‘City
of
Roses’
Volume XLVI • Number 37
Awakening
Your Mind
McCoy Gets a
Lifeline
Plays worth
a journey to
Ashland
Academy finds
space and
support at PCC
See Opinionated
Judge, page 4
See Local News, page 3
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • September 13, 2017
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Sgt. Erik Hargrove works out of Portland Community College’s oldest public safety facility, a former dentist’s office that was converted to work space a few years ago
on the Cascade Campus of north Portland. The small building would be replaced as part of a proposed new property tax bond levy that would pay for needed upgrades
across the college district.
Public Safety Building Challenge
PCC bond would
increase lifespan of
campus facilities
Ensuring student success includes pro-
viding a safe and supportive learning en-
vironment, and on any given day Portland
Community College’s public safety offi-
cers are called to deal with everything from
a disruptive individual in the cafeteria to
locked keys in a car.
At Cascade Campus, the staff works out
of the college’s oldest public safety facil-
ity, a modest one-level structure on Kill-
ingsworth Street at Commercial Avenue, at
the east edge of campus. It was originally
built as a residence in 1952 and later served
for several years as a dentist’s office.
The list of problems at the aged building
is long and poses challenges for the seven
officers who work there. According to their
supervisor, Sgt. Erik Hargrove, there are
windows that don’t open, paper-wrapped
wiring and peeling paint. The heating and
cooling systems need frequent service and
there are structural issues with the roof.
The small room that serves as the men’s
locker room still has the plumbing and out-
lets for the dental practice’s nitrous oxide
and oxygen lines, and the basement is still
equipped for sterilizing dental tools. On a
recent visit, the only place to stow an offi-
cer’s bicycle was in the bathroom.
“This space was never intended to house
us,” said Hargrove. “A lot of things are
cobbled together just because they’ve had
to be, as opposed to being designed specif-
ically with public safety input into how a
space is intended to be used.”
PCC’s other campuses have pur-
pose-built public safety offices, but as Har-
grove described, the most critical problem
at Cascade is that its safety office is dif-
ficult to find and the exterior -- complete
with metal bars on the windows and front
door -- is forbidding instead of welcoming
or reassuring to the campus and commu-
nity.
“People just don’t know where we are,
and it’s tough to differentiate us from any
other structure in the neighborhood as
opposed to being part of the college,” he
said. “Our entry way is the farthest point
from the edge of campus and it’s set into
the wall, and until you’re almost past it you
don’t know what’s here.”
C ontinued on P age 6