September 13, 2017 The Skanner Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
lifted the state pre-emp-
tion on rent control and
limited no-cause evic-
tions. The bill narrowly
passed in the House and
died in the Senate.
At 74, Monroe has
served in the Oregon
state legislature inter-
mittently for the past
four decades. The for-
mer teacher and lay min-
ister also held numerous
Regrettably, the current
leadership in my district is
out of touch with the every-
day reality of the people who
live here
elected offices and is, in
fact, an East Portland
landlord.
Last month, Monroe
was sued by one of his
tenants in the Mult-
nomah County Circuit
Court over a leaky roof
in his complex, which ap-
parently caused her an
injury.
For Jama, fair and af-
fordable housing is a
top priority. He told The
Skanner that he’s “advo-
cating for full funding
of our education system,
and (to) ensure renters
are as powerful as home-
owners, landlords, and
property management
companies when policy
decisions are made.”
Other issues close to
his heart include public
safety — which he said
encompasses traffic, air
quality and interactions
with police officers – and
the protection of immi-
grant and refugee fam-
ilies from intrusion by
the federal government.
Jama is a refugee him-
self, having fled war-torn
Somalia to the United
States in 1998. He waited
tables at a Somali restau-
rant in Portland, and lat-
er worked the front desk
at the DoubleTree hotel
while earning a degree at
Lottery
Oregon.)
In July this year, Jama
was successful in pass-
ing HB 2355, a Unite Or-
egon-sponsored piece of
legislation which creat-
ed a system for Oregon
police officers to collect
data when making pe-
destrian or traffic stops,
in an effort to curb pro-
filing. The bill also hit a
milestone by defeloniz-
ing small drug posses-
sion to a misdemeanor.
The long-time commu-
nity organizer has spent
decades advocating for
minimum wage increas-
es, paid family sick days,
inclusionary
zoning,
an end to no-cause evic-
tions, and of course,
banning profiling by law
enforcement. He says his
decision to run for state
senator grew out of his
frustration at elected
leaders who appear dis-
connected.
“Whether due to en-
trenched party politics
or a lack of understand-
ing of people’s lived
experiences, including
mine, I felt our own voic-
es were not at the center
of the debates that im-
pacted our lives,” he said.
Read more at
TheSkanner.com
Northeast Precinct Honors Modica
Friday morning the community meeting room at the Portland Police Bureau’s North Precinct Building was re-named to honor former
assistant chief Kevin Modica, who retired at the end of July in a separation agreement with the city that allowed him to retire with the
assistant chief title. At the time of his retirement, Modica was the highest-ranking Black officer in the Portland Police Bureau. Pictured
here are Harry Jackson, Modica, Nike Green, Herman Green and Northeast Precinct Commander Robert King.
Gang
cont’d from pg 1
she was on the gang list just a few
years ago, when she tried to plan
a 40th birthday party at a Port-
land golf course.
Venue staff told her police had
approached them to dissuade
them from hosting the party, be-
cause she was a gang member.
The bureau’s policy was to no-
tify suspected gang members
and affiliates of their status with
mailed letters. Harris said she
never received one, and when she
contacted the city she was told her
letter had apparently been sent to
the wrong address.
Harris was arrested once on a
drug charge when she was young-
er, but said she has a clean record
otherwise. She was never part
of a gang, she said, but she knew
both Crips and Bloods growing
up.
“I was married to a Crip for 18
years. They said I’m a Blood. Both
my children’s fathers were Crips,”
she said.
Harris’ brother, Durieul, was
killed in a 2013 shooting outside
the since-shuttered Fontaine
Bleau nightclub in Northeast
Portland. Other media have said
both Durieul Harris and Xavier
Dorrel Bolden, who was convict-
ed of the murder and sentenced
to life in prison this spring, were
both gang members. Harris said
“
It’s a big win for
the young men
and women who
are on that list.
But it ain’t over
her brother was never part of a
gang, but also appreciated that
gang involvement was not dis-
cussed in the trial, since the po-
lice said the shooting related to a
personal matter.
“That man was tried for the
crime he committed, not because
of his ties or he had nothing to
do with. That has never been
brought up, which I thought he
was a plus,” Harris said. “They
judged him on the acts that he
committed as a human being.
They tried him on his merits as a
man that he was.”
Harris is cautiously optimistic
about the change, but worries
police will find more covert tools
to engage in profiling people of
color.
“It’s a big win for the young men
and women who are on that list.
But it ain’t over,” Harris said.
At Friday’s meeting of the
Community Peace Collaborative,
PPB’s Acting Tactical Operations
Capt. Andy Shearer and Capt.
Mike Krantz acknowledged they
would have to “find new tools” to
investigate violent crimes.
They also said the change
shouldn’t be read as an indication
that gang-related criminal activ-
ity is a thing of the past in Port-
land. “The idea behind removing
the gang designation will ensure
investigators will look at the spe-
cific criminal behavior of people
who are associated with criminal
organizations,”
spokesperson
Chris Burley said.
Read more at TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
“It’s really hard to compare Oregon to
other U.S. lotteries, because there are
only a handful of us that have video lot-
tery as well,” explained Pack.
Of the 44 states and territories in the
nation that have a state-sanctioned lot-
tery — every state exclusing Alabama,
Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada,
Utah and Wyoming —most of them
operate solely with scratch tickets and
draw games, like Powerball and Mega
Millions.
“They make an awful lot of money
selling them,” said Pack. “In bigger
states like Florida and New York the
population can drive pretty big dollars
through those games.”
Yet few states — including Rhode Is-
land, Ohio, Louisiana, and Montana
— offer legal video lottery. And even
then, the games are relegated to racinos
(combination race track-casino opera-
tions) or state-run casinos.
But in Oregon retailers can provide
video lottery terminals inside their
establishments. In fact, most of the rev-
enue generated by the Oregon Lottery
comes from these types of video games.
“
What we’re trying
to do is bring in
local perspectives
outside of the lot-
tery industry to
share their experi-
ence and ideas
It’s for this reason that Pack said the
Oregon Lottery tends to look to the Ca-
nadian provinces for a better compari-
son, which are similar to Oregon in the
structure of their games.
According to the NASPL, in 2016,
3,465 Oregon retailers generated over
$1.2 billion in gross sales of lottery tick-
ets. Over $225
million in prizes
was awarded to
players, while
the
economic
activity of the
lottery generat-
ed over $572 mil-
lion in transfers
to beneficiaries.
Yet while state-
Barry Pack, director of
run lotteries are
the Oregon Lottery
often marketed
as “charitable foundations” — because
of the revenue they generate for ser-
vices like public education — critics are
wary of the long-term positive impacts.
For instance, some argue that lottery
earnings are not spent as additional
funding for education, as is often por-
trayed.
Rather, legislatures have used lot-
tery revenues to simply displace other
funds from the state’s general reve-
COURTESY OF THE OREGON LOTTERY
“
Marylhurst University.
All the while, Jama
made a name for himself
by helping recent refu-
gees adjust to life in the
Northwest. In 2003, he
founded the Center for
Intercultural Organizing
to advocate for the rights
of immigrants and refu-
gees. (In February 2016
CIO merged with Oregon
Action to become Unite
PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER
Jama
nues, which are used elsewhere. That
said, lottery earnings are not necessar-
ily improving state services, say critics,
more like supplementing them.
According to the Oregon Lottery, 57
percent of its revenue goes into public
education; 27 percent to economic de-
velopment and job creation; 15 percent
to state parks and natural resources;
and one percent is administered by the
Oregon Department of Human Ser-
vices to programs that treat gambling
addiction.
In Multnomah County alone, over
$70.2 million in lottery earnings be-
tween 2013 and 2015 helped support
projects and programs in education,
transportation and business.
The Oregon Lottery was initiated in
November 1984 when voters approved
an amendment to the Oregon Consti-
tution, making the operation of a state
lottery legal.
Read more at TheSkanner.com
