News
‘We’re Still Here’
Hood
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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
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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
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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