november 09 VOLUME 24, ISSUE 3 FREE Serving Portland’s Northwest Neighborhoods since 1986 Goodbye mikE ryErson free parking Singer to delay garage construction to get meters in place By allan Classen ayor Sam Adams and developer Richard Singer have a tenta- tive agreement to postpone construction of Singer’s Irving Street Garage until parking meters can be installed in the Northwest District. Adams expects authorizing and installing meters will take at least a year, delaying slightly Singer’s previously announced intention to begin work next summer. MCity Council affirmed last month that Singer has indisputable approval for the three-level garage, one of six prescribed by City Council in 2003 but put on hold by a series of appeals by the Northwest District Association. “I am pleased in my conversations with Dick Singer,” Adams said at an Oct. 21 council session, “that he has agreed to delay the demolition of the house and the construction of the garage … to give time to look at the full potential of an on-street parking plan, and I appreciate that goodwill gesture.” Adams’ aide, Amy Ruiz, said the agreement with Singer is not final. “We’re hoping to get to a place where he gets what he needs for a real Continued on page 7 Despite denials, DeQ knew of deadly inside chromium 6 emissions from eSCo By paul Koberstein problems. Thanks to Brockovich, they for it in mid-July. won a $333 million court settlement from In fact, DEQ has provided misleading, In the movie Erin Brockovich, a UCLA PG&E and brought a halt to the dumping. if not altogether false, information about chemistry professor tells Julia Roberts, Now it seems Northwest Portland has hexavalent chromium to residents. playing the title role, that there are three its own hexavalent chromium problem. At a neighborhood meeting in May, kinds of chromium. One form is necessary Documents released Sept. 9 by the Ore- Greg Lande, a top DEQ air-quality spe- for good health, a second form is relatively gon Department of Environmental Qual- cialist, denied any knowledge that ESCO benign and a third form, hexavalent chro- ity to the Northwest Examiner and Cas- is a source of hexavalent chromium. mium, also known as chromium 6, is a cadia Times show that ESCO, the owner According to a videotape of the meeting, deadly carcinogen. of two steel foundries in the Northwest held at Chapman School, Lande said, In real life as in the 2000 movie, neighborhood, has been emitting what “There is hexavalent chromium that can Comfort pies Brockovich, a legal researcher, discovered appear to be very low levels of airborne be measured in this neighborhood, but I Two new companies specialize in that Hinkley, Calif., a small town in the hexavalent chromium from both factories can’t tell you if it’s coming from ESCO or savory pies Mojave Desert, had a hexavalent chro- since at least 2005. the machine shop next door.” mium problem. Pacific Gas & Electric pagE 15 (Hexavalent chromium is used in Lande did not respond to a request for Company was using the chemical as an the production of stainless steel, one of an interview about his statements. anti-corrosive agent. Hundreds of resi- Here today … ESCO’s products.) Moreover, neither the DEQ nor ESCO pop-up retailing gets foothold in dents filed suit after discovering that it DEQ has been sitting on the data for has ever notified the public that ESCO pearl District had contaminated drinking water and was as much as four years, coughing it up only has been emitting hexavalent chromium pagE 10 causing cancers and other severe health after this reporter made a specific request Continued on page 26 gatHerings Forest Hunt: MusHrooMs, PHotograPHs and a winter garden, warM kitcHen wHile siPPing a ZinFandel great Place to Build watcH tHe Birds at tHe Feeder are You Hunting For a Private, PaciFic nortHwest lot? 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The location couldn’t be more ideal: your guests can arrive by the Portland Streetcar, or walk down cheerful and active NW 23rd Avenue. 2 bedrooms, den, 2½ baths, 1,762 Sq. Ft. MLS #9071666 $419,000. 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 novembEr 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. ESCO responds The October article on ESCO contained inaccuracies too important to ignore. The truth is that both EPA and DEQ categorize ESCO as a minor source of hazardous air pollutants. ESCO is not violating its air quality permit and, in fact, continues to do better than required. The article’s statements about our emissions levels and permit compliance are not We’ll all pay to make correct. As noted in the article, the reporter took a list of materials and calculations from one regulatory program and plugged them into another program. But the programs cover different materials and require different calculation methods, and garage work the data is not interchangeable. ESCO’s neighbors have concerns about industrial air pollution, and those At the beginning of the movie, Life and problem by itself. The prudent approach concerns deserve to be addressed. DEQ monitored air quality at the Northwest Death, Woody Allen explains that he was would be to go one step at a time. Portland post office in 2005 and found manganese levels well within Oregon’s new sentenced to be hung at daybreak. But, But this garage isn’t about prudence or health-based benchmark. Levels were also within the new California benchmark in wry gallows humor, he says he got a responding to public needs. It’s akin to the that specifically protects children and other vulnerable populations. While these good lawyer and was able to postpone his quest for the great white whale. results assured us that ESCO is not causing harm, we agree that more neighborhood execution until noon. monitoring will help. The quest has caused Singer to take his Mayor Sam Adams may have had a eyes off his original purpose, which was to We’ve informed neighborhood leaders, Chapman school and DEQ that ESCO good lawyer, too, but he’s not talking make parking easier and more convenient. is offering $25,000 in seed money toward the monitoring that neighbors want at Richard Singer out of much when the In pursuit of that goal, he decided that a Chapman. We’ve suggested a collaborative approach from the start so everyone can developer says he’ll delay construction garage was the answer.