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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 2009)
September 2. 2009 Page A3 Group Pushes Back on Racial Profiling Wants police officers held accountable photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver Ruth Beale (right), a resident o f the Irvington Village on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, is introduced to Cindy Noordijk who is managing the transition o f the assisted living facility to Providence ElderPlace, ensuring continued service to the local African-American community. Irvington Village Redo rently operates six health and social centers and manages 230 Providence ElderPlace offi supportive housing units in the cials said the transition, which Portland area. It is O regon’s became effective Aug. 1, has only licensed provider of the been smooth for residents, nationally recognized Program their families and staff. About of All-inclusive Care for the Eld 90 percent of Irvington Village erly, recently called “long-term employees were able to keep care down right” by The New York Times. their jobs. Of the 100 residents currently Providence ElderPlace cur- continued ^ ^ f r o m Front living at Irvington Village, 32 are already Providence ElderPlace members. Other residents who qualify also now have the op tion of joining ElderPlace. How ever, even if they choose not to enroll, they can continue to live and receive care at Irvington Village. Providence plans to renovate the first floor of the facility to add a health and social cen ter. The center will allow ElderPlace members to receive their medical and other ser vices on the Irvington Village campus. Previously, they had to travel to other ElderPlace facilities for care. For more information, call 5 0 3 -2 1 5 -6 5 5 6 or v isit providence.org/elderplace. by J ake T homas T he P ortland O bserver A group that has long been critical of Portland’s response to racial profiling is lobbying the Portland City Council for a new strategy to hold police of ficers accountable. For over a decade, the city has launched a series of initia tives to address the issue of racial profiling, the practice of using race as a basis for deter mining w hether a person is likely to commit a crime. Most efforts to end the prac tice in Portland have focused on cultivating better under standing between police offic ers and members of the com munity while improving public outreach and diversification of the police force. But those actions fall short when the public demands po lice officer accountability and the police union denies that a problem even exists. Oregon Action, a statewide com m unity organization, is hoping to break the impasse by pressuring City Hall into bring ing up police accountability when it negotiates a new con tract with the police union later this year. Critics like Oregon Action organizer Ron Williams con tend that the only way to genu inely address racial profiling is to find out which officers pro file based on race and hold them accountable. This approach has been vo raciously resisted by the police union and Police Chief Rosie Sizer, who has fought to make sure that data on individual of ficers is collected in a way that does not expose them to public scrutiny. The activists complain that Mayor Sam Adams and other members of the City Council have been “dismissive, incon sistent and demonstrate a clear lack on interest in the issue.” But City Commission Dan Saltzman who heads the police bureau disagrees, saying “of ficers are held accountable.” Saltzman told the Portland Observer that there are suffi cient mechanisms in place to hold officers accountable. He said that he doesn’t support tracking data on individual of ficers in a way that makes them subject to public scrutiny be cause an officer might deal pri marily with minority communi ties. He also stated that he would “explore” the issue of bringing up individual officer protec tions with the police union dur ing contract negotiations later this year. ................ ...................... ..........| ............... Recall Deadline Looms by J ake T homas T he P ortland O bserver The campaign to recall Mayor Sam Adams has just 33 days left to tum in the 32,000 valid signa tures needed to trigger a recall election. The Community to Recall Sam Adams indi cated last Thursday they’ve raked in 10,000 sig natures, but the goal is 50,000 signatures because a number of them will almost certainly be deemed invalid by the city’s auditor’s office. H o w e v e r, re c a ll s p o k e s p e rs o n Ja su n W urster rem ains optim istic about recalling Adams, who lied about a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old intern while running for mayor in 2008. Wurster said his group has some 450 volun teers working on the campaign which means that there could be an avalanche of signatures very soon. “The way w e’re going to get the bulk of our signatures is people talking to their friends and neighbors,” he said. Wurster said the recall effort remains positive, despite a string of increasingly hostile acts. He said that recall volunteers have endured lewd hand gestures being hurled at them, peti tions being defaced, and other indignities. “These things are happening and they’re very disturbing, but it w on't deter us,” said Wurster. On the other side of the issue, City Commis sioner Randy Leonard, a staunch supporter of Adams, had an angry and expletive-laden con frontation last week with a recall supporter. SMALL-BUSINESS FAIR Do you dream of owning a business, but don't know where to start? Do you have a business, but you’re confused about requirements? If yOU Want answers, come to the 16th annual Small-Business Fair, where experts will explain how to get your business going, run it successfully, and comply with local, state, and federal regulations. Free workshops • Turning a dreain into reality • The future of business • Marketing your business • E-commerce • Business advertising • The art of selling Saturday, Sept. 19 8:45 a .m .-5 p.m. Oregon Convention Center 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland, Oregon FREE ADMISSION Sponsored by your government and local business organizations. For more information, eall 503-329-4260 or visit www.oregonbizfair.org. r Imbiuto v i i « on tir Mtxxixxippi is il* v lr ni t ir i JI r m I lutii tiH t r lek, (I miti id il* N/NI xhidq/pnqrt I spimuwril I h , il* I’ im i I. iih I Drvrlopmrnl ( onunixxion In ikix \tudi)/pn>p’i I .il i ilurrtx .irr mutlrd hi lirlp PIX «Irnlilq rrMMinrs lor un.il kmnrxxrx Itouxinq km*uwT*rdup .ind iummiinih, liu.ilnliti| prnjntx in il* Notili .ind Nintlr.nl tu km irirw .il ,«rr,r\ 11* l.ilJr ix srl Jlortianh (Dbscruer This summer is Oregon’s busiest highway construction season ever. Oregon is getting to work, paving highways and repairing and replacing bridges. i imi * p nn in .mi IrJp Established 1970 USPS 9 5 9 -6 8 0 ________________________________ 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland. 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