agenda announcements gentrification in north portland: historical context portlandia discussion

Agenda

• Announcements

• Gentrification in North Portland: Historical Context

• Portlandia Discussion

• Department of Art Lecture Series: Rico Gatson• Thursday, November 20, 6:00 pm• Lawrence Hall, Room 115• 1190 Franklin Boulevard, Eugene

• O'Fallon Lecture by Maya Lin• Thursday, November 20, 7:30 pm• Erb Memorial Union, Ballroom• 1222 East 13th Avenue, Eugene

• Tiya Miles: 4th Annual Peggy Pascoe Memorial Lecture• “The Longest Unwritten Chapter: Interrelated Histories of African and Native America”• November 21, 1pm, Knight Library Browsing Room

• Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples Conference• Tuesday, 7pm at the Longhouse• Wednesday, 9am to 3:15 at the Longhouse• Attend any lecture or panel. Full schedule here: http://ccip.uoregon.edu/

Extra Credit Events

Walida Imarisha’s Oregon History Timeline: Thoughts? Reactions?

Gentrification in North Portland An Explanatory Chronology

Four Gentrification Risk Factors• 1). Proportion of renters is greater than 45.6%

• 2). Proportion of communities of color is greater than 27.4%

• 3). Proportion of population 25+ without bachelor’s degree is greater than 56.3%

• 4). Proportion of households at or below 80% of the median family income is greater than 43.7%

1948: Vanport Flood

1948: Vanport Flood

1948: Vanport Flood

Vanport Flood: Aftermath• 1948:

– 6,000+ African-Americans Displaced

– Many relocate in North Portland

• 1960:– 10,000~ African

Americans in Portland

– 73% in shaded area

1960s: Urban Renewal

• Neighborhood life disrupted (and thousands displaced) by:– Memorial Coliseum

Construction (1960)– I-5 Construction (1962)– Emanuel Hospital (1973)

1930s – 1990s: Redlining• Oregonian Report

(1990):– “North Portland gets

. . . far fewer mortgages than other areas of the city.”

– In largely black neighborhoods, the loan rate is one-sixth the rest of the city.

Gentrification is neither natural nor inevitable

Image Credits/Further Reading• Gentrification: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/62635

• Redlining: http://www.upa.pdx.edu/IMS/currentprojects/TAHv3/PDX_Places_GIS.html

• Urban Renewal: http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2011/03/albina.html

• Vanport Flood: http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/learning_center/dspresource.cfm?resource_ID=000BC26B-EE5A-1E47-AE5A80B05272FE9F

What Role Do Shows Like Portlandia Play?

• Herbert: “Ultimately, what upsets me about Portlandia is really the larger problem of how Portland is perceived by the rest of the country. More people are moving there every day, ignorant of . . . Oregon’s very particular racial history: if you don’t know, it’s quite easy to believe that Portland is so white because it somehow just happens to be that way.”

Can Humor Help?

• Herbert: “To confront the uncomfortable lack of diversity in one of America’s liberal Meccas by bringing it up on the show could however, actually slowly enact a little change. By laughing at subtle racism, gentrification and white privilege, maybe we can subvert it.”

New York Times Article• Portland has been able to attract

and retain young college-educated people at the second-highest rate in the nation.

• College-educated residents earn 84 cents for the average dollar earned in other cities.

• Amenity Paradox: Where the same amenities that attract people end up eroding what made a city desirable in the first place.

Future of Portland?• New York Times: “As job

prospects improve, and unemployment shrinks to its lowest levels since the crash, it’s likely that many of the young people who fled to Portland will soon chase their ambitions to less cool places — the ones that people move to when it’s time to become an adult. Then Portland will find out who the true believers really are.”

Reminders• Thursday:

– Reading Solnit’s Hollow City (posted to the blog)

• Friday: – Five-item annotated

bibliography due• Tuesday:

– Last quiz (on New Orleans/Portland/San Francisco readings and discussion)

• Dec. 10th:– Final paper due (full

assignment now on the blog)