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The Portland Tribune
Thursday, April 11, 2013
NEWS
A9
By JIM REDDEN
The Tribune
The Bureau of Develop-
ment Services has fired an
electrical inspector and sus-
pended four others for repeat-
edly taking extended brunch-
es, according to sources fa-
miliar with the situation.
The employees were reported
to the city last November by
Brian McAdams, the owner
Guild’s Lake Inn, a diner at
Northwest 29th Avenue and
Yeon Street. McAdams told
KOIN Local 6 the employees
came in regularly at about 7:30
a.m. and spent 45 minutes to one
hour and 15 minutes there.
“They would sit in a specific
area, you know, two or three
times a week, and just come in
and order like everybody else,”
McAdams said.
McAdams said the behavior
went on for years before he re-
ported it.
“I think I came back one day.
It was in the morning, and I
think I kind of took a 180 and
said, ‘Gosh, everybody’s working
so hard for less. These people
need to know that. They need to
work a little harder for less. And
to realize that it’s a struggle for
everybody,’ “ McAdams said.
McAdams also regrets not
contacting the city earlier. “I’ll
be honest, I regret not saying
something sooner. There’s no
excuse for it. I should have said
something five years ago, and I
told the city that,” McAdams
told KOIN Local 6.
City officials declined to iden-
tify the employees or discuss
details of the situation, saying it
was a confidential personnel
matter. No reasons were given
for the firing of one inspector
while others were suspended.
Mayor Charlie Hales said all
of the employees misused city
time and resources, however.
“The city has policies and bu-
reau-specific work rules regard-
ing use of work time and city re-
sources,” Hales said in a pre-
pared statement. “These are
routinely communicated to em-
ployees.”
The union representing the
employees must decide whether
to appeal the disciplinary ac-
tions through the grievance pro-
cedure in the labor contract with
the city. The bargaining unit is
represented by the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers Local 48.
Although union representa-
tives would not comment on the
situation, labor lawyers say
there are several grounds for ap-
peal, including whether city
business was conducted during
the extended gatherings and
whether other BDS employees
had been disciplined for doing
similar things.
McAdams has owned the din-
er in the Northwest industrial
area for 12 years. “I don’t imag-
ine I’ll have a lot of city and state
employees coming through my
doors and eating,” McAdams
said.
This is not the first time Port-
land employees have been disci-
plined formisusing city time and
resources. Several were pun-
ished for taking extensive
breaks when Vera Katz was
mayor. Partly in response, Katz
changed the official logo to “The
City That Works.”
By RACHEL SEIGNEUR
The Tribune
When it comes to civic in-
volvement in Portland, there
might soon be an app for that.
Lincoln High School senior
Christian Purnell is working to
get students’ voices heard be-
yond his campus. He wants
their voices to be heard
throughout the city — and he’s
working with former Mayor
Sam Adams to do so.
A while ago, he was intro-
duced to a Portland City Club
leader and asked if there was a
way for students to work with
the club’s 1,500 members on
civic engagement projects.
That led to a meeting with
Adams, the City Club’s execu-
tive director. They came up with
a mobile-device app that would
allow kids to plug in their inter-
ests and connect them with
members of the City Club — the
nonprofit, nonpartisan educa-
tion and research-based civic
organization.
They want to help connect
students with all types of proj-
ects — from public polling to
helping shape public policy.
Adams also wants to moti-
vate City Club members to be
guest lecturers at local schools.
He’s impressed with Purnell’s
dedication to civic leadership,
and “enthusiastic about the pos-
sibilities.”
Engaging civically
Purnell is student body presi-
dent at Lincoln High School, a
position he takes seriously. He
has meetings once a week with
Lincoln student leaders, plans
assemblies and social activities,
and attends City Club meetings.
He’s been involved in student
government since he became
student body president in sixth
grade at East Sylvan Middle
School, near his family’s home
in the West Hills.
He’s also an avid tennis player
on the Lincoln varsity team, and
has been captain the last two
years. The team is undefeated so
far in the metro league.
Every summer for the past
three years, Purnell has volun-
teered helping low-income kids
at Portland After-School Tennis
& Education on a full-time basis.
He’s found it rewarding to
bond with the kids, either
through “reading at a higher
level or beating you on the ten-
nis court,” he says. Besides be-
ing fulfilling, he believes it is
every citizen’s duty to volun-
teer.
When he was elected as stu-
dent body president last fall,
Purnell had three goals in mind:
to connect his peers with city
and community leaders; to in-
crease student participation in
community service projects;
and to help students build their
character.
“We wanted to change the at-
mosphere a little bit,” he says.
Purnell and his student gov-
ernment team are looking to
survey their peers
at Lincoln to see
how many use
TriMet each day.
For his first two
years at Lincoln,
Purnell rode Line
81 to and from
school every day
until he got a driv-
er’s license his
sophomore year.
Most of the time
he says the bus
was so crowded
with Lincoln students he
couldn’t find a seat.
The leadership team hopes to
justify free bus passes for Port-
land Public Schools students
through the school survey and a
letter to the TriMet board. The
Portland School Board, City
Council and TriMet’s board will
vote on the issue next month.
During last fall’s election sea-
son, Purnell organized mock
elections and debates on cam-
pus. He and other student lead-
ers distributed voter’s pam-
phlets to the student body, offi-
cially registered those old
enough to vote, and organized a
mock election for others who
couldn’t vote in November.
To prepare for the mock elec-
tions, the leadership team held
debates on foreign policy, the
economy, city funding and abor-
tion. They packed rooms with
200 to 300 students who engaged
in the political conversation.
Students “elected” President
Obama and Mayor Charlie
Hales in the mock elections.
Lincoln students who could
vote saw a 75 percent turnout,
close to the 82 percent of regis-
tered voters countywide.
Connecting with others
Recently, Lincoln’s Associat-
ed Student Body brought in the
Albuquerque nonprofit One
Million Bones project, which
aims to raise awareness of
atrocities and genocides around
the world.
Project presenters spoke
about atrocities happening in the
Democratic Republic of the Con-
go. Students created 700 symbol-
ic bones from newsprint and
tape, which will be part of a col-
lection of a million
bones flown in from
across the nation, to
lie inJuneat theNa-
tionalMall inWash-
ington, D.C.
For each bone
made, Seattle’s
Bezos Family Foun-
dation donates $1 to
further education in
the Congo.
Purnell and his
team also orga-
nized a multicultur-
al assembly in February to famil-
iarize Lincoln students with the
racial makeup of their student
body. Lincoln’s Tongan popula-
tion danced the haka, a Polyne-
sian war dance, and spoke about
their culture. Lincoln’s Native
American students showcased
their culture through dance and
song.
The app is still in the early
stages and its creators hope to
work out details in the next three
months.
“Our service goal is getting
kids beyond what is normally
thought of as high school ser-
vice,” says Purnell, who’s decid-
ing between attending Haverford
College, Carleton College or
Whitman College to study politi-
cal science.
“I sincerely hope that we have
changed the way kids think
about student government and
its capabilities.”
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Student sparks civic engagement through projects, TriMet passes
Lincoln leader plugs into activism app
“Our service
goal is getting
kids beyond
what is normally
thought of as
high school
service.”
— Christian Purnell,
Lincoln High senior
This program is not financed by or connected in any manner with any governmental agency or veteran’s or other organization.
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TRIBUNE PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT
Senior Christian Purnell, Lincoln High School student body president, engages with other students in the hall
during lunch. Purnell is working on taking the voice of his student body beyond the Lincoln High campus.
Diner owner blows
whistle after years of
watching city workers
TriMet and the union rep-
resenting most of its employ-
ees could soon begin bar-
gaining on a new labor con-
tract.
Amalgamated Transit Union
757 has called for talks to start
before Multnomah County Cir-
cuit Judge Leslie Roberts de-
cides whether the sessions
should be open to the public.
Union officials had refused
to attend the sessions because
TriMet was only willing to
open them to reporters, not the
general public. Although both
sides asked the court to resolve
the question, ATU 757 sent Tri-
Met a letter Tuesday saying it
is willing to begin negotiations
before the ruling.
Both sides could meet as
early as next week to discuss
the ground rules and schedule
for the negotiations. Among
other things, TriMet is pushing
for ATU 757 members to pay
more of their health care costs,
which the union opposes.
— Jim Redden
TriMet, union grind
toward negotiations
Union may appeal
employee discipline