Voices against Closures Neighbors rally to save local schools African Films PCC Cascade festival to kick off 23rd year See Local News, page 3 Volume XXXXI I 'City o/Roses’ Number 4 us U U f c -dl ■ www.p w w w .portlandobscrver.com Wedne Wednesday • Januaiy 30. 2013 See Metro, page 9 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity y / h m <>f ~ c o m m u m tv w r v n t Beyond Bricksand Mortar Growing a campus and a safe community C ari H achmann T he P ortland O bserver by As construction o f an under ground parking lot is underw ay at Portland C om m unity College Cascade Cam pus, an expansion provoked by the school’s ever- increasing student enrollm ent, c a m p u s P re s id e n t D r. A lg ie Gatewood is celebrating more than ju st the two new buildings that will be built atop it. The new structure’s ground breaking last December was also celebrated by a comm itm ent to safety, on campus and in the north Portland community. W hat began as a grassroots initiative to end violence in the A lbina-K illingsw orth neighbor hood, has evolved into the col laboration of m ultiple local and city organizations in what is to day recognized as one o f the best exam ples o f com m unity policing that Portland has seen in 20 years. “We haven’t done this as an in d iv id u a l in s titu tio n ,” said Gatewood, “It is something where M n r t h . . photo BY M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver a d e r s a ' l i f Laloff,left> and Portl^ d Community College Cascade Campus President Algie Gatewood are we’ve come together and worked l e leaders in a community policing effort that has improved safety in and around the Cascade campus together as a community.” A few years back, the neighbor of businesses and restaurants, resi that occur within a quarter mile, the hood surrounding the north Port 24,079 students in 2012. tions, the Multnomah County Li dential homes and visitors flowing North Albina-Killinsgworth neigh lan d cam p u s, n o ta b ly N orth That’s when President Gatewood brary, TriMet and PCC Cascade on and off campus ,and from the borhood stood out as a little red K illingsw orth Street and North realized safety on campus required Public Safety, became a collabora public library and Jefferson High square. Among other greens, yel safety in the community. . . Albina Avenue, may have seemed tion of working together to reduce School nearby. lows and oranges in the city, red at odds with Cascade’s student In 2006, the Albina Killingsworth crime. Early in his term as president of indicates one of the worst areas for environment, not to mention the Safe Neighborhood’s Commission A fter liste n in g to the PCC Cascade, Gatewood heard con violent crime. was created. residents living nearby. community ’ s expectations, the plan cerns from staff and students about As crime took its toll on the sur Public drinking, drug deals, gang Uniting under a common goal to was to build a sense of security in their safety on campus and in the ro u n d in g c o m m u n ity , PCC violence, graffiti and street robber end violence and re-establish safety the neighborhood, not only with community. Residents, business Cascade’s cam pus continued to ies had spilled into the community in the neighborhood, the commis short term treatments like increased owners, and police felt it too. grow, experiencing a 71 percent in and was disrupting the area known sion, made up o f the Portland Police police presence, but sustainable On a crime map used by police to crease in head count from 2006, and for its vibrant and bustling culture bureau, Jefferson High School, the indicate homicides and shootings breaking an all-time enrollment of continued ’W ' on page 8 city, local neighborhood associa