June 8, 2016 The Skanner Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
p o r tl a n d o re g o n . g ov/
parks/61921. To see a
list of summer camps,
register and apply for i-
nancial aid visit https://
w w w.portlandoregon.
gov/parks/61821.
PP&R is ofering the
Summer Free For All
schedule in nine difer-
ent languages this year:
Arabic, Burmese, En-
Through the Summer Play-
grounds & Lunch program,
PP&R expects to serve more
than 111,000 free, healthy
lunches to children in parks
across the city
glish, simpliied Chinese,
Nepalese, Russian, Span-
ish, Somalian and Viet-
namese.
Summer Free For All
programming consists
of a broad portfolio of
culturally diverse music,
movies, and recreation
programs. Through the
Summer Playgrounds &
Lunch program, PP&R
expects to serve more
than 111,000 free, healthy
lunches to children in
parks across the city. (To
ind a meal site in your
area, visit http://www.
s u m m e r f o o d o re g o n .
org/.) 57% of young Port-
landers qualify for free
or reduced-price lunch
during the school year.
Portland Parks & Recre-
ation supports families
by ofering nutritious
meals and recreation-
al activities during the
summer recess. The
Summer Playgrounds &
Lunch program is accom-
panied by sports, games,
crats and family activ-
ities, including PP&R’s
mobile rock climbing
wall.
Multnomah County
Summer Reading
Multnomah
County
Library’s 2016 Summer
Names
ilies. Efective June 15,
2016, the library will no
longer charge late ines
for youth materials or
for cardholders younger
than 18. The library will
forgive existing youth
late ines. Replacement
fees remain in place for
all unreturned materi-
als.
The library’s Sum-
mer Reading program
entices kids to read for
pleasure when school is
not in session, maintain-
ing the skills developed
during the school year
and encouraging lifelong
library use. Last year,
approximately 110,000
babies, kids and teens
participated.
This year, over 85,000
students have already
signed
up
through
school. The library part-
ners with seven Mult-
nomah County school
districts:
Centennial,
Corbett, David Douglas,
Gresham-Barlow, Park-
rose, Portland Public
and Reynolds. Working
with schools enables the
library to reach students
across the county.
Read the rest of this story at
TheSkanner.com
Seattle Tenants’ Rights
Sahro Farah listens to people speak after the Seattle City Council voted unanimously June 6 to pass an ordinance requiring that rental
properties meet basic maintenance standards before rents can be increased. Farah, a mother of ive, also testiied during the council
meeting, talking about her experience experiences with a landlord doubling her rent on a bug-infested apartment. She helped start the
movement to get the City Council to address the issue of protecting tenants from unscrupulous rental property owners.
Lead
cont’d from pg 1
Parents, teachers and educa-
tion advocates have been upset
and worried since the discovery
of lead in the drinking water at
Rose City Park and Creston Ele-
mentary Schools. The delay an-
nouncing the test results and rev-
elation that PPS had been using
the wrong kind of ilter in schools
has inlamed a irestorm between
parents and PPS oicials.
Chief Operating Oicer Tony
Magliano and senior environ-
mental manager Andy Fridley
have been placed on paid admin-
istrative leave, and the school dis-
trict hired the law irm Stoll Berne
to conduct an investigation.
The irm will review the PPS
systems and protocols relating to
water testing and reporting.
PPS will undertake dis-
trict-wide lead testing over the
summer and will work to repair
ixtures using certiied ilters
that meet EPA standards for re-
ducing lead.
Lead can enter drinking water
when lead pipes or pipe ixtures
corrode. According to the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency,
most common lead problems oc-
cur from brass or chrome pipes
that have been welded with lead
solder.
“
8-year-old son, Samir, who at-
tends Boise-Eliot Elementary, to
the lead testing clinic. She was
worried about his lead exposure
and frustrated at the lack of com-
munication from school district.
These are old buildings, and are they up
to par? There are so many issues other
than just the quality of education
Older homes built before 1968
are more likely to have lead pipes,
ixtures and solder. Only two of
PPS school buildings were built
in the last 30 years. More than
half of them were built before
1940.
Low levels of lead exposure in
children can lead to behavior and
learning problems, lower IQs, hy-
peractivity, slowed growth and
anemia. The EPA says there is
no minimum safe level for lead
in the water because such small
amounts can afect human health.
Bri Williams brought her
“I feel that the situation at hand
should have been handled better
as far as informing us of what was
going on,” Williams said. “The
tests were in March, we were just
inding out in May. That is over a
month and a half of not knowing.”
Jae Douglas, M.D., the Environ-
mental Health Director at Mult-
nomah County Health Depart-
ment, says they will be able to test
about 250 children and pregnant
women that evening.
Read the rest of this story at
TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
“Jim Crow Hill, no one even knew that
existed. Somebody put it on a map.”
All three landmarks are now on pri-
vately owned land, and there are no
signs in the area.
The term “Jim Crow” refers to a sys-
tem of state and local laws enforcing
racial segregation in the United States,
passed in the late 19th century and up-
held throughout the irst half of the
20th century.
While the term “Jim Crow law” ap-
peared in print as early as the 1890s, it’s
derived from a minstrel character cre-
ated in the 1830s.
Historians have recorded a few difer-
ent theories about how the landmarks
got their name. One is that they refer to
Jim Saules, an African American sailor
and business owner who lived in the
area in the irst part of the 19th century.
Another story — one Budnick said his
father relayed to him as a child – is that
there was a Native American chief in
the area named Jim Crow. A third story
says birds tended to congregate in the
area.
Budnick said the names were prob-
ably assigned well before “Jim Crow”
became synonymous with racial dis-
“
change geographic names.
“The committee’s concern is local,
common use,” Maki said.
The committee is also considering
changing the name of a bay on Shaw Is-
Nobody knows where the name came from,
but it’s ofensive and should be changed, so I
did my best to look up historical facts
crimination.
“I’d bet my life on that. It wasn’t racist,
it had nothing to do with keeping Afri-
can Americans out of Brookield,” he
said. But that doesn’t matter, he added.
“Nobody knows where the name came
from, but it’s ofensive and should be
changed, so I did my best to look up his-
torical facts,” Budnick said.
Maki also said the origins of place
names — and likely intent of those who
made the maps – isn’t the most import-
ant consideration when deciding to
land from Squaw Bay to either Sq’eme-
nen Bay or Reef Neet Bay, given the his-
tory of the term “squaw” being used as
a derogatory slur for Native American
women. Those proposals will then go
to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names
for approval.
Last year the U.S. board approved
changes that included the removal of
the word “coon” from a lake and creek
in Washington and the removal of the
word “squaw” from three places in Or-
egon.
PHOTO BY JOE BUDNICK
“
Reading Program begins
Friday, June 17, when
kids of all ages can sign
up at any neighborhood
library. For more in-
formation, visit https://
mul t c ol i b . o r g /s u m -
mer-reading.
This year’s program
gets underway with a
big change for young
readers and their fam-
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Summer
Jim Crow Point, on the Columbia in western
Washington, may soon be renamed Brookield
Point, after a cannery town that lourished in the
area until the 1930s.
