Pools and pucks YOUR ONLINE LOCAL Duck downfall? International sport Everything appears to be makes a splash DAILY NEWS in place — or is it? — See LIFE, B1 www.portlandtribune.com — See SPORTS, B8 Portlandthursday, august 23, 2012 • twice chosen the nation’s best nondaily paperTribune • www.portlandtribune.com • published thursday ■ Write Around Portland gives inmates an outlet without bars Biotech institute hits rough patch Incubator is a rare bright spot for OTRADI’s prospects By PETER KORN The Tribune State officials will decide in the next month whether to continue funding the Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute in Portland, a tough call just two months after the insti- tute’s director abruptly re- signed, and its ability to pro- duce local biotech jobs has been less than stellar. The Ore- gon Innova- “It’s tion Council, difficult to an arm of impossible Business Ore- gon, is consid- to justify ering a two- spending year, $2 mil- lion funding money to request for build out OTRADI. The space that funding deci- sion could be you will affected by hopefully recent devel- Freedom on paper opments at outgrow in tions to written the institute, a few STORY BY STEVE LAW words of their peers, “I write including an would delight a col- audit that years.” Photos by Christopher Onstott lege writing instruc- every day found OTRA- — Jennifer Fox, tor. But these are no now — DI’s ability to OTRADI interim ordinary students. generate rev- director en men clad in pink T- They are inmates at every day. enue was lag- shirts and rubbery sandals Multnomah County’s It’s almost ging. sit around an oblong table, Inverness Jail, in a way of Since Oregon Health & Sci- Ta torrent of words flowing week seven of a ence University President Peter from their pens onto pads of paper. 10-week class of- breathing Kohler declared a decade ago Inspired by a series of photos dis- fered by nonprofit now.” that public investment in bio- played by volunteer Graham Mur- Write Around Port- tech could yield 10,000 to 20,000 taugh, the men waste little time, land. — Clifford jobs, Portland officials have with no sign of fidgeting, clock- Sometimes Mur- Jackson, been tantalized by the idea of an watching or writers’ block. taugh, the class fa- Inverness Jail economic base founded on com- “I ask you to come, but you never cilitator, gives the inmate panies developing new drugs will,” writes Clifford Jackson, look- men five minutes to and medical devices. In recent ing at a photo of a cat. “I wonder write, using magazine cutouts and years, OTRADI has been one of where you will go.” photos as prompts. Sometimes he the centerpieces of the plan to “The sun is setting as low as my gives them only 30 seconds, such as jump-start that industry, but its eyelids . the edge of the road came an exercise requiring them to lead return on a $10 million state in- up to meet me,” pens another man, Alberto Baltazar Moreno (above) is one of 10 Inverness Jail inmates enrolled in with “In the blink of an eye.” vestment so far has been mixed. triggered by an image of a pickup a creative writing class sponsored by Write Around Portland, a nonprofit that In half a minute, one inmate writes: OTRADI was set up by the truck. offers such classes in corrections facilities and other nontraditional settings Oregon Innovation Council in Their focus, and respectful reac- where people feel some sense of isolation. See JAILS / Page 2 2007 as a private nonprofit, and See OTRADI / Page 4 ThisWeek School bond Online Data center resurrected in Local stories that you campaign drives read about first at downtown’s Brewery Blocks www.portlandtribune.com home point for Company’s Pearl District ■ NEWS — Fluoridation venture could signal new hearing announced — supporters Majority of City Council al- life in dot-com industry ready supportive before first ■ Effort to By JENNIFER ANDERSON public testimony on Sept. 6. By JIM REDDEN The Tribune (Posted Tuesday, Aug. 21) The Tribune reach voters Search: Fluoridation. focuses on Franklin High School’s ■ Police release video of The national economy is still inspiration, cafeteria is a lunchroom officer-involved shooting dragging. Oregon’s unemployment monitor’s worst nightmare: — Video posted at portland- rate is up to 8.7 percent. And the not the U-shaped design (oddly tribune.com shows fatal Portland housing market is slump- traditional built around the brick- confrontation with Billy ing again. walled kitchen) makes it im- Simms. (Posted Tuesday, But Eric Hulbert sounds like the dot- politics possible to supervise all stu- Aug. 21) Search: Simms. com boom is beginning all over again. dents at once. Hulbert is chief executive officer of That’s just one of the chal- ■ FEATURES — 2012 Jag- Opus Interactive, a data center looking lenges of the 1950s-era space uar XF review — Past and for new clients. He is leasing space for that staff and students have present balanced in mid- search engine, social media and other been living with for decades. size luxury performance Internet-reliant telecommunication TRIBUNE PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE The cafeteria seats just 350 stu- package. (Posted Thursday, companies. Opus Interactive CEO Eric Hulbert in the main power room in his growing downtown dents, forcing the bulk of Aug. 16) Search: Jaguar. “The economy is picking up and data center that will eventually consume enough electricity to power 150,000 Franklin’s 1,500 students to businesses are deciding that if they homes. take their lunch in the hall- ■ SPORTS — Mika want to grow with it, they need to ways. Miyazato finishes run to make some decisions now about who is mand for data centers is growing. The in Central Oregon. And three new data Entry into the space is also her first title — Japanese providing services for them — their Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 16 centers are in the works in Hillsboro. tricky: a recently added wheel- golfer breaks through with own in-house IT (information technol- that the Silicon Valley and other tech But Hulbert’s facilities are in down- chair ramp can only be ac- win at LPGA Safeway Clas- ogy) departments, which are expen- centers in California are booming town Portland, on the third and fourth cessed from the outside of the sic. (Posted Sunday, Aug. sive, or someone like us, who can do again. Big companies like Apple, floors of a building in the Brewery building, even in the rain. Be- 19) Search: Safeway. the same thing for less,” Hulbert said. Google and Facebook are in the news Hulbert is not alone is saying the de- for planning additional large facilities See DATA / Page 10 See SCHOOL / Page 5 A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, August 23, 2012 Jails: Program offers skills of expression n From page 1 “In the blink of an eye, it can all go bye-bye. What happened to me, I couldn’t foresee.” Jackson, a 46-year-old from Northeast Portland, says he al- ways thought of himself as a horrible writer, and rarely took the time to read or write. “I write every day now — ev- ery day,” he says. “It’s almost a way of breathing now.” Jackson says he’s such a big believer in Write Around Port- land that he promises to volun- teer for the program in some fashion when he gets out of jail in 145 days. Founded in 1999, Write Around Portland offers similar writing classes in a variety of settings: youth, women’s and adult correctional facilities; apartment complexes for se- niors, disabled people and “A lot of those transi- tioning out of this writing homelessness; is like after-school programs in getting low-income naked in neighbor- hoods, pro- front of grams for trou- these bled youth; guys,” and hospitals. Generally they — clifford are places Jackson, where people inverness Jail are experienc- inmate ing some form of isolation, says Robyn Steely, executive di- triBUne PHoto: cHristoPHer onstott rector of the small nonprofit. inmate clifford Jackson uses a photo prompt of a cat as inspiration during a writing exercise at inverness Jail. Jackson says he’s written every day since taking the class, and Some people find it thera- intends to volunteer for write Around Portland when he gets released from jail. peutic, Steely says. Others find it’s a valuable creative outlet or helps them communicate. gram to share his love of writ- Many say it’s a life-changing ing. “They’re giving voice to Find out more experience. people who may not believe n Participants in Write Around they have voices,” he says. Portland classes will read from simple yet powerful Every day, Jackson does 1,500 their latest works at a public read- Write Around Portland uses to 2,000 pushups, runs for a half- ing on Wednesday, Aug. 29, from a traditional free-writing model hour and writes in what he calls 6:30 to 8 p.m., at the First United that relies on prompts to stimu- his spiritual journal. From 6:30 Methodist Church, 1838 S.W. late writing, and short time to 10 p.m., when most inmates Jefferson St. n frames. There are no grades, no are watching movies, he reads. The event is free and open to the public. tests, no formal lessons about So far at Inverness, he’s read n Write Around Portland will run-on sentences or similes and about 50 books. He’s into novel- release its latest anthology at the metaphors. ist John Steinbeck. event. Copies also may be pur- “The idea is to keep the pen chased at Portland independent moving,” Steely says, “and go Life stories bookstores.