October 9, 2019
Page 3
INSIDE L O C A L N E W S
The
Week in Review
page 2
Music Hall Honors
Recognition for two icons of black community
M ETRO
page 6
Paul Knauls and Ural Thom-
as, two icons of Portland’s black
community and longtime fix-
tures in the city’s music scene,
will be honored Saturday when
the Oregon Music Hall of Fame
holds it 2019 induction ceremo-
ny at the Aladdin Theater.
Knauls, affectionately known
as the Mayor of Northeast Port-
land, a community booster and
business owner for generations,
will receive a heritage award;
and Thomas, the R&B funkmas-
ter inducted into the Oregon Mu-
sic Hall last year, will be named
photo by M ark W ashington /t he p ortland o bserver
Community luminary Paul Knauls will be honored with a heritage
award at Saturday’s Oregon Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
R&B Funkmaster Ural Thomas
is the Oregon Music Hall of
Fame’s Artist of the Year.
cess, hosting touring jazz musi-
this year’s Artist of the Year.
Knauls moved to Portland cians and late night visits from
in 1963, purchasing “The Cot- Sammy Davis Jr., Joe Louis, the
ton Club” on North Vancouver
C ontinued on p age 10
Avenue. It was an instant suc-
Push for Changes in Police Contract
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
O PINION
Advocates
outline priorities
in open letter
page 7-8
pages 9
by b everly C orbell
t he p ortland o bserver
Several activist organizations
have weighed in early on upcom-
ing contract negotiations between
the city and the Portland Police
Association, the union represent-
ing police officers.
In a recent letter to the Portland
City Council, the signers from 20
local civic and civil rights organi-
zations say the last police contract
was unfair to the public while
claiming provisions of the current
contract “create barriers for an ef-
fective oversight system for com-
plaints and for disciplining offi-
cers for excessive use of force.”
The opposing groups include the
Portland NAACP, the League of
Women Voters and the Albina
Andrew Riley of Unite Oregon
Ministerial Alliance.
One major complaint, says one
of the signers, Andrew Riley of
the nonprofit Unite Oregon, is the
way negotiations are handled.
“We had a problem in the past
because a lot of meaningful por-
tions (of the last contract) were
negotiated in secret,” Riley said.
“We had public hearings to dis-
cuss some issues, but reached no
conclusions, but then things were
agreed on in private sessions.”
Daryl Turner, president of the
Portland Police Association, said
he had not read the letter, but that
discussions have not yet begun
on just how negotiations will be
handled this time or exactly when
they will begin. The contract ends
in June of 2020.
“We haven’t got to that point
yet and until that happens there’s
nothing I can speak about,” he
said. “Those conversations will
take place once we start negoti-
ations, maybe in mid-January or
early February, but I don’t know.
It’s still up in the air.”
Riley says the current system of
civilian oversight “does not work”
because an independent civilian
review of police activities has no
C ontinued on p age 5