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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2016)
JANUARY 6, 2016 Portland and Seattle Volume XXXVIII No. 14 News .............................. 3,8-10 A & E .....................................6-7 Opinion ...................................2 Rwanda President ........10 Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11 CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW Officer who shot Aaron Campbell to return to duty By Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News M ayor Charlie Hales isn’t happy about having to re-hire fired Portland Police Bureau officer Ron Frashour. Community ac- tivists aren’t either, and they’re asking the bureau to place Frashour in a desk job where his contact with the public will be minimal. According to a ruling released last week by the Oregon Court of Appeals, Frashour must return to duty. In a statement released shortly after the ruling, Hales’ office put out a press release expressing disappointment in See FRASHOUR on page 3 ‘Where to Invade Next’ Kam reviews new movie from ‘the proven master at questioning authority’ page 7 Oregon Tribe Says ‘Protesters Are Not Welcome Here’ page 8 JUSTICE FOR TAMIR Benjamin, 7, and his mother, the Rev. Amy Roon, were among the group of about 85 people who showed up at Westlake Park Jan. 3 to protest the decision by a grand jury not to indict the police officer who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in November 2014. Wapato as a Homeless Shelter? Petition to convert never- used jail to shelter has more than 1,700 names By Arashi Young Of The Skanner News A mid this week’s freezing weather, a debate heated up about using Wapato Jail as a homeless shelter. On Thanksgiving day of last year, homeless advo- cate Jeff Woodward sub- mitted a Change.org peti- tion to open the never-used Wapato facility. Nearly six weeks later, the petition has been signed by more than 1,700 people, and has sparked discussion among county officials, business leaders and non-profit or- ganizations. Woodward’s vision for the Wapato facility is to address both the tempo- PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED City Must Re-Hire Frashour 25 CENTS rary need to shelter the homeless, and to foster treatment of root causes of homelessness — such as mental illness, substance addiction and community disconnection. “The idea behind Wapato is that people aren’t going to leave until they are set up for success,” he said. In 1996, voters approved a bond measure to finance the construction of the jail and simultaneously passed a tax-limiting measure that cut off the funds need- ed to operate the facility. Multnomah County owns the 189,670-square-foot, 525-bed jail that has never housed a single inmate. The facility cost more than $58 million dollars to build and requires $300,000 a year to main- tain since it was completed in 2004. Since then it has found some use as a film- ing location for TV shows like “Grimm,” “Leverage” and “Portlandia,” as well as commercials and docu- mentaries. Multnomah County has also been trying to sell the property. In June of 2014, the county collected sev- en proposals to repurpose the facility. The proposals included a community gar- den with a rehabilitation facility, a film production house and a private prison for high-profile criminals. Woodward would like to see Wapato emulate other correctional facilities that have turned into shelters, such as Grace Marketplace in Gainesville, Fla. and Fort Lyons in Colorado. Critics say the plan will isolate and warehouse vul- nerable people away from the city center and neces- sary services. Other critics say Wapato is being touted as a silver bullet solution that pushes the homeless out of public view and keeps camps out of neigh- borhoods. In November, Mult- nomah County released its official assessment of the use of Wapato as a home- less shelter. The letter from County Chair Debo- rah Kafoury, addressed to See WAPATO on page 3 Kalimah Abioto’s Film Explores Black Beauty Series of ‘video portraits’ attempts to capture diversity of Black beauty By Donovan M. Smith Of The Skanner News P ortlander Kalimah Abioto de- scribes herself as a filmmaker, writer, and transmedia artist. Her latest work is a series of video portraits lasting no longer than 30 seconds, dedicated to explor- ing the bounds of Black beauty. The Skanner spoke with Abioto to discuss the origins of her latest proj- ect, which she started working on this summer in New York. This interview has been edited for space and clarity. The Skanner News: What is the Ace Book? Kalimah Abioto: The Ace Book is a series of video portraits of people. It’s just been a way for me to connect with people and share ideas about life, about beauty, about fashion, the way people express themselves vi- sually. Film is my background and film is a big part of how I express my- self and that being a way to express what’s unconscious, as opposed to Kalimah Abioto what’s always consciously felt. And it’s a way of documenting what may See PORTRAITS on page 3
