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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
(503) 2xSS-OO33
To Subscribe
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
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