Just in Time
Pools open
for summer as
warm temps
arrive
‘City
of
Roses’
See Metro, page 9
Smith Draws
Support
Black leaders
say county
chair led biased
investigation
See Local News, page 3
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • June 21, 2017
Volume XLVI • Number 25
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo by Z achary S enn /t he p ortland o bServer
Rickey Brame is faced with thousands of dollars of expenses and the closing of a barbershop started by his father, Herman Brame Sr., when a property owner next door
decides to remodel right up to the property line forcing him to move an electrical meter and trigger new requirements for the entire building be brought up to current
commercial standards. Electricity to the barbershop at 543 N.E. Killingsworth St. is scheduled to be cut at the end of the week as plans to remodel an old key and lock-
smith shop adjacent to the property into a restaurant has been approved by the city of Portland.
by
Pinched Development
Expansion next door
impacts legacy business
by Z achary S enn
t he p ortland o bServer
A black family in business in Portland for generations
has been hit hard by some unintended consequences of
gentrification, raising concerns about how the city’s build-
ing codes and utility regulations can negatively affect a
minority business.
Herman and Rickey Brame say that the construction
of a restaurant next door to their commercial building on
Northeast Killingsworth Street is causing them to shutter a
barbershop that has served the community for years.
Historically, the Brame family has experienced dis-
placement in Portland multiple times, beginning with the
1948 Vanport Flood. Their father’s first barbershop was
located on Cherry Street, demolished by Urban Renewal
in the 1960s to make way for the construction of Veterans
Memorial Coliseum.
The family’s current troubles are rooted in an electri-
cal meter that juts out from the west side of their com-
mercial building, which is located at 543-549 N.E. Kill-
ingsworth St.
The meter must be accessed from the neighboring prop-
erty in order to be read. The new developer, however, is
c ontinued on p age 4