Not
So Black and White
As expected, a couple of hundred Irvington Elementary
backers showed up for the school-budget review session at
Roosevelt High School on Monday. They came seeking assurances
that Irvington would keep its $541,000 in desegregation
funding ("
Mixing It Up,"
WW, April 7, 1999). They left empty-handed after
schools superintendent Ben Canada informed the crowd and
the school board he hadn't yet decided how to allocate the
district's desegregation funds, which totaled $6.3 million
last year.
But there are signs that Irvington may be in trouble.
For example, Canada has asked Irvington and two of the
other nine schools receiving desegregation money to account
for their spending, according to schools spokesman Lew
Frederick. Nobody mentioned the other two schools--Ball
Elementary and Beach Elementary--in either public comment
or board deliberation, which suggests that their funding
is safe. Also absent from public comment were the desegregation
and reconstitution programs at Humboldt Elementary and
Jefferson High, suggesting that they too will keep their
funding.
Ultimately, the question of allocation may be a tug of
war between the Irvington community's political clout
and economics. Patrick Burk, an assistant to Canada, told
WW that recent Supreme Court rulings have suggested
that desegregation efforts be based on elevating impoverished
students rather than equalizing racial balances.
If Canada uses the most common measure of student poverty--the
number of kids receiving subsidized lunches--Irvington,
which sits in a racially mixed but gentrifying neighborhood,
faces difficulty.
The most recent school statistics show that 34 percent
of Irvington's students qualify for subsidized lunches.
That's less than half the percentage at both Ball and
Beach. In fact, a number of other elementary schools that
currently receive no desegregation money have higher proportions
of students qualifying for subsidized lunches.
School-board member Doug Capps, whose children attended
Irvington, says he was unaware that the debate over desegregation
funds may shift from race to income. But if his comments
are any guide, Irvington parents won't give up without
a fight. Capps prefaced the public-comment portion of
the Monday meeting with a diatribe against hasty decision
making, noting he had received between 100 and 150 calls
and e-mail messages in support of maintaining Irvington's
funding.
--Nigel Jaquiss
Pissing
and Moaning
The big bash to celebrate the reopening of
the Hawthorne Bridge took a surreal twist Saturday when
a band of protesters marched against a proposal to stiffen
penalties for motorists who toss containers of urine along
Oregon's roadsides.
The group, Urinary Rights to Everyone Always, condemned
House Bill 3530 as an insidious erosion of motorists'
rights. "It's the tip of the iceberg," said a spokesman
who identified himself as Joe P. "What's next? Burning
debris? Small children?"
Waving yellow placards and clutching suspiciously warm
plastic bottles, a dozen protesters marched along the
bridge's eastern approach, chanting slogans such as "Hell
no, I'll still go" and "Give pee a chance."
The event bore the distinctive stamp of Portland's
Cacophony Society, a group of professional pranksters
whose previous exploits include the Santa Convention ("Best
Prank," WW, July 16, 1997) and who are long accustomed
to puzzled stares from onlookers.
The crowd's apathy made Joe P. long for the days when
flinging bodily fluids was considered an act of patriotism.
"Our Founding Fathers hurled cisterns of urine and fistsful
of feces at the redcoats," he continued. "Now monkeys
at the zoo have more rights than we do."
--Chris Lydgate
Cops
Nab Taggers
FOLLOW-UP
Portland police launched a five-day sting operation
against local taggers last week, nabbing four young men
on graffiti-related charges and arresting another five
individuals on outstanding warrants or drug-related charges.
Police say they caught one tagger in the act of writing
his tag, "AID," outside the Belmont Market, according
to Officer John Wrigley of the Southeast precinct. The
cops also raided an alleged tagger's Southeast Portland
apartment and carted off spray cans, photos and a sketchbook.
Both uniformed and plainclothes cops participated in
the clampdown, which targeted the central east side, whose
acres of concrete walls have become a favorite canvas
for graffiti artists in recent years.
--Chris Lydgate
In
the Line of Duty
On April 28 workers across the nation will
honor those who lost their lives on the clock. Although
Workers Memorial Day traditionally commemorates workplace
deaths, in Oregon that focus is rapidly widening to include
those who have been hurt on the job, as well. The shift
stems in part from the rising influence of an unconventional
lobby--injured workers.
Advocacy groups representing injured workers are a relatively
new phenomenon. Most sprang up in response to far-reaching
reforms in Oregon's workers' compensation system in 1989,
changes that made it much more difficult for workers to
receive disability payments and to select their own doctors
and health-care providers.
Though the reforms led to dramatic savings for employers,
workers say the system treats them unfairly. "It's like
a war zone," says Billy Washington, 55, a Portland truck
driver and grandfather who injured his knee three years
ago picking up a barrel of printing-press solvent. His
employer's insurance company said his knee trouble was
the result of an injury 10 years before and refused to
compensate him. Washington was furious. He got involved
in the Injured Workers Organizing Project (affiliated
with the Workers Organizing Committee), which now boasts
160 members and is active in testifying before legislative
panels.
Other groups include the Injured Workers Alliance and
Together Injured Employees Succeed. These workers are
beginning to make their presence felt at quasi-legislative
venues such as the Management-Labor Advisory Committee,
a panel of management and labor representatives in Salem
that screens proposed bills dealing with workers' compensation.
"I can't tell you how important it is to me to have injured
workers in the room," says Jennifer Webber, a lobbyist
for the Oregon Workers' Compensation Attorneys. "They
have been very effective."
For more information:
Injured Workers Alliance: 650-2479, www.injuredworker.org
Together Injured Employees Succeed: 520-1909
Injured Workers Organizing Project: 236-0825
--Chris Lydgate
Why,
There Oughta Be A Law...
HOUSE BILL 4015 * RELATING TO DIRTY FLAPPERS
SPONSORED BY KATE SMITH
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OREGON:
SECTION 1: Whereas all Oregonians should be able
to see the road when driving on a typical rainy day, maintain
a relatively clean vehicle and drive at least the minimum
speed:
(a) All vehicles driven in Oregon shall be equipped
with rear mud flaps.
SECTION 2: A toll-free number shall be established
to report vehicles without rear mud flaps. Police shall
be allowed to ticket parked and moving vehicles without
such mud flaps. Violators shall:
(a) Wash the cars of other motorists they muddied
within three weeks of the violation, or
(b) Clean car windshields at stop lights on a
day, rain or shine, chosen by a judge.
This week's amateur legislators, Kate Smith of Northwest
Portland, wins dinner for two at Sweetwater's Jam House.
Send your proposals to WW Law Contest via fax
([503] 243-1115), e-mail (jschrag@wweek.com)
or snail mail (822 SW 10th Ave., Portland OR 97205).
