New Orleans’ Woes
Spike Lee returns to
Gulf Coast
Roses’
Page 10
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Volume XXXX, Number 33
E s ta b lis h e d in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • August 25. 2010
No Sanctuary
Park ban targets trouble
by J ake
T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Anyone excluded from the New Columbia housing development in north Portland would
automatically be banned from adjacent McCoy Park under a new ordinance passed by the
Portland City Council.
The repercussions o f two summer shootings at New Columbia has
resulted in a new city ordinance that excludes anyone from the
neighborhood’s adjacent park who have also been banned from the
housing development.
New Columbia is an innovative housing development in north Portland
that blends rental and owner-occupied properties on the remains o f
Columbia Villa, a World War II era public housing project.
Residents o f the neighborhood, which was reopened in 2005, have
strived to get past a troubled past that included gang violence, and chart
a positive course for the experimental community. But the recent shootings
raised a fresh concern that past gang activity was returning.
Before the ordinance was passed last week, people who were excluded
from New Columbia could easily migrate to McCoy Park, a nearly four acre
park in the center o f the housing development. It meant that someone
could be banned from New Columbia, which is operated by the Housing
Authority o f Portland, for peddling drugs, attempting to establish a gang
presence, or generally decreasing the livability o f the area, and then simply
take a few steps to McCoy Park, which is operated by Portland Parks and
Recreation, and be in the clear.
"In other words, they have been able to use McCoy Park as a sanctuary
or safe haven and remain in the middle o f the community that they’ve just
been excluded from," said Mark Warrington, public safety manager for the
parks bureau, at the City Council hearing for the ordinance
Mike Schmerber, a north Portland police officer, told City Council that
there are several individuals who have been excluded from New Columbia
for weapons violations, robberies, and gang ties, who have been able to
find sanctuary in the park.
Exclusions have been useful for police, said Schmerber, because they
can arrest people banned from New Columbia for trespassing, instead o f
continued y ^ on page 8
9
Mayor Goes After Illegal Guns
Gang violence prompts action
In response to nine shootings
in which three people were shot
and injured over a three day pe­
riod last week, Portland Mayor
Sam Adams has proposed a set o f
ordinances intended to keep ille­
gal firearms out o f the hands o f
offenders and off the street.
Police suspect the shootings
in north, northeast, and south­
east Portland were gang related.
Eight o f them occurred in the
course o f 24 hours.
Adams said he began preparing
the initiatives shortly after taking
over the Portland Police Bureau last
spring. They would impose a cur­
few for juveniles w ho’ve violated
gun laws in the past, create the new
crimes for failing keep firearms from
children and failing to report the
loss or theft of a firearm, increase the
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
penalties for the possession o f a
Police
said
a
man
was
shot
in
the
face
around
1 a.m. on Friday in the vicinity of North Interstate
loaded firearm in public, and ex-
continued
y^
on page 7
Avenue and Skidmore Street. It was the ninth suspected gang shooting over a wide geographical
area of north, northeast and southeast Portland over a three day period.