LIVES on the LINE New Home, Room to Grow ACCESS Enrollment a Turning Point for Many PPS Students
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DiningDi guide YOUR ONLINE LOCAL Getting better ThisThis year’s Entree section DAILY NEWS Indiana GM Kevin Pritchard fi ndsnd best doughnut, open fi re www.portlandtribune.com likes Pacers’ position Portland— Special section Inside Tribune— See SPORTS, B8 THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2013 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPER • WWW.PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COM • PUBLISHED THURSDAY Reservoir plan ignites new PUD fi ght measure petition drive. reservoirs,” according to a let- will be launched in coming Petition drive aims A majority of the council ter released on June 3 and weeks to create an independent to end council control announced Monday that next signed by every council mem- elected people’s utility district year’s budget will include ber except Commissioner to take away control of the Wa- of Water Bureau funds to replace the city’s fi ve Amanda Fritz. ter Bureau from the council. Construction is open-water storage reservoirs Still to be decided and funded Craford said the project and well underway By JIM REDDEN with underground tanks. The are the follow-up renovation related rate increases are not on the $138 The Tribune Water Bureau estimates the plans for Mt. Tabor and Wash- needed. million project will cost almost $300 ington parks, where the exist- “The only way for the public underground In a development similar million and require rates to be ing reservoirs will be taken off to gain control of the Water Bu- storage to the recent fl uoridation increased in the future to pay line. There are no cost esti- reau is to take it from the politi- reservoir on fi ght, the Portland City Coun- for it. mates yet. cians in City Hall,” Craford Powell Butte in cil’s decision to proceed with “In approving the 2013-14 In response, Kent Craford of said. Southeast the open-reservoir replace- budget, we will continue mov- the Portland Water Users Coali- Craford said he is in discus- Portland. ment project has prompted ing forward on a multiyear plan tion told the Portland Tribune TRIBUNE PHOTO: opponents to launch a ballot for Portland’s drinking water that an initiative petition drive See RESERVOIR / Page 8 JONATHAN HOUSE Program for gifted gets LIVES ON THE LINE new home, room to grow ACCESS enrollment a turning point for many PPS students By JENNIFER ANDERSON The Tribune One of Portland Public Schools’ most pop- ular programs can fi nally open up its doors — just a crack — to meet demand. ACCESS, the small but sought-after program for the top 1 percent of students, will be able to grow a bit by relocating this fall to Rose City Park School, three miles east. ACCESS has been co-located at Sabin K-8 School in Northeast Portland since its inception in 2004, serving grades one through eight. But the rapid growth of both ACCESS and Sa- bin has forced ACCESS to turn away several dozen students each year. There were 190 applicants for the coming school year, but the school was able to enroll just 80. Many of those slots go to siblings of cur- rent students, so new families receive even less access. A Tribune story in March wrote about the community’s disappointment that the Jefferson cluster enrollment rebalancing process this TRIBUNE PHOTOS: JAIME VALDEZ spring left ACCESS out in the cold. Curt Erickson, a senior dispatcher for the city of Portland, and emergency communications supervisor Jacquie Carson (below) answer emergency Now, however, PPS offi cials have announced calls at the 9-1-1 center. that occupying Rose City Park will allow ACCESS to increase “The as enrollment from 218 stu- ■ dents to about 250, and the fol- Portland spends a lot on medical calls, but it pays off research lowing year, ACCESS could shows that grow to 300 to 320 students. By STEVE LAW Residents who have observed Parents say they’re grateful The Tribune this scene decry it as a waste of highly the district is committed to a resources, and they’re not the gifted modest growth plan, even if it ver see this spectacle in only ones. students falls short of the promise they your neighborhood? An outside consultant took said they were given at the A fire engine races the Portland Fire & Rescue to whose school’s startup: that ACCESS Edown the task a year and a needs are would grow to 336 students by street with horn half ago, saying it the 2005-06 school year. blaring, trailed by TribSeries was the only fire not met are “It’s distressing to spend a lot an ambulance with bureau among its at risk for of time and energy fi lling out siren roaring and SECOND OF TWO STORIES peers that sends a an application, which includes lights flashing. full fi re engine and depression my son in the process since he Four Portland fi refi ghters and ambulance — staffed by six fi re- and has to write his own statement, two ambulance paramedics fighters and paramedics — to worse.” and gathering test scores and jump out and race into a nearby every 9-1-1 call. The Fire Bureau letters, only to be wait-listed home or building, only to depart also is getting political heat from — From letter two years in a row,” says Miri- quietly minutes later when the Mayor Charlie Hales and City written by parent am Zellnik, a Northeast Port- “emergency” turns out to be no of ACCESS student land parent who’s been trying big deal. See AMBULANCE / Page 2 to get her son into ACCESS. Zellnik says she’s talked with other PPS parents in similar situations, frus- trated because they feel their children aren’t getting the education they deserve. “TAG (Talented and Gifted) services at neigh- borhood schools are patchwork and, in some Kenton neighbors build a strong foundation cases, nonexistent,” she says. “In the years since it was started, it looks from the outside ■ With help By PETER KORN Shop owners, independent like ACCESS has turned into a wonderful school of business The Tribune tradespeople and residents in for highly gifted children, a place where they the area have been pitching in are challenged and their special educational group, The front windows of the to help Triple Crown’s husband- needs are met.” market gets Triple Crown Market in Ken- and-wife owners, Asfaw Yet the fact that so many are being turned ton are plastered with post- Chaneyalew and Muluken away — and will continue to be turned away, new look, ers for Pabst Aymierw, improve she says, “is a shame.” clientele Blue Ribbon, their store. On a The alternative PPS program is open to all Coors Light and TribTown Sunday afternoon in eligible students in the district: those who score cheap ciga- January, about 20 in the top percentile and are able to demon- rettes. Which, in NORTHEAST volunteers helped strate on their enrollment application that their most cases, renovate the interior needs aren’t being met at their school. would label the of the market, mov- Parents have been on a quest to fi nd a new market as precisely the type ing Cheerios and pasta toward home for ACCESS for several years now. They of convenience store many the front of the store, where say the program would be more cost-effi cient if North and Northeast Port- cigarettes, beer and candy pre- it scales up responsibly. land neighborhoods have viously had dominated. They They fi lled a binder with heartfelt letters to been trying to eject. added shelves so the store can the district about how ACCESS has fi lled the But in Kenton, the neighbors stock more everyday items TRIBUNE PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE are taking a different approach. Asfaw Chaneyalew, owner of Triple Crown Market, restocks water into See ACCESS / Page 5 See KENTON / Page 8 a cooler at the store’s Kenton neighborhood location. “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune We want your ■ Are you going to Saturday’s Grand Floral Parade? Please send us your parade photos and the deliver balanced news that refl ects the Grand Floral Tribune could include them in a slideshow on our website. Send photos as Saturday to tribnews@ stories of our communities. Thank you Online portlandtribune.com. We look forward to seeing your street-level view of our annual event. for reading our newspapers.” Parade photos — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, June 6, 2013 Ambulance: 9-1-1 priorities key to saving lives ■ From page 1 in town. Cost savings debated Commissioner Dan Saltzman — Lt. Mike Wight, a fi refi ghter the newly appointed fi re com- and paramedic with Portland missioner — who are pressing Fire & Rescue, says it takes a it to use more two-person crews lot of teamwork to effectively driving SUVs for lower-level resuscitate someone during a medical calls, instead of four- medical trauma. person fi re engines. “Two people can’t do that,” But before bashing the Fire Wight says. “Four people have Bureau, critics might want to a very hard time doing it.” talk to Dr. Jon Jui. Critics who think it’s overdo- Jui, the medical director for ing it to send six people to as- Multnomah County’s emergen- sist someone with a possible cy medical services system, heart attack should see what a sets the medical-response stan- hospital is like when that same dards used by 9-1-1 dispatchers patient is brought in, Wight as well as city fi refi ghters and says. “They likely have a dozen ambulance paramedics.