Portland leaders, acknowledging racist anti-Black policies, seek to right historic wrongs
Updated Dec 17, 2020;
Posted Dec 17, 2020
North Williams Avenue and Russell Street (pictured) was once the commercial center for Black residents in Portland. (File photo)
Facebook Share
Portland officials are considering pumping millions of dollars into affordable housing and economic redevelopment that could benefit families displaced from Portland’s historic Black neighborhoods.
A wide array of Black community leaders crafted the proposed $67 million initiative, which would build 40 to 50 new single-family homes to own and at least 100 apartments to rent.
People whose families were pushed out of the historic North and Northeast Portland Albina neighborhood would have first rights to live there.
by Alex Zielinski • Dec 17, 2020 at 11:23 am
Boys on an unidentified corner of in Albina Neighborhood, in 1963 seven years before the Emanuel Hospital development City of Portland Archives
When Brian Morris recalls his early childhood years in Northeast Portland s Albina neighborhood, he remembers a sense of belonging. I was just a kid, but it seemed like I knew everyone in the neighborhood. we were all family, Morris, now in his 50s, told the
Mercury Wednesday. It was a safe place. I would walk from my house on NE Fargo down to visit my grandfather at his tavern [on NE Russell] by myself, and it wouldn t be an issue. It was a community that looked out for each other.
Oregon tenant advocates see uptick in landlord harassment
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Oregon’s eviction moratorium generally appears to be working as intended, holding off evictions that are expected with the coronavirus-related economic crisis.
But some tenant advocates have said recently the ban on no-cause evictions has fueled a rise in tenant harassment, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. Advocates said it’s because landlords who for now can’t evict tenants formally through the courts are instead pressuring tenants until they feel they have to move out.
The Community Alliance of Tenants executive director Kim McCarty says landlords mostly are respecting the moratorium now but their phones are ringing off the hook with tenants who are confused about their future.
/
Crispin Rosenkranz, 50, in front of his Northeast Portland home, Dec. 14, 2020, said his landlord offered him $500 to voluntarily move out of his home in Northeast Portland in August. He rejected the offer and claims his landlord has since resorted to a harassment campaign to get him to leave the property since she can not issue an eviction during the moratorium.
During the statewide eviction moratorium, landlords cannot evict a tenant for not paying rent. Some tenant advocates say this has resulted in increased reports of tenant harassment.
It has become increasingly clear to Crispin Rosenkranz that he is no longer a welcomed tenant in his pale yellow Northeast Portland rental.
Emanuel Displaced Persons sound alarm on urban renewal vote December 15 2020
Portland City Hall will consider expanding indebtedness of Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Plan to $402 million.
A city plan to get more cash for urban renewal projects has drawn disapproval from residents who say they haven t received true restitution for the demolition of their homes and businesses. The proposed changes to the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Plan would allow officials to take out another $67 million loan for projects surrounding Interstate 5 the river of traffic and cement that has riven Portland s historically-Black neighborhoods since it was built in the 1960s.
But some community leaders are pushing back, saying a vote to approve the proposal shouldn t happen without further commitment for restitution for the owners of property that was razed.