WWW . THESKANNEr . COm
J uly 13, 2011
P OrTlANd , O rEGON
V OlumE XXXIII, N O . 37
25
CENTS
I NSIDE
To be Equal
page 4
Harry Potter
page 7
Black Apprentice
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
Black
Families
Struggle
page 10
Summer DayS
Black Economic
Gains Reversed in
Great Recession
BAlTImoRE (AP) — Growing up black
in the segregated 1960s, Deborah Goldring
slept two to a bed, got evicted from apart-
ment after apartment, and watched her step-
father climb utility poles to turn their dis-
connected lights back on. Yet Goldring
pulled herself out of poverty and earned a
middle-class life — until the Great
Recession.
First, Goldring’s husband fell ill, and they
drained savings to pay for nursing homes
before he died. Then Goldring lost her exec-
utive assistant job in the Baltimore hospital
where she had worked for 17 years. The cru-
elest blow was a letter from the bank,
intending to foreclose on her home of
almost three decades.
Millions of Americans endured similar
financial calamities in the recession. But for
Goldring and many others in the black com-
munity, where unemployment has risen
since the end of the recession, job loss has
knocked them out of the middle class and
back into poverty. Some even see a historic
reversal of hard-won economic gains that
took black people decades to achieve.
Goldring remembers her mother taping
the window shades to the wall so no one
could see them stealing electricity. She
remembers each time she sat on the curb
with her three brothers, surrounded by her
family’s belongings, waiting for a new place
to live. Sitting on those curbs, she promised
to always pay her bills on time.
Now, after finding herself poor again, “the
only word I can say is devastated,” says
Goldring, 58.
“For me to live that life we were so com-
fortable in, we never had to worry about
finances, we always had money where I can
help my kids and my grandchildren — to go
to calling my daughter to borrow $100
because I can’t pay a bill …” Goldring’s
voice trails off as she struggles to hold back
The Calvert family enjoyed the summer sunshine at Peninsula Park, Wednesday. Pictured are: Jordan Calvert pushing
his grandmother Kimberly Calvert (left) and mom Tasha Calvert on the swings, while his sister Naomi plays.
After Crimes Seeznin’s Closes
They labeled my bar a gang bar not understanding it’s not that at all
By Helen Silvis
of The Skanner News
S
am Thompson dreamed of
running a bar that could
bring people together to
enjoy themselves and also be a
positive force in Portland. Last
December, when he opened
Seeznin’s Bar and Grill on 82nd
Avenue, his hopes were high.
But just months down the road
that dream is shattered. Now
Thompson says he has been
forced to close Seeznin’s for
good.
See RcESSSIoN on page 3
INDEX
News ......................2,3
Opinion ..................4,5
Interview...............6,10
A & E .........................7
Food..........................8
Bids/Classifieds ..........9
PHoTo BY JulIE kEEfE
By Jesse Washington
AP National Writer
Unlike most rapid restaurant
closures, money isn’t the main
reason. What’s at issue is how
Portland deals with gangs and
violence. And how Portland
Police
Department
view
Thompson’s bar and his pre-
dominantly , but far from exclu-
sively, young Black customers.
“I called the bar Seeznin’s
because that’s my name,” said
Thompson. “So every time you
say something bad about it
that’s hurting me.”
Portland Police Chief Mike
Reese made his views clear in a
letter he wrote June 28th, asking
the Oregon Liquor Commission
to
immediately
suspend
Seeznin’s liquor license. In his
letter, Reese cites the fatal
shooting June 26 of Leonard
Irving, on 82nd Avenue oppo-
site the bar. He also character-
izes the bar as a hangout for
“Crip” gang members and con-
nects it to the April 10 shooting
death of 19-year-old Mario
Marin, at nearby NE 86th St.
and Sacramento.
“Based on the history of seri-
ous and persistent problems and
the authority granted under
ORS 183.430 (2), I am request-
ing an emergency suspension,”
Reese says in the letter. “I
believe the recent events of doc-
umented gang activity and two
murders associated with the
establishment in the last ninety
days, gives you grounds to enact
such order.”
Thompson says Chief Reese is
unfair in his conclusions.
“They have labeled my bar as
a gang bar, not understanding
that it’s not that at all,” he main-
See SEEzNIN’S on page 3
Killingsworth Station Offers Green Homes
First-time homebuyers can get help with down payments, taxes
T
he new Killingsworth Station devel-
opment at North Killingsworth and
Interstate Avenue offers energy effi-
cient homes with down payment assistance
for first-time low-income homebuyers.
First-time homebuyers don’t expect to
find a home with a green roof, a solar-pow-
ered water heater and energy efficient appli-
ances already installed. But that’s precisely
what’s on offer in Portland at the new
Killingsworth Station development at North
Killingsworth and Interstate Avenue.
Even better, the homes include financing
help for first-time low-income buyers.
“If a buyer makes less than $45,600 and
they are a first-time buyer or haven’t bought
a home in the last three years, a Portland
Development Commission- sponsored pro-
gram will loan the buyer $25,000, which
essentially means you have no down pay-
ment,” said Ben Andrews, of Willamette
Realty Group, who is managing the sales.
The zero-interest loans are also forgiv-
able: 25 percent is forgiven if you stay in the
home for 10 years, and the entire loan is for-
given after 15 years. In addition, Andrews
said, property taxes on the homes are abated
for 10 years, so they will be fixed at $350 a
See HomES on page 3