Happy New Year! 2020 Established in 1970 PO QR code ‘City of www.portlandobserver.com Volume XLVIV • Number 1 Roses’ Wednesday • January 1, 2020 Committed to Cultural Diversity Chief Outlaw Leaving; Deputy Promoted Danielle Outlaw will become police commissioner in Philadelphia. Jami Resch is appointed Portland’s new police chief. ago from the Oakland Police Department dence in the Portland Police Bureau. He the fact that the members of the bureau are Year begins with in California. During her tenure here, she said under her leadership, the bureau not only extremely talented, compassionate challenged the city and law enforcement to formalized the use of the Incident Com- and professional, they are also resilient and change in police address racial inequities and now becomes mand System model for critical incidents accountable to themselves, each other and to the police chief of the fourth largest police and crowd management, and implement- the community,” Outlaw said. bureau leadership department in the nation, with more than ed crime strategies tailored to each pre- “I leave knowing the Bureau will remain BY MICHAEL LEIGHTON 6,500 sworn and 800 civilian members. cinct that have effectively reduced crimes committed to community safety while PORTLAND OBSERVER EDITOR “I’d like to congratulate Chief Outlaw against persons, property and society. building trust. It has been an honor and Danielle Outlaw, the first African Amer- for landing a once-in-a-lifetime opportuni- Outlaw praised Mayor Wheeler for a privilege to serve as Portland’s Police ican woman to lead the Portland Police ty,” Mayor Wheeler said Monday in a news placing his confidence in her during the Chief, serving alongside the members of Bureau, has accepted a new job to lead the release. “We thank her for her service to two years she served in Portland. the Bureau and partnering with countless, Philadelphia police department, and Jami the city of Portland and the Portland Police “For police chiefs, I don’t think there is remarkable individuals within Portland’s Resch, Outlaw’s recently named deputy Bureau where she helped make a positive ever an ideal time to transition on to our next community. I will forever be appreciative police chief, will be promoted to become difference. She came to Portland exceed- role in life. However, I am making this tran- of my experience here,” she added. Portland’s next permanent police chief. ingly qualified for the position of police sition on good terms, knowing the bureau Portland City Commission Jo Ann Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced chief, and leaves more prepared than ever will be left in the hands of a strong leadership Hardesty, the first black female member of Outlaw’s departure and Resch’s hiring on for her new position in Philadelphia.” team, led by Chief Jami Resch. And while the Portland City Council and a longtime Monday. Wheeler credited Outlaw for helping there will always be work to be done toward Outlaw came to Portland two years build community trust and public confi- improvement, that does not take away from CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 Page 2 January 1, 2020 2019 Year in Review A look back at some of our top stories A New Seat of Power Jan. 9 – Longtime political activist Jo Ann Hardesty takes office as Portland’s newest city commissioner, a historic benchmark in terms of seating the first African American woman on the City Council and tilting the governing panel to a woman-majority for the first time in history. NAACP Generations Jan. 30 – Vancouver NAACP volunteer and community artist Claudia Carter curates historical exhibit in celebration of the local civil rights group and Black History Month called ‘NAACP Generations: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow in collaboration with the Clark County Historical Society. Keeping the Focus on Health Feb. 13 – Miracles Club Program Director Maleka Taylor (right) and Wellness Within Reach Administrative Coordinator Makda Berhane oversee programs focused on improving health outcomes in the African American community, managing health initiatives previously run by the African American Health Coalition, which dissolved. Mitigating Displacement Feb. 20 – Community leaders break ground on a new 70-unit affordable housing complex at Northeast Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks Way. The project by Portland Community Reinvestment, Inc. (PCRI) is rooted in the African American community, the nonprofit’s second major effort to create housing for people who have been displaced. A Reversal of Fortunes March 6 – Nicole Kennedy brings diversity to the new legal cannabis industry as co-founder of the Green Hop marijuana dispensary in northeast Portland. The hip-hop themed shop operates with support from the city’s cannabis tax specifically meant to bolster cannabis entrepreneurs from communities of color that were disproportionately and negatively affected by the criminalization of marijuana in the past. CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 January 1, 2020 Page 3 INSIDE L O CA L N EWS The in Year Review page 2 page 5-7 PHOTO BY BEVERLY CORBELL/THE PORTLAND OBSERVER Tom Hughes, former Portland Metro Council president, speaks at the grand opening celebration for the new 600-room Hyatt Regency Oregon Convention Center Hotel in northeast Portland, with a Arts diverse group of employees of the new hotel filling the stairs behind him. ENTERTAINMENT& Convention Hotel Opens plans for the hotel began to take Metro’s FOTA was created in Equity was goal shape, and Mortenson, the con- 1989 to give displaced residents struction company that built the priority for jobs at the Convention in construction; hotel, was fully on board, he said. Center and was later expanded to “Mortenson partnered with us other areas from which residents hotel staff hires on this even more than we’d ex- were forced to move. BY BEVERLY CORBELL pect, with a program that attempts The new hotel, with three THE PORTLAND OBSERVER to move people through a pre-ap- restaurants and 18 meeting rooms, When the Oregon Convention prenticeship program by work- along with the 11,000-square- Center was constructed on the east ing on several projects together, foot Regency Ballroom and the side of the Willamette River in the to eventually get experience and 5,000-square-foot Deschutes Ball- late 1980s, hundreds, if not thou- family wage jobs for the rest of room, is the first hotel to be built sands, of African Americans were their lives,” Hughes said. adjacent to the Convention Center, pushed out of their homes and Hyatt Regency general manag- which recently underwent a $40 METRO page 8 businesses. er Shane Nicolopoulos said that million renovation that city lead- Those neighborhoods will nev- Mortenson was invested in the ers hope will attract more business er come back, but at a ribbon cut- Community Construction Train- to the city. ting for the new Hyatt Regency ing Program, a collaborative effort The hotel was designed by ESG Oregon Convention Center Hotel, to increase access to trade careers Architects and achieved the high- former Metro Council president for women and people of color. est rating for Leadership in En- Tom Hughes said there was an Mortenson spokeswoman Kel- ergy and Environmental Design emphasis on diversity and equity li Amico said final numbers for certification. for both in the construction of the people of color and women who Getting the hotel built wasn’t 600-room hotel and hiring of local worked on building the hotel will easy, Hughes said, and took staff to run it. be available in January, but said “many, many, many years” and “We wanted to create an op- the company “emphasizes diversi- took the cooperation of both city portunity for people who live in ty and inclusion in all of its proj- and county elected officials. this neighborhood, many of whom ects.” “There were 17 individuals were displaced by the construc- Nicolopoulos said Hyatt held who had to sign off on the financ- tion of the (Veterans Memorial) job fairs for residents of the Met- ing for this hotel and we got 16 out Coliseum and Convention Center ro First Opportunity Target Area of 17 votes,” he said. and other places, that did away (FOTA), who have filled 41 per- Hughes also gave credit for the OPINION pages 9 with a lot of housing that was in cent of the hotel’s 300 jobs. hotel’s completion to two former this area,” Hughes said. “Leading up to the hotel’s Portland mayors, Sam Adams and Hughes said he had been work- opening, it was a priority for us to Charlie Hales, who kept interest ing with Metro on “a diversity, eq- develop job and training opportu- CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 CLASSIFIED/BIDS pages 10 uity and inclusion program” when nities,” he said. Page 4 January 1, 2020 Convention Hotel Opens Established 1970 USPS 959 680 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 as a career. Overall workforce Portland, OR 97211 reached 28 percent people of color The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submis- in the project alive, even though at and nearly 8 percent women, ac- sions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly CANNON’S RIB EXPRESS labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self 3625 NE MLK Jr Blvd, times it was on life support. cording to a Metro press release. addressed envelope. All created design display ads be- Portland OR “Without Sam, we wouldn’t In addition, according to Met- come the sole property of the newspaper and cannot ro, the project led to the creation be used in other publications or personal usage with- Call to Order: 503-288-3836 have this facility, and Mayor Hales out the written consent of the general manager, unless took a real personal interest in it,” of Metro’s Construction Careers the client has purchased the composition of such ad.