For Rape Victims – a Light in Darkness
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BIG MAN, little playing time — SEE SPORTS, B8 PortlandTHURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPERTribune • PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COM • PUBLISHED TUESDAY AND THURSDAY Bike envoy gears up for fun Film festival, other events lighten up city’s bike culture By JENNIF ER ANDERSON The Tribune There used to be a time when cyclists in Portland would whoop and holler dur- ing videos of other cyclists blowing past stop signs, weaving in and out of “I feel like traffi c and disobeying we’re the rules of capturing the road. Not any- an more, says important Ayleen Crotty, FOR RAPE VICTIMS – time in bike a self-pro- history in claimed “bike culturalist” Susan Lehman, a Portland who’s pro- Portland Police Bureau duced dozens advocate for sex assault and the of bike-themed A LIGHT IN DARKNESS victims, talks with a events, rides U.S.” former homeless woman and festivals — Ayleen Crotty who has been victimiz ed in Portland since 2002. several times on the “We don’t do that here,” ■ Police Bureau advocate Susan Lehman helps sex streets. Crotty says. “We share the road. It’s actually how we’re living, staying alive, getting assault victims recover from crisis around to our friends’ houses, school and work. Nowadays we Homeless, mentally don’t have that in Portland, and we don’t need it.” here are days, more than a few, That’s not to say that the when Susan Lehman feels, if not Story by Peter Korn bike-obsessed in Portland take torn, at least tugged by the pos- Photos by Jaime Valdez ill most vulnerable their cycling too seriously. T sibility of what could be done. To the contrary, 38-year-old Lehman works as a Portland Police Bu- Crotty, who lives in Woodlawn, reau sex abuse victim advocate. Her job “I have thought to myself, I would like For many women on street, rape has made it her mission to is to help women who have been raped. to get this bad guy off the street,” Lehman make Portland’s bike culture as On the job, she is as like- says. is fact of life, goes unreported fun and quirky as possible. ly to hug a teenage girl Lehman is one of two victim advocates While advocates lobby for who has been sexually hired fi ve years ago by the Portland Police By PETER K ORN how she knew the man. He more bike infrastructure and TRIB abused as she is to spend Bureau after a 2007 city audit determined The Tribune had raped her just a few funding and entrepreneurs an entire afternoon lining that Portland had a remarkably low rate blocks away. come up with new cyclist- SERIES up shelter for a victim who of conviction in sexual assault cases. Too Kim was walking in Old Kim (not her real name), friendly innovations, Crotty has is homeless. At night, she many victimized women, the audit noted, Town recently when a man says she hardly reacted to the FIRST OF came up and gave her a big found her niche. TWO PARTS occasionally fi nds herself were not coming forward to work with po- hug. What could she do? After “I stay focused on the fun and in tears, having success- lice, and not following through to testify bear hug before stepping the rape she had felt the same flair, and leave the advocacy fully maintained the pro- after their assailant was arrested. back and continuing on his sense of impotence. Convinced and politics to others,” she fessional barriers her job requires, saving It was hoped that advocates working way. Later, Kim, a tiny sprite nothing would be done to the says. emotional reaction for her private time. with assaulted women might help prose- of a woman who has been man, she had not bothered to Working as a photographer And sometimes, in her private moments, cutors achieve a higher conviction rate, as homeless on and off in Old and event marketer by day, Lehman gives way to the feelings she is Town for years, explained See HOMELESS / Page 2 Crotty has founded many of not allowed to voice on the job. See RAPE / Page 2 See BIK E / Page 13 Can F rancesconi be the comeback kid? After failed mayoral might well wonder which Fran- cesconi will show up to run the “I represented a lot bid, politico seeks county if he wins. Will it be the activist Catholic of workers. Most trial county chair post committed to workers, the poor lawyers don’t represent and dispossessed? Or will it be By STEVE LAW the friend of Portland’s business them because it’s not The Tribune elite known to some as the “$1 lucrative.” million man?” When Jim Francesconi fi rst Right out the gate in this race, — Jim F rancesconi ran for Portland City Council Francesconi adopted a message F ormer City in 1996, he was the social jus- sounding like his old self, saying TRIBUNE PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE Commissioner F ilmed by Bike founder Ayleen tice-minded community orga- the rising gap between rich and youth and others, working out of nizer, the friend to the injured poor is the key issue of our time. Jim F rancisconi St. Andrew Catholic Church on Crotty launched the iconic event is tackling social in Portland 12 years ago. The worker and disad- “We’re leaving a Northeast Alberta Street and vantaged, the out- lot of people behind,” issues head- on Eighth Avenue. Francesconi four- day festival kicks off April 19 sider pounding on Francesconi told in his campaign met his wife and lifelong partner at the Clinton Street Theater. the doors of City community leaders to be the nex t in the Jesuit program, and Hall. in Gresham’s Rock- Multnomah joined the St. Andrew congrega- But after eight wood neighborhood County chair. tion, where he remains an active years on the City at a recent roundta- PAMPLIN MEDIA member. Council, Francesco- ble discussion. “We GROUP: JIM CLARK Years later, Francesconi’s Ca- ni’s political career fi zzled after need to talk about the fact that run for offi ce again, fi nally re- student at St. Bernard’s High tholicism factored into the 2004 he cozied-up to downtown busi- poverty’s almost doubled in the laxed that stance, Francesconi School, Francesconi was the mayor’s race, when he came out ness leaders, raising an unprec- last 11 years in the county.” says. “I think she realizes that fi rst from the Catholic school to in favor of civil unions for same- edented $1 million in an unsuc- Francesconi’s failed bid for public service is who I am.” attend Stanford University. sex couples, but not gay mar- cessful bid for mayor. mayor led to some deep soul- Francesconi, 61, likes to de- Francesconi identified with riage. That same year, Demo- A decade after that embar- searching, he says. “It made me scribe himself as “100 percent the ascendant liberal wing of cratic standard-bearer John rassing defeat, Francesconi wiser and stronger and clearer Catholic, 100 percent Italian.” He the 1960s-era Catholic Church, Kerry, a Catholic running for is back seeking the Multnomah about what I care about.” grew up in Eureka, Calif., a mod- inspired by Robert Kennedy, president, staked out the same County chair post, one of two As his decades-long record of est lumber and fi shing town not Dorothy Day and the anti-war position. main contenders along with for- community activism attests, far from the Oregon border, Berrigan brothers. After Stan- But that was a year when mer county commissioner Francesconi has never been close to his extended family. His ford, he moved to Portland to some local governments, includ- and state lawmaker Deborah content to just practice law and dad tended bar and his mom join the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. ing Multnomah and Benton Kafoury. retreat to private life. His wife, was a bank teller, and his grand- His assignment: recreation Multnomah County voters who initially didn’t want him to parents lived next door. A star work with inner-city black See F RANCESCONI / Page 14 “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune SOUL’D OUT deliver balanced news that refl ects the stories of our communities. Thank you MUSIC FESTIVAL for reading our newspapers.” Inside — SEE LIFE, PAGE B1 — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, April 10, 2014 Rape: Jane Doe kit allows anonymous report ■ From page 1 Out of every 100 rapes: 40 are reported to police more victims learned to trust 10 lead to an arrest the criminal justice system. 8 get prosecuted Lehman knows this. But she 4 lead to a felony conviction also knows that her fi rst loyalty 3 rapists will spend time in prison is to the women (and very oc- Data: Rape Abuse & Incest casionally men) she tries to National Network help after they have been as- saulted. Which is why during the daytime she so often has to only the emergency depart- keep her thoughts about what ment at Oregon Health and Sci- she’d like to happen to the bad ence University could do so. guys to herself. And victim advocates such as Nationally, only a small per- Lehman are available to vic- centage of victimized women tims when they report rapes or — estimated at less than 1 in 10 when they are interviewed by — brave the full process that detectives. leads to a conviction. Lehman These changes have been oc- could, if she were of a mind to, curring nationally as well.