July is, 2007______________________________________ __
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Condo Conversions Regulated
continued
from Front
for people who want to convert, but
doesn’t make it impossible,” he said.
Feuerstein said the new law likely won’t
slow down condo conversions, but it may
have a temporarily negative impact on
market conditions if developers rush to
conversion between now and the end of
the year, in order to avoid the new rules.
Meanwhile, the city ordinance that was
neverenforced also required $500 in mov
ing assistance for low-income renters.
Commissioner Randy Leonard’s office
is working on a new ordinance that would
update and enforce the law on a local level,
plus require building owners to pay ten
ants two months’ rent for relocation.
Anna Di Benedetto, a representative
with Leonard's office, said they hope to
present a condo conversion ordinance to
council by the end of the summer.
The condo issue has personally af
fected DiBenedetto; in March 2006 she
and at least 150 other tenants were dis
The fast track conversions were made
possible because the city never enforced
a 1980ordinance requiring 120-day notice
to the renters impacted by the loss of their
living spaces.
Now tenants have more protections
through a new state law clarifying that all
tenants will get a 120-day notice to move,
with penalties for landlords who clear out
a building to avoid the waiting period or
who excessively increase rent.
According to Ian Slingerland of the
Community Alliance of Tenants, owners
frequently use a no-cause 30-day eviction
to clear their buildings for developers and
to avoid the longer notice.
"Sometimes they simultaneously give
an eviction and notice,” he said. "Tenants
didn’t usually have resources to chal
lenge this and it was never litigated.”
The new law offers renters an option.
“If tenants get eviction
notices and they think it’s
from conversion, they can
stay and ch allen g e it,”
Slingerland said, “or they
can move and pay atten
tion. If within a year it’s
converted, they can sue for
six months’ rent.”
Tenants will also enjoy a
less tum ultuous housing
transition, since the new law
limits when construction
work can take place in apart
ment common areas. It will
also ensure tenants the op
portunity to purchase their
units during the 120-day
period.
The city’s old ordinance
offered tenants a separate,
60-day opportunity to con
sider buying their units, but
Slingerland said tenants ei
ther weren't being alerted Three high-rise buildings comprise the Harrison
or were only notified of the condominiums in southwest Portland, displacing
purchasing option after they residents o f the old Portland Center Apartments.
were displaced.
The condos sell for $200,000 to $500,000.
Between 2005 and 2006
the n u m b er o f c o n d o m in iu m s in placed from theirbuilding at Portland Cen
Multnomah County increased by 400 per ter Apartments in southwest Portland.
cent. Many are in north and northeast The owner gave them 30 days’ notice to
Portland where residents are already be make way for the existing Harrison Condo
miniums, a set of three neighboring towers
ing displaced by gentrification.
State Reps. Tina Kotek and Chip that now fetch as much as a half a million
Shields, representing north and northeast dollars per unit.
DiBenedetto said she felt disenfran
Portland in Salem, were major proponents
chised because, although she was in a
of the new condo conversion law.
Rep Shields said his district saw the position to buy a condo, the owner ex
most conversion filings last year - 17 pressed no interest in guiding that pro
cess.
compared to four in 2005.
“I was working with a broker,” she said,
Slingerland said the new law doesn’t
“but
when the time came for the 30-days
address the problem of condo conver
notice
they were absolutely silent.”
sions on existing residents, but mitigates
When DiBenedetto's landlord charged
the impact so folks can maintain stability
tenants for damages after being told they
for theirfamilies.
The new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, would not, she challenged them with a
was scaled down from when it was intro letter, pointing out that reconstruction
duced. The alliance originally pushed for would cancel out any harm she may have
a requirement that developers pay three done to the units.
She was instantly refunded, but knew
months’ rent, a big issue with realtor and
that others, like her 100-year-old neigh
homebuilding organizations.
Portland real estate attorney Howard bor, were likely to just pay the unneces
Feuerstein helped lead the opposition to sary bill.
DiBenedetto now owns a home, but
a more sweeping conversion law. He said
the new restrictions aren't entirely fair but knowing that many others don’t have the
money to bounce back from displacement
believes developers can manage.
“This creates obstacles and difficulties doesn't sit well with her.
P hoto BY M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Northeast Church Hosts Farm Stand
Kao and Johnny Lor sell freshly cut flowers each Sunday at Redeemer Lutheran Church at Northeast 20th Avenue
and Killingsworth Street. The father and son are part of the Northeast Neighborhood Farm Stand, an Ecumenical
Ministries o f Oregon effort to support local refugee and immigrant farmers and to provide fresh, healthy food for
the community.
Film Documents Mumia Case for Justice
Discussion to
follow screening
A film showing o f“Mumia: ACase for
Reasonable Doubt?” will be hosted by
the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical
Women on Tuesday, July 24 at 7 p.m. at
the Bread and Roses Center, 819 N.
Killingsworth Ave.
This 1997 documentary analyzes the
frame-up and prosecution of Mumia Abu
Jamal, a radical commentator and former
Black Panther, for the death of a Philadel
phia police officer. Considered a political
prisoner for 25 years. Mumia’s case now
stands at a crossroads as the U.S. Court of
Appeals considers whether to set an ex
ecution date, continue his sentence or
grant him a new trial.
The film will be followed by discussion
and plans for immediate community action
in response to the court ruling.
Donation of $2 w ill be accepted at the
door and refreshing snacks will be served
for a sliding scale donation of $5 to $10.
Proceeds will benefit Mumia’s Legal De
fense Fund and the Freedom Socialist
Newspaper Fund Drive.
For information, cal1503-240-4462.
Clinic Positioned to Help Underinsured
continued
from Front
story.
The clinic’s reduced costs for ser
vices are threatened by financial diffi
culties. Hicks recently sent out an e-mail
fundraising plea revealing that the clinic
had only about a month's worth of op
erating revenue in its coffers.
The financial bind forced Hicks to lay
off one of the remaining two nurse prac-
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titioners and to reduce the number of
hours that the clinic is open.
“It’s still a dire situation," she says.
The clinic now has about a two-month
financial window, and Hicks thinks that a
surge in donations will push the organiza
tion through the tumultuous changes.
With 60 to 75 percent of the clinic's
revenue historically coming from large
donations, Taylor sees the clinic's failure
to hire a grant writer this year as crucial. "I
wish them well," she says.
“ 1 "but it’s too little too late."
The clinic's non-profit
board-of-directors chair ar
gues that Taylor’s firing was
a necessary evil.
“O f the three m ajor
changes in the last year, that
was the h a rd e st," Bud
ByIsma says, “but we had to
do what we had to do.”
Both sides agree that an
im passe re su lte d from
Taylor’s insistence on pro
viding co m p re h e n siv e
health care, not from the quality of health
care provided. The Downtown Lion's
“Pride of Portland" plaque given to T ay lor
in 1999 remains displayed in the patient
waiting room.
Using Taylor's rich legacy, Hicks wants
to ftnd new ways to make a greater variety
of subsidized services financially viable.
"Even for families with an insurance ben
efit, adding your children is generally an
additional cost, and for the working poor,
that additional cost may be well beyond
their reach," she says.
Taylor puts it another way. She asks.
“Until we get universal access to health
care, where else are they going to go?"
"Trust the people that are there," Tay
lor adds. "They’re going to do the best
they can.”
Without any direct involvement with
the clinic's controversial changes. Hicks
deems herself well positioned to “move
forward." "Right now w e're doing a lot ol
housecleaning, as you can imagine," she
says. "W e're looking forward to great
ness.”
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