10/16/2008
Construction to start soon on MLK Planned Parenthood clinic
| |
|
 |
| Construction to start soon on MLK Planned Parenthood clinic |
|
Ed Langlois
Construction is set to begin next week on a large abortion clinic and office in Northeast Portland.
The groundbreaking comes despite protests over a land deal that involves the city, private developers and Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.
Work on the city-owned parcel at Northeast Martin Luther King Boulevard and Beech Street had been delayed repeatedly, but on Monday the city’s urban renewal department finalized the sale to the developers — Beech Street Partners.
Early on in the process, the Portland Development Commission helped in the search for tenants and settled on Planned Parenthood after other options fell through.
Lately, PDC has sought to distance itself from Planned Parenthood, saying the city deal is only with Beech Street Partners. After the sale, the choice of tenant is up to the developers, says Shawn Uhlman, PDC’s public affairs manager.
Officials from Planned Parenthood did not return repeated calls from the Sentinel.
Abortion foes say they will continue to try to thwart the project and plan to show up at the groundbreaking, which is slated for 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22.
“It’s still blessed and unbroken ground and that is good,” says Bill Diss, a member of nearby Holy Rosary Parish who leads Precious Children of Portland, the group organizing the 18-month-old protest.
A fledgling Northeast Portland construction firm has taken on the Planned Parenthood job, which was dropped by one contractor and which others have refused because of the controversy.
Barrs and Genauer Construction, which started four years ago, is owned by Carrington Barrs and Gabe Genauer, college friends who have tried to carve out a niche in green building practices. The two men worked previously for Walsh Construction, which had been chosen to do the Planned Parenthood work but then dropped out.
The Barrs and Genauer website calls the company “young and progressive,” with the ability to “direct our work in accordance with our values.” The company also did not return calls from the Sentinel.
In a move that has shocked opponents of the clinic, the newest member named to the Portland Development Commission is Scott Andrews, a former Planned Parenthood board member. Andrews, president of a large commercial real estate firm in Portland, was nominated by Mayor-elect Sam Adams, with Adams citing the nominee’s “experience and knowledge of development finance, market dynamics, and commercial real estate.” As of press time, Andrews had not returned calls.
Early this month, about 270 pro-life demonstrators lined both sides of MLK for a dozen blocks. The majority of motorists ignored the group, but many honked and waved in support. A few offered obscene gestures.
On one corner, Valerie Aschbacher stood with a large poster showing a statue of a pregnant Mary. It read, “Mary Full of Life.” Aschbacher, a member of St. John the Baptist Parish in Milwaukie, is planning to begin an organization that advances the pro-life cause.
Angie Gwynne of Portland brought her 10-year-old son Sam to the protest. The boy held a sign that read — “Choice is a lie.”
“We believe killing babies in the womb is murder,” said Gwynne, who attends an Anglican church in Wilsonville.
A block down, Deacon Chuck Amsberry said the rosary quietly as he held a sign saying, “Pray to End Abortion.” A couple from an African-American Baptist congregation stood just to his right.
“I’m excited about this interdenominational effort,” says Amsberry, pastoral associate at St. Michael Parish in Portland. “We all have to stop abortion. It’s murdering the unborn. If you can’t respect life in the womb, can you respect it anywhere?”
Some protesters were discussing city and state complicity in abortion, using public taxes.
The gathering on MLK was called Life Chain. Similar, if smaller, protests drew Catholics to sites across the state.
|
|
