News
Protest
New Mural on Alberta
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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
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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
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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