Oregon Advance Times_1968-02-01

The Oregon ADVANCE PORTLAND,OREGON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1968 Model Cities Plan to Affeel ·38,000 Community Newspaper Makes Bow This is the first issue of The Oregon Advance Times, a weekly newspaper owned and written in Albina by Albina residents. Its purpose is to report the news of the black community: to tell what the people are doing, what their problems are and their hopes and what can be done about them. It will report news of clubs and churches and schools as well as tell about activities of community improvement groups. It will report what is going on in stores and industries that might mean jobs for Al– bina residents. It will report weddings and deaths andother happenings that affect the lives of the people of the com– munity. I t This Year Is For Plans And People Have Right To Say What They Want It was announced last November that Portland was one of 63 cities in the United States to receive money to plan a Model City. Portland has proposed that Albina be the core of its Model City area and this was accepted by the federal De– partment of Housing and Urban Development. However, the federal agency (HUD) said there would have to be more meaningful participation by the residents and it said bound– aries should be changed to take in only 38,000 residents instead of 41,000 planned in the application. HUD then gave Portland $143,000 to prepare its plans. This was less than half the amount Portland had requested. What has happened since then? What is being planned? What has the community said? These questions are an– swered below in separate columns. The one on the right outlines what has been going on; the one on the left explains what the Model ~ities program is not. WILL THE MODEL CITIES PROGRAM SOLVE ALL OUR PROBLEMS? THE PROGRAM STARTS WITH APPOINTMENT OF A DIRECTOR. It will tell the city admin– istration why it should think about Albina and its prob– lems. And it will report what 1 the city officials have to say. The Advance Times also will talk to landlords of de– cayed property and ask what they plan to do about the buildings. It will tell the people what they say. These are the tvp µeoplc m the Model Cities proyram. Seated at left is Paul ~chuize, the director, and next to him is Ellis H. Casson, deputy director. Standing at left Is Mrs. Hazel G. Hays, administrative assistant, and at right is Richard McDevitt, part-time in researcho - Photo Courtesy Oregon Journot Of course not. But it can help. Model Cities is a kind of experiment. The federal government will give cities money to try new solutions on old problems. For years the cities have been crying: "If we only had enough money, we could solve unemployment, poor housing and education, crime in the streets and all the rest!'' On Dec. 20, the Rev. Paul J. Schulze, director of the Church - Community Action Pre.gram for the Portland Council of Churches, was ap– pointed by th~ rnay<)r.::s o!f:.£'.!– and the City Council to co– ordinate the Model Cities plan. The appointment met with the disapproval of some peo– ple who felt "a black man should have been named to the job." It will encot: rage all the res– idents of Albina to make the district a more pleasant place in which to live. - Chance Opens for Negroes To Get Fire or Police Jobs Most of all, it hopes to tell the people just what is going on in their community and encourage them to take part in activities, whether dealing with business, schools, clubs or churches. The Advance Times was started because several peo– ple who had been thinking about what a really good newspaper could do for the community, got together and Do you want to be a fireman? Or a policeman? There aren't many Negroes in those jobs in Portland but a committee headed by Chal– mers Jones is working to open the doors for more of them. Jones is director of the State Employment Service in North Portland. He was named re– cently by Acting Mayor Stan– ley W. Earl to be chairman of a committee to help Negroes qualify for those jobs. started talking about it. A planning committee got In early October a meeting together and decided that one was held in the home of the of the reasons many men are Rev. Samuel Johnson, a disqualified is because they (Cont. on Page 3, Col. 1) have had some minor police record in childhood. Then Men in Military Can Get Free Copies Is your brother, husband, father in military service? He'd like to know what's hap– pening at home while he is gone. The Advance Times wants him to have a free subscrip– tion so he can keep up with the news. Send us a postcard or let– ter giving his name and mail address. We'll do the rest. You can either mail it to the Advance Times at 714-1/2 N.E. Alberta, or stop by and leave it. And when you do, why not give us a little news about him: Has he been promoted recently? Written you about some battle he has been in? Sent you a picture of him– self and his buddies? We'd like to print it so his friends here at home can keep track of him, -too. when they become adults it is held against them. If a teenage boy stayed out after curfew and was picked up or shoplifting a pack of bubble gum and was taken to the police station, this went down on his record and he was likely to be disqualified for city jobs when he became an adult. The committee thought this was not fair and it told the City that juvenile offenses and misdemeanors should not be the deciding factor in quali– fying an adult for police or fire department examinations. The city administration committee agreed with this. Jones' committee also sug– gested that Negroes who want to apply for places in the fire or police departments should have a chance to pre– pare for the examinations - should get instruction on how to fill out the application forms and get advice on how to prepare for the examinations. 'Ibe city administration committee agreed to this, also. There is a tremendous need for Albina community men to serve in the fire and police departments. The record shows that there is not a single black city fireman out of the 600 serving the city. There are only 8 Negroes on a police force of 700. The city's excuse has been that "Negroes just don't apply." There is no need for this. You can apply if you will have passed your 21st birth– day by March 1, 1968, and if you are not over 26 years of age. (If you are a veter– an of military service the top age limit is 31.) You must be at least 5 feet 7 inches tall and have gradu– ated from high school or have completed the GED test. The examinationwill be held March 16. If you are inter– ested in applying for a job with either the police or fire departments, call the Albina Employment Office at 288-6967 or visit it at 3620 N. Vancouver. Members of the committee who worked with Jones in considering how best to open the doors to community men were Rozell Gilmore, direc– tor of the Albina Neighbor– hood Service Center; Tom Wilson, job placement direc– tor at the center; James Brooks, Urgan League; Sam– uel Johnson, C-CAP; Calvin Tro ain, Youth Opportunity Center; and Sam Redditt, Al– bina Neighborhood Improve– ment Project. Now Portland has a chance Program Changes Told to Council to get the money. It won't The Portland City Council be enough money, but it's was told this week that an better than none at all. Albina citizens' group wants the Model Cities program changed in this way: A governing board would be in charge. The director would work under the board and not under the City Council. The board would be made up one– third of members appointed by the city and two-thirds chosen from the Model Cities area. Larry Lakey and Al Batiste presented the plan to the coun– cil. Paul Schulze, director of the Model Cities, said he agreed with the over-all idea that when he makes his re– commendations to the city in mid-February they will in– clude most of the things pro– posed by Lakey and Batiste. Lakey told the council: "This is an opportunity for the residents of Albina to be– come operators, not just co– operators.·' Now it is up to city gov– ernment and the people to put that federal money to work in the best possible way. Portland has just eight months to develop a plan for the first action year (1969) of a five-year Model Cities program. If the federal government likes the plan and thinks Portland has the talent and energy to make it work, we'll get action funds for 1969. IS THIS JUST ANOTHER URBAN RENEWAL PRO– GRAM? If you mean, "ls this going to be like the downtown urban renewal project?" the answer is no. Whenever the Portland De– velopment Commission is mentioned, people immedi– (Cc:>nt. on Page IO, Col. 1) No Kidding! All those who objected stressed · that they thought highly of Schulze personally but that he could not "speak for the black community." Schulze agreed with their point, stating that he did not speak for anyparticulargroup but he was committed to full citizen participation in Model Cities planning. A resident meeting, headed by the Rev. Larry Lakey, met Dec. 29 and agreed to ask Acting Mayor Francis lvan– cie to remove Schulze from the post. They asked that the entire program be turned over to a citizens' governing board. Ivancie later said Schulze would not be re– moved but promised full ~on– sideration to residents' pro– posal on citizen participation. On Jan. 4, a temporary committee of 22memberswas (Cont. on Page IO, Col. 3) Watch for an announcement that will be made by Com– missioner Frances Ivancie during the week of Feb. 5 or Feb, 12. The announcement will give the date that Ivan– cie will present to the Port– land City Council the re– vised proposal on Portland's model city program. This will include the model city boundary changes and the role to be played by citizen participation. They Want to Go to School Ivancie is in Washington, D. C., this week and could not be reached before this paper went to press to de– termine the exact date. It is understood, however, that his office will present the revised proposal to the City Council by Feb. 13. Who would expect to see children clamoring at the school door to get in on a Saturday morning? It happens every Saturday at Boise school from 10 to 11:30 a.m. The children are third and fourth graders who are meeting their tutors from Lake Oswego High School. On Saturday, Jan. 20, there were 23 youngsters and just as many tutors, all volunteers, enthu– siastic and anxious to begin their morning. Since !1'.etting acquainted when the program started in December, the tutor-pupil pairs have found mutual in- terests. They work on plans they make themselves. Act– ivities include games, read– ing, arithmetic, listening to story records plus some time in the gymnasium. The lib– rary is kept open with an aide to help with books, film– strips and records. Each week the children and their tutors plan for the next Saturday's activities. At Christmas they enjoyed a party together. After the children leave at 11:30, tutors meet with a teacher - supervisor to help evaluate and share sugges– tions.