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rii 14,1999
Focus
Page 7
1997 NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE YEAR
Kenton Seeks Return To Good Old Days
B y L ee P erlman
Kenton is an historic com m unity
that was left behind by the forces that
created it.
It is also a comm unity that is work­
ing hard to preserve the best of the past,
dispose of the bad and seize the future.
T h e Swift m eat packin g o p era­
tio n s, c re a to r of th e old tow n of
Kenton and at one point employer of
70 percent of its residents, closed down
in 1965, and the shipyard and lum ber
mills that accounted for m uch of the
rest gradually left or cut back. Nor is
it the transportation hub th at it once
was, as the opening of the 1-5 Freeway
turned N orth Interstate Avenue from
a main highway into a byway. Accord­
ing to D avid M yers-Eatwell of the
K enton A ction Plan, the neighbor
hood has lost 12 percent of its popula­
tion since 1970.
Meanwhile, some less positive as­
pects of the neighborhood’s past re­
mained. Long a “w atering hole” for
both cowboys driving herds to the
stockyards and sailors of ships being
repaired, K enton’s small business dis­
trict had 12 taverns, some of them less
than well run. Perhaps fed by such bars
and their patrons, the neighborhood
as a whole had more than its share of
crime problems.
Slowly b u t surely, how ever, the
-----------------------
j
Of
1992 and restored after many years of
effort; today it houses the Kenton Sta­
tion restaurant on the ground floor and
housing on upper stories. The neigh­
borhood is now seeking a national His­
to ric D istric t d e sig n a tio n , Myers-
Eatwell says.
In a n ­
other direc­
tio n , th e
Kenton Ac­
tio n P lan ,
in coopera­
tio n w ith
th e P o rt­
la n d B u­
re a u
of
B u ild in g s,
co n d u cte d
a series of
C ode E n­
fo rcem en t
Sw eeps .
B u ild in g
inspectors,
w ho ty p i­
ca lly
re ­
sp o n d to
s p e c ific
c o m ­
p la in ts ,
m o v ed
th r o u g h
effect on crim in a l activity, Myers-
effect on crim in a l activity, Myers-
Eatwell says. “People who com m it
these kinds of violations tend not to
care m uch about the law in general,
he says. “T h e en fo rcem en t forced
them to move somewhere else.”
Myers-Eatwell says he received some
a n g ry
calls at
first, b u t
th a t by
year’s end
th e only
c o m ­
p la in ts
were from
p e o p le
w h o
wanted to
know why
T H E IR
s tre e t
wasn’t be­
ing swept.
O n e car
ow ner
said he
was cited,
b u t was
Photo: M. Washington
still grate­
The anticipated North-South light rail line pro­
ful for the
posed by Tri-Met will run through the Kenton
g e n e ra l
neighborhood and connect with Portland Inter­
im prove-
1
national Airport - completing the loop through
Gateway in Southeast Portland.
p a rt
of
neighborhood has fought to restore it­ K e n t o n
and systematically cited
self. Through the Albina C om m unity
“ n u is a n c e ” v io la tio n s
Plan of 1993, part of the neighborhood
was designated an Historic Conserva­ such as overgrown lawns,
derelict cars left on the
tion D istrict, encouraging property
street and old appliances
owners to preserve the distinctive fake
left in yards. T he action
stone, cast concrete buildings originally
not only dram atically im­
built by Swift. O ne such structure, the
Kenton Hotel, once slated for demoli­ proved the appearance of
the area, but had a strong
tion, was acquired by Jo h n C ondon in
m en t
O th e r accom plishm ents and ac-
ac
tivities in K enton include:
•N eighbors Between the Rivers,
founded in 1986, with the largest cir­
cu latio n of any P o rtlan d in d e p e n ­
dently-produced neighborhood news­
letter at 19,000. It includes news of the
e n tire p e n in su la , b u t is p ro d u ced
mostly by Kenton volunteers.
■A h istory of the neighborhood
com piled by lifelong resident A lta
Mitchoff.
R e sto ra tio n of K e n to n ’s best-
known landm ark, the Paul Bunyon
statue at the N orth Denver and Inter­
state Avenue intersections, and re­
placement of an unsightly lot by a rose
garden planted by Mitchoff.
■Annual street fairs, more recently
replaced by annual Small C raft Regat­
tas that introduce the public to the
n a tu ra l b eau ties of the C o lu m b ia
Slough.
•Efforts to acquire a 2.2 acre park
along the slough.
•Successful efforts to block the sit­
in g o f a new jail, and a p roposed
19,000-seat am phitheater, in Portland
International Raceway.
Such efforts earn ed K enton the
M ayor’s S pirit of P o rtlan d aw ard as
P o rtlan d N eighborhood of the Year
in 1997.
T here is m ore general support for
HEEDA
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UMBRELLA
LWWGRWM?
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They don’t come • in
XL.
So fix your roof instead.
PDC offers loans for home repairs
and improvements.
¡For details, call 823-3400.
Photo: M. Washington
This mansion was built by David Cole, a hardware store
owner, for his wife. His wife was the grand-daughter of
Daniel Boone. In 1885 it took a whole day to drive into
Portland and back by horse-and-buggy. For a long time it
was knows as a haunted house, or Pete's Castle, but it has
been fixed up. During the Christmas holiday, the house is lit
up with a million lights and open to the public for touring.
FIX’,
PORTI-\N1)
DEVELOPMENT
COMMISSION
Kenton Associa­
a light rail line; the K
tion has strongly supported the re­
gional project for years. “It would go
a long way tow ard showing that this is
a really nice area that the rest of the
city has overlooked,” A rden says. Don
A ram bula, the current Kenton Asso­
ciation chair adds that it would pro­
vide residents a transportation alter­
native to local traffic congestion, which
is likely to get progressively worse.
It would also be a return to Kenton’s
historic past, Myers-Eatwell says. The
Swift Company built a light rail line to
transport its workers, thinking that few
would ever own motor cars.
Despite continuing problem s and
issues, neighbors agree K enton is a
com m unity that is changing for the
better, or perhaps returning to happier
times. “In the last ten years things have
improved quite a bit,” Johnson says.
“W hat used to be a whole b ank of bars
is now a laundrom at, a church and a
store. I’m no longer nervous about
being here at 10 o’clock at night.
M ills, a real estate ag en t, says
m ore hom eow ners, in clu d in g first
tim e hom e buyers are m oving in.
“We no lo n g e r have to step over
d ru n k s o r listen to loud stereos at
night,” he says. “We have the peace
and quiet th at o th er parts of the city
take for g ran ted .”