Slabtown Fest Highlights Baseball Lore and Legend Slabtown Fest Highlights Baseball Lore and Legend
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SEPTEMBER 09 VOLUME 24, ISSUE 1 FREE Serving Portland’s Northwest Neighborhoods since 1986 TMH I ILLS Slabtown Fest highlights baseball lore and legend By Tim Hills Historian, McMenamins Pubs t’s the dog days of summer, perennially the excit- ing final stretch of the professional baseball sea- son. Pennant races heat up and spoilers step in. In Portland, though, instead of cheers for the home team, most of the noise lately is about pos- Isibly saying goodbye to the home team. There may be cloudy days ahead, but let’s leave behind the distasteful business and politics of today and spend an afternoon reliving and reveling in the days when Port- land was indisputably a baseball town, the players weren’t franchises unto themselves and games were played in the gritty, tinder box of a park at Northwest 24th Avenue and Vaughn Street. Bob Olsen points to himself as the boy kneeling to get a peek at a Beavers game in the famous 1948 photograph. The photo was “Big-League Baseball in Slabtown,” an exhibit and actually staged by an Oregon Journal photographer, and there was speaking presentation, is the historical focus of this year’s no game on the other side of the fence. Slabtown Community Festival. This third annual running of the event is Saturday, Sept. 19, noon-6 p.m. at the Con- way lot at Northwest 23rd and Savier. Launched in 2007, the festival celebrates the past, present and future of the neighborhood radiating from Continued on page 12 E Sxamining E CO’s ‘no harm’ claims Environmental reporter finds gaps, discrepancies in public record inside By Paul Koberstein as a ‘minor’ source of hazardous pollut- What, exactly, is in the air? ants.” For years, ESCO’s neighbors have dis- Carter Webb, manager of safety and Most Portlanders lament the fact that played lawn signs asking, “What’s in the environment for ESCO, the corporation on days when the sky is cloud-free, the air?” For an answer, they could turn to a that owns two steel foundries at the north- customary view of Mount Hood and the confusing array of state, federal and private ern edge of the Northwest neighborhood, other Cascade peaks is becoming increas- reports that when combined list 67 differ- acknowledges that his company’s air emis- ingly hazy. We chalk this up to automo- ent toxins that are or have been released sions have created some enemies as well as bile-induced smog, which is certainly a to the air by ESCO, including seven toxic some alleged misery among its neighbors. major contributor, but are mostly unaware heavy metals on the EPA’s list of the eight “We’re the focus of concern and frustra- of the large number of other toxic con- most dangerous metals released to the tion for some of our neighbors,” he said at taminants that mix with the more obvious urban environment. Oregon Department a legislative workgroup hearing in August automobile exhaust. An EPA database has of Environmental Quality lists 46 differ- at Port of Portland offices in Old Town. identified Portland as a hot spot for the ent toxic substances in ESCO’s pollution. Neighborhood Food & “We will not ignore that.” toxics in its air. The federal Environmental Protection Beverage Guide But Webb perceives the criticism as In cities across the country, the EPA Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory lists 15 PAG E 18 unfair. “We look at the monitoring data has identified more than 600 compounds different toxic substances coming out of and we are very confident that ESCO is in air pollution that threaten public health, two ESCO plants, including seven toxics Free steak dinners not causing risk to anyone in the neigh- including many that are heavy metals, such that are not on the DEQ’s list. Fourteen if you can’t find a parking spot borhood. In fact, EPA categorizes ESCO as lead. Continued on page 8 PAGE 34 ID-CENTURY ONE-LEVEL EASTMORELAND M SLEEK 2935 SE Rex Street Sunshine in the courtyard, south light in the front yard and big walls of windows in the living room make this 1952 one-level ranch a sunny spot for easy living. 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MLS# 9012186 THE DAN VOLKMER TEAM DAN VOLKMER PRINCIPAL BROKER BURDEAN BARTLEM, KISHRA OTT & ANNE YOO, BROKERS WALTER AND TED, TOO. For your real estate needs in the Northwest neighborhood. Call us to find out your property’s top market value. 503-497-5158 www.danvolkmer.com Anne, Burdean, Kishra, Dan, Walter & Ted 2 Northwest Examiner SEPTEMBER 2009 Letters can be sent to By Allan Classen [email protected] or 2825 NW Upshur St., Ste. C, Portland, OR 97210. Editor’sEditor & Publisher Turn readerLetters should be 300 words or fewer; include areply name and a street of residence. Deadline third Saturday of the month. Exposure helps We obtained a judgment by default from the court against Gold’s Gym for the $1,300 they stole from us. Now comes the arduous task of getting the money. Gym scams like this are criminal. I will be contacting the lawyer you mentioned in the article about the class-action suit against LA Fitness. Thanks for all you have done to expose these gyms and their crimes. Can we vote no on Christina Unzicker NW Everett St. Take cars off 23rd health care? Having read both the July and August issues, let me just tie some current topics Some Pearl neighbors are putting and “saw 920 patients, made 500 pairs of together in a condensed fashion: together a series of forums on the national glasses, did 94 mammograms, extracted It is hypocritical for the Examiner to take ESCO to task for its polluting nature health-care debate. They have no pre- 1,066 teeth and did 567 fillings.” st yet not address the growing problem of toxic-fuming traffic jams on both 21 and sumed conclusions or special stake in the rd Some drove hundreds of miles and 23 avenues, which correlate to the ever-increasing congestion on side streets as issue; they just want to learn and engage waited in line for their only chance to drivers serpentine looking for parking spaces that don’t exist. Please don’t bore me in dialogue with people who share their have serious pains, tumors and other con- with the ongoing answer: “Well, jeez, we’re trying to build a parking garage!” That commitment to citizenship. ditions looked at—all by volunteer doctors is not the only answer to the carbon monoxide poisoning that is tainting the latte- I’m sure they have also found the angry, and nurses.