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May 21. 2008
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New Columbia advocate Leslie Esinga talks with Robert Gray, an employee o f Big City Produce
located on the commercial ground floor o f a new mixed-use building that also contains housing in
the New Columbia neighborhood of north Portland.
Fightinga Stigma
continued
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from Front
Esinga argues that baggage from
the World War Il-era Villa housing
projeet is worth paying homage to,
but the real struggles for New Co­
lumbia in her eyes are a microcosm
of the same critical issues facing
the city and country as a whole.
She sees a population largely of
color that has been repeatedly shut
out of employment and affordable
housing opportunities, and now
works to create options in New
Columbia’s 82-acre neighborhood
where about 25 percent of the resi­
dents own their dwellings.
“We do everything we can to
respond to community concerns,
reach out to youth, find jobs for
residents and keep everyone safe,”
Esinga says. “There’s no magic to
creating community.”
Talk with a dozen residents of
New Columbia, and most will tell
you that they're happy with the
progress of the neighborhood and
feel safe. The neighborhood isn’t
without its detractors, however.
New Columbia resident Judy
Badon was making plans to move
out as her son Dominique faced
attempted-murder charges.
Badon feels that a two-page list
of HAP apartment-dweller rules,
along with a near 24-hour patrol by
North Precinct officers, creates an
environment ripe for fear. Citing her
African-American son’s six-foot,
235-pound frame, she said profiling
was involved in his arrest at the
family's home last month.
Police said a crime-scene gun
and bullets can be linked to a get­
away car that a group of friends
were using. A trial was set for June
6.
Esinga notices that people per­
ceive the police based own their
personal experiences. With the in­
herently human element of New
Columbia, she sees potential for
anything to happen on any given
day.
Acknowledging that criminals
have been attracted to the project
especially during the summer, she
supports training of the regular
“Feet on the Street” volunteer pa­
tro ls
to
deal
w ith
the
neighborhood’s approxim ately
dozen home-spoken languages and
22 countries of origin.
“You can’t expect there w on'the
sustainable jobs in Morrow County.
Lottery funds help build America's largest hardwood sawmill.
Just east of Boardman, it stretches as far as the eye can see. A farm with over 30,000
acres - that's more than 45 square miles - of Pacific Albus trees, a fast growing
hardwood. Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, it operates using sustainable,
eco-friendly methods: planted, harvested and re planted in a perpetual cycle.
With funding help from the Oregon lottery: the farm will soon have an important addi­
tion. Built by the Collins Company, the new Upper Columbia Mill will be one of the largest
of its kind in North America. The result: 85 new full-time Jobs to go along with the 150
jobs already in place at the tree farm. That's the kind of growth we can all get behind.
Ta learn mors visit www.ltOoasGoodThings org Lottery gamas a r t basad on chanea and should ba playad for antartalnmant only
bumps in the road,” she says. “If
there were a rash of move-outs, I’d
be concerned.”
Another HAPemployee, Arlene
Gregory, is assigned to advocate
for parenting or housekeeping is­
sues in a way similar to a social
worker to prevent complaints or
larger problems. When she hears
about or sees violations, Gregory ’s
goal is to find the appropriate ser­
vices, whether for mental health,
drug and alcohol counseling, or
mediation.
“I go to them and tell them who
I am, and that I’m not there to kick
them out, but to find out what the
core issues are,” she says.
Working in the neighborhood
since the 1990s, G regory ap­
proaches her work with a feeling of
understanding about what it will
take for self-sufficiency to be
reached.
She expects that her job would
be phased out at some poi nt, may be
in a decade, saying, “I live in a
community that doesn' t have some­
one like me, however, in a new com­
munity, in a mixed community, some
people have different ideas about
what it means to be a neighbor.”