Minority & Smal
‘City of
Roses’
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m
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-
sp ecia l
coverage issue
41
bserber
years,
•Scommunity service
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXX, Number 39
2010
w w w .p o rtla n d o b s e rv e r.c o m
Wednesday • October 6. 2010
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
As the newest member o f the Portland Development Commission, Aneshka Colas-Dickson hopes to influence the city’s urban renewal and housing landscape bv
keeping construction cranes in the sky, shovels in the ground and businesses ’ doors open.
A new voice for PDC, urban renewal and housing
by L ee
P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
A young African Am erican woman who
has m ade her m ark in the construction
industry is expected to bring fresh per
spectives to urban renewal and housing
as the newest m em ber o f the Portland
Developm ent Com mission.
Aneshka Colas-Dickson, 33, chief finan
cial officer and vice-president o f Portland-
based Colas Construction, Inc. was ap
pointed to the PDC commission last week in
a 4-0 vote by the Portland City Council.
“We have a very strong board in terms o f
gender and ethnic diversity, but each mem
ber brings a different set o f skills,” Portland
Development Commission board member
John Mohlis told the council. In that respect,
he said, Colas-Dickson, “will fit into the
board portfolio very nicely.”
C olas-D ick so n indeed brings som e
continued
on page 5
Tastes
Stand
Out
at
Mum’s
Kitchen
Finding a niche in
the food cart scene
by J ake
T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
When you visit M um’s Kitchen, a food
cart on the comer o f Vancouver Avenue and
Fremont Street, Kammy Naidoo will always
ask you if you eat pork, chicken, or beef, and
she’ll always ask you if you want a sample.
Naidoo always asks because her food is
distinct from just about anything in Portland,
and she wants her customers to order what
they like.
It’s fairly easy to find Indian food in Port
land or other exotic fare at the many food
carts dotting the city’s neighborhoods and
commercial districts.
But Kammy Naidoo, and her daughter
Kas, have carved out a unique place for
themselves in Portland’s food cart scene by
offering up the culinary traditions o f a people
often overlooked in history books.
South Africa has a large Indian popula
tion that descended from indentured labor
and merchants who migrated there from In
dia while both countries were under the
control o f the British Empire.
Indians living in the country preserved
m any o f their traditions, but still found
them selves changed by their new envi
ronm ent. Their cuisine -- characterized by
richly-spiced curries, flatbreads, fried past-
continued
on page 15