Team founder YOUR ONLINE LOCAL Harry Glickman New world view TRAIL BLAZER refl ects on his DAILY NEWS Portland International Film NBA career Festival adds a little love www.portlandtribune.com PortlandSee SPORTS, B8 Tribune— See LIFE, B1 THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2013 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPER • PUBLISHED THURSDAY Cluster ■ Developments on Columbia River levee now deemed safety concerns plan ties parents in knots Many worry changes would water down Chief Joseph success By JENNIFER ANDERSON The Tribune The story time rug in Er- in Quinton’s classroom isn’t big enough to hold all of her students. Some of her 31 second-grad- ers spill onto the bare fl oor or sit in desk chairs behind the group. That’s about six or seven more than what Quinton — a teacher of six years at North Portland’s Chief Joseph Elemen- tary School — considers ideal. “So much is behavior man- agement,” says Quinton, whose teaching career began in Cali- otorists, bicyclists and jog- towers and miles of utility lines. fornia about 30 years ago. With gers enjoying Columbia “Everything’s changed since Ka- 31 students, River views along Marine trina,” says Dave Hendricks, director “we don’t have MDrive may not realize it, of special projects for Multnomah the materials; Levee holds but they’re traveling atop a mound of County Drainage District No. 1. “We want we don’t have sand that’s the main bulwark against “All this stuff is no longer accept- to be part the time. ... I massive fl ooding of North and North- able,” he says, unless engineers can of the don’t dive into east Portland. demonstrate that it won’t compromise solution; we as many rich, The 18.5-mile Co- the levee system. involved proj- lumbia River levee Story by Steve Law The U.S. Army want good ects with back fl ood and related struc- Corps of Engineers, outcomes 30-plus kids. I tures protect $20 Photos by Christopher Onstott which helped build have some re- billion worth of and expand the for all of ally needy property, including 31-mile levee sys- the kids in kids.” Portland International Airport and the tem starting in 1939, wants all en- the Ironically, city’s backup water supply, from croachments evaluated one by one be- Chief Joseph’s of changes deluge up to eight months a year. fore it certifi es the system’s safety. Re- cluster.” class sizes are Now, in response to levee failures in certifi cation is required every 10 years — Kelly Bawden, a product of New Orleans during Hurricane Ka- by the Federal Emergency Manage- Chief Joseph the school’s trina, federal authorities say thou- ment Agency so property owners can success. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says sands of trees, buildings and other qualify for fl ood insurance. It’s also re- Bucket Brigade Six years Marine Drive (above), the bike path structures permitted in past decades quired to retain Army Corps funding of ago, the school (above and below), and thousands of atop the Columbia River levee pose levee repairs. was under-en- trees, utility poles and even buildings safety concerns — and may need to be “Since Katrina, the Army Corps has rolled and needed to grow, by erected on the Columbia River levee removed or altered. rewritten the rules, or moved the goal- the district’s enrollment stan- pose safety concerns and may need to The so-called levee encroachments post,” says Tim Warren, a Clackamas dards. Coincidentally, a wave of be removed — unless local offi cials include Marine Drive, hundreds of pri- developer and president of the Mult- young parents moved into the and engineers can demonstrate they vately owned condos and other build- gentrifying Arbor Lodge neigh- won’t compromise levee safety. ings, 4,000 trees, BPA transmission See LEVEE / Page 2 borhood, determined to send their children to their neighbor- hood school. Enter Joe Galati, a gregarious fourth-generation teacher born and raised in North Portland, whose father principal at Roos- evelt High School and mother taught at Woodlawn. After teaching at schools in North and Northeast Portland for 11 years, Galati came to Chief Joe five years ago, creating a positive energy with initiatives like his student-written “Friday Flier” newsletter and his highly visible presence in the building. He created a buzz around the school and bolstered it with a $20,000 foundation grant for a study hall, literacy night, teach- er training and family engage- Oxman saved lives behind the scenes ment. He and his staff also brought in University of Port- land students as tutors. Clackamas counties. sioners declared Jan. 17 Gary offi cer. “In the heat of the mo- As the school became attrac- County health offi cer “People make decisions Oxman Day, recognizing that ment, people don’t like his con- tive to other area families, Gala- about risk all the time,” says Dr. Oxman may have done more to sidering too many viewpoints.” ti welcomed transfers, taking in faced tough decisions Gary Oxman, the tri-county save lives and improve the Lewis recalls a time in 2000, 176 students in the past five with honest approach public health offi cer. health of Portland-area people when West Nile virus had start- years. Ten percent are from Oxman should know. The than just about anybody. ed weaving its path from the other Jefferson area schools; 17 By PETER KORN 60-year-old physician is retiring Few outside public health East Coast toward the west. It percent are from elsewhere in The Tribune this week after 28 years on the circles know Oxman, but those had been years since mosqui- the district. job. who run medical clinics for the toes had transmitted some- Last year the school lost out Motorcyclists are 26 times Oxman was a family physi- uninsured, or heroin needle ex- thing as deadly as a brain dis- on its federal Title 1 funds when more likely to die in a crash cian when he joined Mult- changes, or vaccination pro- ease, according to Lewis. the district changed the thresh- than car drivers. So strad- nomah County in 1984. He be- grams hail Oxman as a public Oxman’s job as public health old from 40 percent to 60 per- TRIBUNE PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT dling a 650 cc BSA is about came the county’s health offi cer offi cial — forget the motorcycle offi cer was to coordinate prepa- cent. Chief Joseph’s is now at 48 Family physician turned public the last place you might ex- three years later. In 2006, he for a moment — who leads by rations among local agencies percent. health offi cer Gary Oxman is used pect to see the man charged was named the tri-county example. and medical providers to battle This past fall Chief Joseph to weighing risk in his job and on with watching out for the health offi cer for the Portland “He’s been accused of being the virus. Lewis says there the road, where he occasionally health of everybody in Mult- area. overly ethical,” says Paul Lew- See SCHOOL / Page 4 rides a motorcycle. nomah, Washington and Multnomah County commis- is, the tri-county deputy health See OXMAN / Page 5 “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune Audit: Improve use of ■ Portland city auditors on Wednesday issued another in a series of critical audits of city deliver balanced news that refl ects the transportation funds transportation spending, noting that transportation spending has been rising in recent years stories of our communities. Thank you Online while spending on basic road maintenance has fallen. Search: Audits for reading our newspapers.” — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR .com Buying Or Selling A Car Just IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Got A Whole Lot Easier! PortlandTribune.com/Wheels 418960.013013 A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, January 31, 2013 Levee: Recertifi cation squeezes local districts ■ the Columbia River, stretching From page 1 from North Portland to Trout- Anatomy of Columbia River levee system dale. nomah County Drainage Dis- It’s unclear who’ll pay for all Roughly three feet of fi ll above the highest recorded fl ood elevation Overbuild: Historically, trict board of supervisors. “You the projects required. “We don’t (formerly called freeboard) provides added security to accommodate more development was go from being Grade A to non- even have the $2 million,” War- the uncertainty of water fl ow and waves. The U.S. Army Corps of permitted here, but the compliance.” ren says. Engineers permitted the construction of Marine Drive, trees and other Corps is now imposing A simple stop sign on Marine The costs likely can’t be borne developments in this zone for decades, but now those are considered stricter limitations. Drive, though permitted origi- entirely by property owners, encroachments that must be removed, unless engineers can make nally by the Army Corps, now is Wagner says, so the district may fi xes or demonstrate they won't weaken the levee. viewed as an encroachment that turn to local governments and may allow water to penetrate taxpayers. the levee, he says. Total cost of the levee certifi - A fl ood of complications Height of 1894 fl ood, the cation process is unknown, but Nobody disputes that the le- highest in recorded history. it fi gures to be in the tens of mil- vee must be safe, and that regu- lions of dollars. Reed Wagner, lators must adapt to changing executive director of the drain- scientifi c knowledge. Levee enbankment age district, says it could cost $2 “If not for that levee, most of million just to evaluate what this area would be under water needs to be done.