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T he P ortland O bserver • S eptember 11,1996
P age CS
Observador 1996 Community Betterment Award Winner
Hacienda Community Development Corporation
by S ean C ruz ,
P ortland O bservador
low-income families, and in the way
they address cultural differences and
language barriers between the most
ly Spanish-speaking residents and
the neighborhood and community-
at-large which surrounds them
When the non-profit Hacienda
Community Development Corpora
tion purchased four rundown and
overcrowded apartment buildings at
the comer o f Killingsworth and Cul ly
in 1992, it was d iffic u lt to see a future
for the complexes that did not feature
a wrecking ball.
The four buildings, plus the Aero
Manor Apartments, were responsi
ble for as many as 1,470 arrests in a
single year (1.4% o f the Portland
Police Bureau’s total arrests from
June 1992 toJuly 1993), and— thanks
in large part to the absentee apart
ment owners— residents and neigh
bors alike appeared to be locked into
a perpetual blight o f poverty and
neglect.
Villa de Clara Vista's
unique solution
Public costs were enormous
The public cost for this small patch
o f real estate was enormous. Apart
from the drain on the Portland Police
Bureau and area emergency resourc
es, the court system, and the impact
on neighboring property values, there
were the short- and long-term costs
that victims as individuals— and so
ciety as a whole— pays when condi
tions such as these remain unad
dressed.
The complexes housed many ch il
dren livin g in deplorable conditions.
Many tenants spoke little or no En
glish. Many parents worked fu ll time
at d iffic u lt or dangerous jobs that
offered low pay and no health bene
fits. C hild care was largely unavail
able. School drop-out rates were h igh.
There was I ittle or no access to health
care. The cycle o f poverty, crime and
hopelessness was relentless here.
Residents were also victims
I am pleased and honored to be
included in the first edition o f The
Portland Observador. I am confi
dent that the Observador w ill play
an important role in serving the
Hispanic community in Portland.
As with other major metropolitan
newspapers, it is our intention to
keep our readers well informed o f
all major news events, and to keep
you abreast o f business and social
developments that would have an
impact on your livelihood and/or
your investments.
As the Portland Observador’ s
guest writer on business and eco
nomic developments, I w ill con
tribute articles concerning business
and financial planning, retirement,
college and tax planning, among
other topics.
Unfortunately, economic and de
mographic trends reveal that many
people simply w ill not be adequate
ly prepared for either retirement or
for providing for a college educa
tion for their children. In these pag
es, I w ill illustrate methods to per
haps help you to prepare for these
and other eventualities.
Additionally, I w ill be reporting
on trends in the financial markets,
utilizing resources from some o f
the best minds on W all Street as
interest rates, the stock market and
other important financial develop
ments are examined.
To those o f you who are wonder
ing who I am and where I come
from. I ’d like to offer a short bio
graphical sketch.
I was born in El Salvador, and
my ancestry in this beautiful Cen
tral American country goes back to
the 17th century, when my prede
cessors arrived from Spain. M y fam
ily was involved in agriculture and
was very active in politics. M y great-
Visionary Villa de Clara Vista developer 1996 CBA winner.
The acute shortage o f affordable
housing was driving low income peo
ple into these apartments, where the
rent even here was often more than
one fam ily could afford, and as many
as 15 people were crowded into a
one-bedroom unit. These were easy
victim s for criminals o f all ages and
all types. Language difficulties made
these people even more vulnerable
and exploitable.
Vision— Si, wrecking ball— no
Four years later, however, the Ha
cienda CDC and its consortium o f
neighborhood, city, county, state and
federal service providers has trans-
formed the infamous Galaxy, Cully,
W e n do rf and Townhouse Manor
apartments into a successful urban
renewal model called the V illa de
Clara Vista.
The V illa de Clara Vista now o f
fers 178 units o f one- and two-bed
room housing and several key on
site outreach services, such as the
Oregon Department o f Employment,
OSU and PCC extension classes, and
La Clinica de Buena Salud, a prima
ry care health clinic operated by the
Multnomah County Health Depart
ment. Through these facilities at the
V illa de Clara Vista, these agencies
ics.
become a general agent for various
life insurance companies.
In 1974, I returned to El Salva
dor with my w ife to help w ith the
family business, and during our stay
there we were blessed with the birth
o fa son and daughter. Unfortunate
ly, this was a tumultuous period for
El Salvador and the rest o f Central
America, and during this bloody era
we lost the fam ily business.
Being faced with an uncertain
future and a w ife and two babies, we
made the decision to return to the
United States and settled in Port
land, where my wife has roots in this
beautiful state dating back to the old
Oregon Trail.
In 1983, I returned to the finan
cial services industry and spent 12
years with Paine Webber. In 1995,
I was offered an opportunity by
M errill Lynch to open a new office
in Lake Oswego, where I currently
serve as Vice President and Senior
Financial Consultant.
For the last five years, I have
worked with many individuals who
have been “ outplaced” by their
firms, and have become almost by
demand a specialist in helping indi
viduals deal with uncertainty.
I often speak to groups and
o ffe r sem inars, ra n g in g from
sm all businesses to Fortune 500
companies.
I look forward to continuing my
involvement with the community
and in p ro v id in g a d vice and
information to the readers o f the
Portland Observador. Se habla
espanol. As a bilingual financial
specialist, I look forward to oppor
tunities to serve your needs.
I first became involved in the fi
nancial services industry in 1971,
when I was hired by a financial plan
ning firm, and eventually went on to
M aurice Valdivieso can be
reached at Merrit Lynch in Lake
Oswego at (503) 699- 7201 or (800)
667-9346.
grandfather was the President o f El
Salvador from in the late 19th centu
ry
M y fam ily emigrated to the U nit
ed States when I was at an early age,
and I grew up in New York. After
completing high school, I joined the
U.S. Arm y and served as a para
trooper in the Dominican Republic
during the c iv il war there in 1965. I
was injured during the Dominican
Republic deployment and was un
able to go on to Viet Nam with the
rest o f my unit.
A fter the army, I went to C alifor
nia to complete college and earned a
BS degree in marketing and econom
The Oregon Hispanic community is growing
at Four Times the State Average!
Do you have an effective strategy
to win a share o f the business this vital
and resourceful population represents?
You can wait until they call you..,, or call us now!
Ouatra Research Group (503) 977-0358
Specialists in Marketing and Communications
to the Hispanic Community
S U B S C R IP T IO N
Subscribe to the Observer and receive the Observador also!
Only $30 for one year!
Suscríbase al Observer y reciba el Observador también!
Solamente $ 30 por un año!
Cclii
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Photo by Timothy Collins
also offer services to residents o f the
entire central northeast region o f
Portland.
A national model
Hacienda CDC views the project
as a redevelopment model designed to
address the needs o f low-income seg
ments o f the nation’s growing Hispan
ic population in particular, but the
Clara Vista serves the Portland com
munity regardless o f race or ethnicity.
A committment to opportunity
The V illa de Clara Vista arose
from one o f the most dangerous and
ugly sites in the greater Portland
Metropolitan area. The Hacienda
Community Development Corpora
tion and its al lies are to be commend
ed fortheir commitment to providing
safety, decency and opportunity for
V o u ip
who arrived from Los Angeles last
year, “ is that they have a lot o f things
going for the children."
This transformation is the result
o f dedication and much hard work by
a great many people.
The working coalition
The V illa de Clara Vista realized
a unique redevelopment vision which
teamed up these elements: "non-profit
ownership by Hacienda CDC; p ri
vate development and management
expertise; public funding from city,
county, state and federal sources;
public safety through the Portland
Police Bureau; neighborhod advo
cacy; social, health and educational
services from Multnomah County,
Portland Public Schools, private non
profit agencies, and other organiza
tions representing the Hispanic com
m unity.” — (C u lly/K illin g sw o rth
Revitalization Plan, June 1995).
The V illa de Clara Vista is also a
successful model o f community po
licing, where the tenants, manage
ment, neighbors, the Portland Police
Bureau and Clara Vista’s own secu
rity force working together have dra
matically reduced the opportunties
for criminals to operate and the inci
dence o f crime in the neighborhood.
Encouragement and change
At the same time that crime is
discouraged, opportunities for self-
help are encouraged through on-site
employment and educational servic
es and various support groups. V isi
tors to the V illa de Clara Vista are
immediately impressed by the obvi
ous pride in which residents maintain
their dwellings. Flowers and shrubs
grow in apartment boxes. Children
play in clean and well-maintained
common areas. People one encoun
ters are friendly and smile readily.
“ What I like about these apart
ments,” said Julie Arteaga, a resident
Agencies and organizations who
have been playing important roles in
revitalizing this neighborhood via
the V illa de Clara Vista include:
Multnomah County Community
and Family Services Division and its
Hispanic Services, Health Depart
ment, and Community Action Pro
gram Offices; Albina M inisterial
Alliance; Camp Fire Boys & Girls,
El Program a H ispano; O regon
ChicanoConcilioon A lco h o l& Drug
Abuse; Ecumenical Ministeries o f
Oregon; Head Start; Portland Hous
ing A uthority; Central Northeast
Neighbors; C ully Association o f
Neighbors; Oregon Human Devel
opment Corporation, Hispanic A c
cess Center; the Employment De
partment and Vocational Rehabilita
tion Divisions o f the Oregon Depart
ment o f Human Resources; the Com
munity Policing, Police Activities
League and Sunshine Divisions o f
the Portland Police Bureau; and the
V illa de Clara Vista Com ite de
Vecinos, or Tenants’ Council.
The Observador applauds
Hacienda CDC
The Portland Observador ap
plauds the vision and the work o f the
Hacienda Community Development
Corporation and its supporting cast
o f agencies and neighborhood asso
ciations. Congratulations, and wel
come to the neighborhood.
Hacienda CDC may be reached at
668-4115. V illa de Clara Vista at
284-3985.
Coming in the next Observador:
The Villa de Clara Vista faces a
threat from the past.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t in t k e O b s e r v a d o r w ill
re a r k
27,000 r e a d e r s w i i k e a c h
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