Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 5, 2014)
News ‘We’re Still Here’ Hood continued from page 1 So the idea was, let’s create a hip-hop project looking at 50 or 100 years from now, something people can look back on and say this is what was going on in Seattle My director said, let’s not just shoot the building, let’s shoot people in front of the building. The idea is, when you change these buildings you don’t just change the buildings – you change the people who frequent the buildings, and thus you end up changing a community. So the video was shot and I had this idea, rather just doing a normal video, let’s create something where we can look at gentrification through the eyes of artists. Music, that’s one form of art. You have painters, you have photographers, and then you have spoken word. We pitched it to the EMP, Jonathan over at the EMP fell in love with the idea, and I think the rest was history. PHOTO BY HELEN SILVIS Seattle Center fell love with it. As that happened, we created a video for it. And in the music video, my idea was I wanted to capture my commu- nity as it’s changing, as it’s transitioning. There’s a restaurant in there called the Silver Fork. We actually sat in front of the Silver Fork the day they were closing, and it was amazing to see this place that was once frequented by African Americans but now it’s going to be gone because I think Safeway is going to be building a gas station or some- thing. Event promoter Joyce Olivo Boss put out a last minute call for a flash mob to dance at the corner of N. Killingsworth and N. Albina on Feb. 28, the last day of Black History Month. Their message underlined Portland’s discussion about gentrification. “We’re still here,” a dancer told The Skanner News. “We’ve been bought out, sold out and pushed out — but we’re still here.” TSN: As you’re looking at what’s going on around you, what do you think it is about it that really resonated with people? Because what we see is that even the people who are doing the gentrification are interested in the gentrifica- tion. Draze: I don’t know if there’s ever been a topic that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime that is so multilayered. All ages, all races are now becoming engaged in it. I think it’s because were in the middle of change, we’re seeing so much change right around us. We want answers. Some people are afraid See HOOD on page 8 Hip Hop continued from page 1 procedures in this area, which was announced today by the Independent Police Review.” The Oregonian reported that the Fire Mar- shall called Portland Police to the scene, and that law enforcement “blocked street access to the club and limited access to the event.” Illmaculate, as well as Luck-One and the third artist on the bill that night, Mikey Vegaz, have all recorded musical tributes to Portland and often feature lingering, beauti- ful shots of the city in their music videos. But Luck-One recently moved to New York City, in part because local government agencies have stifled the hip hop communi- ty to the point where he can’t make a living, he said in a recent interview with the Willamette Week. It was a remarkable statement from an artist whose music video, “Sounds of My City,” features expansive views of Portland and stands as a kind of bittersweet love let- satire,” he said. “I love Portland and that’s always going to be home but the repression against black culture is really disgusting at this point,” ‘I love Portland and that's always going to be home but the repression against black culture is really disgusting at this point’ ter to the town. “I personally am not interested in trying to make any more of a name in a city so racist the police are sent out to every rap show to terrorize concertgoers in an attempt to re- create the city in the image of a cable TV Luck-One told the Willamette Week. Despite some press reports to the con- trary, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission said Monday that there were no OLCC officials at the Blue Monk and that the agency had nothing vary in Washington - by as much as 500 per- cent from one provider to another. So says the Washington Health Alliance, which has operated a claims database containing infor- base, as well. At Thursday’s hearing, the fiercest com- ments came from Patrick Connor of the National Federation of Independent Busi- to do with the incident. Currently, The Skanner News can only identify two Black-owned bars, taverns or nightclubs – as distinct from restaurants or cafes that serve alcohol – in the Portland area: Clyde’s on Northeast Sandy Boule- vard and Olive or Twist, a martini bar in the Pearl District. (Know of others anywhere in the state of Oregon? Email their names to lisa@theskanner.com) A third, the Fontainbleau nightclub, was shut down by the OLCC and the Portland Police last year after a fatal shooting outside the club. Other bars and taverns with recent shoot- ings, including fatalities, on their premises have not been closed. A spokesperson for the OLCC says the agency does not track licenses by race. Health continued from page 1 woman Randi Becker, R-Eatonville, stripped the bill’s most controversial section and passed it on to the Ways and Means Committee for further action. She did so without explanation. A lobbyist for Premera stepped to the microphone and thanked her, but said little about the reasons for his grat- itude. The controversy involves the original bill’s provision to create an “all payer claims database.’’ Loaded with statewide health insurance claims, the database would allow people to compare what health care actually costs and how well it turns out - procedure by procedure, hospital by hospi- tal. It would answer questions like these: What would a knee replacement or child- birth cost, and who does it best? So far, 14 states have created such data- bases, and the systems are operational in at least 10. Rep. Eileen Cody, D-West Seattle and the bill’s sponsor, said, “My goal is to make sure people can see who are the lowest-cost and highest-quality providers.’’ Medical costs for common procedures ‘When you blind people to the actual prices, what you are doing is the opposite of a healthy marketplace’ mation only from insurers who submitted information voluntarily. HB 2572 would have made it mandatory for insurers to sub- mit their data. Big businesses such as Boeing and Alaska Airlines support creation of the database because they hope it would help them iden- tify a path to cost-effective care for their employees. Boeing, for example, rattled Seattle-area hospitals when its health plan began offering to fly cardiac patients to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which has been praised for the cost and quality of its care. Small businesses support a claims data- ness. NFIB fought the Affordable Care Act, Connor noted, and often aligns with Repub- licans. But on this issue, he told Becker, “It is very, very frustrating. Each time we come forward asking for more transparency, more access to information, the concerns of the health insurance carriers about not wanting to participate seem to trump those of the consumers who desperately need more good information to help control health care costs.’’ His organization checked with insurance carriers in states that operate claims data- bases, and the carriers “have no complaints,’’ Connor said. Referring to objections Premera has raised in its closed-door lobbying with leg- islators, Connor said: “Not one of these Chicken Little complaints about price set- ting, price fixing, about privacy, have come to pass.’’ Contacted by The Spokesman-Review, Premera spokesman Eric Earling explained the company’s point of view: “We support transparency. We’d like to see more of it.’’ But, he said, price information is not “actionable’’ for a particular consumer unless it is presented together with informa- tion about the consumer’s own coverage details such as deductibles and co-pays. In addition, it would be “complicated, potentially expensive and time consuming’’ to create a claims database and comply with its data submission requirements, he said. Meanwhile, he said, his company is busy trying to comply with existing requirements of the federal Affordable Care Act. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com March 5, 2014 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 3
