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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 12, 2015)
News Protest New Mural on Alberta continued from page 1 tertain you. We are the people.” “If I weren’t with the mayor’s office, I would be with you. This is an important issue,” Haynes told protesters, in response to a question from a protester about why Portland city officials would not join the demonstration, as officials had in Seattle. The protester was referring to Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, who has vocally support- ed the Black Lives Matter movement and was arrested ear- lier this year during a protest to raise the minimum wage. “If our first amendment rights don’t exist in the court- room, if they don’t exist in the street, where do they ex- ist?” Ware asked the crowd, referring to the circumstances of Chavez’s and Raiford’s arrests and also the events in the courtroom that morning. Ware said he was kept out of the courtroom not just be- cause of the size of the crowd, but because he had been ar- rested previously after aiding a victim following a shooting earlier this year. “An arrest is not a conviction. I am inno- cent until proven guilty.” Two patrol cars showed up during the early part of the protest, then set up traffic cones to block off the street and left. Before leaving, an officer told demonstrators, “You are being recorded.” One responded, “You’re being recorded, too.” Asked to clarify his comments to demonstrators, Haynes told The Skanner, “My job is to listen. The message of Black Lives Matter is an important message.” Haynes said Mayor Charlie Hales was out of town, but PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER ‘If our first amendment rights don’t exist in the courtroom, if they don’t exist in the street, where do they exist?’ A new mural on the Black United Fund building on Alberta was unveiled Saturday. Artists EatCho and Jeremy Nichols collaborated on the mural, which is a tribute to African American women in history and features likenesses of Coretta Scott King, Ruby Bridges, Ruby Dee, Maya Angelou, Angela Davis and a young, yet-unknown girl reflecting on those who came before her. he would relay information back to him. The city’s priori- ties in the event of a protest, he added, were public safety, respecting demonstrators’ first amendment rights and also honoring the rule of law. “At some point we’ll have to re- open the street.” Conservative radio host Lars Larson also clashed with pro- testers early in the afternoon when he came to the demon- stration site and asked for interviews, but was refused. Raiford and Chavez were arrested Sunday as part of a planned demonstration in memory of Michael Brown’s death. Following their arrest, demonstrators moved to the Moda Center downtown where Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders was campaigning in front of a reported 28,000 people. Black Lives Matter demonstrators had gone onstage during Sanders’ Seattle protest, drawing boos from the crowd while they spoke and asked for silence for Brown. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Safeway continued from page 1 According to that report, neighborhoods anchored by grocery stores are economical- ly stronger, due to increased foot traffic and more jobs. The presence of grocery stores also has a positive effect on home values in their surrounding neighborhoods. McGinnis said the store’s employees were informed verbally of the closure July 15 by their district manager and that human re- sources is working to find them new work. McGinnis also added that it is not typical for Safeway to put out a formal announce- ment when a store closes. “Safeway has been evaluating the store base for some time now and reviewed sev- eral strategies to best position this store for future success, all things considered,” Mc- Ginnis said. “We will continue to work hard and invest in our remaining stores here. We are excited to still be able to serve the com- munity at our nearby locations.” Fuhrer said the area’s food access problem is compounded by a lack of transportation access. The area’s closest bus line, Tri-Met’s “Then after 5 o’clock or on the weekends, it’s very difficult to get to a grocery store, especially if you’ve got a couple of kids in tow and it’s in the rain. You miss the bus by a couple of seconds you’re stuck. And if Neighborhoods anchored by grocery stores are economically stronger, due to increased foot traffic and more jobs 87 line, only runs until 5 p.m. during the work week. On weekends, the line doesn’t run at all. “For folks who are dependent on transit, not being as robust as it should be, we have buses that run once an hour, banker’s hours, Monday through Friday,” Fuhrer said. you’re loaded down with an arm full of gro- ceries, that’s even worse.” The Albertsons situated a half mile from the current Safeway is the most expensive grocery store in Gresham, according to a survey done by Portland State University students last year. Kevin Spellman, who represented the Bond Accountability Committee for PPS, said the resolution was too abrupt and would cause confusion, disruption and distraction. tion of community support attached to the STEM work space. The shipbuilder and complex fabrication outfit Vigor Industrial, public makerspace ADX and the nonprofit “So we have Albertsons effectively vic- timizing people in poverty in Rockwood to help boost their bottom line, and the lack of competition allows them to do it,” Fuhrer said. In the Rockwood neighborhood, Gresh- am Redevelopment Commission is work- ing with the community to turn the site of a former Fred Meyer at nearby 187th Avenue and Stark Street into a mixed-use economic stronghold for local businesses. “[Safeway’s closure] it makes what we’re trying to do on the former Fred Meyer site in terms of bringing a food market place to that site, that much more important,” Fuhrer said. A realty website valued the property at an estimated 1541 NE 181st Avenue just over $1.8 million. Roosevelt continued from page 1 combining electronics with traditional con- struction and fabrication elements. Critics say the currently designated space is too small and breaks up STEM education into two even-smaller areas, making the entire makerspace ineffective. (For more background, read The Skanner News’ two- part series at http://theskanner.com.) Technology educator Donna Cohen, who spearheaded the Roosevelt STEM advocacy effort, told the school board at last Wednes- day’s meeting that the alternative design is a huge opportunity. “It’s not often that we get second chances, and PPS has a second chance to do STEM right at Roosevelt,” Cohen said. Cohen went on to say this was a chance to make a STEM space worthy of recogni- tion in the city and throughout the region. She also said it required taking a different approach and reaching out to technology ed- ucation design experts. ‘It’s not often that we get second chances, and PPS has a second chance to do STEM right at Roosevelt’ Spellman also indicated that the advocacy group was imposing its will on a design he believes had been vetted through design groups and open houses. “If this resolution is before the board for a reason that has been debated for the past two years, we don’t support it,” Spellman said,. He added that the committee would consider resolutions based off new, pressing information. A compelling factor may be the addi- organization Impact Northwest have all ex- pressed interest in partnering with this Roo- sevelt STEM initiative. PPS school board vice chair Amy Kohn- stamm said the opportunities from these and other partnerships make it worth passing the resolution. “To my understanding, there were no very meaningful attempts to form concrete part- nerships with industry players who have a vested interest in supporting makerspace and STEM CTE education in our commu- nity,” Kohnstamm said. “These partnerships may well include financial investment.” After discussing concerns about commu- nity engagement for the new alternate de- sign, the school board unanimously passed the resolution. The resolution will provide a full evalua- tion of the shop building assessing architec- tural, engineering, electrical and mechanical needs. The analysis will tell the School Im- provement Bond Committee how the build- ing could be renovated with a $2 million dollar budget. The cost of the analysis will come out of bond program reserve funds. Board Chairman Tom Koehler said the resolution was worth passing because the benefits could be enormous. “The opportunities to partner with a vari- ety of organizations are huge; the opportuni- ties for our kids are huge,” he said. August 12, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 3
