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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2018)
MARCH 21, 2018 25 CENTS Seattle, Washington Volume XL No. 25 News ................................ 3,6,8 A & E ........................................5 Opinion ...................................2 Putin ................................6 Calendars ...............................4 Bids/Classifieds .....................7 CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW MEYER’S NEW HOME ‘Art Saved My Life’ will select three local artists to create works around community healing By Melanie Sevcenko For The Skanner News I n a new twist on the ‘artist residen- cy,’ a group of Portland creatives are launching ‘Art Saved My Life’ — a local program that supports Artists of Color who have been impacted by the city’s decades-long struggle with gentrification, forced relocation and PHOTO COURTESY OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY NEWS SERVICE See ART on page 3 Haitians, Salvadorans Lost in DACA Debate page 8 August Wilson’s ‘Two Training Running’ Comes to Portland page 5 This lot at 2045 N. Vancouver will be the new headquarters of Meyer Memorial Trust, one of Oregon’s largest philanthropic organizations. The foundation intends to relocate in March 2020. Meyer Memorial Trust to Relocate in 2020 Foundation announces purchase of property on North Vancouver By Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News M eyer Memorial Trust is moving to close-in North Portland. The state’s second larg- est foundation, which manages an $800 million endowment created by grocery-chain found- er Fred Meyer, has an- nounced its purchase of a 25,000-square-foot lot at the intersection of North Tillamook and Vancou- ver. Foundation CEO Doug Stamm, who retires at the end of April, said the orga- nization will move into the new spot in March 2020. Public records say the lot sold for $4.9 million in January. Foundation CEO Doug Stamm said Meyer’s lease at its long-term office is coming to an end, and higher-ups started look- ing for a new location to house its increased staff. When Stamm started 16 years ago, the foundation employed 11 people; it now employs 43. The 25,000-square-foot site currently hosts Ser- geant’s Towing, which had owned the property since 2000. “We think it’ll be an im- provement over a tow yard,” Stamm said. “Not too many people show up at the tow yard very happy, I can tell you that.” Meyer has engaged the development firm Project^ and is in discussions with an architect. The founda- tion is also talking with community partners about what the end result should look like. Anyeley Hallová, a part- ner at Project^, said the site was chosen partly for its proximity to transit and the availability of park- ing for partners driving in from elsewhere in the state. She also said Stamm and others stressed the im- portance of developing a site that wouldn’t displace anyone from their homes. “The conversation we’ve had has been less about what is on site but with Meyer being there, how that can be a positive con- See MEYER on page 3 Boko Haram Returns Nigeria Girls, Warns Not to Put in School Most of the 110 girls kidnapped from a boarding school last month have been returned By Haruna Umar and Krista Larson Associated Press MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Boko Ha- ram Islamic extremists brought back nearly all of the 110 girls they had kidnapped from a boarding school last month, dropping them off in the middle of the night Wednesday with a warning: “Don’t ever put your daughters in school again.” Several of the girls interviewed by The Associated Press said they had been traveling for days before the convoy of vehicles arrived in the center of the town of Dapchi around 2 a.m. Residents who had fled upon hearing that Boko Haram was head- ed their way watched from hiding as dozens of girls descended from the vehicles apparently unharmed. “We were freed because we are Muslim girls and they didn’t want us to suffer. That is why they released us,” said Khadija Grema, one of the freed girls who said a Christian class- AP PHOTO/JOSSY OLA Residency Supports Artists of Color PHOTO COURTESY OF MEYER MEMORIAL TRUST ‘Art Saved My Life’ is an artist residency program that supports Portland-based Artists of Color to create works around healing from gentrification. Aishat Alhaji, second, right, one of the kidnapped girls from the Government Girls Science and Technical College Dapchi who was freed, is photographed after her release, in Dapchi, Nigeria March 21. mate remained captive. The extraordinary development brought elation to most of the fami- lies, but more heartache for the rela- tives of the nine girls still unaccount- See BOKO HARAM on page 3
