Page 6
VETERAN’S DAY
Special Edition
November 8, 2017
Albina Visionaries
C ontinueD froM f ront
“the spine of the community, rath-
er than a division between it.”
The name “Albina” comes from
the town that once legally com-
prised most of inner north and
northeast Portland in the late 19th
and early 20th century before it
was annexed by the city of Port-
land. The black population in Al-
bina exploded after World War II,
but subsequent displacement from
urban renewal dispersed many of
the residents.
The major property owners of
the Rose Quarter area are the city
of Portland and Portland Public
Schools. When you add the sev-
eral blocks of property the school
district owns on the north side of
Broadway it comes to a potential
95-acres of property that could be
developed in the area.
Santner and Alexander are op-
timistic that reuse of this public,
tax-payer funded property, can be
influenced by a community driven
initiative like Albina Vision.
“We want to have an entity that
will make [the city] listen to the
community and do the right thing
BUSINESSGuide
here,” Santner said.
One possible hurdle that revital-
izing the Rose Quarter may face is
the widening of Interstate 5, which
was approved by Oregon lawmak-
ers earlier this year. The $450 mil-
lion project would add a lane in
each direction and add shoulders
in the stretch between I-405 and
I-84, smack dab in the middle of
the Rose Quarter. That widening of
the highway isn’t stopping Santner
and Alexander from pursuing their
vision, but they said they will need
to work around it.
“The discussion right now
whether we widen or narrow I-5,
we’re agnostic on that. We just
want it to be capped. I mean, be-
cause that gives us the opportuni-
ty to have land that allows you to
walk right down to the water,” Al-
photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
The Albina Vision for the Rose Quarter district is displayed as a fully
functioning neighborhood, keeping the sports and entertainment
venues, but returning new residential and business-centered
blocks. Zari Santner, a retired Portland Parks Bureau director, is
one of the volunteers and advocates behind the grass roots plan.
exander said.
trification that has displaced people
A redeveloped community from their historical neighborhoods
would also stem the tide from gen- over the past 20years.
Alexander, who used to direct
the Urban League of Portland on
North Williams Avenue and Rus-
sell Street, said he has seen the al-
terations firsthand since his move
here in 2005.
“I mean you almost need a post
card of 10 years back to have an
understanding around what had
been here, even in 2010, let alone
2000, 1990, and those years before.
Just radically transformed,” Alex-
ander said.
Alexander grew up in Brooklyn,
5410 NE 33rd Ave,
which
stands alongside Portland as
Portland, Or
another famously gentrified part of
the United States. But the changes
Call to Order:
he saw in his own childhood neigh-
503-288-3836
borhood are nothing compared to the
“wide scale displacement” that has
taken place here, Alexander said.
Open (hours)
“We understand the new ‘here’
Sun-Thurs: 11a-8p
is
going to be different than the
Fri-Sat:
11a- 9p
old ‘here’. But if it is honoring and
embracing and inclusive, then we
Cannon’s, tasty food and
have an opportunity to now build
friendly neighborhood atmosphere.
in a way that unifies rather than di-
vides. And I think that’s the prom-
ise. We are there to make sure that
woven into the DNA of this vision
is the acknowledgement that this
community needs to be reflected
in whatever the rising phoenix is,”
Alexander said.
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