Dive
Special
coverage,
inside
Smart phone apps for
the faithful
See page 8
Idnrtkuth (Ob semer
Volume XXXX, Number 33
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
^com m unity service
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • August 18. 2010
Bridging
Cultures
Boise-Eliot market
weaves common threads
by J ake
T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
In north and northeast Portland
there is no shortage o f vacant lots.
Some are overgrown with foliage.
Some are littered with rubble. But
many are were once businesses,
homes, and community institutions
that were steadily swept away with
the tide o f gentrification that has
washed over the area, leaving it
socially shaken.
But a group o f neighborhood
activists see a potential in at least
one o f these lots to bolster commu­
nity ties and the local economy.
Rashaan Muhammad, a local com-
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver rnunity activist, and Spencer Bur-
Rahsaan Muhammad (left) and Spencer Burton are working to build community across cultural lines to n ,a one-time City Council candi-
at the new Boise-Eliot Outdoor M arket at Northeast Fremont Street between Williams and Vancouver date, launched the Boise-Eliot Out-
avenues.
door Market on a typically vacant
lot sandwiched between Williams
and Vancouver Avenues with Fre­
mont Avenue bordering it on the
south.
For about the last month, about
15 to 20 vendors have gathered at
the lot every Tuesday and Satur­
day, selling goods including coffee
straight from the Sidamo region o f
Ethiopia, fried cat fish, tarot read­
ings, local produce, clothes, and
gluten-free cornbread.
Burton, who works as a stone
mason, moved from northwest to
north Portland last year and saw the
potential for a market on one o f the
area’s many vacant lots that could
help bridge social divisions, and give
locals the chance to pull in some
continued
on page 22
Cox & Cox Property Sold D
evel°perp'a
n
s
>
°
build new homes
L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
by
being used as a funeral home after a
fam ily dispute with the prior owners.
A housing developer has applied Zoned for com m ercial use, it was
to subdivide the property o f a form er purchased by Bluestone and is cur­
northeast Portland funeral home serv­ rently on the m arket.
ing P o rtlan d ’s A frican A m erican
Kevin Partain of Urban Visions, a
c o m m u n ity an d d e v e lo p th e Bluestone company spokesperson, pre­
b uilding’s parking lot into new resi­ sented information on the re-develop­
dences.
ment during a recent meeting o f the Eliot
The form er Cox & Cox Funeral Neighborhood Association Land Use
Home site at 2736 N.E. Rodney St. Committee. According to Committee
would accom m odate six new owner- Chair Mike Warwick, those who at­
occupied hom es, according to a pro­ tended were favorably impressed with
posal by Richard Kassebaum o f O r­ drawings showing the type o f con­
egon City and his Bluestone Homes struction proposed.
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Company.
A
developer
proposes
subdividing
a
parking
lot at the former Cox & Cox Funeral Home at
continued
on page 3
The m ortuary building ceased
2736 N.E. Rodney St. for six new homes, leaving the existing building for future use.