May 21. 1986. Portland Observer. Page 3
Neighborhood Rebuilds, Funds Available
l>\
Huh l.tuhnm
Danny Chavez and friends »ere
ready to lease for a holiday dinner on
the jliem oon of Jan I Chavez had his
hand on a doorknob in his house, lo-
caled fx-t»een Northeast Fremont and
Beech on ItXh Ase . »hen a huge exp
losion ble» the door out ot its traineand
kixxkcd Chjsez across ihe nxim
A halt bios k away on Beech St .
IX>n Nickerson, unemployed and de
pressed, had turned his house into a
giant bomb by Tilling it » ith natural
gas Niskerson died in the expkision.
uhich sk-stroyed five houses and dam
aged IK ' Miraculously. no one else
»as killed or seriously injured
A large vacant lot at the comer o f
litth and Beech occupies the site »here
Nukerson's and surrounding homes
once stood A child's toy remains
»edged into a cyclone tcnce, and a pair
ot pants flutters in the breeze high in a
tree across ihe street — mute reminders
o, ihe power ol tire explosion
Some neighborhood residents
moved, others stayed and repaired their
damaged houses Chavez and others
have had trouble getting insurance set
dements
Many renters in the
neighborhood had no insurance to
cover the loss ot personal possessions
and the cost ot relixaling
Several homes remain boarded up
I he pastor ot a neighhortxxxl church
uorried that the vacant houses »ould
attiact transients and lurther blight the
Io»-income neighborhixxl He »ants
t lx* m torn down
tin the bright side, contractors con
tinue extensive renxxlelmg »ork on the
damaged homes, »ork »orth thousands
ol dollars A group of investors is inter
eled in putting up row houses on the
former homesites. and the city has an
nounced that up to S54XI may he availa
ble lor minor repairs on houses not co
vered by insurance
Those unable to receive help
else» here turned Io the Red Cross The
Oregon Trail Chapter distributed
$19,000 to 82 families affected by the
blast through March 2 1. including
$-1.44X1 given to Nickerson's wife and
live children
len neighborhtxxl residents »ere
slightly injured in the blast, including
Chavez and his seven-month old daugh
ter.
Chavez and his family are living at
another house while they »ait for an
insurance settlement Glass and debris
lies scattered in the living nxim o f their
vacant boarded-up house Plaster has
(alien from the ceiling and walls A
vacant lot next door where a house
stood before the expkision is now home
to a pair o f mean-kxiking Gennan
shepherds.
"W e 're having a lot o f problems
with insurance." Chavez said A con
tractor sent by their insurance company
estimated $b,(XXI for Ihe damage, he
said. » hile other estimates ranged up to
$18,000. The fig u re is being
negotiated, Chavez said
They had hoped to move back in Feb
ruary, but now their family hopes for
sometime later this spring Around the
corner, the small wood-frame home
that was once home to Barbara Sailas
and her two daughters stands askew on
its foundation, its windows boarded up
Houses nearby display tor rent and for
sale signs
Sailas remembers debris flying
through the air, and "w ires dangling
overhead My daughters thought it was
the end ot the w o rld ." she said about
the blast
They laid on the floor until alter a
third explosion, then discoverd that
their rented house had been kmxked o ff
its foundation
Sailas and her daughters had no in
surance to cover the loss ol furniture,
clothes and other personal effects, or to
pay for the move to another house tw o '
TO FIND OUT WHY.
CALL:
from the cits for a needs assessment
survey ot ncigl.lx- IxxxJ irsidenis at
tested by the blast League vice
piesick-nt Carol lentz said a k>ng lime
neighborhcxxl resident »as hiied Io go
elixir to ckxx in tlx- six b lix k area to ask
residents »hai ihev need
I entz said that giants o f up to $5tX)
per household aie available through the
Poitland Bureau ot Community IX-
velopnx-nt lor minor outside repairs to
houses ix>t covered by insurance and
whose owners aie unable to do tlx- re
pair work tlx-mselves
W hat we re trying to do is tmd out
how extensive the damage w as," lentz
said
H opelully. the city » ill take the
inlonuation aixl provide some kinds ot
programs so that ,x*o|'lc can gel their
belore the blast
Portland IX-velpment Commission
representative Cindy Roach said a
technical ads isory group w iih represen
Ulives from several city agencies is
nx-eting to develop a strategy " lo r re
building Beech Slreet " Roach said
S»®*“
OVER
M rs. C ’s W igs
Mie t u r i
W eak«
“it ’• a u m '
BUY AT
WHOLESALE
NO LIMIT!
Nite o f January I expkiskin Ihal killx-d I person and left others homeless.
Photo by Richard J. Brown
blocks away That house »as also dam
aged, and Sailas. »ho hurt her back last
year and lost her job. does repair »ork
on the house to pay the rent ' ‘ I've just
kind o f basically started o ve r.'' she
said
Other homeowners had better luck
» ith insurance settlements and things
are more or less back to normal lor
them M j I x -I W ilbom and her husband,
for example, »ho have lived in the
house across the street from the
Chavezes for 42 years, sullercd
SI2.1XX) in damages to their house She
refxvrted "not one bit o f trouble" »ith
the insurance company Remodeling on
their house is already complete, she
said
\ ix.-» greenhouse tvjx- window ex
tends from the south vide ol Coleen
Pearson's house, kxated three lots
north ol the blast site oil ItXh
f or the
most part, everything’ s fx-en taken care
o l. " Patterson said
Rev W G Hardy. pastor ot Ml
Sinai Chuuh ol (n xl in Chust at the
coiner ol ItXh aixl Beech, said that in
addition («extensive damage caused bv
ihe blast, tlx- church has lost nx-mbers
and its schixil »as deccititicd. creating
a lin a ix i.il buiden He aixl his w ile.
Anorvia Hardy, hojx-d that the vacant
houses across the street could fx.- lorn
down belore they attiact transients
Meanwhile Ihe I rbail I e.iene ol
Portland has received a SCI C giant
62ri ol the homes damaged in the bias
were rentals
" A lm o s t 50% ol
homeowner» had no insurance cover
age." she said
I lx- broker said that plans involve
buvmg up six contiguous kits, but he
stressed that nothing is definite
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