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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2013)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM J ANUARY 16, 2013 P ORTLAND , O REGON 25 CENTS INSIDE: Martin Luther King, Jr. Special Edition C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW TriMet Light Rail Jobs V OLUME XXXV, N O . 15 STUDENT PROTEST Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News T riMet has found itself on the third rail of Portland politics lately, lost in the media buzz over its labor union nego- tiations and now an outcry over driver safety linked to staffing problems. Less remarked upon has been the success of their Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program in generating jobs through light rail construction. Helmed since 2011 by TriMet Director of Diversity and Transit Equity Johnell Bell, the agency reports that nearly 4,500 jobs have been created so far through the 7.3- mile project extending from downtown Portland to Clackamas County. By the time it opens in 2015, TriMet says they’re on track to create 14,500 jobs in total. And for the first time, the agency says, one-third of the contracts have been award- ed to firms owned by people of color and women. TriMet says nearly 24 percent of the con- struction jobs so far have gone to people of color and about 16 percent to apprentices; the project is only 30 percent complete and agency officials say $76 million in DBE contracts have been generated to date “With this influx of new labor, the DBE program is not only providing jobs now, but creating the workforce of the future,” said spokeswoman Mary Fetsch. These 102 Disadvantaged Business Enter- prise (DBE) firms have reached a new record of contracting for any regional proj- ect. “A core tenet of TriMet’s Transit Equity effort is creating opportunities in low- income and communities of color. These jobs are making a real difference in our community, and are helping to reduce tran- sit inequities through economic empowerment,” Bell says. “DBE firms are growing and expanding into new areas because we’re providing the opportunity to PHOTO TAKEN BY MASON TRINCA. COURTESY OF THE EMERALD MEDIA GROUP. Agency posts record for minority, women- owned DBE firms The Native American student body staged a march through campus Jan. 7 to protest the recent UO diversity office changes. Latest Diversity Office Shakeup Some students worry they’re losing resources to address their concerns Bruce Poinsette Of The Skanner News A recent decision to dis- continue the contracts of three popular admin- istrators and restructure the University of Oregon’s diver- sity office has angered many students and community mem- bers. “As a minority on campus it’s getting really old playing this game of blindside the minority service,” says Tyree Harris, a UO student and for- mer editor of the school’s cam- pus newspaper, The Daily Emerald. He and other students are concerned that the new, broad- er approach will take away resources to address the needs specific to their ethnic back- grounds. During the campus’s winter break, an article appeared in the Register-Guard, reporting that student and local commu- nity organizations were blasting the decision to discon- tinue the contracts of Carla Gary, Emilio Hernandez and Tom Ball in the Office of Equi- ty and Inclusion (OEI). The three administrators have been pillars in UO’s Black, Latino and Native American communities, respectively. In addition to discontinuing these contracts, the OEI also announced that it would be restructuring its approach to diversity with a new “distrib- uted model”. The President’s Office deferred all questions to Alex- Assensoh, the Vice President of the OEI, when asked for comment on this story. According to an email inter- view with Yvette Alex- Assensoh, “We move from having one person responsible for representing the multiple interest of a diverse group in one unit of the university to an organization that is accessible to under-served populations in multiple ways.” She wrote that she is not See SHAKEUP on page 6 See TRIMET on page 3 INDEX News ...........2,3,8,9,12 Opinion ..................4,5 A & E ......................6,7 Bids/Classifieds ...10,11 Red Cross Urges Donations to Save Lives Thanks in part to many donors SEI’s Miki Hunnicutt still works with kids Daphne Mathew of the American Red Cross Pacific Northwest Blood Services Region M iki Hunnicutt is sold on the mission of Self Enhancement, Inc. (SEI) and she will enthusiasti- cally tell anyone who will listen about the successes of her stu- dents. What she rarely talks about, however, is how close SEI came to losing her to a catastrophic health problem. But thanks in part to many, many blood donors at the Red Cross, Hunnicutt’s life was saved through a series of blood transfusions during and after intense treatment to remove several cancerous tumors. The American Red Cross hosts their annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blood Drive Monday, Jan. 21, at their Port- land Donor Center, located at 3131 N. Vancouver Ave. The drive ruins from 1:30 to 8 p.m. Appointments are encour- aged, please call 1-800 RED CROSS or visit online at www.redcrossblood.org. Hunnicutt serves the vital role of Social and Life Skills Manag- er at SEI, and is an incredible source of support, bringing life See BLOOD on page 3
