March 9, 2011
Fortiani» (Observer
Not on the Same Page
continued
from fron t
we will provide paper bags."
However, Chung believes that
"Paper or plastic?" says Helen his customers might be the ones
Lee to a young man purchasing burdened by a plastic bag ban.
groceries inside Cullen's Comer
"A lot of people walk or ride bikes
Market and Deli on North Alberta here, so it will be inconvenient for
Street.
those customers, especially in Or­
"It doesn't matter," the customer egon where it rains a lot, I don't see
says, and Lee smiles gently as she how paper bags are going to work,"
packs his few items into a small, he said.
brown paper bag.
Despite thoughts of paper bags
As a longtim e store co-ow ner m eltin g m idw ay th ro u g h a
with her husband, Lee says she customer’s rainy commute, Chung
has used brown paper bags for sees the banning of plastic bags as
quite some time now. "We use a good thing, environmentally.
more paper bags, because plastic
"We all have to contribute some­
bags are...not good for the envi­ how for the next generation. What­
ronm ent,” Lee said. "I think that ever we have now might not be there
before, we used more plastic bags, in 2200," said Chung, “and what
b u t th e n e ig h b o rh o o d has they’re doing now is better for our
changed, and now more people environment.”
use paper," she says, though she
Other local convenient stores
still gives custom ers the choice. shared contrasting opinions.
Lee and her husband's market
The manager of the KC Food
may be one of the few convenient M arket on North Killingsworth
stores in north and northeast Port­ Street, Matthew Yi, outright dis­
land that offer paper carryout bags agreed with the 5-cent charge for
as first resort, but the small retailers paper bags and claimed that there
like nearly everyone else also pro­ was nothing wrong with using plas­
vides plastic, especially to those tic.
customers who have to walk in the
Yi said, "We cannot charge 5
rain.
cents to customers because they
Chris Chung, owner of Alberta might not be happy about it."
Street Market, says that he does not Though Yi thinks the charge might
think the proposed ban will harm his displease clientele, he realizes that it
business financially.
would be optional, saying, "its bet­
"It won't affect me much,” Chung ter if they bring their own re-usable
said. “We might have to pay an extra bag."
dollar or two to get more paper bags,
Co-owner of Killingsworth Mar­
but people will still shop here and ket, Kyung Hee Koh, speaks on
Despondent Man
Fires on Police
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 3
scope rifle in the house, Reese said.
He was charged with aggravated
murder.
The house is a duplex in a gradu­
ally gentrifying but still industrial
area. The shooting took place
blocks from the iconic Aladdin The­
ater, and surprised Portland's Sun­
day brunch crowd.
Juan Carlos Munoz said he heard
gunshots at about 9:20 a.m. He
dressed quickly and stepped out­
side, where he saw a police officer
take at least one bullet in the park.
"He wasn't moving too much, but
he had a vest on," Munoz said.
"There was a lot of shooting, but
they pulled him out pretty quickly."
Associated Press contributed to
this story.
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similar terms.
"Everybody here uses plastic
bags 100 percent" and “using small
plastic bags saves our business,
money,” she said.
On the prospects of customers
bringing re-usable bags, Koh said,
right now, only, "One or two white
people bring their own bags, but
blacks and everybody else don't
bring their own bag."
In an increasingly gentrified
neighborhood, not everyone is go­
ing to be on the same page, if on the
page at all. One storeowner was not
even aware of the debate nor his
Page 5
potential loss of plastic bags.
"I didn't hear about it! I didn't
know," said Mohammad Musa,
manager of In and Out Food Market
on North Albina Avenue, when
asked for his opinion about the pro­
posed bill that could go into effect
as early as November if it passes in
the Legislature.
Once briefed on the issues, he
said, "I don't think it will affect people
much, especially since that will be
the only choice they have. But for
us, it will cost more definitely, be­
cause paper bags are more expen­
sive than plastic."
T h o u g h som e sto reo w n ers
refuse to shrug off some of the down­
sides that would make the bill pass­
ing a rough transition, there was
some agreement that paper bags
cost more than plastic; paper bags
stand no chance against Oregon
weather for those traveling by foot
or bike; the 5-cent charge will irritate
unacknowledged customers; and
not everybody will remember to
bring re-usable bags, if they even
own one.
But many embraced the potential
burdens as an inevitable favor to
the environment.
As one customer said, as Going
S treet M arket O w ner C harles
Bedford packed her few items into a
notorious black plastic sack, “It ain’t
passed yet. But I guess I have to
buy one of those (reusable) bags.”
Bedford agrees. He will wait to
see if the bill passes or not before he
draws a conclusion on the banning
of plastic bags for his store.
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