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Page 4
TheWeek
Review
Pitcher Not Guilty
In a late night decision M onday, the V ancouver C ity
C ouncil abandoned plans to keep residents from setting
o ff aerial firew orks. By a 6-1 vote, council m em bers
cam e out against the ban, w hich w ould have aligned
w ith law s in O regon. M ore than 30 people lined up to
give testim ony M onday night.
A ju ry acquitted M ajor L eague
B aseb all p itc h in g g reat R o g er
C lem en s on M onday o f all six
crim in al counts against him in a
trial on ch arg es that he lied to
C o n g ress w hen he denied using
p e rfo rm a n c e -e n h a n c in g d ru g s.
C lem ens' law yer said "justice w on
out" in the clo sely w atched trial.
‘It Gets Better'
New U0 President
Fireworks Ban Rejected
T he Portland Police Bureau on Friday debuted their
new film ‘It G ets B etter’ at the Q C en ter located on
M ississippi A venue, w hen officers led by exam ple in
the 10 m inute video to show support and inspire
L B G T Q youth w ith their ow n experiences.
Michael Gottfredson, the executive
vice-chancellor and provost at the
University of California, Irvine, was
named the new president of the
University of Oregon on Friday. The
state Board of Higher Education
lune 20. 2012
unanimously voted to give him the job. Gottfredson suc
ceeds interim President Robert Berdahl, who was appointed
after the termination of Richard Lariviere.
Teen Flash Rob
«
A m ob o f about 30 to 4 0 teens targeted a T routdale
A lb e rtso n ’s S aturday night, w hen they stole go o d s and
trashed the g ro cery store, located at25691 S.E. Stark
St. Inv estig ato rs said the teens w ere about 13 to 16-
y ears-old.
Black Commissioners Fired
G ov. Jo h n K itzh ab er d ism issed tw o long-tim e m em
bers o f the O reg o n C o m m issio n on B lack A ffairs late
T h u rsd ay . In a tw o -sen ten ce letter, K itzh ab er told
C liffo rd W alk er and W illie W o o lfo lk they w ere term i
nated effectiv e im m ediately. T he tw o v o lu n teer c o m
m issio n s said th ey w ere g iv en no reaso n for the
dism issals.
Embracing
Community
Edwin a Wasson (from left),
Isaac Wasson, Barbara
O ’Hare and Francesca
Blom-Cooper present a
handmade quilt honoring
the Jefferson High School
Class o f 2012 on the last
day o f the north Portland
school’s 11th annual
community-wide
Multicultural Film Festival.
photo bv M ark
W ashington /
T he P ortland O bserver
Safety Issues on Williams
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 3
The left hand travel lane will be shared by both bikers and
cars alike from Fargo to Skidmore.
“So this includes a left side buffered bike lane and changes
in the number of automobile lanes,” said Anderson. “Some
times it is two lanes, and sometimes it is one lane.”
Many residents remained concerned over the safety of
the current design.
According to resident Tam Alem, co-owner of Williams
Street Market, which rests on the comer of Fremont, the new
design is okay, as long as the bikers will be safe, although he
thinks the street is fine the way it is.
Alem said, however, he believes the city should wait until
all development in the area is completely occupied. “The
street is changing really quickly,” he said.
New Seasons Market announced plans in January to open
a new location in the Eliot Neighborhood on a vacant lot
located at North Cook and Fremont. The locally-owned
grocer said the store will have 30,000 square feet of space and
sit adjacent to North Williams by 2013.
Resident and bicyclist Anne Lauerman who lives nearby
E v e ry Tuesday
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said she is concerned about the way the city plans to switch
around the lanes.
“I know there are a lot of residents who use this street, but
my thought is more bikes lanes, or a widened bike lane taking
away from a lane of traffic, is going to create more car traffic
issues,” she said.
Lauerman, who was riding her bike during a recent evening
o f rush hour traffic, said she is worried about the bikers
getting hurt because the plan pushes bikers to turn into
traffic. She also was concerned about future developments
adding to the street’s congestion.
Others, however, said the design change to the neighbor
hood is positive.
Elliot Neighborhood resident Shepard Griffin dropped his
bike off at the Abraham Fixes, a local bike maintenance shop
located around the comer on Fremont. “It is important there
are enough lanes,” he said. “There are a lot of bicycles in the
city, so it makes sense for this to happen.”
Long time resident Lee Bradley agreed. “I think it is a
beautiful thing they are going to reconstruct this neighbor
hood,” he said. “I believe it is going to make the neighbor
hood better.”
M ichael Brendle, who lives a block west of W illiams,
said as a neighbor, even with the new design he rem ains
concerned about safety. “They are trying to bring a
freeway and off ramp, four lanes o f traffic going two ways,
hundreds o f bicyclists and five to ten businesses in the
same block,” he said. “I am not saying I d o n ’t want it, but
I would hate to be the person trying to figure out how to
do it.”
Still, Anderson said, the current bike lanes are stressful
and feel unsafe for both bus drivers and cyclists.
Although no final decisions have yet to be made, Ander
son said they hope to get some work done before the end of
the year.
The committee recommendations are expected to be fine-
tuned come the summer months.