Vote! Rock! Bleed!
Portland Playhouse and
King Neighborhood host
voter drive
Mental Health Crisis
Advocates speak out
on suicide prevention
See Local News, page 3
See Arts & Entertainment, page 13
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Volume XXXXI
City oj Roses'
Number 39
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J w w w .portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • O ctober 10, 2012
1 9 Wednesda
Established in 1970
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Committed to Cultural Diversity
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W E ’R E V O T IN G
17i
YES
V O T IN G
ON THE
PHOTO BY M ARK W a SHINGTON/THE PORTLAND OBSERVER
Rallying voters to support a Portland Public Schools facilities bond in the Nov. 6 general election are local Rappers Young Mil, aka Ezekial Jones (second from right), the
winner o f the Def Jam ‘Get Schooled’ competition; his band mate Horizun, aka Patrick Lamarr (second from left); and Richard Gilliam and Mary Schütten o f the Our
Portland Our Schools campaign. The group was part o f a phone bank to campaign for the measure on Friday at Self Enhancement, Inc.
Shared
Priorities
Voters to decide
levies for schools,
libraries and art
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
Advocates for local schools, libraries and
the arts are counting on Portlanders with
shared priorities to vote yes on three tax
measures coming before voters in the Nov.
6 vote-by-mail general election. But will
Portlanders be able to put their money be­
hind their support for these public services?
Lindsey O ’Brien, com m unications d i­
rector for the O ur Portland Our Schools
school bond cam paign, said there are sev­
eral priorities local residents have for their
city, but calls the need to upgrade facili­
ties at Portland Public Schools a vital in­
vestm ent for the future.
The last times the Portland School D is­
trict passed bond m easures were in 1995
and 1948. This year, com ing on the tail of
an econom ic downturn in the econom y,
th ere’s added peril in asking for approval
of a property tax measure.
Still, O ’Brien said it’s been inspiring to
see the level o f com m itm ent for the school
bond (M easure 26-144) among residents.
“ It’s a stressful time for a lot of people,
but we really need to do this now ,” O ’ Brien
said. “G reat schools are im portant to ev ­
eryone in the city and the more people
know about it, the more enthusiastic their
support for it.”
Jessica Jarrett M iller is a supporter of
the Arts Incom e Tax (M easure 26-146)
which will fund arts education and access
to an arts curriculum for elem entary stu­
dents. M iller said her Arts Can advocacy
network has been working with schools,
the arts com m unity and businesses for the
past four years to develop this fund. She
points to the need by citing the fact that 8
o f 10 local elem entary schools d o n ’t have
art teachers.
“We know this is a very significant
priority for Portlanders,” said Miller. “We
w ouldn’t be on the ballot if we didn’t think
this is som ething Portlanders were excited
to vote yes on in N ovem ber.”
If voters say yes to the library district
tax (M easure 26-143), property owners
w ithin M ultnom ah County will pay an ex­
tra 35 cents for every $1,000 in assessed
property value over the current library
levy o f 89 cents per $1,000 for a total of
$1.24 per $1,000. The levy will cost the
average home ow ner an extra $49 per year.
Instead o f the current system o f tem po­
rary library levies that voters have to re­
new every three to five years, which has
left the library subject to huge budget
cuts, the library tax district would be a
perm anent, dedicated funding source for
M ultnomah County libraries.
Those in favor of the library district tax
argue that the library is a vital source to
schools and education and for reading
and learning. The tax will provide stable
continued
on page 2