Stay Cool in
Portland
‘City
of
Roses’
Hired by District
Park fountains
open for
water play
Former school
board candidate
to lead community
engagement
See Metro, page 6
See Local News, page 3
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • August 7, 2019
Volume XLVIII • Number 29
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
Retiring public servant Antoinette Edwards (center) is honored on her retirement by Mayor Ted Wheeler and the other members of the Portland City Council for her work in
community advocacy and directing Portland’s Office of Youth Violence Prevention.
Salute
to a
Antoinette Edwards retires
from office helping youth
Antoinette Edwards, a retiring public servant and ad-
vocate from the African American community who has
directed the Portland’s Office of Youth Violence Preven-
Fierce Advocate
tion since 2011, had her last day on the job declared as
an official day in her honor last week by the Mayor and
Commissioners.
Edwards, 66, is known for creating the Community
Peace Collaborative, a public forum which facilitates
biweekly meetings where difficult conversations take
place between community members and police. The
topics range from officer-involved shootings and abuse
to reconciliation and ideas for reducing violence among
youth and take place at the North Portland Community
Policing Center at Northeast Emerson Street and Martin
Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
C ontinueD on p age 5
31 Dead, 2 US Shootings, 1 Tie to Hate
ap p hoto /J ohn M inChillo
Mourners gather at a vigil following a
nearby mass shooting this past Sunday,
in Dayton, Ohio. It was the second mass
shooting in the U.S. in less than 24
hours, with the first taking place in El,
Paso, Texas, Saturday that authorities
said appears to be a racially motivated
hate crime.
Read more about the mass shootings
that occurred this weekend on Page 4.