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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 28, 2018)
March 28, 2018 The Skanner Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 such as demographics, reasons, and results,” reads a Tuesday-night press release accompa- nying the reports. Audi- tors also recommend the team set goals to mea- sure the success of such stops in order to demon- While the Bureau has dis- continued gang designa- tions, it continues to create most active lists strate whether they’ll be effective. The bureau’s decision last fall to discontinue its gang affiliate des- ignation was both cel- ebrated and met with skepticism. Shortly af- ter the announcement, The Skanner spoke with individuals who’d been on the gang member list who said they suspected police would find more covert ways to surveil communities of color. The city’s audit ap- pears to support that prediction. “While the Bureau has discontinued gang des- ignations, it continues to create most active lists, which includes a notation of people’s gang affiliations. At the time of our audit, the Gang Enforcement Team used informal conversations among employees, police reports, and gang desig- nations to compile a list of some 1,000 people who were associated with gang incidents. The team then assigned scores to each person based on the number and type of contacts the person had with police and created a list of the people with the top scores – usual- ly about 30 people. The types of contact included shootings and gun sei- zures, but also non-crim- inal events and being victims of crime. The Cully of which the bureau has agreed to and either says are in place or in process. The recommendations are: • The bureau should regularly analyze and publish demographic data regarding Gang Enforcement Team traffic stops; • The Gang Enforcement Team should monitor stops data and the per- centage of encounters recorded as “mere con- versations”; • The Gang Enforcement Team should require officers to document the investigative rea- son for traffic stops; • The Gang Enforce- ment Team should set goals to measure the effectiveness of traffic stops; • The bureau should evaluate the effective- ness of the Gang En- forcement Team by re- viewing crime trends and arrest outcomes; • The bureau should adopt detailed official policies and proce- dures for documenting gang relationships; • The bureau should review the legality of current practices for creating the “most ac- tive” gang list; • The bureau should track clearance rate and caseload and main- Royal Rosarians Recognize Patricia Welch as a Newsmaker of the Year The Royal Rosarian Foundation last week recognized its 2017 Newsmakers of the Year at a March 21 dinner and ceremony. Newsmakers were nominated and presented with awards by their nominating organizations. The Skanner’s Newsmaker of the Year, Patricia Welch, is a Flemming Award recipient and served for more than 20 years as administrator at the North Portland branch of the Multnomah County Library. Her award was presented by Jerry Foster, sales and advertising manager for The Skanner News. Pictured here are: friend Johnette Easter (left), friend Sallie Stevens, Jerry Foster, Royal Rosarian Susan Simpson, Patricia Welch and granddaughter Aleshia King. Tobacco cont’d from pg 1 panies are required to run ver- batim: “More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, com- bined.” • The addictiveness of smoking and nicotine. Example: “Cig- arette companies intention- ally designed cigarettes with enough nicotine to create and sustain addiction.” • The lack of significant health benefit from smoking “low tar,” “light,” “ultra light,” “mild” and “natural” cigarettes (which have been marketed as less harmful than regular ciga- rettes). Example: “All cigarettes cause cancer, lung disease, heart attacks, and premature death – lights, low tar, ultra lights, and naturals. There is no safe cigarette.” • The manipulation of cigarette design and composition to en- sure optimum nicotine deliv- ery. Example: “Cigarette com- panies control the impact and delivery of nicotine in many ways, including designing fil- ters and selecting cigarette pa- per to maximize the ingestion of nicotine, adding ammonia to make the cigarette taste less harsh, and controlling the phys- ical and chemical make-up of the tobacco blend.” • The adverse health effects of exposure to secondhand smoke. Example: “Secondhand smoke kills over 38,000 Amer- icans each year.” “This move dates back to 2006, when a U.S. judge found that to- bacco companies violated civil racketeering laws and defrauded people in America for decades,” said Jonathan Modie, a spokes- person for the Oregon Health Au- thority. The Skanner was one of 50 newspapers in the country to re- ceive the ads, and the only one in the state of Oregon; the new cam- paign includes a rollout of televi- sion ads as well. While the push to correct the record about the effects of tobac- co use and to offset the long-term public health effects of smoking dates back decades, public health officials say the industry’s tactics haven’t stopped. “These tactics of the tobacco industry haven’t stopped. These products are sweet, cheap and easy to get here in Oregon and across the country and world,” said Luci Longoria, manager for community mobilization for pol- icy, systems and environmental change, Oregon Health Authori- ty’s public health division. And tobacco’s effects are dis- proportionate, in part because tobacco marketing has targeted communities of color and Black Oregonians are more likely to smoke than White Oregonians. Longoria said in Oregon 80,000 people died last year from causes linked to tobacco use, and 1,100 of those deaths – more than one- eighth – are African American. Read more at TheSkanner.com cont’d from pg 1 color are continuing to struggle with high energy costs and the inability to live in an energy-retrofitted environ- ment.” The NAACP has since been making strides to educate lawmakers on how low-income people and communities of color are disproportionately ex- posed to industrial pollution from sources like power plants, toxic sites and roadways. Because of this, these populations are the first to experience the negative impacts of climate change, such as natural disasters and extreme weather, as well as having less access to clean water due to drought. Evidence also suggests a strong link between climate change and displace- ment, as gentrification tends to dis- place communities from walkable, energy-efficient neighborhoods with stronger job prospects and reliable transit and into marginalized, disin- vested areas with poor transit infra- structure. “We definitely believe that climate change is here and is already beginning to impact residents in Portland,” Caroli- na Iraheta Gonzalez, community ener- “ We definitely be- lieve that climate change is here and is already begin- ning to impact resi- dents in Portland gy advocate at Verde, told The Skanner. “A really good example of that is the colder winters we’re experiencing and the hotter summers. People are having to use more electricity during the win- ters to heat their homes and we’re also seeing electricity peaks in the summer due to AC, so their monthly income is being stretched even further.” In Cully, the median electricity bur- den – meaning the percentage of annu- al household income spent on electricity – for all households is higher, at 2.25 per- cent, when compared to all Portland house- holds, which averages 1.67 percent. “We worry that peo- ple won’t be able to Solar panels on top of Hacienda Community Development Corporation. stay in the neighbor- hood as we see climate After intensive rounds with commu- changes happening,” continued Gon- nity partners, utility experts and clean zalez. “Renewable energy and energy energy professionals, alongside sur- efficiency is definitely a tool to address veys and focus groups, Living Cully has climate change, but it’s not always ac- come up with six pilot projects. Togeth- cessible to low income families. So we er, the projects aim to conserve energy, want to make sure that families in Cul- make use of renewable sources, allow ly have access to these tools.” low income families to bring down And the desire is there. Community their utility costs, and prevent further surveys in Cully found that 94 percent displacement from the neighborhood. of people said they were interested in Read the full story at TheSkanner.com getting solar energy. COURTESY OF SUNBRIDGE SOLAR “ document was updated every month,” the audit report reads. Both audit reports close with correspon- dence between the audi- tor’s office and the police bureau outlining a list of recommendations, all PHOTO COURTESY OF ROYAL ROSARIANS Audits
