I would not rush to judgment on this. Maybe the reason given is the dust up by people that mostly live everywhere else but Northeast Portland over Planned Parent Hood.

The real rub on this project is it is piss poor, ill timed for a developing community and its placement could be in a better location along MLK.

Should Planned Parenthood be located on MLK.....Inner Northeast Portland.....Why not? Should it be on Beach and MLK.....HELL NO.

Hopefully the minds at the head of this project will put more effort into this project and put something together that will work for everyone.

It seems like the construction company didn't know that it was a Planned Parenthood clinic. The owner stated that he was told it would be a "medical clinic". If this is the case--that's rather dishonest. This isn't just a regular clinic..its often targeted by malicious, hyper-focused fanatics who seek to cause harm to people. They should have been informed from the outset.

But one of the more disturbing parts of the article for me was much further into the piece:

businesses involved in the project whom they're working for. He called Planned Parenthood a "killing center" that targets young girls, teaching them about sex and masturbation, which he called "the gateway drug to lust."

"They're up in North Portland targeting young black girls to get them into a life of sex," said Diss, a science teacher at Portland's Benson High.

A guy who is teaching SCIENCE to high school students believes that Planned Parenthood is a "gateway drug to lust"?

Oy.

I completely agree, "Oh my". The right to free speech does not include the right to harass and intimidate.

The question has always been how to draw the line. And while I see that in fine shades of gray, stalking people to their houses clearly crosses it.

Mind you, even though the Shumaker protesters largely confined their protests to the store itself, I see no real difference. They clearly engaged in sporadic intimidation and property damage that the main protest group was more than willing to tacitly encourage.

"They're up in North Portland targeting young black girls to get them into a life of sex," said Diss, a science teacher at Portland's Benson High."

He might want to check the teen fertility rates by race. For whatever reason, someone has already done a pretty good job "targeting" African American teens into sexual activity. If that were really PP's aim, you'd think they be targeting LOW pregnancy demographics.

And unless someone has excised this guy's reproductive system and/or pleasure centers in his brain, it's unfathomable how he imagines thinking about sexual activity as a gateway to lust...rather than, y'know, the OTHER FUCKING WAY AROUND. Pun intended.

Planned Parenthood is bad for business. As it stands that part of MLK is nearly impossible to develop There are many reasons for this that I won't go into right now. Any business that goes in that location has to be supportive of other businesses. Planned Parenthood would not support business.

Planned Parenthood locations should be placed in established business districts....not urban renewal districts. Of course there are exceptions. Planned Parenthood located on North Williams Ave near the hospital or on Glisan would make a lot more sense, provide a needed service to the community and it would not get in the way of business. MLK has to become a vibrant engine for jobs and Planned Parenthood will get in the way of that.

As for the project, I am not sure we are doing anyone in King Neighborhood any favors by placing a business that will develop a ton of car trips and very few living wage jobs.

There are not many young black girls to target in North and Northeast Portland....close in any way. If this was a value for the people moving this project, they are about 15 years to late....LOL

"MLK has to become a vibrant engine for jobs and Planned Parenthood will get in the way of that. "

Yeah, no need for doctors, nurses, counselors, receptionists and security! Or will those jobs all be done by robotics at that location? Or does it not even matter, since "doctor" is such a shitty-wage kind of occupation?

PS--not to mention the jobs needed to build the thing, unless it's being arlifted pre-fab from the Planned Parenthood Clinic Factory.

The owner stated that he was told it would be a "medical clinic". If this is the case--that's rather dishonest. This isn't just a regular clinic..its often targeted by malicious, hyper-focused fanatics who seek to cause harm to people. They should have been informed from the outset.

Planned Parenthood is very clearly a medical clinic. It's not dishonest to call it such, as it provides a host of medical services.

It may have been wise to clear the details with Walsh (or for Walsh to ask more questions) so they didn't have to change construction companies midstream, but it wasn't dishonest.

torridjoe,

How many doctors and nurses would there be? Do you have a clue? And these doctors and nurses, would they be spending any money outside of the clinic while protesters are throwing eggs at them?

The majority of the doctors that work at these clinics lead very secure lives when they are around the clinics. They just do not go out....much In addition, the staff needed to run an abortion clinic is pretty small compared to your average business. This is one of the reasons why I feel a clinic of this nature needs to be located closer to an established medical facility.

This is no the first time an abortion clinic has considered a location on MLK. Back when I was president of King neighborhood I spent a fair amount of time sorting this business out. As a community leader at the time and a real estate man at heart. I had to weigh a lot of facts and issues to lead my neighbors, the developers and the investors. In the end, it just did not make any sense for King or the land owners and home owners around the locations that were considered.

Planned Parenthood is very clearly a medical clinic. It's not dishonest to call it such, as it provides a host of medical services.

C'mon now Evan....its not just a "medical clinic". That's like saying the Rose Garden is just a "basketball court". There's a whole host of stuff that comes along with PP. It's dishonesty by omission not to give the full story from the outset on something like this.

torridjoe,

How many doctors and nurses would there be? Do you have a clue? And these doctors and nurses, would they be spending any money outside of the clinic while protesters are throwing eggs at them?

The majority of the doctors that work at these clinics lead very secure lives when they are around the clinics. They just do not go out....much In addition, the staff needed to run an abortion clinic is pretty small compared to your average business. This is one of the reasons why I feel a clinic of this nature needs to be located closer to an established medical facility.

This is no the first time an abortion clinic has considered a location on MLK. Back when I was president of King neighborhood I spent a fair amount of time sorting this business out. As a community leader at the time and a real estate man at heart. I had to weigh a lot of facts and issues to lead my neighbors, the developers and the investors. In the end, it just did not make any sense for King or the land owners and home owners around the locations that were considered.

torridjoe,

How many of the jobs needed to build the clinic would be filled from people that live with in the King Neighborhood/Albina community?

Geeze, you are making me laugh over here.

"Oh my," to my knowledge TomK is not a "regular" at BlueOregon.

Fascism had as a feature of its establishment in Italy and Germany the use of armed, violent, politically organized private forces as a tool for gaining state power, and continued use of them for extra-legal violent enforcement of ruling party preferences after the fascist party came to rule.

"How many doctors and nurses would there be? Do you have a clue? And these doctors and nurses, would they be spending any money outside of the clinic while protesters are throwing eggs at them?"

Is there some threshhold number of jobs below which it's not even worth employing people? I'm not aware of one, so I don't really understand the question. How many jobs are created by NOT building and staffing the clinic? If it's more than zero, get back to me.

I also don't understand the point of asking where the jobs would be filled from. Unless there is something else planned for the site that WOULD provide local jobs, what's the difference?

Per The Oregonian:

Planned Parenthood will use the space for both medical clinics and its regional headquarters and will bring an estimated 140 jobs to the neighborhood.

The nonprofit provides sexual and reproductive health care to women, men and teens. According to its annual report, 38 percent of patients seek contraception, 29 percent need treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and 3 percent seek abortions.

Clearly this is not just "an abortion clinic." Carla still has a point that the Walsh should have been informed of the abortion dimension, or even the identity of Planned Parenthood as the "anchor tenant." But Planned Parenthood does other medical and public health work besides abortions.

The local jobs issue isn't clear to me. How many will be people working at the previous NE site moving here? How many of those are NE residents? It seems as if a large proportion of Planned Parenthood's own jobs at the site will be clerical. It is not clear what the other retail businesses will be, or their size relative to PP's in the whole project.

Mr. Diss says masturbation is the "gateway drug to lust." How very 1884 or him.

Fred -

So tell me how your comments on Planned Parenthood driving away business in a developing neighborhood square with PP's nearby NE 15th location? The whole (formerly) Nature's complex is thriving. The protesters can be obnoxious - but I and the other shoppers all seem to be able to go about our business/pleasure just fine, without getting pelted by eggs.

Bob Walsh (mentioned in the article)is Tom Walsh's brother. Tom's son, also named "Tom', is Serena Cruz' husband. Both brothers have been generous contributors to Democrats and to charitable causes over the years, and have been active in many social causes.

Carla -- We may be close to agreement that more knowledge could have prevented this challenge.

I think finding out specifics is the duty of the builder (if their work on the building depends on who the tenant is), you seem to argue it's the duty of Planned Parenthood.

Caveat contractor?

To underscore Christy's point, here are just some of the other vital health services that Planned Parenthood clinics provide:

• Abnormal Pap Follow-up • Annual Exam • Birth Control/Family Planning • Birth Control: Pills, Condoms, Depo-Provera, etc. • Breast Exam • Cancer Screening (Pap Test) • Counseling - Birth Control, Pregnancy Options, STD, Tubal Ligation, Vasectomy • Emergency Contraception (EC) • Male Health Services • Physicals • Pregnancy Testing and Counseling • Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing & Treatment • Ultrasound • Urinary Tract Infection Diagnosis and Treatment • Vaginal Infection Testing & Treatment • HIV/AIDS Testing and Counseling • HPV Vaccine

I think finding out specifics is the duty of the builder (if their work on the building depends on who the tenant is), you seem to argue it's the duty of Planned Parenthood.

Caveat contractor?

I think its the duty of PP to be as clear and informative as possible to those doing work for them, especially given the whacknutters (as evidenced in the Oregonian piece) that haunt their footsteps.

Is it fair? Probably not. I would guess most other businesses don't have to worry about that kind of thing. But most don't have crazy-ass picketers, day-to-day harassment and individuals with a history of sniper fire against those that work there.

I think when you have a business where there's that kind of stuff taking place--the right thing to do is to inform. Should the contractor practice due diligence too? Maybe. But from my POV, the burden is on the business in this case.

But then I have a tendency to by hyper-scrupulous about stuff like this. I'm the blogger who walked up to Jeff Kropf after the Americans for Prosperity meeting (when I wasn't under obligation to do so) to tell him who I am and why I was there.

To me, that kind of stuff is simply the right thing to do.

Dan,

The 15th location can not be compared to an Urban Renewal district like MLK and Beach. Are the business plan, intentions and expectations the same for 15th and MLK? What about the traffic and are the people that live near the 15th location the same demographically as the ones on MLK?

If you think all and any business is good business......you have a point. However, what MLK needs and what the majority of the people that live in Inner Northeast want is a Commercial district that has the capacity to develop business opportunities that will deliver living wage jobs. I would compare the 15th locations to lets say Beach and Williams , 55th and Glisan sans the near by Medical Facility. I ask again, why not there. I know there is land available at those locations.

Christy,

I have been on the PP mailing list for years. I am well aware of all of their services and consider myself a very strong supporter of the service. I do not feel anyone here would disagree PP is a good organization. so what's your point? Do you really feel business people, bankers, investors and other key decision makers ignore the possible risks to the bottom line when considering locating a business near a controversial organization? Are you planning on locating a business near the PP? If so, are the people that are backing your business comfy with you investing in that location?

If you look at the Fremont Plaza, The Heritage Building and Vanport. You can tell, developing MLK is hard enough. How will making it harder to attract key businesses along that area of MLK by placing PP there is going to make things easier for those that have already put skin on the street?

torridejoe,

You do not understand the questions I posed to you because you do not understand the possible cost of located PP on MLK. Mind you, I am not saying PP should not be located in Albina, just not in an urban renewal zone. Especially when the Urban Renewal zone in question is MLK.

What do you think about locating one on North Williams Ave or Northeast Glisan?

If you think all and any business is good business......you have a point.

Fred - did I say that? Not hardly. I was actually responding to your blanket statement that "Planned Parenthood is bad for business," which I think the 15th & Fremont experience contradicts. So I appreciate your clarification that you're in fact a PP supporter.

That said, this thread began as a discussion of how Walsh has been intimidated by the anti-abortion groups' tactics and threats, and how that may make a range of needed reproductive health services harder to obtain. I'd rather not turn this into a thread on differing views of business development in the MLK URD.

Dan,

I took it that you felt that way since you felt the fact you and yours had no problem buying the food for your home near a PP that selling out a 6, 7 or possible 8 figure investment in a business was the same. I guess we both made the mistake of over simplifying each others positions.

How does your example prove me wrong? is locating a business as simple as following you around...LOL

I am keeping my fingers crossed that PP is located elsewhere in Albina.

Dan,

I took it that you felt that way since you felt the fact you and yours had no problem buying the food for your home near a PP that selling out a 6, 7 or possible 8 figure investment in a business was the same. I guess we both made the mistake of over simplifying each others positions.

How does your example prove me wrong? is locating a business as simple as following you around...LOL

I am keeping my fingers crossed that PP is located elsewhere in Albina.

For my money Tom makes the best, most relevant observation in the entire thread:

If someone can open an adult bookstore in my neighborhood, it would seem ludicrous to prohibit a health clinic from locating where it's management sees fit.

If you think all and any business is good business......you have a point.

Fred - did I say that? Not hardly. I was actually responding to your blanket statement that "Planned Parenthood is bad for business," which I think the 15th & Fremont experience contradicts. So I appreciate your clarification that you're in fact a PP supporter.

That said, this thread began as a discussion of how Walsh has been intimidated by the anti-abortion groups' tactics and threats, and how that may make a range of needed reproductive health services harder to obtain. I'd rather not turn this into a thread on differing views of business development in the MLK URD.

If you think all and any business is good business......you have a point.

Fred - did I say that? Not hardly. I was actually responding to your blanket statement that "Planned Parenthood is bad for business," which I think the 15th & Fremont experience contradicts. So I appreciate your clarification that you're in fact a PP supporter.

That said, this thread began as a discussion of how Walsh has been intimidated by the anti-abortion groups' tactics and threats, and how that may make a range of needed reproductive health services harder to obtain. I'd rather not turn this into a thread on differing views of business development in the MLK URD.

one of the things progressives have to learn is to be smart in how they promote their causes & issues. Fred has a valid point about not undermining the development of this part of MLK. it's not like this is the only place PP can be located; it's not like it's surrounded by a dozen Gloucestor, MA's.

this whole kerfaffle is a great demonstration of the difference between liberal & progressive politics (or it could be). liberal politics defines a problem and imposes the solution government & other officials think best for the people. given that for much of liberalism's dominance, those people making the decisions frequently actually knew what they were doing & did good things for people, we got a lot of social & economic progress under liberalism. however, we're past the point where top-down decisions will work. we need both solutions and "problems" that are determined and driven from the "bottom." that's the core of progressive politics, imo: bottom-up democracy.

i don't know enough about this particular issue, but this would be a good opportunity to practice some real progressive politics. the withdrawal of Walsh from this project indicates the need for an approach that blocks off the anti-choice fanatics. the best way to do that is to have the community's support of the project and not just the bullheadedness of a few groups and some people in government. that's pretty shifty sand upon which to build anything, especially a target for fanatics and haters. if PP and their supporters were to step back and start a process to bring in the public in a wider manner, even if it meant a delay in the facility, they find both the political and social cover they need to build this facility and push back the fanatics, not through force but through democracy.

...teaching them about sex and masturbation, which he called "the gateway drug to lust."

[raises hand] junkie

the bullheadedness of a few groups and some people in government

Wow, T.A. - for someone who says he doesn't know enough about this issue you're sure assuming a lot here. You've made a leap from Walsh saying that harassment by protesters was "disruptive and very threatening," and that he "just didn't want to put my family through that" to framing the story instead as a local community rising up against those trying to force an unwanted project on them.

Other than Fred's suggestions that there could be better anchor businesses for this district, do you have any evidence that this is what's happened here?

The Mercury has an update on the story this evening and the continuation of the project - noting the odd timing of the Oregonian story, since Walsh backed out in May.

"The whole (formerly) Nature's complex is thriving. The protesters can be obnoxious - but I and the other shoppers all seem to be able to go about our business/pleasure just fine, without getting pelted by eggs."

And if you do, at least they're organic, locally hatched eggs!

I believe in political protest but when the protesters don't live in the community they are protesting about, I have to wonder about their motives. Are these protesters concern about the black girls who will utilize this center to improve their physical and sexual health? I think not. Will they adopt little black kids after they are born? No. I find it suspect when people show so much concern until the baby is born then they want the Mom to do it all....Don't want a PP clinic in NE and don't live in NE, who cares?

Dan, i kind of jumped unartfully from talking about the project directly to what i think a progressive approach to the problem in general could like. overall, i see a liberal approach as being top-down, where a progressive one is grassroots/community-driven. the trouble with the top-down method is it tends to run roughshod over people. (can anyone say "Cesar Chavez Blvd"?) by taking a bottom-up progressive approach, a project may get delayed, or even changed (from what the originators conceived), but the ability to develop a working/winning coalition increases.

whether or not this PP development is one or the other, i don't know. but if it's running into problems getting broad-based community backing of the kind that will keep the wingnuts/fanatics at bay, then it's quite likely the project's political development was not done in an optimal manner.

Ellen, glad you recognize a fellow traveller.

Joann,

I understand where you are comming from , but keep in mind. Black girls now live all over the city. In fact, you will find as many in Gresham and Parkrose as you will find in King Neighborhood these days. I would also add there are just as many black girls if not more living near the corner of Beach and Williams as there is on Beach and MLK. Black girls need jobs, they need to be served by a vibrant business community and the person that felt it was a good Idea to put PP on MLK just does not agree with that.

I feel it is an amusing fact that with all of the problems that face Albina that someone with no connection to Albina will protest PP and walk by other issues that are more pressing to the human condition. That is just a perspective. It does not matter that many or all of the protesters of the PP location on MLK do not live in the community. Doing that would be as narrow focused as saying you could only donate to an Oregon based non profit if you lived in Oregon. I support and honor anyone that takes the time and makes the effort to protest what they feel is an injustice...even if I disagree. However, that does not mean I would ignore the real consequences such protest will have on business. Come to think about it, could that not be the intention of the people that are protesting the MLK location. Does not take anyone to smart to notice how tough it is as it stands to bring business on to MLK. A little over 50 years ago. Dr. King would drive from Georgia to Alabama and do the same thing. Protest injustice where he saw it and I think that is one of the reasons we have named the street in his honor.

As someone who has used Planned Parenthood's services on many occasions, I am very offended when people call it an "abortion clinic." 97% of us go to PP's locations for a whole host of other health reasons.

My first visit was when I got engaged. I knew that at some point in the near future I was going to become sexually active, and I knew that I needed to get on birth control. As a college student with no health insurance, there was no way I could afford a few hundred bucks for a pap exam and then all that money every month for the pill.

PP gave me a free annual exam, talked with me about birth control, gave me a few months worth of pills, a bug bag of condoms, plus contraceptive foam and those little gel sheets. I had a follow up exam to ensure that I was doing well with the pills.

While at the office in Houston, I was surrounded by girls much younger than I who were already sexually active - many were there because they'd had a pregnancy scare.

Without those services, how many of those girls would have ended up teen moms? Would my husband and I ended up as parents during that first year of marriage when neither of us had health insurance yet?

A good friend of mine found out she had cancer because of a trip to Planned Parenthood. Unfortunately, it was terminal. But thanks to that diagnosis, she had longer and that time wasn't filled with pain. Without PP, would she have instead found out when she was so ill she went to the ER?

It's also important that these clinics be in a variety of areas to make them easier to get to. Some of the alternative locations being thrown around are barely in NE Portland, which even with some gentrification the area still has a lot of low income people.

I visit the Gresham PP every few months when I take my sister in for her depo shot. There are plenty of businesses in the area - heck, there are even some religious places in the area. There doesn't seem to be any problems. The same thing at a PP clinic in Clackamas County.

The only time I've ever encountered protesters was at the clinic in Houston. This was one of those large centers like the proposed MLK one - offices, clinic, etc. The staff at the clinic would come and go from the building where the protesters did not have access to them. So they could go have lunch or whatever they wanted. It was the patients who were harassed. And believe me - I gave it right back. I asked them if they'd rather me have an unwanted pregnancy because my husband and I couldn't afford birth control. And if we couldn't afford birth control, we definitely couldn't afford to have a child. They shut up.

I used Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger Center when I lived in Manhattan as a young woman just out of college, who no longer had access to college based health care. I did have insurance but found PP to be an emotionally satisfying place to go for my gynecological care and birth control, and I paid on their sliding scale but went there for years. The people who worked there had a mission. "Every child a wanted child." I'll never understand what is so controversial about that. It certainly didn't seem controversial 30 years ago.