www . ThESkANNER . COM
A uGuST 17, 2011
P ORTlANd , O REGON
V OluME XXXIII, N O . 42
25
CENTS
I NSIDE
Eric Benét
page 8
Jobs
page 7
Calendar
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
Second
Equity
Ride 25 th
page 2
Seeking SolutionS
Bike tour of East
Portland promotes
diversity in planning,
Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
PHOtO By SuSaN FrIED
E
ast Portland, or ‘The Numbers,’ is
home to one-quarter of the city’s res-
idents. But this fast-growing area is
also poorer and has fewer resources than
other parts of the city. So what’s being done
to level the playing field for this multicul-
tural area? Find out Aug. 25 at the Second
Annual Equity Ride.
The East Portland Plan, adopted in 2009
aims to bring more resources and support to
residents living east of 82nd Avenue. Check
out some of the efforts underway at the sec-
ond annual Equity Bike Ride, gathering
from 5:30 pm, Aug. 25 in Lents Park, SE
92nd Avenue at Steele. The bike ride will set
off at 6 p.m. and travel six and a half miles
through the Lents neighborhood.
“It is open to anybody who wants to join
in and participate,” said Shelley Romero,
public policy and communications manager
for Oregon Department of Transportation,
who started the Equity Ride last year.
“We’ve doubled the number of sponsors and
we expect a lot of people to come so we
encourage people to get there early.”
Last year’s Equity Ride went through the
Montavilla Neighborhood; this year’s ride
will look at Lents, with the goal of raising
awareness and bringing diverse communi-
ties together to learn about the geographic,
racial, economic and environmental equity
efforts underway in East Portland.
Romero said she wants to bring attention
to ODOT’s multi-use path project at I-205,
as well as to the work of other agencies and
nonprofits.
“This event encourages people to net-
work, so there may be some partnerships
that come out of that,” she said. “And we
want to show that there is a way for equity
to be an integral part of development.”
The ride will stop four times to check out
new development: first, on the new I-205
path at SE Liebe; second, at Holgate Transit
SEI hosted a meeting for Boise Elliot neighbors Thursday Aug. 11. Concerned about the recent increase in criminal
activities and violence, neighbors heard from Mayor Adams, police, youth violence prevention specialists, a former
gang member, and ministers working to support youth.
Great Food, Music and Youth Network
PROPER will host the multicultural festival Saturday Aug. 27
Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
R
appers, dancers, African
drummers, jazz, soul and
Gospel music are just a
few of the reasons to visit this
year’s PROPER Festival, from
noon to 4 pm, Aug. 27, at North
Portland’s Kenton Park. In its
20th year, the festival brings
people together, to share deli-
cious food, fun, entertainment
and live, face-to-face social
networking, across social and
cultural lines.
See EquIty on page 3
INDEX
News ......................2,3
Opinion .....................4
A & E ......................6,8
Bids/Classifieds ..........7
“We offer very good, free
food and we feed about 1000
people,” said Pastor Robin
Gordon, an organizer with the
group for the last two years.
“We’re simply about creating a
fun community event that
makes the community feel a lit-
tle smaller, and a little more
united.”
The theme of this year’s festi-
val is “Uniting the Youth Today
to Create a Better Tomorrow.”
Niani Norman said organizers
chose the theme after the tragic
death of 14-year-old student
Yashanee Vaughn.
“That hit home for a lot of
people,” Norman said. A youth
advocate who has worked with
the arts nonprofit Caldera, the
program and church youth
groups, Norman said she sees a
disconnect between young peo-
ple, parents and children’s
organizations.
“We’re seeing a rise of vio-
lence among teens and to me, as
a person witnessing it- it’s get-
ting out of control. We know ‘It
Takes a Village’, and we are that
village. This theme fits perfect-
ly with our mission at PROPER,
which is to bring everyone
together, and really help people
know what’s available from the
organizations working in our
community –but also to get the
community involved so those
organizations are more effec-
tive.”
Norman said she had not
heard of the 11:45 effort that
recently signed up 400 volun-
teers to work on projects that
support youth and families. But
she hopes that 11:45 volunteers
See FEStIval on page 3
Community Center Sets Environmental
June Key Delta project offers ‘net zero’ facility for North Portland
By lisa loving
Of The Skanner News
Y
ou may not know about it, but
there’s a race on in Oregon to see
who will build the first ‘Living
Building’ – a structure that generates no
waste, uses no energy to function, and is
constructed without toxic materials, among
other things.
The race is technically not over yet but we
seem to have a winner: The June Key Delta
Community Center, which celebrated its
grand opening last week at the corner of
North Albina and Ainsworth Streets.
Once the Portland Alumnae Chapter of
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and its
nonprofit foundation the Piedmont Rose
Connection, raise enough funds to pay for
solar panels, the building will reach “net
zero” energy use status and can be certified
by the Living Building Challenge – the first
in Oregon.
Project manager Chris Poole-Jones says
the sorority wove together a tapestry of
local nonprofit groups, businesses and vol-
unteers to set a statewide standard in green
building – which just happens to have been
See DElta on page 3