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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2013)
Local News Asbestos Easter Family porters in Washington County have come together to keep the Westside club open. They are looking for long-term funding solutions for the youth center. Boys and Girls Clubs of Portland Metro- politan Area stepped in to take over the East Portland youth center. But Erin Hubert the CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs said she was never informed that the floor tiles contain asbestos. “This is the first time I’m hearing this, that there is asbestos in the floor,” Hubert said. “All my concern has been about the roof. We knew there is asbestos in the roof and there are tiles falling down and leaks. So my first question was is it safe?” Hubert says she has been in talks with the City of Gresham, who own the building and was told that the building was safe enough to keep open the program. But she says she also was informed that the building had passed an OSHA inspection. In fact, OSHA looked at the building on Jan 10 and March 6, 2013 and found that damaged tiles on the staff and girls’ rest- room floors present a risk of exposure. The vinyl floor tiles contain 2-3 percent asbestos. Now she knows, Hubert says she will be on the case. “”We’re going to get it fixed as soon as possible,” she says. Hubert has been working with the City of Gresham, which owns the building, to assess all the possible safety issues in the building and fix them. She says the building was closed for two days for cleaning and repair. And she also initiated two additional inspections: a fire safety inspection and a cleanliness inspection so that staff could feel safe serving food. Hubert says her first plan was to build a new center at the site before demolishing the existing one. But the site isn’t large enough to do that, she says. So now, Boys and Girls clubs are looking for a temporary site to house the youth programs, while the new center is built. “My original thought was not to operate out of the building because of concerns about the children’s safety, but the question was where we could take them,” Hubert said. “The worst case scenario is that we’d have to shut down and then they would have no place to go, which would be a disaster.” Hubert, says the Boys and Girls Club plans to build a new center as soon as funds are available. The Police Activities League board was always aware that the floor tiles contained asbestos, in addition to the ceilings, said Tyece Okamura, a former board member. Okamura says she was asked to resign from the board last fall after raising numerous concerns about the finances and running of the organization. Without funds to replace the entire floor, the board decided to cover the tiles with car- pet, Okamura said. But the restroom floors were not covered. Okamura said the deteriorating relation- ship between executive director Patricia PHOTO BY HELEN SILVIS continued from page 1 Families across Portland celebrated Easter Sunday with bright clothes and sunshine. Members of the St. Gabriel Eritrean Orthodox Church on Northeast 80th Avenue enjoyed the beautiful weather and festive atmosphere of the holiday. Day TenEyck and then-center director Jay Williams had kept her away from the build- ing last year. Williams was outspoken about his building safety concerns, and about the unmet needs of the teens who used the cen- ter. Okamura says board members and man- agement resisted attempts to bring the prob- lems into the open and deal with them. Asked for an interview, former board chair Colene Domenech refused, saying current board chair Mark McGinnis could respond to all questions. “People who tried to step up and say, ‘things are not what they should be,’ either got totally shut down or, like me, they decided, ‘Hey, I just don’t need this grief,” Okamura says. purses. You don’t need to be African or Indian to like these purses.” The family prides itself on providing its customers with products that they can’t find easily anywhere else in Oregon. According to Gallardo, they import 90 percent of their products. Most of their clothing and hand- made jewelry is made in Africa in places like Cameroon, Senegal and Mali, to name a few countries. Some clothing even comes from Dubai. Also, they get handbags from places as far as Italy and China. The store puts an emphasis on natural cos- metic products. Gallardo points out that not just are these products better for people’s skin because they don’t contain toxins and/or chemicals, but they are also more cost friendly than non-natural products you might find at other stores. She says you can look no further than her children to see the long-term effects of choosing to use natu- ral products. “We didn’t have enough money to go to the store and buy all the expensive products but just having the natural products like coconut oil at home or maybe Shea butter, mango oil, avocado oil, all of that mixing together and putting it into the skin, they have very good skin,” says Gallardo. “It’s also very less expensive. If you buy eight ounces of coconut oil, you can use that for about six months, which doesn’t cost very much. If you buy five dollar Shea but- ter, that is going to last for a very long time, 6-8 months, and there are no side effects. Anyone can use that.” Gallardo is quick to point out that her store has benefited from people going out of their way to support the business. This has come in many forms, including people tak- ing business cards and distributing them throughout their communities and others simply stopping by to lend words of encour- agement. She says one man’s willingness to come in regularly and share his wisdom inspired her to call a customer and thank the person for supporting her business. For more information on Fashion & Natu- ral Beauty, call 503-281-6264 or visit their website. for Oregon college students – if Liu’s case establishes the jurisdictional argument and proceeds to a judgment of the merits of Portland State’s disciplinary process. If Liu wins, then every university student who has been expelled or suspended with- out a “contested hearing” for the prior two years – the statute of limitations — might get the right to file suit against their college for denying them due process, and for dam- ages. Currently Liu, a former businessman of Chinese heritage who grew up in the Mid- west, says his personal and professional life have been destroyed — banned from Port- land State before he was able to complete his studies, the incident cost him his law school admission and financial aid, and shamed his family as well. Liu had worked successfully as a City of Portland intern who mediated a community dispute case in North Portland and was looking forward to attending law school at Willamette University, where he had already won financial aid. Then in April of last year, an unnamed fel- low student of Liu’s in the Conflict Resolu- tion department told a professor that Liu had threatened to harm another professor with a gun. Rather than contacting Liu himself, Port- land State authorities called the Portland police, who descended on Liu’s apartment with campus security in tow. There the police began evacuating Liu’s building as they confronted him in the hall- way outside his apartment, asking him if he was armed; according to the police report, Liu responded “no.” However within minutes, according to the police report on the incident, Liu had invit- ed the officers into his apartment and showed them his four firearms, which he had purchased legally and which were secured, unloaded, with ammunition stored separately. Liu was arrested and involuntarily com- mitted to the Oregon Health and Science University psychiatric ward for a mental evaluation despite his willingness to under- go the tests on his own volition. Business continued from page 1 understood the support you bring to people and the love that they can see when they look into your eyes was more important than anything you could give them. Being over here and doing what we do here, it’s serving the community differently and we can see all the things people are doing back to us.” The relationships that Gallardo built through social work were a determining fac- tor in why her family chose the location for their business. She wanted to make things as accessible for her customers as possible and says that it was an optimal location for connecting with people from the African dias- pora. Ultimately, she says it was the best decision she could’ve made. Although the business specializes in African products, Gallardo says she’s gotten support from all kinds of people represent- ing a wide spectrum of races and ethnicities. Her daughter, Sophie, who serves as the store’s sales manager, says this is what sep- arates their business from others. “I think that most striking and important thing about this shop is the diversity,” she says. “Different people can come here and find something that they want no matter where they come from. “A lot of people here are interested in African clothes. You have people from India. You have White people. For example, The store puts an emphasis on natural cosmetic products Liu continued from page 1 that it does have jurisdiction to hear the case. A request for reconsideration by the university was denied in January. “The procedures adopted by the respon- dent (PSU) do not address judicial review at all,” said the appeals court in denying PSU’s motion to dismiss. Now, Portland State is expected to seek review of that decision before the Oregon Supreme Court, arguing that the court has no jurisdiction over its disciplinary process and that the university alone has the right to decide what process is required. Officials from the university did not respond to requests for comment about the appeals by press time. It may prove to be a watershed moment April 3, 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 3
