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.
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Saturday, Sept. 19
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777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.,
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Sponsored by your government and
local business organizations.
For more information, eall 503-329-4260
or visit www.oregonbizfair.org.
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This summer is
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highway construction
season ever. Oregon
is getting to work,
paving highways
and repairing and
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