RADIX PDX

‪#‎Right2Root‬ is seeking a team of COMMITTED like-hearted, like-minded folks to help steward the next phase through May, including:

videography & production infographics & curriculum development community outreach & education

Right 2 Root PORTLAND, OREGON, USA

For Albina, the district which included the city's traditionally African American neighborhoods, 1956 represents the height of home ownership, business success and tightly-bound family connections.

It was a watershed year for other reasons as well: Terry Doyle Schrunk won election to mayor on an urban renewal platform, firmly laying the track for creation of the Portland Development Commission two years later – the arm of city government which carried out wide-scale demolition of neighborhoods for decades to come.

It was the year voters approved construction of Memorial Coliseum in the Eliot neighborhood, ensuring the tear-down of more than 450 homes and businesses.

It was also the year federal officials approved highway construction funds that would pave Interstates 5 and 99 right through hundreds of homes and storefronts, destroying more than 1,100 housing units in South Albina.

By 1962, the PDC's "Central Albina Study" earmarked the area as "beyond rehabilitation." The city document "History of Portland's African American Community (1805-to the Present)," quotes the study:

"Clearly, urban renewal, largely clearance, appears to be the only solution to, not only blight that presently exists in central Albina, but also to avoid the spread of that blight to other surrounding areas."

When the PDC, city of Portland officials and the federal Model Cities program rolled out the endgame on tearing down Albina homes and businesses for Emanuel's expansion in 1971, many local residents did not realize the plans had been laid years before, according to "History of Portland's African American Community."

The Emanuel Displaced Person's Association was founded by Mrs. Leo Warren in 1970 after locals "were abruptly confronted with the expansion plans." The city required residents to move out within 90 days, offering homeowners a maximum $15,000 payment and renters a maximum $4,000.

A much-hyped agreement signed by the hospital, the PDC and the Housing Authority of Portland mandated they would use "maximum energy and enthusiasm" in replacing the lost housing within the Eliot neighborhood – none of which happened, according to "History."

Mrs. Warren is quoted in the history document from an interview with the Portland Observer:

"Didn't they have a long-range plan? After all, if your life's investment was smashed to splinters by a bulldozer to make room for a hospital, you could at least feel decent and perhaps tolerable about it; but to have it all done for nothing? Well, what is there to feel?"

Urban Planning Now

Albina resident Lisa Manning was also quoted in "Bleeding Albina."

"It used to be that living 'far out' was 15th and Fremont. Now it's 185th and Fremont. A lot of people leave the neighborhood mystery blockbecause they feel they're leaving something that's not theirs anymore anyway. It will never be that way again. There's a lot of sadness. For a lot of us, it's just too hard to stay and watch your history erased progressively over time. There are just too many ghosts," Manning said.

Gibson says anyone weighing in on the current citizens' advisory process for North Williams Avenue transportation safety should take a moment and look at past plans. She singled out the 1993 Albina Community Plan drafted under the leadership of then-Portland Planning Bureau Commissioner-in-charge Charlie Hales, who is now running for mayor.

"African Americans were heavily involved in the Albina plan," she said. "The Planning Bureau should probably provide us with an update.

"There have been other plans, but for me the key for any of the plans is how well are they carried out? We should evaluate how well some of those plans play out in the end."

Portland, Or., Gentrification Map:The North Williams Avenue That Was -- 1956

Professor Karen Gibson specializes in the subjects of housing and community development, black urban history, and economic inequality. Her courses include urban housing and development, concepts of community development, poverty in the urban community, and community economic development.

Bleeding Albina: A History of Community Disinvestment, 1940-2000

Portland, Oregon, is celebrated in the planning literature as one of the nation’s most livable cities, yet there is very little scholarship on its small Black community. Using census data, oral histories, archival documents, and newspaper accounts, this study analyzes residential segregation and neighborhood disinvestment over a 60-year period. Without access to capital, housing conditions worsened to the point that abandonment became a major problem. By 1980, many of the conditions typically associated with large cities were present: high unemployment, poor schooling, and an underground economy that evolved into crack cocaine, gangs, and crime. Yet some neighborhood activists argued that the redlining, predatory lending, and housing speculation were worse threats to community viability. In the early 1990s, the combination of low property values, renewed access to capital, and neighborhood reinvestment resulted in gentrification, displacement, and racial transition. Portland is an exemplar of an urban real estate phenomenon impacting Black communities across the nation.

Building strength - infrastructure and support - to bring #Right2Root back to the community at the end of May... honored and humbled to be able to participate in this catalyzing opportunity with support from the Kresge Foundation, EcoDistricts and ZGF Architects

Right 2 Root PORTLAND, OREGON, USA

The corrosive effect of gentrification can be found throughout the nation even in the “liberal” whitest city of America Portland, Oregon. Portland is known internationally as a leader in urban design with many boasting of its bike-friendly streets, accessible 20-minute neighborhoods and quaint local business culture. In fact, this year, Portland was named the best U.S. city by the real estate company, Movato.

While White Portland has more than rebounded since the last recession, poverty in the Black community has worsened. From 2000 to 2013, White incomes grew from about $55,000 to $60,000; Black incomes fell from $35,000 to less than $30,000. A report published last April by the Portland Housing Bureau revealed there is not a single neighborhood in the city where an average African-American can afford a two-bedroom apartment.

Black Portlanders suffer enormously from this catastrophic combination of falling incomes and rising housing costs. In 2015, the number of homeless Black people grew by 48 percent. Though they make up only 7 percent of Portland residents, Black people constitute a disproportionate 25 percent of the homeless population.

“Another organization, the human rights consulting organization Radix Consulting, is interested in engaging with Black Portlanders who have been most severely impacted by past city policies. Their “Right to Root” campaign has brought together survivors of displacement with architects and designers to imagine how underutilized streets and city properties in the Northeast could be repurposed to meet the Black community’s needs."

Recognizing that past City actions have marginalized and displaced many longtime residents of North and Northeast Portland, the Portland Housing Bureau developed a preference policy to prioritize households with generational ties to N/NE Portland for PHB housing opportunities in the area. Current and former residents of specific areas in N/NE Portland that were subject to high levels of urban renewal, and their descendants, are eligible to receive preference. Click here to learn more.:https://www.portlandoregon.gov/phb/70384 

The Portland Housing Bureau (PHB) is implementing the N/NE Preference Policy for its homeownership programs

The web application is now live for viewing, and for anyone interested in calculating their preference points – please note, applications will not be accepted until May 2 to May 13, 2016.

https://www.portlandmaps.com/bps/phb/

N/NE Housing Strategy Preference Policy

(1) City urban renewal has marginalized and displaced historic residents of North and Northeast Portland

(2) Future city actions should mitigate marginalizing or displacing community members

(3) Designed to give preference to marginalized families with historic roots in North and Northeast Portland

(4) Preference for families currently in the community and those who have already been displaced

March 25, 2016

Patrick Quinton, Executive Director                                                            Portland Development Commission                                                                  222 NW Fifth Avenue Portland, OR 97209

RE: Anti-Displacement Strategy Letter Submitted 2.11.2014

Dear Mr. Quinton:

The Housing Land Advocates (HLA) is an advocacy organization dedicated to using land use planning and legal action to address affordable housing conditions in Oregon. On February 11, 2014, we took the opportunity to submit a letter of support for the concerns voiced by the Portland African American Leadership Forum (PAALF) regarding the Portland Development Commission's (PDC) proposed Vanport Development on NE Alberta St. and NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. See letter enclosed. We never received a written response to that letter.

While the proposed Vanport Development is localized around a specific geographic area, it is emblematic of a larger issue, the lack of an anti-displacement strategy to counter the loss of affordable housing in an area subject to gentrification. The Gentrification and Displacement Study contracted by the City of Portland identifies the intersection of NE Alberta St. and NE, Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. as an area vulnerable to gentrification, with an accelerating housing market and increasing demographic change. The Vanport site is also in an Urban Renewal Area and affected by a Tax Increment Financing strategy, both programs known to generate displacement without active mitigation tactics.

The PDC has targeted this area for redevelopment and reinvestment, offering a below market price to the developer of the Vanport site. While HLA encourages neighborhood reinvestment, we believe that benefits should accrue to vulnerable North Portland residents past and present.

As an agency, the PDC has a responsibility to not cause displacement of minority and ethnic households through economic development. Without specific anti-displacement measures built into new developments, the PDC runs the risk of creating economic and social benefits that are felt disproportionately by the majority group. Moreover, anti-displacement measures are called for in the City's 2011 Fair Housing Plan, the current Comprehensive Plan Update, the 1993 Albina Community Plan, the 2011 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice, and the Interstate Urban Renewal Area Plan. HLA believes incentivizing development in this area without incorporating specific anti-displacement strategies is inconsistent with the City's commitment to counter gentrification. In addition, failure to address the displacement of low income households, a high proportion of whom are protected class households, would appear to violate the City's obligation to affirmatively further fair housing.

Moreover, the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Plan, 2000 identified the ill effects of urban renewal:

"The changes occurring in north and northeast Portland, and the potential benefits of urban renewal, promise reinvestment in the area. At the same time, these investments represent a source of serious concern to many, particularly lower income families, individuals, and small businesses which are potentially threatened by the revitalization of the Corridor.

People are the backbone of this community —those who live, work, learn, play, and worship in the neighborhoods within the Corridor. To a large extent, the future success of urban renewal efforts within the Interstate Corridor must be measured in terms of how they benefit the people in this community. This is especially important given the past experience of many in the Corridor. Past large scale public projects have been harmful to many, particularly members of the African-American community, entailing the involuntary displacement of residents and businesses for projects such as Memorial Coliseum, the I-5 freeway, and Emanuel Hospital. The negative legacy of urban renewal, and of these other large scale public projects in this community, still lingers." (Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Plan, 2000)

At this point, it appears that PDC does not have an anti-displacement policy that addresses the negative impacts of its economic development activities on low-income households and persons of color. If so, PDC's policies are contributing to the lack of an equitable distribution of affordable housing across the region, particularly in areas of high opportunity, and a concentration of poverty in other jurisdictions. Residential segregation by race is also predictable. The Multnomah County Racial and Ethnic Disparities Report projects that the majority of Portland's African American residents will be displaced to the east of I-205 by 2025. Their map shows a clear geographic concentration of African American residents in an area of poor opportunity caused by the forced displacement accompanying the gentrification of the Albina neighborhood, in the heart of the Interstate Urban Renewal Area since 2000.

Since the formation of the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area in 2000, Black Portlanders have seen their communities pushed out of historically-Black neighborhoods in North and Northeast Portland. Families have been separated, businesses forced to close, and people have experienced what Dr. Mindy Fullilove calls ‘root shock’ - a ‘traumatic stress reaction to the loss of one’s’ community. 

Right 2 Root will provide the tools necessary for our people to become community builders, planners, leaders and decision makers.

Radix's Right 2 Root (R2R) is an inclusive grassroots, community-funded, community-led neighborhood planning and development Campaign of the Community RE/Construction 3.0 Initiative.

Our R2R Campaign is designed to create a People+Place based community stabilization program for Portland's African American/Black residents using the EcoDistricts framework as a means to reduce disparities, increase opportunities and generate prosperity.

We aim to:

1) Identify and build upon community assets;

2) Prioritize community redevelopment and resource allocation through an Equity Lens;

3) Build healthy holistic infrastructure to maximize Health, Innovation and Maker opportunities for the most vulnerable; and

4) Ameliorate traumatic impacts - physical, psychological, social, economic, cultural, environmental - of the Root Shock (Fullilove) caused by unmitigated, multi-generational serial forced displacement.  

(Photos: Intisar Abioto)

Placemaking

Right 2 Root is bringing together our community’s most vulnerable to and destabilized by displacement, architects and planners, city and county officials to work collaboratively.

Right 2 Root highlights the connection of people to place, centering the needs of the most impacted within the EcoDistrict Protocol. 

Right 2 Root provides a space for persons displaced by gentrification to innovate and make an urban renewal Master Plan that serves our needs, while working to leverage the resources and relationships necessary to make our plans a reality.

Major goals of the Right 2 Root Campaign (#Right2Root)  include:

Achieving economic parity for Portland’s Black communities,

Improving health and educational outcomes,

Increasing access to affordable housing and business development opportunities,

Ensuring that development is directed by those it most impacts.

Phase II

Design Charrette: December 12, 2015 PDX Right 2 Root Campaign: Community RE/Construction 3.0 Initiative - Design Charrette

Make our VISION VISIBLE in a BLACK COMMUNITY MASTER PLAN THE SOLUTION - For, By & With US:

In accordance with the EcoDistrict Protocol, 7 areas of community development were identified and broken out into priority criteria. Participants were asked to rank their top areas of interest and importance based on community needs. 4 areas of development rose as levels of importance and attention, and will form the foundation of the December 12th design charrette. Architects will be asked to push the boundaries of innovation, creativity and industry standards when designing within these categories, and to keep HEALTH, INNOVATION AND MAKER ECODISTRICTS as the guiding logic.

JOIN US FOR NEXT STEPS of the ‪#‎Right2Root‬ Campaign for the RE/Construction of BLACK PORTLAND!!!

A "Design Charette" is an intense period of design or planning activity. At this Saturday's meeting, a team of architects will dedicate 5+ hours to drawing buildings which reflect the ideas our Community members spoke about at the November 14th meeting.

The 4 areas of importance (on the pie chart below) were highlighted by our Community at the workshop last month. The PEOPLE spoke, and the focus will be:

- Community Space - Commercial Space - Small Housing - Parks and Natural Space

Phase I

Community Workshop: November 14, 2015

COME talk SATURDAY with COMMUNITY about the kind of building, space, center, etc. you would like to see built with/for/by us in our N PDX?

**Community Center **Health and Wellness Center **Community Kitchen **Meeting Space **Small Business Incubator **Black Market **Micro Village **School **Food Forest **Community Garden

All.Of.The.Above!!!!!.......

So.Many.We've.Missed...!!!!???

We have a Right to the City and opportunity, and a Right to put down Roots!

Come be a part of the Solution to Gentrification!!