We lived in Portland, Oregon for three years, and can say first hand that it really is the epicenter of green. If there can be an epicenter in an epicenter, then it's the ReBuilding Center, a non-profit that anchors Alberta, one of the city's most quickly changing neighborhoods. The sudden influx of white folks interested in green has set off some painful introspection in this usually progressive city, and it's lead us to wonder if all this green is really just another shade of white.
Blogging The New York Times: On Green, Race, and Gentrification in Portland
Here's a quick history lesson: a quasi-public company, the Portland Development Commission, targeted the area around the Alberta neighborhood's Mississippi Street for redevelopment and offered subsidized business loans, grants, and mortgages that fueled a rise in property values. As William Yardley points out, Portland is only 7% black, and the change in the neighborhood is quite visible. Mostly white hipsters fill coffee shops and restaurants and slick new stores such as Pistils Nursery sell plants in an aestheticized setting. The neighborhood is a quick bike ride or bus trip from downtown, and at least one developer is building green loft condos designed to appeal to the neighborhood's new residents.
The question of whether or not this is progress seems to depend on where you are from—and whether or not you have found a way to profit from the sudden changes in the neighborhood.
Gentrification has always been a fact of life in American cities, but the new push for green does offer a shiny distraction from ugly realities (such as the fact that blacks were constitutionally prohibited from owning property in Oregon until the early 20th century). We're wondering if there might be a more inclusive definition of green that takes into account issues of social class and race.
Check out the full article at The New York Times.
image via The New York Times.
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Quick change - ReBuilding Center anchors the Mississippi neighborhood - not Alberta. One's in N and the other's in NE Portland. But on gentrification, Mississippi and N Portland is really taking the brunt of it right now.
Though it is good to see that the local uber-green supermarket chain, New Seasons, moves into minority neighborhoods along with the lightrail - but those seem to accelerate gentrification, because there's such high value to being w/i walking distance to a New Seasons, a farmer's market, or mass transit; which prices more people out of their neighborhoods and good neighborhood amenities
view thistle's profile
I actually grew up in Portland, and always thought it was sad and weird that there was this apparent segregation. One area of town for african americans, and the rest of the city was pretty much white.
So, now that integration is happening, it brings up new problems and questions. Because, I totally hear the concerns transforming the neighborhood and raising costs, and I suppose there is also the issue of preserving a cultural center.
But what is really the answer? Isn't there a way for integration to occur, without it being about "white people are taking over"? Is it really so great that the city was divided up by color?
view jillian1977's profile
It's never great when a city is divided by color, but show me one that isn't. Integration has to be very gradual and natural. When the city or developers/investors force it by buying people out of their homes (sometimes against their will) and knocking down what were once neighborhood landmarks (however insignificant they might be to a newcomer), integration will never happen. Giant condo buildings that block what was once a great view don't help. Ridiculous, out of control increases in property tax don't help. Losing your long-time neighbors because they can no longer afford the rent doesn't help. And I'm sorry, but a sudden influx of douchebag hipsters doesn't help, either. What was once your neighborhood has now become someone else's, and all of the things you thought were great about it (in spite of the negatives) are suddenly gone.
I have lived through this once, in Brooklyn, and I can feel it happening in my current area in Baltimore. I am not looking forward to it. People and culture make a "good" neighborhood. Starbucks and trendy grocery stores do not.
view zero's profile
Get this racist crap off of here.
view boomer's profile
Why is is OK to worry about "whites taking over" but if you have legitimate concerns about illegal Mexicans taking over, then that's not OK. And it's also not OK for Portland to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a day labor center for illegals. Especially when the city claims they have no money to pave the roads. I am not a white supremacist but I am sick and tired of white-bashing. Just f@cking stop it.
view boomer's profile