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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 24, 2020)
June 24, 2020 The Page 3 INSIDE L O C A L N E W S Week in Review M ETRO page 2 A photo of the late Burdine Rutherford, courtesy Portland State University Special Collections and Portland Parks & Recreation. page 6 Arts & page 8 ENTERTAINMENT Introducing Rutherford Park First Portland park named for black woman O PINION C LASSIFIED /B IDS A newly redeveloped park in outer northeast Portland has been renamed to honor a late female leader from Portland’s historic Af- rican American community, and removes a previous moniker for the park that drew racist connota- Civil Rights Bill, which in 1953 outlawed discrimination in public places on the basis of “race, reli- gion, color or national origin.” The park was recently renovat- ed with a new playground, picnic shelter, paved pathways, public art and a soccer field. Renaming the park was a proj- ect kick-started by former City Commissioner Nick Fish, who di- c ontinued on p age 3 See inside pages 10 Established 1970 USPS 959 680 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or per- sonal usage without the written consent of the general man- ager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 2008 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland Observer--Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication--is a member of the National Newspaper Association--Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amal- gamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association tions. The green space and play- ground formerly known as Lynch- view Park at 167th and Market Street will be called Verdell Bur- dine Rutherford Park. It honors Rutherford, a civil rights leader and historian who lived in Oregon from 1913 to 2001. As president of the Portland chapter of the NAACP she helped pass the Public Accommodations Bill, also known as the Oregon PO QR code Mark Washington, Sr. e ditor : Michael Leighton Office Mngr/Clasfds: Lucinda Baldwin s ales d irector : Leonard Latin c reative d irector : Paul Neufeldt o ffice a sst /s ales : Shawntell Washington P ublisher : CALL 503-288-0033 • FAX 503-288-0015• news@portlandobserver.com ads@portlandobserver.com• subscription@portlandobserver.com Postmaster: Send address changes to Portland Observer, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 Police Defunding Proposals Pass Vote eliminates former gang task force, school police The Portland City Council followed through on a pledge from the Mayor and City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty by voting to cut nearly $16 mil- lion from the police budget in response to concerns about excessive use of force and racial injustice. The money will be saved by eliminating a gun reduction violence team, formerly called the gang enforcement task force; school police resource of- ficers; and the bureau’s transit division. It redirects the revenue from police to social service programs. Chloe Eudaly was the lone commissioner to vote no on the cuts made during a budget session on June 17, saying they weren’t deep enough. The police budget had stood at about $245 million before the council action. Some protesters have demanded cuts of $50 million for police, but City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty defended the smaller amount, saying the $50 million was not based on a specific analysis. Hardesty worked for years to transform the Port- land Police Bureau from the outside as an activist and was the first black woman on the City Commis- sion when she was elected in 2019. “What I know is that there are a lot of people tak- ing to the street every night who have not before this month actually understood all the work that commu- nity and government has done,” said Hardesty, who proposed smaller cuts to police in last year’s budget that failed. Thousands of protesters have filled the streets of Portland every night for three weeks following the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
