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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 2012)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM N OVEMBER 14, 2012 P ORTLAND , O REGON V OLUME XXXV, N O . 6 25 CENTS For The Skanner news alerts Text "NEWS" to 503-715-0890 or scan this QR code C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW Summer Gang Program VETERANS DAY Some youth and parents are unhappy with police presence By Helen Silvis Of The Skanner News See GANGS on page 3 INDEX News ..............2,3,9,10 Opinion ..................4,5 A & E ......................6,7 Food.....................8,10 Bids/Classifieds ........11 Books.......................12 PHOTO BY HELEN SILVIS P ortland Police Bureau held a press conference Friday Nov. 9, to show- case the results of Operation Safe Summer, intended to reduce youth gang vio- lence. Earlier this year gang-related shootings were far higher than in 2011, with a total of 59 shootings recorded by June 8, compared to 40 the previous year. In years past, violence has tended to spike during the summer months. “Going into the summer with that spike, I was really worried,” said Mayor Sam Adams. “Folks really stepped up, and I want you to know I really appreciate that.” Adams and Police Chief Mike Reese re- deployed 17 officers, including two detectives and two supervisors, to violence prevention efforts over the summer. The city also added Park rangers, and after a shoot- ing at Peninsula Park, decided to install security cameras in Portland’s community centers. Now, those officers have returned to their regular duties with domestic vio- lence, drugs and vice teams, but the park rangers will continue working through the winter and into the spring. The efforts worked to reduce the spike, said Clay Neal, the mayor’s public safety liaison. “Over the course of the summer it pretty much flatlined.” This year between June 21 and Oct. 10, the gang enforcement team reported 37 shootings, up from 35 in 2011. The gang enforcement team recorded 128 arrests, and a total of 29 guns seized. Police made 6,100 contacts with gang-affected youth with only two complaints from the public. ‘That’s an amazing amount of positive interactions,” Neal said. The gang enforcement team and gang out- reach workers, have been a constant presence at high school football games, especially Jefferson and Roosevelt games. The police officers, one of them also a foot- Portland Mayor-Elect Charlie Hales took the stage during the Veterans’ Day celebration Monday in the Hollywood neighborhood in Northeast Portland. Hales quoted from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Hundreds attended the annual parade despite the rainy weather, honoring Oregon war casualty Marine Corporal Keaton Coffey, of Boring, Ore., who died May 24, 2012, in Afghanistan. Last Black-Owned Bar Closes The closing of LV’s Twelve-22 rekindles tensions over gentrification By Bruce Poinsette Of The Skanner News Farewell Party “P apa Was a Rolling Stone” plays in the background as the crowd at LV’s Twelve-22 con- tinues to fill in. Before breaking into the song, Norman Sylvester gives the crowd a quick history lesson. “How many people remember Jones Tasty Donuts?” he asks. “Mr. Jones would have big old vat of grease. He’d drop them donuts in while we’d watch. Glazed donuts. We’d buy about a dozen. Before we’d walked the block, half a dozen was gone. All of us had to walk back and get more.” Sylvester goes on to ask the crowd about The Cotton Club, Wonder Bread Bakery and Scot- ty’s Barbecue, eliciting more cheers. Not long before this per- formance, it was still uncertain whether LV’s, the last Black- owned bar in the Boise neighborhood, would become part of this lore. When Sylvester signed on to do the show, it was supposed to be a community unity event to promote the Black history of the Boise-Eliot neighborhood and bring the various demographics of the community together. However, Sylvester found out it would be a farewell party only a couple of days before talking to this reporter. The bar was facing the prospect of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) not renewing its liquor license in response to a series of com- plaints. After deciding he no longer had the money to fight the OLCC, LV’s owner La Von Van chose to close the bar. The closing of LV’s has rekin- dled tensions over gentri fication. Despite efforts to clean up its image after drug and gang issues, some believe the bar was never given a fair chance to run as a successful business. Others say it’s a mat- ter of Van not being a responsible business person and being proactive. See LICENSE on page 3 Dental Clinic Opens in Old Town ‘Safety net’ facility offers low-cost services for downtown residents By Helen Silvis Of The Skanner News M ultnomah County opened its sixth dental health safety net clinic today, at Central City Concern on Northwest Broadway. The clinic will serve homeless and very low-income people at Central City Concern’s new building. The state-of-the art clinic has the latest dental imaging, electronic dental records all in a beautiful third-floor office space with views of downtown Portland. “I’m so excited,” said dental assistant Liz Hughes. “I just can’t wait to see the look on patients’ faces when I bring them back here.” The clinic will serve people in need who live in the downtown area. Central City Concern has won numerous awards for its work since 1992. The Billi Odegaard Clinic is named after the former director of Multnomah County Health Department, who retired in 1999 after almost 30 years. “She improved virtually everything about health in this county,” said Jeff Cogen, Multnomah county chair. See DENTAL on page 12
