March 28 1962
THE OREGON MIRROR
GEOGRAPHICAL PLANNING
GENERAL SUBJECT: “ GEOGRAPHICAL PLANNING”
(Comments of Gene W. Rossman, Executive Director of
the Housing Authority of Portland, Oregon , as a Layman
“ Resource Person” participating in the “ URBAN LIFE
CONFERENCE ON THE INNER CITY” sponsored by the
Methodist Church, Portland, Oregon, March 22, 1962).
LYLE E. SCHALIER, of Cleveland, Ohio, is an unique person
He is not only an ordained Methodist M inister (a member
of the Western Winsconsin Conference), but he holds an
M.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin in City and
Regional Planning. He has served professionally not only
as a Methodist Pastor, but also as a Mayor’s Adminis
trative Assistant, Director of Municipal Research, and City
Planner.
“ The current emphasis on the conservation and preservation
of older neighborhoods offers the church a new evangelistic
opportunity. This neighborhood renewal concept developed in
recognition of the fact that in most blighted areas many of the
buildings can be saved through constructive efforts. Cities
cannot afford to completely write-off whole neighborhoods.
Several Protestant Churches are now undertaking a sim ilar
approach to the people living in blighted neighborhoods. It
erroneous to “ write-off” these residents as people who
cannot be served by mainline Protestantism . More and
more we see Protestant Churches that have been m inis
tering to members who long ago moved to Suburbia now
focusing attention on the people living within the shadow of
the Church. These Churches have discovered that within a
few blocks of the sanctuary are living thousands of people
who are in as great a need of spiritual renewal as their
homes are in need of physical renewal. Re-building the
physicla neighborhood may be the responsibility of the
government; helping the residents re-new their lives is a
proper task of the neighborhood Church. Blight is, at least
in part, a product of the hopelessness of the residents.
Merely rehabilitating the structures will not eliminate this
hopelessness. The Evangelical Church, ministering to the
people in its neighborhood, may be able to serve Christ
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and fight blight at the same time by bringing to these
people evidence of the redemptive love of God through
Christ. This may be the greatest challenge confronting
the Chruch today. The Inner City is the site not only of
most urban renewal activity, but also of Protestantism 's
greatest missionary challenge” .
Rev. Schaller has pointed up most articulately the close
interrelation between the Church and Government in the
massive movement toward community renewal, redevelop
ment, and rehabilitation in our urban areas.
In the selection of a site for a new public-housing project,
what is the first consideration? It is the proximity of that
site to existing Churches, as well as to shopping centers,
educational, health, and recreational facilities. Witness the
site of the Portland Housing Authority’s 180-unit NORTH_
site of the Portland Housing Authority’s 180-unit NORTH
WEST TOWER housing project now under development
at NW 19th and Everett in Portland--the first high-rise,
low-rent, public-housing facility in the Far West, ex
clusively for senior citizens of low income. This site is
not just surrounded, it is virtually “ hemmed-in” by
long-established Portland Churches. Witness the Port
land Housing Authority’s DAISY B. WILLIAMS housing
project for families of low income -- now under develop
ment in the Albina D istrict. No neighborhood community
in Portland is so “ peppered” with Church facilities of
all denominations.
We in the field of public housing know from experience
that low-income households displaced by public works
do not wish to be relocated in areas remote from their
form er friends and neighbors — and their Churches.
A case at point is Portland’s new Memorial Coliseum
the construction of which displaced some one-hundred
households — mostly low-income families living in over
crowded, slum-type, dwellings. Only four of these
households chose to move to Columbia Villa and other
remote low-rent housing projects of the local Housing
Authority. The rest preferred to move into the slums
adjacent to the Coliseum, pay exorbitant rentals for sub
standard accommodations, but retain their close proximity
to their long-time neighbors, to the community life with
which they were fam iliar, to their Church.
In our relationship with our community’s low-income
households, we in the business of Housing and in the calling
of the Church share a joint responsibility. We are
dealing with a sizable segment of our total population,
a special kind of people -- people who in so very many
instances are in urgent need of both physical and spiritual
rehabilitiation. Because of the traditional shortage of
manpower and funds, we are presently satisfying a very
sm all part of that need. It is, therefore, incumbent
upon us all to direct our energies and to utilize what
resources we have in accordance with careful planning--
to make the very most out of what we have to offer.
Here are some observations that may give us cause to
reflect as to whether we are heading in the right direction:
Low-income families must, of economic necessity, live
close to where the wage earner makes his living. The
cost of transportation to and from work can take a
considerable “ bite” out of this family’s total income and
divert to such expense funds needed for food, clothing,
and medical care. For this reason — in developing new
housing projects, Public Housing is giving increasing
consideration to the desirability of choosing sites located
close to the core of the City — despite the fact that the
acquisition of such sites is proving increasingly costly.
In its planning for more adequate facilities to meet growing
spiritual needs, is the Church giving proper consideration
to the requirements of this concentration of low-income
households in the Inner City? Or is its gaze more c
attracted toward an expanded and considerably more
picturesque and enticing Suburbia -
*
S a fe w a y Stores Hire
Grocery Checker
M argarite Wilson of 537
N. Stanton St. was hired Mon.
March 26, as a grocery chec
ker for Safeway Stores at
North branch 1335 N. Mason.
Mr. Harold Bleything, zone
merchandising manager sta
ted that Miss Wison’s re-
feral for employment was
submitted through the Urban
League of Portland by James
F razier Industrial Relations
Director.
Miss Wilson is a graduate
Shorter Jr. College Little
Rock, Arkansas and has co
mpleted a eight-week bus
iness machine course, at
Marketing Training School
of Portland, Oregon.
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