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
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www.p
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Wedne
Wednesday • Januaiy 30. 2013
See Metro, page 9
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
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~ 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