Portland’s
Book Festival
‘City
of
Roses’
Honoring
VETERAN’S DAY
A day for books,
authors and
workshops
Madison grad embarks
on a military career
with the Seabeas
See Metro, page 9
Volume XLVI • Number 45
See story, page 4
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • November 8, 2017
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
Now retired from the public and private sectors, Zari Santner and Michael Alexander are building momentum as volunteers and advocates for a plan to return the Rose
Quarter area into a fully functioning, diverse neighborhood, keeping the sports and entertainment venues that now dominate the landscape, but adding new residential
and business-centered blocks on existing tracks of publicly-owned land.
ble Tom McCall Waterfront Park, located
across the Willamette River from the Rose
Quarter.
“We want this place to be truly inclu-
sive, integrated, livable community, and
affordable community,” Santner said.
Though the current renderings of the
area are only ideas, Santner and Alexander
said they’ve been met with a lot of support
by D anny p eterson
from community members and have so far
t he p ortlanD o bserver
gotten the ear of Mayor Ted Wheeler and
Momentum is growing for a plan to re-
the city council.
make the Rose Quarter district into a fully new non-profit group Albina Vision wants for the next 50 to 60 years.
Before urban renewal and the neighbor-
functioning neighborhood, embracing its to make it a community again.
“We want the community to know
hood
razing actions of the 1960s and 1970s,
diverse past and re-creating a landscape
Former Portland Parks Bureau Director about it. We want the community to, if they
that can accommodate much more than its Zari Santner and former Urban League of believe us, to join us to really be part of this the Rose Quarter was home to residences,
two sports and entertainment venues.
Portland director Michael Alexander are happening. That’s what it takes,” Santner shops, and community gathering spaces. It
was the historical neighborhood for African
The Rose Quarter is home to the Moda the visionaries behind the idea. They have told the Portland Observer.
Center, Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum, In- been friends for over 10 years and worked
Albina Vision has created renderings of American residents and immigrants.
Santner said the intent of Albina Vision
terstate 5 and parking garages. Visitors to together when Alexander served as a Parks what the Rose Quarter development could
the area are typically there for 1 or 2 hours board member. Now retired, they helped look like. The supporters hope to bring the area is to resurrect a fully functioning neigh-
to catch an event and then leave, but the form the Albina Vision organization as ci- back to a more neighborhood-friendly place borhood again so that North and Northeast
land used to be a contiguous part of north vilians. The group’s aim is to have a com- that can house community gathering spaces, Broadway Avenue once again can become
and northeast Portland’s street grid system munity driven plan that determines the fu- affordable housing, and local businesses.
C ontinueD on p age 6
where folks lived, worked and played. The ture development of the Rose Quarter area
A new waterfront park could resem-
New non-profit
offers plan for
Rose Quarter
Albina
Visionaries