The skanner., February 06, 2013, Page 3, Image 3

Local News
Parks
continued from page 1
school districts that are struggling. What we
said was long term we have to develop a
number of those parks and fulfill a promise
we made to the families of East Portland.
We used mostly our existing workforce –
and we did it on a shoestring. The Council
appropriated $500,000 in 2011 and we
pledged to match that with other funds. And
we ended up spending a total of $800,000
some of our buildings seismically stronger,
do some important work in Forest Park,
upgrade some of our existing facilities and
build out new parks in East Portland.
And so as part of a bond addressing East
Portland equity, I actually don’t think equi-
ty is the right word. I think the right word is
justice. When you have 40 percent of your
families with children in one geographic
part of the city and they are under-
served by Parks, I think justice
requires that we invest in the kinds of
parks and amenities that the rest of
the city enjoys.
And so as part of a bond
addressing East Portland
equity, I actually don’t think
equity is the right word. I
think the right word is
justice
which was $200,000 short of our original
estimate.
We made our report to council and what
we said was that this is a building block. We
have honored our commitment to do these
small scale improvements. Now we have to
move forward with the next bond measure
and allocate funds for the bond measure to
actually build out parks that East Portland
families deserve.
TSN: Did you say “new bond measure?”
CF: Historically roughly every 10 years
the city has gone out to replenish a bond.
Our last bond ends next year so it’s already
embedded in your rates. Gearing up to go to
the voters this November to ask for a renew-
al of the bond — that’s my plan. Obviously
there are a few steps I need to go through.
Mayor Hales is fully supportive of our aspi-
ration and if we’re successful in renewing
the bond we’ll have money to improve
some of our children’s play areas, make
TSN: We’re learning that Mayor
Hales actually supports a lot of stuff
but he’s still going to turn around and
cut funding for them. How are you
going to argue to voters and your fel-
low commissioners to justify the sig-
nificance of the investment?
CF: The budget cycle is going to be
tough. But the E205 funding from Council
came even while we were feeling the eco-
nomic downturn City-wide and is a testa-
ment to City leaders’ priorities and
commitment to equal justice.
I don’t believe we’ll resolve our problems
through cuts alone, any more than I think
Congress is going to go to sequestration.
Across the board cuts are irresponsible.
We’re going to have to look at a variety of
approaches. One is better coordination with
the county. Two is shared sacrifice with our
labor partners. Three is new revenues. Four
is targeted cuts. Five is bridge financing for
some of the things we care about.
Last year we won the gold medal for the
best park system in America — 150 years in
the making and we achieved the gold medal
because Portlanders have invested in build-
ing this great system over a 150 year period.
Going forward I am not going to allow
Commissioner Nick Fish, center, has pledged to continue investing in East
Portland parks no matter what cuts the current bad budget climate seem
to require. “And that means continuing investment, expanding services to
underserved parts of our community, and leveraging public resources as
effectively as we did on E 205,” he says.
this to become a bronze medal system. And don’t expand the Ranger program at the
that means continuing investment, expand- expense of the security program the PBA
ing services to underserved parts of our ran downtown.
And I said our Rangers are problem
community, and leveraging public resources
solvers, they’re our eyes and ears in the
as effectively as we did on E 205.
parks, they perform a different mission. I
TSN: Can you comment on Park Rangers think we can actually have safer parks if we
Sam Sachs and Asa Arden, who helped the do it our way, and I think it’s been born out.
And Sam is a shining example of why the
police catch a rapist in Washington Park
Ranger program is succeeding. I get emails
who was convicted this week?
CF: I’m a big fan of Sam and Asa, and I all the time from people saying they now
think the Rangers have made a difference. have a relationship with their local ranger,
You remember how much flack I took for and that they’re helping to solve problems,
that. I was targeted in the editorial pages, And that was what we hoped for.
targeted by the Portland Business Alliance.
Everyone was jumping on our backs saying
Pot Law
continued from page 1
on the conflict between state and federal
marijuana laws and has urged an end to fed-
eral ``mandatory minimum'' sentences that
lead to long prison stints for drug crimes.
``We're seeing enormous political
momentum to undo the drug war failings of
the past 40 years,'' said Bill Piper, director
of national affairs for the Drug Policy
Alliance, who has been working with law-
makers on marijuana-related bills. ``For the
first time, the wind is behind our back.''
The Justice Department hasn't said how it
plans to respond to the votes in Washington
and Colorado. It could sue to block the
states from issuing licenses to marijuana
growers, processors and retail stores, on the
grounds that doing so would conflict with
federal drug law.
Blumenauer and Polis are due to release a
paper this week urging Congress to make a
number of changes, including altering tax
codes to let marijuana dispensaries deduct
business expenses on federal taxes, and
making it easier for marijuana-related busi-
nesses to get bank accounts. Many operate
on a cash basis because federally insured
banks won't work with them, they noted.
Blumenauer said he expects to introduce
the tax-code legislation as well as a bill that
would reschedule marijuana under the Con-
trolled Substances Act, allowing states to
enact medical marijuana laws without fear
that federal authorities will continue raiding
dispensaries or prosecuting providers. It
makes no sense that marijuana is a Schedule
I drug, in the same category as heroin and a
more restrictive category than cocaine, Blu-
menauer said.
The measures have little chance of pass-
ing, said Kevin Sabet, a former White
House drug policy adviser. Sabet recently
joined former Rhode Island Rep. Patrick
Kennedy and former President George W.
Bush speechwriter David Frum in forming a
group called Project SAM -- for ``smart
approaches to marijuana'' -- to counter the
growing legalization movement. Sabet
noted that previous federal legalization
measures have always failed.
``These are really extreme solutions to the
marijuana problem we have in this country,''
Sabet said. ``The marijuana problem we
have is a problem of addiction among kids,
and stigma of people who have a criminal
record for marijuana crimes.
``There are a lot more people in Congress
who think that marijuana should be illegal
but treated as a public health problem, than
think it should be legal.''
Project SAM suggests people shouldn't
get criminal records for small-time marijua-
na offenses, but instead could face proba-
tion or treatment.
She insists that Black subjects can be used
to express more than just the idea of Black-
ness, as evidenced by two of her series,
“Family Pictures” and “The Kitchen.”
When we see white actors and actresses in
popular media, we automatically assume
they represent more than whiteness, she
says. By making her subjects more three
dimensional, she aims to challenge power
dynamics.
“I want my subjects to stand in for more
than themselves -- shifting the balances of
power, engaging the audiences in a new
way, asking them to think about not just the
work but themselves in a new way,” says
Weems. “To the extent that you can get peo-
ple to move beyond their own narrow con-
fines and to a new dimension, is to the
extent that work can be powerful and to that
(extent) it can change your life.”
Power is a recurring theme in Weems’
work. She likes to unpack it, both in terms
of individual relationships and on a larger
societal level.
For example, in her series “From Here I
Saw What Happened and I Cried,” Weems
looks at power in photography. Specifically,
she looks at the three intertwining stories of
the history of photography, how Blacks
have been depicted historically and the his-
tory of Blacks in America, in general.
One particular photo of an elderly Black
man reads, “Descending the throne you
became footsoldier & cook.” Another photo
of a Black woman reads, “You became
mammie, mother & then, yes, confidant –
ha.”
Weems says the questions of who holds
the power is especially profound in that
series.
As she reflects on both her work and her
days protesting, Weems notes that she is on
a journey to understand the possibilities of
life and this historical moment. In particu-
lar, she is interested in how this generation
of youth engages with social justice, noting
that her generation’s radicalism was
sparked by the turbulent events of the 60s.
“What made us possible were all the
assassinations that took place,” she says.
“The assassination of Kennedy. The assassi-
nation of Martin. The assassination of Mal-
colm. That’s what made you and I sitting at
this table right now possible.”
Weems
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she was around 15 or 16 years old.
Weems says her interest in social justice
came from her relationship with her father.
“Early on my father influenced how I
looked at race, class and gender because my
father was so eloquent and so hip,” she says.
“He gave us a great sense of the importance
of our own humanity and the insistence that
we had a right to be who we were and that
there’s no one better than you. That sense of
coming from a family like that, with a father
that taught me from the earliest age I can
remember, had a profound impact on how I
thought about life.”
Although her work is internationally rec-
ognized for exploring subjects like race,
gender and class, Weems doesn’t want her
art to be reduced to “race relations.”
February 6. 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 3