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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 2019)
Page 4 April 10, 2019 Rib Pit Finds Way to Survive C ontinued froM f ront It’s been an addition that’s re- ally sparked up our dessert sales,” Cannon said. The southern dish rounds out the classic barbecue staples like ribs, chopped pork, chicken, and beef brisket that Cannon offers, many of which are covered in his own family’s barbecue sauce rec- ipe. Cannon jokes that even behind the kitchen the recipes are still tightly guarded, even amongst the chefs. “I won’t give [Darnell] the recipe for my barbecue sauce, he won’t give me the recipe for his sweet potato cake,” he said with a chuckle. Cannon originally bought his rib pit business in 1995 from Chuck Hinton, who ran it as “Chuck Hinton’s Rib Express” for 10 years prior. Hailing from Cal- ifornia, Cannon has since estab- lished himself as an active mem- ber of the community. During hardships, he’s provided food, like feeding the homeless, or preparing meals for families who are griev- ing, he said. “I learned a long time ago when there’s a death in someone’s fami- ly, what they need more than any- thing is for someone to provide food because they don’t have time to cook,” he said. Cannon has also been a mentor to many young people in the com- munity, providing them with their first high school jobs, including André Lightsey-Walker, a Grant High School and University of Oregon graduate—where he was a track star—who now works at Metro; Charles Taylor-Love, who is now a footwear designer at Co- lumbia Sportswear; and Honoré Arias, a Lewis and Clark Law School graduate. “The lessons I learned working for Wayne back then still inform my decisions today, and I am very thankful for his friendship and the formative experiences I had work- ing for him,” Arias said in a writ- ten thank you letter to Cannon, one of several he’s received over the years. Cannon over the years has hosted weekly summer concerts with sax- ophonist Reggie Huston and, now that he’s more centrally located and also next to the annual Beech Street Block Party, a popular event in the African American community ,he expects to be a part of community celebrations for years to come. He also hopes to be in a position to throw concerts or events on his own again in the future. “We’re community-orientated and trying to stay that way and maintain that philosophy,” he said. Does I-5 Fix Fail on Equity? C ontinued froM p age 3 merging lanes, capping the free- way in a small portion of the 1.7 mile area, and adding two new pedestrian and bike bridges span- ning the freeway. It has gained criticism in part due to the proposed auxiliary lanes cutting even closer to the hillside near Harriet Tubman Middle School which serves a large African American com- munity and already experiences pollutants outside due to traffic congestion. ODOT has claimed that the project would improve air quality because it would keep traffic moving. “Although it would be nice to fix the bottleneck on I-5 and the project includes $250 million for surface street improvements fo- cused on better pedestrian, bike, and transit infrastructure, as it stands the added auxiliary lanes on I-5 will not deliver meaningful safety, environmental, or equity benefits to Portland,” Eudaly said. In a letter addressed to ODOT Commision Chair Tammy Baney, and co-signed by Mayor Ted Wheeler, Metro Council Pres- ident Lynn Peterson called for ODOT to adopt a racially sensi- tive approach to proceeding with the project, citing the hundreds of families and businesses that were displaced in the 1950s in the predominately black Albina neighborhood during I-5’s origi- nal construction. Peterson also backs Albina Vision Trust, a volunteer group seeking to re-develop the com- munity of lower Albina with the construction of affordable hous- ing and new public plazas, and other measures. “[The highway project] is a once-in-generation opportunity to build over the divisive, trenched highway and reconnect inner east Portland neighborhoods to the Willamette River. Let’s take the opportunity to fix the problem that was created when I-5 was originally construct,” Albina Vi- sion chair Rukaiyah Adams said in her own letter, in which she also called for an environmental impact statement from ODOT.
