December 21, 2016 The Skanner Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
come effective in Febru-
ary, require developers
to designate a certain
percentage of units in
multifamily homes at
prices affordable to rent-
ers making less than the
median family income
for the Portland metro-
politan area.
Exactly how that would
break down can vary,
“
total units must be at
30 percent MFI.
Earlier this year the
Oregon legislature re-
pealed a long-held ban
on local governments re-
quiring developers to in-
clude lower-priced units
in their projects.
According to numbers
generated by the Unit-
ed States Department
To be affordable to a fam-
ily making [median fam-
ily income] in Portland, a
three-bedroom home would
have to be priced at $1,905
(including utilities)
and the ordinance of-
fers some incentives to
offset the price of low-
er-cost units – either by
constructing new units
or dedicating a share of
units in existing develop-
ments to lower-income
households.
The ordinance would
require
20
percent
of housing units in
multi-family
housing
rent at prices affordable
to those earning no more
than 80 percent MFI, or
10 percent of units in af-
fordable to those earning
no more than 60 percent
MFI either by construct-
ing new units or dedi-
cating existing units to
households with lower
incomes.
The ordinance pri-
marily addresses new
constructions, but offers
developers the option
of setting aside existing
housing
• Newly constructed de-
velopments must re-
serve 20 percent of ex-
isting units to incomes
at or below 60 percent
of MFI;
• Existing units must
be 25 percent of total
units at 60 percent
MFI, or 15 percent of
Song
of Housing and Urban
Development and pub-
lished by the Portland
Housing Bureau, in 2016
the median family in-
come for a family of four
was $73,300; 80 percent
of MFI for a family of
four was $58,650. To be
affordable to a family
making MFI in Portland,
a three-bedroom home
would have to be priced
at $1,905 (including utili-
ties); for a family making
80 percent of MFI, rent
and utilities would need
to total $1,525.
According to the State
of Housing report re-
leased by the housing bu-
reau earlier this month,
$1,525 was the average
rent for a three-bedroom
rental unit in Portland
(excluding utilities). That
report noted there are
few areas in the Portland
metropolitan area where
a family making 80 per-
cent of MFI could afford
rent, and none where
families making 50 per-
cent or less of MFI could
afford rent. The report
also noted that the medi-
an income for renters, at
$30,000, is lower than the
median family income
for the metro area.
PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER
Housing
Snow Day
Northeast Seventh Avenue was closed to traffic for much of Dec. 16 due to inclement weather conditions. Snow and ice storms hit the
Portland metropolitan area the night of Dec. 14 and continued — punctuated by occasional thaw — through the weekend.
Moore
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King, Jr. predicted in his writings
that have become relevant in re-
cent years.
“I would go back through ser-
mons and some of his writings, his
books and some of his best known
quotations and then match the
contemporary situation to what’s
expressed in those ideas, in Dr.
King’s ideas,” Moore said. “The
idea is to remind people that Dr.
King was a prophet and put forth
his wisdom and foresight.”
For instance, he said, King
wrote about the rise of automa-
tion and the threat it imposed on
regular jobs. Moore noted the
hollowing of the middle class has
been enabled by automation, and
the advent of self-driving trucks
and cars could make it worse: 3.5
million people drive trucks for a
living, and Uber – which already
relied on a freelance drivers rath-
er than a traditional employment
contract with a guaranteed wage
-- is experimenting with a fleet of
self-driving cars.
The future could be very grim
if nothing replaces the current
economic model, which is quickly
being eroded, he said.
“Dr. King talked about having a
guaranteed annual wage. No one
has discussed that in recent mem-
ory. Jobs, as we know jobs, don’t
exist in the way they once did,” he
said.
Moore was born in Atlanta in
“
of 10 African American attorneys
in the state of Georgia. He trav-
eled with civil rights activist Ver-
non Jordan on Sundays. Along-
side attorneys Donald Hallowell
and A.T. Walden, Moore worked
to promote anti-discrimination
'Dr. King talked about having a guaran-
teed annual wage. No one has discussed
that in recent memory. Jobs, as we know
jobs, don’t exist in the way they once did'
1932, and as a young man worked
as a sportswriter for the Atlanta
Daily World. When he attended
Morehouse College, an interest in
journalism evolved into an inter-
est in politics. He earned a bach-
elor’s degree in political science
in 1954 and an LL.B degree (bach-
elor’s degree in law) from Boston
University’s School of Law in
1960.
Moore served as a clerk for
United States District Court Judge
Charles E. Wyzanski, Jr. and was
admitted to practice law in Mas-
sachusetts in 1961. He returned to
Atlanta in 1962, where he was one
laws such as the Civil Rights Act
and the Voting Rights Act, as well
as two court cases — City of Green-
wood v. Peacock and Georgia v.
Rachel — which used federal civil
action to counterattack against
unconstitutional attempts to use
state law against citizens exer-
cising their rights. In 1966 Moore
represented Julian Bond in his
fight to take seat in the Georgia
House of Representatives, and he
was part of the NAACP team in
the 1970 Supreme Court Decision
of Turner v. Fouche.
Read more at TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
University Ed Washington smiled, then
shook his head.
Several times, Washington began
speaking, then stopped, fascinated, his
gaze returning to the paper.
“He really captured it,” Washington
said, chuckling. “I’m like ‘geez, that’s
right. ‘The radio and handbills, they
told us not to run.’”
“I mean, really, the opening lines, ‘But
all these waters, they broke in on us.’
‘Drownded just like rats.’ He’s kicking
booty there, without really just coming
out kicking. That’s Woody, it really is.
I think it’s amazing. I had never seen
this.”
“They said, ‘Don’t worry, there won’t
be danger until Tuesday. These dikes
and dams are holding,’ and that’s exact-
ly what they said.’”
The song’s lyrics tell the story of the
May 30, 1948 flood in classic Woody
Guthrie fashion, describing a compli-
cated moment historians are still work-
ing to unravel. The flood destroyed
what was then the second-largest city
in Oregon — the largest housing proj-
ect in the nation — in minutes.
But all these waters, they broke in on us,
Not a warning, not a chance,
By this wild Columbia River,
Trapped and drownded just like rats.
And if this dike starts breaking,
We’ll tell you so in time,
So’s you can pack your things and move,
But everything’s just fine.
“It’s pretty graphic, there’s no ques-
tion about it,” said Bill Murlin, the BPA
archivist who discovered the “Roll On,
Columbia” recordings and other ma-
terial from the period in 1941 when
Guthrie was living and working in the
Pacific Northwest. “As far as why it’s
not been cited in any of the Vanport
history, I find that something of a mys-
tery myself.”
Despite reassurances in a “DON’T
GET EXCITED” handbill slipped un-
der doors by the Housing Authority of
Portland that morning, a railroad dike
owned by Union Pacific caved in around
4 p.m. Vanport residents scrambled to
save children and precious possessions
and escape churning, fast-moving wa-
ters.
“
to save Vanporters from the churning
waters, or opened their homes to survi-
vors — but some, The Oregonian report-
ed the next day, showed up to stare and
eat popcorn.
“It was basically a spectator sport, if
you will,” said PCC’s Harrison. He noted
that the song’s lyrics contained symbol-
‘They said, ‘Don’t worry, there won’t be danger
until Tuesday. These dikes and dams are hold-
ing,’ and that’s exactly what they said.’
“It was horrible, because of the con-
gestion. You only had one way out,”
recalled survivor Oregon Sen. Jackie
Winters. “Then you had the additional
congestion of sightseers, because they
had heard what had happened.”
“There was one woman, I believe
she dropped an infant,” Sen. Winters
said, her voice dropping to a whisper.
“Those images stay.”
Many Oregonians risked their lives
ic details. “When you mention rats, one
of the things that the ex-Vanporters re-
ported, there was a rat problem there.
There were thousands of rats that were
seen scurrying out during the flood,”
Harrison said.
“I think [Guthrie’s song] captures the
essence of what many people felt,” Har-
rison said.
Read more of this story at TheSkanner.com