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Hurtling Toward Reality
After drifting at a continental pace for more than two years, the fractious and painful effort to reform Multnomah County's mental-health system has suddenly slammed into top gear--and is now hurtling toward an objective whose outlines remain unpleasantly blurred.
Following media reports that the Crisis Triage Center would close July 1 (it actually is likely to stay open at least 3 more months), County Commissioners Serena Cruz and Lisa Naito requested an urgent briefing Tuesday to sort through the chaos.
The last month has been marked by confusion as two alternate realities were circulated by two bureaucratic rivals: Jim Gaynor was hired two months ago by then-County Chair Bev Stein to be a "change agent" for the county's Behavioral Health Division--which placed him in an awkward relationship to Janice Gratton, who runs the system he's redesigning.
Tension mounted when Stein resigned her position in order to run for governor. Politically orphaned, Gaynor struggled to gain support from the system's entrenched bureaucracies for a bold overhaul. At a May meeting of the Mental Health Coordinating Council, for example, his draft proposal was savaged by one speaker after another. "It was like the Spanish Inquisition," he said later.
Meanwhile, sources say BHD director Gratton floated an alternative plan to newly elected Chair Diane Linn, in what was perceived as an effort to undermine Gaynor.
Gratton denies any effort to undercut the redesign. "We're trying to make it work," she says.
Last week, Linn reiterated her support for Gaynor. At a June 6 MHCC meeting, she sat next to him--a subtle bit of political ergonomics that restored the planmomentum. And on Friday, Gaynor's boss, Lolenzo Poe, director of the Department of Community and Family Services, circulated a memo giving Gaynor "full authority over all behavioral health resources."
The county's $3.5 million contract with Providence Portland Medical Center, which runs the Crisis Triage Center, expires June 30. Providence, which has lost millions on the contract, wanted to renegotiate a better deal, but one county source characterized Providence's proposal as "an offer we can't accept." Instead, the county will temporarily extend the contract while finding another vendor to run the CTC.
Gaynor hopes to present a final plan to county commissioners in early July.
--Chris Lydgate
A NOOSE IN NORTHEAST PORTLAND
Allegations of racism are mounting against a Northeast Portland scrap yard--including one claim that the company failed to take any action when an African-American employee was confronted by a hangman's noose.
On March 21, maintenance worker Charles Spivey walked into the lube bay at Metro Metals Northwest, on Northeast Columbia Boulevard. A rope noose was hanging in the doorway.
It wasn't the first time. "I started thinking about how they used to do things back in the South," says Spivey, who filed a complaint with the state's Bureau of Labor and Industries last month. "I was scared to go to work."
Spivey, 43, says Metro Metals management did nothing to address that incident or a previous noosing in March 2000.
The noosings appear to be the third in the Portland area since 1998. Three years ago, Lynice Morgan was taunted with a noose at a Clackamas company (see "Racism?," Nov. 9, 2000), and last year an African American found a noose hanging at a Union Pacific repair shop.
Spivey's isn't the only racially charged complaint against Metro Metals, which has 135 employees. In April, seven Latinos filed race-discrimination complaints alleging that a supervisor named "Ron" told the men that he would clean up the company "by getting rid of each Mexican one by one" and referred to them as "fucking Mexican shit."
Jaime Ruiz, one of the complainants, claims that his supervisor demanded his home phone number "so he could call my wife and 'do her.'"
The seven employees say management did nothing about the incidents. Unable to endure "the racist atmosphere," Ruiz quit the company in January. Spivey is still employed at the yard but says he's looking for a new job.
Victor Winkler, the company's president, declined to discuss the cases in detail. "We're not guilty on any of the counts," he says. Winkler added that the supervisor named by Ruiz has not worked at Metro Metals since February.
BOLI is investigating the complaints, according to agency spokeswoman Janet Whitfield.
--Philip Dawd SCHOOLYARD RUMBLE
Two schools--one public, one private--will duke it out in court next week in a highly unusual turf battle.
In one corner stands the Portland Waldorf School, a 300-student private institution that has outgrown its current location at East Burnside Street and 50th Avenue.
In the other stands the 8,000-student David Douglas School District, stretching from I-205 to Gresham.
At stake is an increasingly rare commodity in Multnomah County: a scrap of ground with the zoning and capacity to hold a new school.
In February, after several years of searching marked by false starts and indecision, the Waldorf School inked a deal to buy 7.5 acres at Southeast 112th Avenue and Market Street from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine for $1.5 million.
Before the deal closed, news of the impending transaction drew the attention of the David Douglas district, whose schools are increasingly crowded by rapid mid-county population growth.
Flush with the proceeds of a $40 million bond measure, David Douglas first attempted to top the Waldorf's school's bid and then, when the transaction closed anyway, announced its intention to "condemn" the land.
Don Stark, the Waldorf School's lawyer, who has practiced condemnation law for 46 years, says it is very rare for one school to condemn another.
Waldorf supporters suspect the district is more interested in real-estate speculation than education.
Lawyers familiar with the case say that Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Ellen Rosenblum (who is married to WW's publisher) will probably rule based on the answer to a seemingly simple question: Do private and public schools serve the same function?
The trial begins June 18. If David Douglas wins, a jury will decide what compensation the Waldorf School will get for its land.
--Nigel Jaquiss
FAZ WATCH WEEK #1
A new weekly feature examining every move made by Congressman Peter DeFazio to determine if it is evidence he will seek the Democratic nomination for governor.TANTALIZING TIDBIT: DeFazio schedules a $35-per-head fundraiser at BridgePort BrewPub in Northwest Portland on June 18. Surely this must mean he is already wooing Oregon's urbanite supporters for a statewide bid.
THE REAL DEAL: Only the uninformed gossipmongers bit on this one. The Faz has been holding this annual fundraiser for the past five years, so it's no proof he's eyeing Mahonia Hall. However, do expect to see a packed house full of progressive partisans there to show him he has a lot of support in the big city.
CRUZ SHELVES MEJIA COMMISSION
Plans for an interagency commission to review the April 1 shooting death of Mexican nursery worker Jose Mejia at the Pacific Gateway Hospital have been quietly pushed to the back shelf, where they are likely to languish indefinitely.
Multnomah County Commissioner Serena Cruz, who was the driving force behind the commission, now says the idea is unworkable because Mejia's family has filed a lawsuit against the city, the hospital and the Providence Crisis Triage Center where Mejia was evaluated.
"It's kind of a Catch-22," Cruz told WW. "The family's lawsuit makes it very difficult to have a commission review these investigations."
Cruz's original proposal, worked out in tandem with movers and shakers in the Latino community, was to conduct a public review into the incident and provide a public forum to question public officials about the policies and screw-ups that led to Mejia's death. But facing a lawsuit, public officials would be extremely guarded in their responses, Cruz says.
Carlos Rivera, the former chair of Police Chief Mark Kroeker's Hispanic Advisory Committee, agrees that the lawsuit poses problems but says he's sorry to see the commission fold. "There's still a lot of anger out there," he told WW.
Cruz is still organizing a "community dialogue" with Mayor Vera Katz, Chief Kroeker and representatives from Tri-Met and the county, to be held at 6:30 pm June 19 at the St. Andrew Church community center, 4940 NE 8th Ave. In addition, Cruz and other parties--including the family's lawyer--say it may be possible to convene a commission after the lawsuit has been adjudicated. --Chris Lydgate
SCOREBOARD
WINNERS LOSERS
1. Hackin' it may get a bit easier in the Rose City. City auditor Gary Blackmer will soon consider implementing a minimum cab fare of seven dollars. That's big bonus for taxi owners, who currently have no
minimum.
2. President Bush rode partway to the rescue of Oregon Steel and other domestic steel producers last week, rattling his (presumably steel) saber against dumping by foreign mills.
2. Local ganja growers were, like, totally blown away Monday when U.S. Supreme Court Dude Tony Scalia ruled in an Oregon drug case that police need to get a warrant before using heat sensors to pinpoint growing operations. Cool!
1. Just two months after being targeted by police union activists, assistant chief Bruce Prunk was demoted last week in a cop-shop shakeup. Some officers have been fuming at Prunk ever since an arbitrator characterized Prunk's statements against another cop as "fiction or fabrication."
2. Judging from an Oregonian investigation into State Superintendent of Public Instruction Stan Bunn's use of state phones and cars, Oregon's top educator needs a lesson on the difference between personal and professional expenditures. His "voluntary" steps to improve accountability didn't fool anyone.
3. Megabucks investors groaned when the state lottery decreased the odds of winning the jackpot from one in 3.5 million to one in 6 million. The bright side: The chance of taking home a $4 prize is now just one in 25, up from one in 328!
ROGUE OF THE WEEK
The Rogue desk is now accepting nominations
buzz@wweek.com
Here at Rogue Central we've heard our share of lame excuses, but among the least plausible to hobble across our desk came from this week's Rogue, REP. WAYNE KRIEGER (R-Gold Beach).
Last Tuesday, Krieger stuffed legislators' mailboxes with an anonymous letter. Dated April 1, 2001, the missive described a fictitious female lawmaker from Colorado who was bound and gagged, stripped to her underwear, tarred and feathered and left next to a Civil War Memorial all night to ponder her crimes against the Constitution. Her offense? Proposing gun-control legislation.
The memo was clearly a slap at Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland) who has led the crusade for stronger gun control laws in Oregon. It is also particularly offensive that the "fantasy" was set in Colorado, land of the Columbine
murders.
When Burdick confronted him, Krieger defended himself by saying that he was merely trying to point out how "extreme" right-wing gun nuts are. Uh-huh. In fact, Krieger, a former Oregon state police officer, has been a solid vote for the National Rifle Association. He also failed to attach any sort of cover letter of explanation.
Krieger made a short and stiff apology on the House floor so lacking in conviction it prompted one female lawmaker to comment, "I've made more profound apologies after flushing the toilet while my husband was in the
shower."
The straight-backed Krieger would not comment to WW about the incident, but Burdick feels somewhat vindicated by the apology.
"It was very hard for him," she says. "It was not an adequate response to the memo that was distributed, but for him it was very hard."
Here at Rogue Central, we've been engaging in a fantasy of a different kind: Wayne, naked but for spurs and a patrolman's hat, lands on our desk with a sickening thud, a copy of the Constitution in one hand and a can of whipped cream in the other. We torment him with staple removers and ball-point pens until he leaps out the window and lands on a streetcar piloted by Charlton Heston in hot pursuit of a band of apes. Not that we condone that sort of thing.
Murmurs
GOSSIPMONGERS, YOUR SHIP HAS COME IN
* Former WW scribe Larry Colton recently sold his latest book, tentatively titled Ordinary Joes, to Crown Books. The book, a nonfiction account of the lives of four World War II submariners, is due out in autumn 2003. It was originally a love story, Colton says, but "they wanted more war than love." Colton received an advance that he'll only say was "six figures."
* Ben Canada's departure isn't enough to solve the Portland teachers union's unhappiness with the school district. Union president Richard Garrett formally requested that PERS review whether the district has made appropriate contributions for newly hired HR boss Steve Goldschmidt and has asked the state Teacher Standards and Practices Commission to review the credentials of Goldschmidt and interim superintendent Jim Scherzinger.
* We doubt it's a job offer: The FBI has been attempting to contact Donald Fontenot of Cascadia Forest Alliance. Fontenot has referred all calls to his attorney, Stu Sugarman, but presumably the feds are calling about the arson fires on the logging trucks in Estacada two weeks ago.
* What congressional aide was literally caught with his pants down last week at Dante's? No it wasn't Gerry Frank, but a much younger (and--no offense to Gerry--buffer) out-of-town U.S. Senate staffer who whipped it out at the naughty first night of Jackie 60.
* Mike Thorne and Tony Meeker made headlines together in the early '90s when Meeker, then state treasurer, oversaw the state's disastrous $50 million PAMCOR investment at PDX, which Thorne ran as Port of Portland's boss. Meeker, a Republican, has now given Thorne $1,000 for his race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
* Ex-PSU football and baseball star Ron Henderson is gone as Portland Family Entertainment's director of sponsorship sales. Word is that he's not the only one who's packed his bags. PFE comptroller Chuck Krauss is also rumored to be out.
* Back to the Future: Maxim magazine has been trolling the side streets of Portland looking for a few folks who sport the '70s look (handlebar mustaches, tight polyester, camel toe) for an upcoming fashion shoot.
WWeek 2015