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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 12, 2015)
www . theskanner . com a ugust 12, 2015 P ortland and s eattle V olume XXXVII, n o . 45 For The Skanner website scan this QR code cents Pacific NW The Skanner News presents our new regional edition, featuring more news and local information. C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow Activists Arrested at Protest 25 BLACK LIVES MATTER After arraignment, protesters took to the streets again Donovan M. Smith and Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News See PROTEST on page 3 INDEX PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED M ore than 40 people took to the streets of downtown Portland Tuesday morning following the arraignment of activists Teressa Raiford and Diane Chavez, both of whom were arrested Sunday afternoon during a protest on the an- niversary of the death of Missouri teenager Michael Brown. Raiford and Chavez, who formed the anti- violence group Don’t Shoot PDX last year, were arrested on charges of interfering with a police officer and disorderly conduct. Both Raiford and Chavez were arrested around 3 p.m. and released later Sunday night on bail. According to police reports, they “elected to be arrested opposed to removing them- selves from the street.” Raiford told me- dia and supporters on the courthouse steps that she and Chavez would have a second court date Aug. 27. Most of the activists and media who showed up for the arraignment waited in the hall outside the courtroom for the news rather than hearing it in person. According to Chavez, the judge presiding over the arraignment told them there were already too many people in the court room before the activists’ arraignment began. After posing for group photos with sup- porters, Raiford and fellow activist Loren Ware, also known as Glenn Waco, led a march from the Justice Center to City Hall. There they lay in the street in front of City Hall for four and a half minutes – one min- ute for every hour Brown’s body layn in the streets of Ferguson, Mo., unattended. They also chanted the names of Black citizens who had been killed by police or died in po- lice custody. Dana Haynes, the spokesperson for May- or Charlie Hales’ office, observed the protest from the sidewalk in front of City Hall. Rai- ford confronted him directly, saying, “We’re not here to amuse you. We’re not here to en- Black Lives Matter activists Marissa Johnson and Mara Jacqueline Willaford took over the stage during a speech by Bernie Sanders in Seattle Saturday. Safeway Closes in East County Gresham official says closure worsens Rockwood’s food desert By Donovan M. Smith Of The Skanner News T he Safeway at NE 181st and Halsey is permanent- ly closing Aug. 28 in the wake of a merger with Albert- sons. Officials say the closure will make food access in the area much more difficult. Jill McGinnis, a Safeway spokesperson, said the store is closing in part due to underper- formance. But Josh Fuhrer, the executive director of Gresham’s Redevel- opment Commission, said sales for stores in the parcel where the Safeway’s storefront is located have increased since the open- ing of a Department of Motor Vehicles location there this year. Fuhrer told The Skanner the closure is “terrible” for area res- idents, who already have limited access to groceries. Twenty-five percent of resi- dents in the Rockwood neigh- borhood live at or below the poverty line, and Gresham has seen an increase in Black and Latino residents in recent years. “We have 30,000 people in Rockwood, who’ve lost four grocery stores over the last 20 years. And the access to food is poor already and getting worse,” Fuhrer said. According to Fuhrer, Safeway signed a five-year lease earlier this year with California-based developer Retail Opportuni- ty Investments Corporation (ROIC). He said he has been told they will continue to pay rent for the space rather than lease it to another grocer. John Wynton, ROIC’s point of contact in Oregon, declined to comment when contacted by The Skanner. Fuhrer said he was unaware Safeway planned to close the store until reporters from the Gresham Outlook contacted him for comments earlier this month. In May 2014, the City of Gresham commissioned a re- port to analyze food access as part of its Healthy Eating Active Learning project, which started in 2012. See SAFEWAY on page 3 PPS Considers New Design at Roosevelt News ...................1,3,12 Resolution considers turning shop into a STEM ‘makerspace’ Opinion .......................2 By Arashi Young Of The Skanner News Calendars ................4,5 A & E ........................6-8 Bids/Classifieds ..........11 C ritics of the Roosevelt High School remodel won a sizable victory in their campaign to enhance STEM educa- tion at the North Portland School. Last week the Portland Public School Board passed a resolution authorizing the study of an alternate design for the remodel. Resolution 5131 will assess the feasibility of turning an existing 1970s shop building into a modern technology education “mak- erspace.” This large space is slated for dem- olition in the current master plan. This is the latest development in two-year conflict between local STEM (science, tech- nology, engineering and math) advocates and PPS officials. At the center of the debate is the career technical education space with- in the Roosevelt remodel. Technical education spaces, also known as “makerspaces” or “hackerspaces,” are creative, do-it-yourself spaces where peo- ple use electronics, 3D printers, tools and hardware supplies to build, invent and learn. These spaces are often multi-disciplinary, See ROOSEVELT on page 3
