‘More than
Pink’
‘City
of
Roses’
Plans made for
a new Komen
walk this fall
Honor Roll for Black Graduates
See Metro, page 7
Educators honor high achieving students
See Special Coverage, pages 8 and 9
Volume XLVIII • Number 20
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • June 5, 2019
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
M ark W ashington /
t he p ortland o bserver
State Sen. Jackie Winters
photo by
photo by d anny p eterson /t he p ortland o bserver
Mary Batson (left) and her sister, Virgie Ruiz, became concerned about a transformer-mounted pole installed in front of their
house to accommodate new luxury apartments in their gentrifying neighborhood. Now Portland Bureau of Transportation
says the pole was improperly placed and may ask Pacific Power to move it.
Homeowner Fights Back:
When power pole
for development
placed at her house
by d anny p eterson
t he p ortland o bserver
The unintended consequence of the
construction of new luxury housing in
inner northeast Portland left one African
American homeowner and longtime resi-
dent with a transformer-mounted pole di-
rectly in front of her house, without any
prior notice.
Now Portland Bureau of Transpor-
tation (PBOT) said the installation was
done improperly and may make the power
company move it.
“We looked into this and as it turns out
the pole, where it’s been installed, does
not match the location that we permitted.
We’re currently investigating our options
which could include asking or making
Pacific Power to move the pole,” PBOT
Communications Director John Brady
told the Portland Observer Monday.
The power company previously stated
they were in the right-of-way to place the
pole where it was and that it would cost
homeowner Mary Batson an out-of-pock-
et expense to move it, according to docu-
ments obtained by the Portland Observer,
but seemed to change their stance in reac-
tion to PBOT’s statement.
“Often in situations like this, poles are
not in their final positions until the con-
struction work is done. We will work with
PBOT to decide the appropriate and ap-
proved final location of the pole,” stated
Pacific Power Media Spokesman Tom
Gauntt via email to the Portland Observer
Capitol Funeral
for
Senator Winters
Civil rights
champion had deep
community roots
Tuesday.
“I’m just happy to hear that,” Bat-
son, 66, told the Portland Observer. “I
have never seen a pole like that in front
of someone’s house, and all the damage
that they caused to put it there so deep.
And I just had a feeling it wasn’t right.”
Back in February, Batson said she
was notified from Pacific Power that
there would be a scheduled power out-
age on a day when she was at work, but
with no mention of a pole installation.
When the outage was over, a pole with
a mounted three-barrel transformer bank
had been installed a few steps in front
of her house on Northeast Ivy Street
which was not only in line of sight from
her home but broke a water main to her
house, she said.
d anny p eterson
t he p ortland o bserver
Jackie Winters, the trail blazing Ore-
gon state senator who survived the Van-
port Flood during childhood, grew up to
become a small business owner in both
Portland and Salem, and the only Afri-
can-American Republican to be elected to
the Legislature, died Wednesday, May 29
at the age of 82.
The Oregon State Capitol in Salem will
honor Winters with a memorial service on
Thursday, June 13 at 1 p.m. in the Senate
chambers followed by a reception open to
the public.
Winters served as a lawmaker from Sa-
lem since 1999, first in the House of Rep-
resentatives, then in the Senate starting in
C ontinued on p age 6
C ontinued on p age 5
by