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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 2018)
CAREERS Special Edition Page 6 August 15, 2018 Fighting Displacement C ontinued from P age 3 “I’m a disabled 58 year old man who depends on electricity to charge my wheel- chair, my nebulizer, which is a breathing treatment, and a CPAP machine. Being homeless with not electricity is going to cause me to die,” resident Eddie Kirk Jones, who is wheelchair bound, told the Portland Observer. Jones has a neurological condition that mimics Lou Gerick’s disease—he shakes and has immobility in the right side of his body. Jones and his wife of 27 years live off a $750 per month income, he said, and has paid over $30,000 at the park over the years for the mobile home he owns. Other residents at Cedar Shade, which has 76 units, echoed Jones’ fears. “It’s going to be a disaster…I don’t know where I would go,” said Martina Martinez, 53, who is a caretaker original- ly from Mexico and has been living in the park for over five years. She pays $450 per month and lives with a roommate. “In the first place, we’d just be left with- out a home. Right now, we have a stable, safe place to live. This is place where we can afford it and we like living in this area,” added Griselda Garza, who also has four children and two grandchildren that live at the park. She’s been living at the park for two years. Proponents say the ordinance is de- signed to not be a financial detriment to park owners, some of whom have cited lost potential income as one reason they’re op- posed to it. “I don’t think we’re trying to hamper the park owners. Some of these parks current- ly have non-conforming zoning on them. And so we’re changing that to make them conforming , make them an allowed use in the zone that they have, which will make it easier for them to re-invest in their parks,” Tom Armstrong, supervising planner for the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, the city’s agency that researched and draft- ed the proposal, told the Portland Observer. Park owners whose property does not comply with current zoning would have to go through a “non-conforming situation review” in order to be allowed to make im- provements or do developments on their site, Armstrong explained. The re-zoning also offers an increased density of the park, which allows for more tenants. Park owners will also be able to transfer unused development rights from one of their parks to another site, or sell it. The proposal would create a new resi- dential dwelling zone to allow 22 units per acre and is expected to bolster allowable units in current parks by up to 33 percent. Research has shown that park owners will have continued economic benefit after the re-zoning goes into effect, Mary Kyle McCurdy, the deputy director and staff at- torney of 1,000 Friends of Oregon, a state- wide land use non-profit that helped devel- op the proposal after Living Cully reached out to them, told the Portland Observer. She added that a city study of mobile manufactured home parks in their current state showed that they are currently gener- ating income for park owners. The parks’ existing value, as well as the re-zoning benefits of allowed higher tenant density and transferable development rights should help mitigate claims against the city that park owners are getting short-changed, McCurdy added. In spite of these measures, attorney John Dilorenzo, who lobbies for landlords for David Wright Attorneys, told the Portland Photo by d anny P eterson /t he P ortland o bserver Cameron Herrington, anti-displacement coordinator for the non-profit Living Cully neighborhood group, speaks with a Cedar Shade Mobile Home Park resident about plans to help keep the park and others in the city from being re-developed, protect- ing existing low-income housing. Observer that, should the re-zoning pass, stresses the initiative should be a high pri- park owners will still file claims against the ority in city plagued by, what is for many, city. If park owners can prove the re-zon- unattainably high housing prices. ing resulted in a loss of potential income, “For us, it comes down to a political they could make a claim under a state law, question of ‘what’s our priority?’ Is it pre- called Measure 49, which allows individ- serving the homes of 3,000 families that uals to either receive compensation from can’t afford anywhere else to live? Or is the city or have the new zoning ordinance it defending the interest of a couple doz- waived for their property. en wealthy folks who’ve been collecting Armstrong said it’s hard to predict what rent for years from those 3,000 families? will result from those claims being filed. And under the new zoning code they can “The Measure 49 claims process is com- continue to do that and will continue to do plex, and it’s a on a case-by-case basis. We that.” expect some claims, but it’s unclear how The City Council hearing and vote on those claims will result in the long run.” the proposed new zoning code is scheduled Herrington said he’s not surprised many for Aug. 22 at 2 p.m. at City Hall, down- park owners oppose the rezoning, but town. AFRICAN AMERICAN INITIATIVE – BREAST CANCER AWARENESS Susan G. Komen Oregon & SW Washington “No longer will I HUSH about my HEALTH” PORTLAND METRO SCHEDULED PRESENTATIONS AND SURVEYS Breast cancer survivors, patients, relatives of breast cancer patients, potential benefactors, the community… 08/20/18 Portland Community College – SE Campus 11:30am – 1:00pm 2305 SE 82nd Ave Portland Room Capacity 22 08/21/18 Urban League of Portland 11:45am-1:30pm 10 N Russell St Portland, OR Conference Room 08/23/18 St. Johns Portland Library 1:15pm – 3:00pm 7510 N Charleston Ave Portland, OR Rm Capacity 22 08/28/18 Central Portland Library (Downtown) 801 SW 10th Ave Rm Capacity 120 12:45pm-3:00pm 08/30/18 Central City Concern (OTRC) 11:45am-2:30pm 33 NW Broadway 3rd Floor Conference Room Portland, OR Pending Locations, Dates and Times: North Portland Library (512 N Killingsworth St); Rockwood Library (17917 SE Stark St); Northwest Portland Library (2300 NW Thurman St) Meet the AAI Team D. Bora Harris, MPA, Diversity Consultant and Kelvin Hall, Doctoral Candidate, Community Advocate….REFRESHMENTS AND PRIZES