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Established in 1970
Volume XXXVIV. Num ber 43
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • October 28. 2009
Frederick
Appointed
State Rep
.Week in
The Review
Pilot Licenses Revoked
Government regulators Tues­
day revoked the licenses of the
two airline pilots who flew an
Airbus passenger jet past their
Minneapolis destination by 150
miles last week. The pilots told
investigators they lost track of
time and place while working
on their laptop computers.
County chair calls
for primary battle
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
Afghan War Dead Climbs
Roadside bombs — the big­
gest killer of U.S. soldiers —
claimed eight more American
lives Tuesday, driving the
U.S. death toll in A fghani­
stan to a record level for the
third time in four months.
Long time community leader Lew
Frederick became the newest state rep­
resentative from Portland Thursday
when the Multnomah County Commis­
sion voted to appoint him to replace
Chip Shields in
House District
43.
S hields
gave up the
seat to replace
the re tirin g
M a rg a re t
C a rte r in the
O regon S e n ­
ate.
A conven­
tion held earlier
by Democratic Lew Frederick
Gordly Supports Recall
Former state
Sen.
A vel
G o rd ly has
signed up as
c h ie f p e ti­
tio n e r and
sp o k e sp e r­
son for the second attempt to
recall M ayor Sam Adams.
Gordly says voters should have
a say in whether Adams keeps
his job.
Sex Trafficking Sting
Federal and local agencies res­
cued four children in a sex traf­
ficking sting, authorities re­
ported Monday. Eight adult
“pimps” at five sites through­
out the Portland area were taken
into custody.
Blazers* Bati
The day be­
fore their sea­
son o p en er,
the Trail Blaz­
ers lose one of
their starters.
Nicolas Batum
said he will be
out three to
five m onths,
which means h e’ll miss most,
and possibly, the entire sea­
son.
World Series to Begin
The storied New York Y an­
kees face off against the de­
fending champion Philadel­
phia Phillies for game one in
the W orld Series W ednes­
day. The potentially com pel­
ling m atchup on Fox KPTV
Channel 12 is expected to
drive strong TV ratings.
Jackson’s Last Bow
Michael Jackson fans around
the w orld readied for the
singer's last bow Tuesday in a
film that captures rehearsals for
his aborted concert stand last
summer. “This Is It" a shows an
enthusiastic King of Pop me­
ticulously crafting his moves
and performing some of his
most beloved hits.
Economic Worries
In a sign that
talk of an eco­
nomic recov­
ery has yet to
soothe a re­
cession-bat­
tered nation,
co n su m er
c o n fid e n c e
fell in October and came in well
below what analysts were ex­
pecting.
years*
•T
community service
>i
www.portlandobserver.com
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
H1N1 Flu Emergency Declared
People line up for a H1N1 flu vaccine Saturday at Emmanuel Temple Church in north Portland. The
Multnomah County Health Department was limiting the vaccines to pregnant women and children until more
shipments of the vaccines arrive. On the same day, president Obama' declared a health emergency to
respond to the illness. See story, page A3.
Party precinct members nominated three
African American candidates for the
position. The others were Eddie Lin­
coln, the president of the faculty union
at Portland Community College, and
Karol Collymore, a staffer for County
Commissioner Jeff Cogen.
continued
on page A7
Investment in Bicycling Pays Dividends
Success now
tied to early
promotion
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
When Mia Birk took a job in
the city of Portland's Transpor­
tation Bureau managing its new
bike program in 1991, she knew
promoting bicycling was some­
thin g no o th er city had a t­
tem pted, and w asn't sure it
would work.
"It was an experiment, to be
honest with you,” she said.
But nearly two decades later,
the experiment seems to have
worked.
After the city poured money
into bicycle infrastructure, over
six percent of Portlanders now
say two wheels are there pri­
mary means of transit. Portland
regularly receives coverage
from national media outlets for
its unusual usage of bikes, and
a slew of other cities are follow­
ing the City of Roses' lead.
But city hall wants even more.
Earlier this month the city’s Mia Birk avidly endorses bicycle commuting.
T ra n sp o rta tio n B ureau un­
veiled plans that aim to make
Portland the Amsterdam on the
Willamette, with up to a quarter
of people relying on two wheels
to get around by the year 2030.
The city cites a simple set of
reasons for launching such an
u n o rth o d o x tra n sp o rta tio n
strategy: Bikes reduce global
w arm ing. More bikes mean
fewer cars, which mean less car­
bon emissions.
Bikes are more affordable and
accessible than budget-busting
cars, and the infrastructure to
support them is much cheaper
too.
Bikes are healthier and safer.
The T ransportation Bureau
cites a Center for Disease Con­
trol study that on its website
that states that encouraging
people to bike contributes to
their physical well being. It also
asserts that people experience
fewer car-related injuries when
there are fewer cars on the road.
B ikes keep m oney in the
economy. The Transportation
Bureau cites numbers that show
that bicycle-related businesses
have sprung up in Portland,
Umoja Center
Bounces Back
Lifeworks partners
with youth program
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
Over the last two decades, northeast Portland has
seen its neighborhoods and social landscape dra­
matically altered by rapid renewed economic inter­
est in the area.
But a brick building, on the comer of Northeast
17th Avenue and Alberta Street, has housed a social
institution that has steadily limped along through
the area's metamorphosis- and might now be enjoy­
ing some stability.
Since 1991, House of Umoja has strived to combat
photo by M ark W ashington AT he P orti ani » O bserver
gang violence in Portland while strengthening so­ Counselor Walter "Tiny" Butler (right) works with local youth at
cial ties in the city’s African American population. the Umoja Center on Northeast Alberta Street.
c o n trib u tin g to econom ic
growth.
The city also argues that
bikes strengthen ties between
people and th eir n eig h b o r­
hoods.
The bike plan establishes a
hierarchy of projects for city
funds that will deliver the best
results for the money. It states
that polling shows that one of
the biggest impediments that
keep people from cycling is lack
of safe infrastructure.
“Portland has already dem­
onstrated that bicycles and
cars can co-exist peacefully,”
said Birk, who cites numbers
that show that cycling acci­
dents have gone down over the
years.
Birk, now a consultant and
professor at Portland State Uni­
versity, said that having more
bikes on the road gets drivers
accustomed to them, making
everyone safer.
She doesn’t expect the bike
plan to produce a “radical a l­
teration" of existing bike in­
f r a s tr u c tu r e . In s te a d , she
continued
on page A3
But at times it has flirted with collapse.
Recently it began a new chapter af­
ter com ing under the co n tro l o f
Lifeworks NW, a culturally-responsive
social service provider, which aims to
bolster the long-standing community
institution, both fiscally and adminis­
tratively.
When the House of Umoja opened
its doors Portland was riddled by gang
violence to the point where people
made appeals for Mayor Bud Clarke to
call in the National Guard to quell the
discord.
Umoja was seen as an innovative
step to addressing the problem. It was
based on a Philadelphia program that
offered gang-affiliated youth a way to
chart a new course for their lives.
It housed a 15-bcd facility where
former gangsters would live under tra­
ditional Swahili social principle that
stressed purpose, cooperation, self-
continued
on page A11