Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2019)
April 24, 2019 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 year terms that are un- paid but notoriously time-consuming, with previous board mem- bers comparing them to full-time jobs, often with overtime. Only one incumbent, Amy Kohn- stamm of Zone 3, is run- ning for re-election. Watson emphasized that Black Voices United aims to be a safe place We need better teacher training on how to deal with Black boys in particular where Black commu- nity members can ask questions they might feel intimidated to ask elsewhere. During the two-hour event, Thomp- son gave candidates two minutes each to answer audience-submitted questions in addition to questions drafted by the organization. Andrew Scott, the dep- uty chief operating offi- cer at Metro and former director of the Portland City Budget Office, is run- ning unopposed in Zone 1. A PPS graduate, Scott said he grew up at a time of relative prosperity in the district — aware that it was not evenly spread. “We owe the entire district and community the same opportunities I had,” he told the audi- ence, later criticizing the lack of wraparound services available to students who are often dismissed as disruptive, adding, “How do we de- criminalize the behavior of our students?” Scott will be replacing Julie Esparza Brown, the only current school board member of color. Scott, who is White, said he had waited to file, hoping other candidates from more diverse back- grounds would enter the race. Similarly, Robert Study mons Student Center at Portland State Univer- sity. She consistently emphasized the efficacy of restorative justice in schools and its notable reduction on the rate of student suspensions. She identified herself as someone who had “expe- rience with trauma that interrupted schooling,” and addressed the stark disparity in how often students of color are disciplined compared to their White classmates. “I don’t want to see kids under seven being sus- pended,” she said to ap- plause. DePass is the commu- nity engagement and policy coordinator for the director of the Port- land Housing Bureau. She said she comes from a family of PPS teachers that is also a “prison-af- fected” family, and spoke of hiring more Black teachers with equally high expectations for ev- ery student. “We need better teach- er training on how to deal with Black boys in particular,” DePass said, adding that in doing classroom observation, she often noticed “prob- lems of interpretation” in how teachers respond- ed to students of color. Read more at TheSkanner.com ACT-SO Competition Akila Griffin 17, a junior at Lincoln High School explains how she created her video game Kiro’s Story during the finals of the Seattle King County ACT-SO competition April 20 at MLK F.A.M.E. Community Center. Students could compete in a variety of categories including performing arts like oratory, contemporary and classical vocals, and music -instrumental, visual arts like drawing, photography and filmmaking, computer science, physics and other STEM pursuits. Those receiving gold medals will get an opportunity to compete for scholarships and prizes at the National Competition during the 110th NAACP National Convention in Detroit in July. Other young people not receiving gold metals are also selected to go along as observers so they can be better prepared to compete in next year’s competition. Fontaine Bleau ference with a business and in- tentional infliction of emotional distress after his nightclub, the Fontaine Bleau, shuttered follow- ing a shooting at the end of 2013. The city and the OLCC immedi- ately acted to suspend the club’s liquor license — which attorneys have noted is an uncommon re- sponse to a shooting. “What happened to Mr. DeWalt was the city asked the OLCC to immediately suspend his liquor license. The city in its entire his- tory has only asked the OLCC to do something immediately, five times, and twice were Black own- ers,” attorney Jesse Merrithew said. The other club in question was Seenzin’s, a bar on 82nd Av- enue operated by Sam Thomp- son. After a shooting occurred in a parking lot across the street in a parking lot, the city asked for restrictions on Thompson’s li- quor license and required him to have three security staff present during all open hours. The case has since gone through a series of rulings and appeals; said the legal team has not been cont’d from pg 1 given an indication as to when the court will respond to the lat- est motion. DeWalt told The Skanner he has operated night clubs in a verity of locations, including, Houston, Oklahoma City and St. Louis but “ The city in its entire history has only asked the OLCC to do something im- mediately, five times, and twice were Black own- ers never received treatment like he did in Portland, where he lived only briefly. He said the club, which was located on Northeast Broadway, received numerous noise complaints after it first started operating, and that when police visited to talk to him, they used racial slurs to refer to the Fontaine Bleau’s clientele. He also told The Skanner that in the process of discovery attor- neys have determined police sus- pected there would be violence on Nov. 9, 2013, when Durieul Harris, 30, was killed and Fred- rick Glenn Conner, 44, and Shelia Renee Shelby, 50, were wounded outside the Fontaine Bleau. But they didn’t warn him ahead of time. “The Portland police had a fear that something was going to hap- pen but they never told me,” De- Walt said. “The Portland police never came by to tell me. They were just going to let that event play out.” After the initial suspension, there was a hearing DeWalt had the opportunity to attend and the overseeing judge took it under advisement. But then OLCC direc- tor Steven Marks withdrew the first suspension and issued a sec- ond one, effectively resetting the administrative clock, Merrithew said. Read more at TheSkanner.com cont’d from pg 1 proaches to minimize flood risks and heat islands including both low- and high-tech solutions. In Los Angeles, the city painted sever- al streets white to reflect sunlight and minimize heat absorption. Any initia- tives designed to address both urban heat islands and flooding is certainly something to consider and green space creation does just that. “Planting trees or constructing green roofs would both be great ways to min- imize the urban heat island and also to slow runoff from intense rainstorms,” said Jillian W. Gregg, a researcher with Oregon State University’s Department of Crop and Soil Science. “Plus, there will be evaporative cooling from the moist soils and transpiration from the foliage that will absorb some of the moisture and also return a portion back to the atmosphere which would help some with the flooding.” Consequently, proximity to green space is an important factor in deter- mining an area’s risk of extreme heat “ Portland’s tree canopy is not dis- tributed evenly throughout the city and is correlated to income and flooding. But there’s a high correla- tion between wealth and an individu- al’s access to canopy coverage in Port- land. “Portland’s tree canopy is not distrib- uted evenly throughout the city and is correlated to income. West of the Wil- lamette river tree canopy is 56 percent, while east of the Willamette tree can- opy is only 21 percent. Tree canopy in individual neighborhoods varies from 5-70 percent. This vastly uneven dis- tribution means that tree services and benefits are not accessible to many of Portland’s residents,” according to a recent Portland Parks & Recreation re- port. The PSU study concluded that the more affluent neighborhoods in Port- land (those situated in the SW, central NE, and in the western hills) had the lowest combined risk of extreme heat and flooding. Pacific Northwest residents should expect more frequent extreme weath- er as a result of climate change. The Oregon Climate Change Research Insti- tute’s 2019 assessment, models suggest increases in winter precipitation and, by midcentury, western Oregon may experience a 10 percent increase in ex- treme precipitation. “In places where flooding is already a PHOTO IG/ANNA LAZARECK “ Schultz, an event coor- dinator running in Zone 7, praised Zone 2 candi- dates Shanice Clarke and Michelle DePass, saying he would not have en- tered the race if either of them were running in his zone. Clarke, the youngest school board candidate, is program coordinator for the Pan-African Com- PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED PPS Flooding in the Alberta neighborhood problem and relocation efforts and cli- mate change adaptation strategies are already underway, the expected 10 per- cent additional rainfall with the more intense storms will only add to the dif- ficulty of responding to these flooding events,” Gregg told The Skanner. Read more at TheSkanner.com