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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.