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BY HEDDA TUM ANICUPS
UNEMPLOYED WRITER
everal artist enclaves in Northeast
Portland have organized a week of
street festivals to celebrate the
diversity of art and music in the
neighborhood. The festivals will run through
the summer and focus on community
building with events such as “Face painting
for Peace,” “Joy to the World, Art is
Expensive," and “Drink for the Cure.”
“We are hoping to create a “Burning
Man” atmosphere without the desert,” said
festival organizer Jerry Dead. “It’s about
being free in a world hindered by personal
slavery. We want people to have fun. It’s a
festival for the locals by the locals. We want
people to buy, buy, buy.”
*In an effort to partner with law
enforcement, permits have been obtained
for street closures that win allow for festival
participants to drink wine out of plastic cups
and get high in nearby parking lots while
enjoying art walks, live music and local food.
In preparation for the throngs of
participants who will arrive from all over the
region to partake in the festivals, police
have announced they will arrest and detain
minorities hanging out in groups of two or
more in targeted areas from May until
September.
Minority youths who live in the
neighborhoods increasingly have been
loitering on street comers adjacent to coffee
shops where patrons and their dogs hang
out on sidewalks. Dozens of early goers at
local breakfast establishments on both
Alberta Street and Mississippi Avenue have
complained of unwanted sneers from
individuals forced to move from the area
because of economic reasons.
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PHOTO BY ISADORA BULL
Alberta s wild days are a thing of the past, but remnants remain, such as these stickers on the back of a stop sign.
“Gentrification is a thing of the past,”
said Betty, who carried her son in a baby
sling bought at a local boutique. “Where’s
my voice in all this?”
Minority leaders in the community have
pointed to a long history of racial profiling
by the Portland Police Bureau, unfair
housing practices directed at African
Americans and the lack of new local
businesses hiring minorities in the
neighborhood.
Throughout the years, the city has set up
many neighborhood roundtables and
listening sessions with residents on
institutionalized racism in the community
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that the city has never done a thing about.
Still, newcomers like Betty think things
are changing for the better. “Look, we live
in one of the only racially diverse
neighborhoods in the state. We should be
proud of the progress we’re making.”
Since the early 1990s the minority
population has been largely displaced
throughout the city. However, Northeast
Portland is still a racially diverse
neighborhood.
City planners say the enclaves of local art
scenes and mixed-income neighborhoods
promote a sense of smart urban planning
that will last for decades. “Look, these
neighborhoods have historically been bad,
bad neighborhoods. If you lived here in the
’80s, you would understand. I lived in the
Southeast and you just didn’t go there. We
have come a long way to export crime and
poverty trends to the city of Gresham. We’re
proud of the makeup of Northeast Portland
today.”
The festival organizers have said they are
doing their best to incorporate as many
community voices as possible. “We even
have a Polish festival now,” said Dead. “It’s
going to be a summer of change. Obama is
president now. Let’s celebrate.”
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