
have different ways of grieving,
one who from their own cultural and it's important to have some
continued ^ ^ f r o m Front
background, rather than uni one culturally com petent to
fleers can’t," said Officer Marci formed officers. The crisis re help people through times of
Jackson, who is the coordina sponse team is divided to pro crisis.
The crisis team volunteers
vide specific services for north
tor of the program.
One of the unique features and northeast Portland’s Afri perform a variety o f duties.
of the program is that it provides c a n -A m e ric a n co m m unity, They act as liaisons between
culturally competent support sexual minorities, Hispanic, and the police and families, notify
families that a traumatic event
the Asian communities.
for people in crisis.
"Even if you have the best has happened, assist with re
Often times victims are more
comfortable dealing with some intentions, you can still offend ferrals to victim s assistance
Crisis Team
program s as well as funeral
and counseling services, pro
vide translation services, and
other duties.
Jo h n C a n d a , a lo n g tim e
gang outreach w orker, said
th a t h is w ork is g re a tly
com plem ented by the CRT,
and said that there is no other
organization, public or p ri
vate, that provides similar ser
vices.
CRT volunteers have also
helped diffuse volatile situa
tio n s in the past, by using
com m unity connections that
uniformed officers often lack.
These are often an invaluable
asset.
At last week’s meeting, vol
unteers brought up a Low Rid
ers car show several years that
almost erupted into a riot had it
not been for CRT volunteers.
Fights were breaking out every
where and CRT volunteers dif
fused the situation by going
into the crowd and using their
connections to get people in the
crowd to disperse.
"We know the g ra n d p a r
ents, we know the cousins, we
know the uncles. It's a differ
ent level o f resp ect," said
April Murchinson, a CRT vol
unteer, describing her interac
tion with neighbors who of
ten are reluctant to speak with
officers.
At the meeting, several vol
unteers noted that gang vio
lence is on the rise making it
particularly important to have
police liaisons like crisis re
sponse in the community.
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