gentrification – Daily Journal of Commerce /news/tag/gentrification/ Building and Construction News in Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:41:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.6 /files/2023/08/favicon.webp gentrification – Daily Journal of Commerce /news/tag/gentrification/ 32 32 Historic district status sought for Indianapolis’ Martindale area /news/2025/11/20/martindale-historic-district-national-register/ Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:40:27 +0000 /?p=514782 Leaders are pushing to get the Indianapolis neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places to preserve Black heritage and protect historic sites.

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At a glance:

— In the 1950s and ’60s, the streets of Martindale were lined with fruit trees and berry bushes. If Eunice Trotter forgot to eat breakfast, she could always count on plucking an apple or pear from a tree on her walk to School 26.

It’s one of the things she remembers most about growing up in the predominantly Black eastside neighborhood. She remembers what she calls the entrepreneurship of the neighborhood, too. Martindale was full of local businesses serving the community.

“We had the ice man and the watermelon man and the vegetable man,” Trotter said. “All of these people would be in wagons that they would drive up and down the street to sell their products.”

Trotter is now the director of ‘ Black Heritage Preservation Program. She’s leading the effort to add the Martindale neighborhood to the National Register of Historic Places. That designation would give Martindale access to tax incentives, grants and support for preservation.

“Erasure of Black history is very much occurring all across the country,” Trotter said. “I hope that Indianapolis will embrace its history, including its African American history, and remember the contributions of these citizens who have helped make Indianapolis what it is today.”

Boundaries for the proposed Martindale Historic District are 30th Street to the north, 25th Street to the south, Dr. Andrew J. Brown Avenue to the west and Brouse Avenue to the east.

Trotter said within those boundaries lies Frederick Douglass Park, about 100 Flanner homes and several historic churches. But the boundaries are farther north than what she had hoped for. There are strict requirements a neighborhood must meet to be listed on the National Register, including the number of historical buildings that need to remain intact. Trotter said too many buildings south of 25th Street have been lost, so Indiana Landmarks has had to accept the approved boundaries.

“We’re at a point today where if we don’t address the historical significance, the historic integrity will be so lost that we will never be approved for a historic district listing,” Trotter said. “So, we have to act now.”

Martindale was established in the 1870s as a mainly working-class, industrial neighborhood centered around the manufacturing of railroad equipment. The neighborhood would become a vibrant hub for Indianapolis’ Black community during a time when racial segregation shut Black residents out of jobs, determined where they could live and limited their civic participation.

Martindale had its own barbershops, grocery stores and even a cab company. There was the Dunbar Library, which was once managed by the state’s first Black librarian with formal training. And children attended the neighborhood’s segregated Indianapolis Public Schools 26 and 56. Some of the city’s oldest Black churches are in Martindale — Indiana Landmarks identified at least 40 churches in the area, some opening their doors as early as 1875.

A local historian, Anthony Conley, is working with Indiana Landmarks to establish Martindale as a historic district. He said what Martindale residents experienced was cultural self-sufficiency.

“The Black people had in this neighborhood the idea that, ‘I have what I need to sustain me culturally here,’” Conley said. “‘I have a theater right here and I could go there and not face those kind of discriminations. I can go to different stores here and not have to wait until everybody else is served.’”

Conley said a good example of this is Douglass Park. In the 1920s, Black Indianapolis residents could not use public park amenities, including swimming pools. With donated land, the city created Douglass Park for Black residents in 1921. The park opened after a persistent campaign by a reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder, the city’s Black newspaper.

“You can look at Douglass Park as an extension of ongoing racial segregation,” Conley said. “But you can also look at it as an expression of empowerment — people coming together, wanting something and working with the local municipal government to achieve that goal.”

Over the next few years, the park would grow with the addition of a swimming pool and golf course. Today, it remains an important part of Martindale. At 80 acres, the park makes up a significant portion of the proposed historic district. Last year, the park gained a $21 million renovated family center, new basketball courts and an upgraded playground.

Growing up in Martindale, 60-year-old Fred Jackson said he was always at Douglass Park playing basketball or going swimming with his friends. He remembers watching the Dust Bowl basketball tournament, where soon-to-be-great professionals would play.

“I’d ride my bike up here and see them,” Jackson said. “Billy Keller, Freddie Lewis, Freddie Brown — it’s just amazing as a kid growing up and seeing them in your park, in your area. It was so amazing.”

Jackson cast his vote for former President Barack Obama at the park and remembers a line so long, it almost reached Dr. Andrew J. Brown Avenue, a street that borders the park. Now he goes on walks with friends who also grew up in the area, reminiscing about their childhood.

He’s happy to see neighborhood kids on the playground, playing pool in the community center or lining up for a hot meal served out of the park’s kitchen. He said the upgraded center will benefit the community, especially the kids in the neighborhood. And he hopes a National Register listing will benefit the community, too.

“I do believe that it’s going to help people understand that this is not just 46218, this is not just the Martindale area, this is not just the Douglass Park area,” Jackson said. “This is a community that can build itself up to the way it used to be.”

Jackson’s home is within the historic district boundaries, as is the house where he grew up and where his mother still lives today. He said while some things have stayed the same, a lot has changed in the neighborhood. Jackson said there are abandoned homes and some of the churches have left as well.

Like in many Indianapolis neighborhoods, construction of Interstate 70 destroyed houses and displaced residents. And as residents and businesses moved away, crime and poverty increased. When industrial businesses left, residents would later deal with the long-term effects of environmental concerns of pollution and contaminated soil.

In 1992, residents formed the Martindale-Brightwood Community Development Corporation. Since then, the two neighborhoods have been almost universally linked.

But it will always be just Martindale, not Martindale-Brightwood, to 71-year-old Karen Taylor. She’s proud to be from Martindale and still works in the neighborhood as the seniors program coordinator at Edna Martin Christian Center.

Taylor said her childhood in Martindale was one of the happiest periods of her life. Like Trotter, she remembers the fruit trees in the neighborhood’s front yards. “I raised both of my children in this area because I wanted them to know where I came from, what I grew up with, what we were forced to live with,” Taylor said. “It was important for my children to grow up here, because I wanted people to know there (is) some good in 46218.”

Her house is just a couple streets over from the house she grew up in. Both houses are just shy of fitting within the proposed historical district boundaries.

Walking through the neighborhood on an October morning, Taylor can recall which families lived in which houses. She still calls Dr. Andrew J. Brown Avenue “Martindale Avenue,” its name until the late 1980s. Walking south, she points out where George Marshall’s grocery store was and where Club Savoy, a popular night club, once stood. Farther down was Jacobs Brothers Funeral Home and Dr. Emmet Brown’s dentist office and his church.

The historic district boundaries don’t stretch this far because many of the original buildings are no longer standing. She hopes they can still be recognized in some way.

“Even if the buildings are not there, if just a kind of plaque or something to let people know at least this is what was here,” Taylor said. “Not a whole lot of information on it, but at least let them know that it was here and it existed in the neighborhood.”

Taylor said more people are moving to Martindale. She says she can already feel the effects of . The homes are getting bigger and pricier. There are new businesses and the city has started several infrastructure projects.

She is trying to keep an open mind. But it’s why she wants at least some of Martindale to become a registered historic district.

“Things are changing and I can understand that,” Taylor said. “But I want them to know the meaning behind Martindale and why it was established. I don’t want us to lose that.”

Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Mirror Indy and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

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Mexico City protest targets gentrification, tourism /news/2025/07/10/mexico-city-gentrification-tourism-protest/ Thu, 10 Jul 2025 17:00:04 +0000 /?p=510930 Unrest in Mexico City ramped up last week as residents protested rising rents, gentrification, and mass tourism in popular neighborhoods.

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Some demonstrators in last week used signs to protest and other housing issues in desirable neighborhoods such as Condesa and Roma. (Fernando Llano/The Associated Press)

 

At a glance:
  • Protesters decry mass and rising rents in Mexico City
  • deal signed by president in 2022 elicits backlash
  • Activists demand , tenant protections, housing reform
  • Experts cite lack of government regulation as key factor in crisis

MEXICO CITY — A fierce protest in Mexico City railing against gentrification and mass tourism was fueled by government failures and active promotion to attract “,” according to experts, who said tension had been mounting for years.

The criticism comes after Mexican President alleged that the July 4 protest derived from xenophobia, reviving a debate over an influx of Americans in the city.

Many Mexicans say they’ve been priced out of their neighborhoods — in part because of a move made by Sheinbaum in 2022, when she was the Mexico City mayor and signed an agreement with Airbnb and UNESCO to boost tourism and attract digital nomads (remote workers) despite concern over the potential impact of .

Last week, that came to a head. Hundreds of demonstrators, in a largely peaceful manner, marched through tourism centers of the city with signs reading (in Spanish) “Gringo: Stop stealing our home” and “Housing regulations now!”

Near the end of the march, a group of protesters turned violent, breaking the windows of storefronts and looting several businesses. One protester slammed a butter knife against the window of a restaurant where people were hiding, and another person painted “kill a gringo” on a nearby wall.

“The xenophobic displays seen at that protest have to be condemned,” Sheinbaum said on Monday. “No one should be able to say ‘any nationality get out of our country’ even over a legitimate problem like gentrification. We’ve always been open, fraternal.”

The frustrations were built upon years of mass tourism and rising rent prices in large swaths of the city. The influx of foreigners began around 2020, when Americans flooded into the Mexico City to work remotely, dodge coronavirus restrictions and take advantage of cheaper living costs.

In the years since, choice neighborhoods like Roma and Condesa, lush central areas dotted with cafes and markets, have grown increasingly populated by foreign tourists and digital nomads. Temporary housing units are increasingly being rented through companies like Airbnb that cater to tourists.

Rents and living prices have soared, and English has been increasingly common on the streets of those areas. Some groups have described the phenomenon as a sort of “neo-colonialism.”

The Mexico City Anti-Gentrification Front, one of the organizations behind the protest, stated it was “completely against” any acts of physical violence and denied that the were xenophobic. Instead, the organization cited failures by the local government to address the root of the problems.

“Gentrification isn’t just foreigners’ fault; it’s the fault of the government and these companies that prioritize the money foreigners bring,” the organization stated. Meanwhile “young people and the working class can’t afford to live here.”

The organization, in its list of demands, called for greater rent controls, mandates that locals have a voice in larger development projects in their area, stricter laws making it harder for landlords to throw out residents, and prioritizing Mexican renters over foreigners.

Mexico’s protest comes on the back of a wave of similar protests across Europe railing against mass tourism. Tensions in Mexico have also been compounded by wider inequalities and the Trump administration targeting Latino communities in the U.S. as it ramps up deportations.

Protesters’ cries against government failures were echoed by experts, who said that surging gentrification is a product of both a shortage of in the city and longtime government failures to regulate the housing market.

Antonio Azuela, a lawyer and sociologist, and others said that they do see the protest as a xenophobic backlash to digital nomads arriving in the city, but anger boiled over because of lax housing laws.

“What has made this explode is lack of regulation in the market,” Azuela said.

Mexico City’s government over the course of decades has made few efforts to control development and create affordable housing.

Legislators estimated there are about 2.7 million houses and apartments in the city, but about 800,000 more are needed. New affordable housing developments have arrived at the fringes of the city, said Luis Salinas, a National Autonomous University of Mexico researcher who has studied gentrification in Mexico City for years.

Controls, meanwhile, have been marked by lack of enforcement, and companies such as Airbnb have capitalized, he said.

Today, more than 26,000 properties in Mexico City are listed on Airbnb, according to Inside Airbnb, an advocacy organization that tracks the company’s impact on residential communities through data. For comparison, there are more than 36,000 Airbnb properties in New York City and 19,000 in Barcelona, where protests have also broken out.

“The government has treated housing like it’s merchandise,” Salinas said. The government’s actions “are completely insufficient,” he added. “The federal government needs to be intervening far more nowadays.”

Airbnb said it helped contribute more than a billion dollars in “economic impact” to Mexico City last year and that spending by guests has supported 46,000 jobs in the city. “What’s needed is regulation based not on prohibitions, but on respect for rights and transparency of obligations,” it stated.

Last year, Mexico City’s government approved the most ambitious rent control law since the 1940s to moderate prices and set caps on short-term rentals to 180 nights a year, but Salinas said that enforcement of short-term rental legislation is on pause until after the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

And even then, the country’s government will have to take far greater actions to get the situation under control, Azuela said.

“This isn’t going to end by just reining in Airbnb,” he said. “They’re going to have to do a whole lot more.”

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Blog: The complexities of gentrification /news/2018/07/24/the-complexities-of-gentrification/ Tue, 24 Jul 2018 22:39:45 +0000 /?p=177905 It’s important to distinguish between the continuing need to preserve and create attractive urban neighborhoods and the methods by which that is achieved.

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Brian Campbell
Brian Campbell

Much of the debate nationally about the lack of is accompanied by the word “.” It certainly gets used a lot in . The original meaning had to do with the gradual influx of more affluent people into lower-income but attractive neighborhoods, and the subsequent upgrading of homes and stores, which led to the displacement of existing community residents and businesses. This process had benign origins, but has often had very negative consequences for those displaced.

In the post-WWII era greater numbers of people had the money to afford a house, and most originally turned to the new suburbs. But increasingly through the last half of the 20th century more affluent people began to seek out close-in, less expensive urban neighborhoods, which had an ambience and walkable lifestyle that increasingly appealed to more people. This natural upgrading of the housing stock and services has been going on since the beginning of cities, but when the political and development interests got involved and used their powers to force poorer people out of their homes and rental apartments, things got ugly and the term has become toxic.

Planners have been pushing for people to embrace urban living and reject suburbia. The attractiveness of older neighborhoods has been a key planning mantra since at least the days of Jane Jacobs and her battles to preserve Greenwich Village from the wrecking ball. Ironically, Greenwich Village became the prime example of gentrification because of its preserved charm.

It’s important to distinguish between the continuing need to preserve and create attractive urban neighborhoods and the methods by which that is achieved. That process of continual revitalization must respect all residents, their homes and their livelihoods while creating a better city for all.

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Eliot project beckons ex-residents to return /news/2018/06/28/eliot-housing-project-beckons-ex-residents-to-return/ Thu, 28 Jun 2018 20:52:21 +0000 /?p=177096 The Beatrice Morrow, a mixed-use project rising in Northeast Portland, stands out for its commitment to the African-American community.

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Ken Cruise, an HVAC installer with Hunter-Davisson, installs a transfer fan in a residential unit at The Beatrice Morrow, an 80-unit affordable housing project under construction in Northeast Portland. (Sam Tenney/91Ƶ)
Ken Cruise, an HVAC installer with Hunter-Davisson, installs a transfer fan in a residential unit at The , an 80-unit project under construction in . (Sam Tenney/91Ƶ)

A mixed-use project rising in the Eliot neighborhood, in Northeast , stands out for its commitment to the African-American community.

The Beatrice Morrow, now under construction at the site of the former Grant Warehouse on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Cook and Ivy streets, will have 80 affordable housing units as well as commercial and community space. For the residential units, priority will be given to people who either were forced out of the neighborhood because of or are at risk of being forced out.

“We’re definitely excited about the opportunity for folks who have been displaced or who are at risk of displacement from this neighborhood,” said Travis Phillips, director of housing development for nonprofit Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives. “We’ve certainly gotten a lot of interest from folks who want to live there.”

Gerding Edlen is developing the project, which has a budget of approximately $19.3 million. Costs are being covered with money from a mix of public and private sources. The five-story building is being built by Portland-based general contractor Colas Construction.

, another Portland-based firm designed the structure; Leeka Architecture and Planning designed the retail space.

Dark brick cladding is being used for the upper four stories to help the structure blend in with the area’s many older, unreinforced masonry buildings. Also, a large rooftop solar array and similar elements are expected to aid pursuit of a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold rating.

Indoors, the residential component will feature a mix of studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom units available for rent to families and individuals with incomes between 50 and 60 percent of the area median income.

The ground floor will be dominated by 6,000 square feet of retail space, a large community room and 112 bike parking spaces. A large playground will sit between the back of the structure and the parking lot.

“We have a particularly generous community room,” Phillips said. “The idea behind that being that, really, the community in Northeast Portland has seen a number of the larger gathering spaces go away and there aren’t the same spaces there used to be for folks to gather, so it was a priority for us.”

The Beatrice Morrow will contain one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units four floors over ground-floor commercial and community space. Colas Construction is the general contractor on the project, which was designed by Carleton Hart Architecture. (Sam Tenney/91Ƶ)
The Beatrice Morrow will contain one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units four floors over ground-floor commercial and community space. Colas Construction is the general contractor on the project, which was designed by Carleton Hart Architecture. (Sam Tenney/91Ƶ)

The building’s name comes from Beatrice Morrow Cannady – a well-known civil rights activist in early 20th century Oregon. Cannady served as editor of the Advocate, Oregon’s largest African-American newspaper. She used the platform to defend the civil rights of the state’s approximately 2,500 African-American citizens after she became owner of the publication in 1930.

The project also is an integral part of Pathway 1000 – PCRI’s initiative to build 1,000 new affordable units in North and Northeast Portland over the next decade. Developed by the group’s executive director, Maxine Fitzpatrick, Pathway 1000 envisions a mix of housing types ranging from large multifamily developments like Beatrice Morrow to a series of single-family row homes planned for completion this summer.

“If you can bring some of the old neighborhood back, they’ll be able to participate in the community as it used to be geographically, a community of color, and they can support the local businesses that are there,” said Bill Hart, founder and principal at Carleton Hart Architecture. “Their typical customers are the ones being moved out.”

Neighborhood residents’ response to the project has been positive, Carleton Hart project architect Martin Segura said.

“The existing site was a former warehouse and an empty lot,” he said. “And the fact we’re bringing back energy to a neglected piece of property has gone a long way.”

Segura added that the interior design conceived by local firm Mia Knox Design features artwork from local African-American artists. Meanwhile, a broad palette of bold colors will render each residential story unique.

PCRI was formed in the 1990s on the heels of a well-publicized scandal that revealed mortgage lenders had set minimum mortgage amounts and effectively redlined a large swath of North and Northeast Portland. In the fallout, banks started lending in formerly redlined areas, kick-starting the long process of gentrification. Today, houses in the immediate vicinity of the Beatrice Morrow are selling for an average of nearly $600,000. The Beatrice Morrow is intended to roll back that reality by at least a small amount.

“Relative to the number of units that are needed, it’s a drop in the bucket,” said Hart, a Portland native. “But I think the fact she (Fitzpatrick) is focused on this Pathway 1000 and the commitment to bring folks back is the driving force that separates this from other projects.”

 

 

 

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Portland leaders seeking housing ahead of light-rail development /news/2018/03/27/portland-leaders-seeking-housing-ahead-of-light-rail-development/ Tue, 27 Mar 2018 20:57:21 +0000 /?p=173869 The city of Portland may order a housing development feasibility study along the route of a future MAX light-rail line in the southwest metro area.

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The city of may order a housing development feasibility study along the route of a future MAX light-rail line in the southwest metro area.

City leaders are trying to get ahead of along the proposed route with a batch of projects. On Wednesday, the City Council is scheduled to consider additional funding for Housing Development Center (HDC), a Portland nonprofit, to carry out the feasibility study.

HDC would evaluate up to eight sites along the Interstate 5 corridor in Southwest Portland, with one near each anticipated MAX station. The city has a minimum goal of 1,000 new affordable units along the light-rail corridor, and up to 2,300 if more funding can be secured.

The city expects at least two sites to host mixed-use buildings. Two other sites could accommodate as many as 500 units each of market-rate and affordable housing.

The Housing Bureau and Bureau of Planning and Sustainability would create a joint agreement for the plan, known as the Equitable Housing Strategy. The City Council item, if approved, would add $68,419 to an existing contract HDC has with the Housing Bureau.

Planning for the affordable housing comes as Metro plans to establish a light-rail line from downtown Portland, through Tualatin and Tigard, to Bridgeport Village. Metro’s Southwest Corridor Light Rail Advisory Committee has been meeting regularly to evaluate options for the MAX line. Route options would follow Barbur Boulevard and I-5 at certain points.

“Two major goals are to prevent residential and cultural displacement before the area becomes more desirable and developed,” said Ryan Curren, project manager for the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

Portland officials have studied what happened along the yellow line route in North Portland when it opened in 2004. Land prices increased and residents were displaced. Some nearby homeowners were targets of predatory lending and real-estate practices, Curren said.

“The lesson there is get it early,” he said. “There’s been a lot of displacement around the yellow line – some of it would have happened just because of the location. What we could have done is have a little earlier action to secure land (for affordable housing).”

A draft environmental impact statement is being prepared to potentially answer remaining questions about the proposed routes.

A final decision on the route will be made in July, with the Portland and Tigard city councils adopting a joint plan. Metro’s council would follow.

Businesspeople near the proposed routes have begun to weigh in.

“Overall, I’m optimistic about increasing the amount of available transit in the area and creating more options,” said Chad Hastings, general manager of , which manages Bridgeport Village and other properties in the Portland area.

Hastings said he anticipates Bridgeport Village would have an end-of-the-line transit center similar to the one at Clackamas Town Center. Bridgeport Village already has park-and-ride facilities that could be used, he said.

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Panel: greater inclusivity needed /news/2018/03/01/panel-greater-inclusivity-needed/ Thu, 01 Mar 2018 23:41:14 +0000 /?p=172763 Industry professionals shared their stories and weighed in on how development in traditionally African-American communities has left significant impacts.

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Anyeley Hallova, a partner at project^, speaks Wednesday night during a panel discussion at The CENTER in Northeast Portland. Behind her is panelist Joy Alise Davis of Design + Culture Lab. (Josh Kulla/91Ƶ)
Anyeley Hallova, a partner at , speaks Wednesday night during a panel discussion at The CENTER in Northeast . Behind her is panelist Joy Alise Davis of Design + Culture Lab. (Josh Kulla/91Ƶ)

(Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct age of Nate McCoy, executive director of the National Association of Minority Contractors’ Oregon chapter)

A group of African-American design and architecture professionals shared their personal experiences in the industry Wednesday during a special panel discussion directed by local students.

Organized through and The CENTER, a coalition-led hub for child and youth education, creativity and engagement, Vital Voices in the Built Environment brought together industry professionals, high school students and community members for a conversation on how to drive Portland development in a direction that encompasses all of the communities in the city.

“I’m an Oregon native for all 36 of my years,” said panel member Nate McCoy, executive director and operations manager of the National Association of Minority Contractors‘ Oregon chapter. “And for the last 30 years I’ve seen our city change and grow and modify and expand in so many ways, and it’s been perplexing.”

Joining McCoy on the panel were architect William Hart, a founding partner in ; Joy Alise Davis, CEO and founder of Design + Culture Lab; and Anyeley Hallova, a partner at development firm project^. Together, the quartet provided their takes on not only working in their respective industries, but the struggles involved in preservation of existing communities and cultures in the face of ongoing .

For McCoy, who grew up in Parkrose, in Northeast Portland, it meant carving out his own path into his desired field. He engineered a transfer to Benson High School, with its technical programs, and eventually realized he could go to college and achieve his goals. This was a revelation for a teenager who was constantly told that certain paths were closed to African-American students.

“For folks of color who sometimes feel voiceless, sometimes you have to take that faith if there is not that opportunity then you have to create it,” McCoy told the audience.

He earned a scholarship to the University of Oregon and eventually became senior construction coordinator for the . He helped oversee developments of the type he once depended upon, including North Portland’s New Columbia.

In Portland, gentrification of traditionally black districts has led to substantial cultural losses along Northeast Martin Luther King Boulevard and other thoroughfares.

One of the biggest challenges panelists are working to address is how to preserve and even re-grow that culture. Work with longtime property owners in the Albina area and others has been made more difficult by the distrust engendered by the burgeoning wealth and demographic changes that have happened there.

Bill Hart, fourth from left, of Carleton Hart Architecture speaks to the audience Wednesday during a panel discussion covering minorities in the construction, design and architecture industries held at The Center in Northeast Portland. (Josh Kulla/91Ƶ)
Bill Hart, fourth from left, of Carleton Hart Architecture speaks to the audience Wednesday during a panel discussion covering minorities in the construction, design and architecture industries held at The Center in Northeast Portland. (Josh Kulla/91Ƶ)

“Today, I’m still dealing with some of these community folks desperately trying to understand with all this zoning, where can we go to get developers and banks to come in and look at these areas,” Hart said.

Engaging these people in the discussions around future development, he added, is key to ensuring that local communities remain coherent.

“I think it starts with making sure early and often for folks who don’t have a chance to get to meetings, giving them a chance to weigh in,” he said. “We have to be grassroots with this work and really make sure folks know what resources are out there.

“They’ve got the land, but they don’t have the resources to do anything with it.”

Hallova agreed, and said the widespread gentrification in Portland has left some property owners wary of trusting banks and developers.

“The trust issues, like you said, at this particular moment, if you want to get a property developed, you have to have a development partner,” she said. “We work with land owners all the time and that’s what they do. But in the African-American community, with all the broken trust that’s come before, I completely get why they don’t trust.”

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Foster Road improvement plan draws opposition /news/2017/12/13/foster-road-improvement-plan-draws-opposition/ Wed, 13 Dec 2017 19:07:52 +0000 /?p=170494 The Portland Bureau of Transportation is planning a project to narrow Southeast Foster Road and make it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

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A Portland Bureau of Transportation plan to remove motor vehicle lanes from Southeast Foster Road has met with opposition from some local business owners. (Sam Tenney/91Ƶ)
A Bureau of Transportation plan to remove motor vehicle lanes from Southeast has met with opposition from some local business owners. (Sam Tenney/91Ƶ)

The Gun Room has been on Southeast Foster Road since 1965, enduring as a firearms retailer in an area sometimes known as “felony flats.”

Now, proprietor Warren Lacasse is worried an upcoming Portland Bureau of Transportation project to narrow the street and make it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists will raise rents, reduce parking and lead to further .

“We need another Hawthorne like we need more people smoking dope,” Lacasse said, comparing rough-hewn Foster Road to gentrified Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard.

Businesses and residents near Foster Road are facing a multimillion-dollar makeover of the throughway. Advocates have pushed for safety improvements along the corridor for years, but some old-timers like Lacasse worry the project will change the neighborhood for the worse.

Around the neighborhood, fliers blasting the project have appeared, saying it will encourage “massive high-rise condos” and wipe out small businesses.

plans to remake a long stretch of Foster Road – from Powell Boulevard to 92nd Avenue. The city, neighborhood association and a business group support the changes, but some business owners are marshaling opposition.

Stretches of Foster Road will be narrowed from two lanes in each direction to one, with a center turn lane. Buffered bike lanes will be added and sidewalks widened. Several traffic islands for pedestrians will be added or improved.

Foster Road will be repaved from Southeast 82nd to 90th Avenue as part of the city’s High Crash Corridor program.

PBOT plans to request bids for a construction contract by early February, with construction to follow in the spring, agency spokesman Dylan Rivera said. Project completion is scheduled for fall 2018.

PBOT has had the project on the back burner for years as the agency sought funding. It’s moving forward now in part because of funding from a voter-approved 10-cent gas tax and a heavy-vehicle tax enacted by the City Council.

“The project has strong support from the business community and the area neighborhood associations,” Rivera said.

Indeed, the Foster-Powell Neighborhood Association has pushed for safety improvements along Foster Road for two decades, said Seth Gallant, the association’s transportation co-chairman.

The changes will help make Foster “a place people want to be, instead of a place to get through quickly,” Gallant said.

More density is coming to the neighborhood in any case. 72 Foster, a four-story mixed-use project from REACH Community Development, with 101 affordable apartments and ground-floor commercial space, is under construction at Southeast 72nd Avenue and Foster Road.

Another four-story mixed-use building planned for 5045 S.E. Foster Road is in permit review. It would bring 33 apartments over ground-floor retail space.

Gallant acknowledged gentrification is a concern, but said it shouldn’t hold back the street upgrades.

“It’s always a concern that rents can go up too much and displace people, but I don’t see it as a reason not to improve things,” he said.

The changes should slow traffic, which will increase visibility of businesses along Foster Road, said Allen Rowand, vice president of the Foster-Area Business Association. The streetscape project will also eliminate dangerous left-hand turns and make it easier for people to walk and bike to shops.

“The benefits of the streetscape (project) far outweigh the negative,” Rowand said. “For residents and the vast majority of businesses along Foster, it is a win.”

Lacasse isn’t sold on the idea.

“We can’t afford to let these businesses run out of Portland,” he said. “There will be no places to park. The blue-collar working class that’s always been here will be forced out of their homes because they won’t be able to afford the taxes.”

Rowand views many of the changes as outside the neighborhood’s control. The best answer, he said, is to adapt.

“We can try as much as possible to maintain the spirit of Foster and try to guide the neighborhood in how we look at all of this,” he said.

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