February 3, 2010
^ Portland Observer Black History Month
IN S ID E
H ealth
page 4-5
B lack H istory M onth
ige 6-10 and 21-24
Page 3
Housing Chair Takes Reigns
by J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
Lee Moore was recently named
chair o f the Housing Authority of
Portland’s Board o f Commission­
ers, the agency providing afford­
able and government-owned hous­
ing for residents o f Multnomah
County, including section 8 vouch­
ers.
M oore’s parents came to Oregon
to work in the shipyards during
World War II. During that time he
lived in government housing in
Vanport, a community between Port­ Lee Moore
land and Vancouver that was de­ o f any government agency in the
stroyed by a flood.
state, but we also need t make sure
He spoke to the Portland Ob­ that diversity passes through the
server:
inside o f our organization, so that
What sort ofinitiativesareyou we're practicing what we preach.
going to pursue as chair?
We also need to make sure we're
Because poverty knows no bor­ multilingual, so to speak, in terms o f
ders, I’m thinking that the Housing being able to identify with all those
Authority really needs to look at our publics, as well as receiving input
mission to ensure that we are pro­ from those publics.
viding services to all o f Multnomah
President Obama has announced
County. As we begin to look at the the idea of a spending freeze. Could
price o f housing and the ability of you talk about limited finances.
many o f our clients to secure hous­
As resources become more lim­
ing, particularly in the section 8 area, ited at the federal level we also need
they need to go where they can get to looking for alternative ways to
the best value. And if we're limited maximize our asset base. I think that
to being an exclusive Portland we shouldn't, and can't, be looking to
agency, then we're not able to serve the federal government to solve our
them as we should. We call our­ problems. In my travels to a lot of
selves the “Housing Authority o f European countries, one o f the things
Portland.” Is that a limiting factor in you see are partnerships between the
a lot o f partners’ minds? We have housing providers and private in­
reason to believe that is. So we're dustry. An example that I saw was
looking at the possibility o f a name libraries on the main level o f a build­
change.
ing and apartments above, or other
Another thing I think we ought kinds ofcommercial developments at
to be looking at is diversity. We the street level with apartments
have one o f the most diverse boards above. In many cases the revenue
generated from the commercial de­
velopment helps offset some o f the
cost for low-income housing.
We have done some partnering
with private industry at HAP where
there is conventional market-based
housing and low-income housing,
and one helps offset the other. Also,
by doing it that way we're not creat­
ing social-economic ghettos in the
sense that we put low-income in one
place.
What are some others ways that
you can incorporate public housing
into the community?
We look at New Columbia as
really one o f the models not only
locally, but nationally. It's not obvi­
ous as you drive through that de­
velopment who is low-income and
who is a homeowner. So essentially,
it is a mixed use community where
we put in low-income along with
people who actually own the prop­
erty.
Last year, we lost affordable hous­
ing units to the tune o f 22 percent in
the central city, but we saw an in­
crease in 12 percent in some o f the
higher income units. What sort o f
conclusions did you draw from that?
I think we have to be extremely
careful that we don't become the
San Francisco o f the north. Mean­
ing, that as the cost ofliving and the
cost o f housing increases you price
lower-income families out o f the city
so that they have to move to the
suburbs, then upper-income empty-
nesters then move into the central
city. And essentially what happens
is that the suburbs o f today become
the ghettos o f the future. That's
something we need to guard against.
Toyota Hit
on Safety
Recall deals
blow to image
O
pinion
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page 16-17
C lassifieds
page 18-19
page 21
i ne
uoam a
administration's top transportation
official sharply criticized Toyota
Motor Corp, on Tuesday for drag­
ging its feet on safety concerns
over its gas pedals, suggesting the
automaker was "a little safety deaf'
to mounting evidence o f problems.
Transportation Secretary Ray
LaHood said that federal safety of­
ficials had to "wake them up" to the
seriousness o f the safety issues
that eventually led Toyota to recall
millionsofpopularbrandslikeCamry
and Corolla. That included a visit to
Toyota's offices in Japan to con­
vince them to take action.
"They should have taken it seri­
ously from the very beginning when
we first started discussing it with
them," LaHood told AP. "Maybe
they were a little safety deaf."
The pointed comments came as
Toyota Matrix compact wagons sit at a Toyota dealership as the
automaker deals with a recall of faulty gas pedals.
Toyota showed just how painful
the recall has been for the automaker
that makes some o f the best-selling
vehicles in the United States. Sales
fell 16 percent in January, hurt by
Toyota s decision to halt sales while
it sorted out a fix for problems with
faulty gas pedals.
One of the more trusted brands
of cars and trucks, Toyota is scram-
bling to repair both vehicles subject
to its broad recalls and its image
with consumers. Toyota executives
apologized Monday to consumer
for the problems, which has shakei
the confidence o f many Toyota driv
ers.
That problem prompted the com
pany to recall 2.3 million vehicles twt
weeks ago in the United States
Toyota hopes a small steel insert tht
size o f a postage stamp will solvt
problems with friction that are blamec
for the potential glitch. Dealers saic
they expected to receive parts for the
fix starting Wednesday.