THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPER • PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COM • PUBLISHED TUESDAY AND THURSDAY Wildfi re leaves smoky trail Estacada residents on alert as 36 Pit Fire grows Pamplin Media Group about 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. resources to assist in battling 13, 10 miles southeast of Es- the fi re. Estacada residents kept a tacada along Highway 224 and Russ Lane with Oregon’s close watch on the 3 6 P it the Clackamas River, spread Department of Forestry, said Fi re that had burned more from nearly 1,000 acres dur- Tuesday that fi re crews had than 3 ,0 0 0 acres early this ing the weekend to 3,588 by not contained the blaze, week, as the state dedicated Tuesday afternoon. On Mon- which was burning on steep more resources to contain day, Gov. J ohn Kitzhaber terrain. The fi re has spread the blaz e. declared the disaster a confl a- The wildfi re that started at gration, allowing state See SMOKE / Page 7 TRIBUNE PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE Daniel Lim and Brian Cort take a selfi e at Rocky Butte Park during a smoke-fi lled sunset over Portland on Monday evening. Poll says residents want jobs, jobs, jobs Business group’s fi ndings show new confi dence in economy By JIM REDDEN The Tribune W illamette V alley resi- dents believe the economy is improving, but still want elected offi cials to focus on creating more j obs — even more than protecting the en- vironment and fi ghting cli- mate change. That does not mean valley residents have shaken off their longstanding liberal leanings, however. They still trust small- business owners more than big business and even the govern- ment. Those are A NEW among the oc- “It’s clear casionally surprising that people fi ndings in a think the new poll com- missioned by economy is the Portland improving, TRIBUNE PHOTOS: JONATHAN HOUSE Business As- RECIPE Oregon Food Bank volunteer Lynn Shaker laughs while helping sort but they’re sociation and apples with other volunteers. Portland Gen- saying eral Electric. don’t take It was re- leased the foot off Oregon Food Wednesday at the gas Bank pushes the PBA’s when it TO FIGHT monthly breakfast comes to for education, forum. job “It’s clear more fresh that people creation.” think the — Sandra produce economy is McDonough, improving, Portland Business HUNGER but they’re Association By JENNIFER ANDERSON more than just immediate sus- sis on the long-term solutions saying don’t The Tribune tenance for families. They rep- toward fi ghting hunger, such take the foot resent not just the “food for to- as by connecting people in off the gas Susannah M organ marvels day,” as she calls it, but the need with classes in gardening when it comes to job cre- at the shiny purple eggplants “food for tomorrow .... the kind and cooking healthy food on a ation,” says Sandra Mc- that hang on the vine, the that “helps get people out of budget. Donough, chief executive offi - bright rows of rainbow the food line.” The rows of beans she plant- cer of the PBA, which repre- chard, beets, tomatoes and Since Morgan assumed her ed are part of the Oregon Food sents Portland businesses. pole beans. post two years ago, the former Bank’s expansive organic “It’s important for us to “I planted those,” she says, head of the Food Bank of Alas- Learning Garden, adjacent to know what our 850,000 custom- admiring the beans. ka has helped shift Oregon’s their warehouse at Northeast Oregon Food Bank CEO Susannah Morgan says hunger is a logistical ers think about these issues. To Morgan, chief executive food bank strategies in two 33rd Drive. (Cooking classes problem that can be solved by getting healthy food to the people who People are feeling more confi - offi cer of the Oregon Food new ways. need it. “There should be no food bank,” she says. “We could turn this dent about the economy, but Bank, the beans represent One is putting equal empha- See HUNGER / Page 2 into a co-op. How about an indoor farmers market? ” See POLL / Page 11 Expert: Find a place to park affordable housing By STEVE LAW at the Portland City Club by an emis- Could Rose City The Tribune sary from San Francisco, who joked gentrifi cation he was sent “back from the future” to I f P ortlanders hope to address warn Portland how to prevent the turn region the area’ s growing housing afford- housing mess now faced by millions of into another ability problem, maybe they Bay Area residents. TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO should get over their aversion to “We certainly think that parking More affordable housing, like these micro apartments in Northwest ex pensive apartments built without parking (or the lack thereof) is a housing af- Portland, could req uire changes in the way the city handles onsite spaces. parking, according to a San Francisco housing ex pert who spoke to the Bay Area? That bitter pill was offered Friday See HOUSING / Page 11 City Club last week. “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune deliver balanced news that refl ects the THE PUCK DROPS HERE stories of our communities. Thank you — SEE SPORTS, PAGE B10 for reading our newspapers.” Inside — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, September 18, 2014 Hunger: Healther food on pantry shelves Charities ■ From page 1 stop accepting food and bev- reap erages that had few nutrients. start next month and gardening That means less soda and classes will begin in February.) junk food, more squash, kale, Feast The food bank’s other new peanut butter and beans. strategy is trying to boost the Looking to the future, amount of fresh produce that Oregon Food advocates say the only way to is distributed to their recipi- Bank forklift eliminate hunger is by tack- proceeds ents — from the current 10 operator Shunda ling its root causes. million pounds (20 percent of Hwang moves a The Oregon Food Bank is their overall donations) to 15 pallet of fi nalizing its legislative agen- Event makes people million pounds (30 percent of groceries in the da for 2015, which will look for donations) in the next fi ve organiz ation’s increased funding for the aware of hunger years. Northeast state’s Homeless Assistance while celebrating food Currently, its “recovered” Portland Fund and Temporary Assis- produce — close to the expira- warehouse. tance to Needy Families By JENNIFER ANDERSON tion date, possibly misshapen TRIBUNE PHOTO: Program. The Tribune but otherwise edible — comes JONATHAN HOUSE “The number of people ac- from regular grocery store cessing emergency food ser- I t might seem ironic at fi rst donations. They also receive hunger with a small h, not and Beaverton, Multnomah and Few, but better, calories vice are on the cusp of losing that in the midst of H unger overfl ow from food banks with a big H. You have to do Washington counties took up Back at the Oregon Food their home or their kids and A ction M onth is F east P ort- in Oregon, Washington and both.” the cause last week by issuing Bank, a staff of 140 and hun- have had circumstances in land, the four-day festival of Idaho. proclamations to recognize the dreds of volunteers buzz their lives” that have led to O regon’ s bounty, involving And in past years there’s Raising awareness month and taking their own “re- around like a mini city. their food insecurity, says chefs and foodies from here been an increasing amount of September is national Hun- pack shifts” — dividing bulk In the repack rooms on a re- Phillip Kennedy-Wong, the and across the U nited States. produce donated by local ger Action Month, a campaign items into smaller bags, to be cent morning, volunteers food bank’s public policy The festival kicks off Thurs- farmers and orchards. organized by the nonprofi t distributed at food pantries scooped a couple of pounds of advocate. day, Sept. 18, with its Sandwich Right about now there’s an Feeding America. The goal is throughout the region. bulk oatmeal into bags and The food bank also will ask Invitational at Director Park. abundance of donated seeded to spotlight the hunger epi- Social media has been a big sorted through bins of apples lawmakers about the state’s Tickets for the event are $95, Hermiston watermelons, since demic and rally people to help part of the campaign (#hunger- to bag the good ones and send commitment to the food bank which includes tastings from 14 the seedless variety are more tackle it. action, #30waysin30days), and the rest as feed to a local farm. system. The Oregon Hunger top local and national chefs, as popular at the store. According to the latest data, many local chefs offer special As pantries place their reg- Response Fund is about $2.7 well as local breweries, wineries Last year the food bank 270,000 people access emer- menu items or collaboration ular orders online, food bank million over two years, Kenne- and distilleries. helped push a new tax incen- gency food boxes each month. dinners to benefi t the food workers retrieve them and dy-Wong says. It’s lot of indulgence, but that’s tive into law that gives Oregon An estimated 92,000 Oregon bank. get them ready at the loading Those funds help offset the exactly why co-founder Carrie farmers a 15 percent tax credit children eat from a food box At Lincoln restaurant on dock for pickup.