May 15, 2019
Page 11
Sale Worries Neighbors
C ontinueD from f ront
mitted.” He reiterated that the church is still
prioritizing a non-profit or service provider at
or near market value for the sale.
“To that end we are willing to have con-
versation with any person or organization,”
he added.
The real estate tour involved a walk-
through of the building when Head Start
classes were still in session, which upset staff
and families, Herndon said.
What’s more, the lease to Albina Head
Start is set to expire at the end of June and
the Methodist conference has not offered to
extend it, despite requests, Herndon said.
Albina Head Start has been using the
church complex for three of its classroom
since the late 1970s, having worked out a less
expensive rental agreement in exchange for
paying for utilities and occasional building
upgrades with the former local congregation.
The former Woodlawn United Methodist
Church was the home to a diverse congrega-
tion that disbanded in 2016. When the con-
gregation dissolved, leaders at the Methodist
conference met with Herndon where he re-
quested that if they were to sell the building
in the future, could they please talk to Albina
Head Start before they put it up for sale on
the open market so he may negotiate a possi-
ble purchase agreement.
He said they never did reach out to him
before deciding to sell the building using a
broker.
“Normally brokers take a bid from the
highest bidder. That’s normally how that
works. That’s what the business is doing.
So here we go again and this is exactly what
gentrification looks like,” Herndon said.
The church conference briefly considered
forming a new Methodist ministry at the
same location. But their Board of Trustees
ultimately voted to sell the property in De-
cember, church leaders said.
A group has formed to ask the Method-
ist conference to hold off on the open mar-
ket until further negotiations with the local
non-profits and service providers are com-
pleted. The Coffee Talk Planning Commit-
tee consists of long-time activists who share
an appreciation for gathering places import-
ant to the life of Portland’s African Amer-
ican community. They share some of the
concerns raised by the Woodlawn Neigh-
borhood Association; Deliverance Center
of Generation X Church; Albina Head Start;
and Trudy Pollard, a lifelong resident of
Woodlawn neighborhood who was born in
the community and was a member of the
Woodlawn United Methodist Church before
it disbanded.
“I am disappointed, needless to say, about
the status. I am assuming the property is on
the open market since the realtor is conduct-
ing tours,” said Pollard, 71. Her family was
one of the first to attend the original con-
gregation. Pollard’s father, Shelton Bailey,
also had a room dedicated in his honor in the
church building.
Pollard had been lobbying many United
Methodist officials to reconsider putting the
building on the open market, arguing doing
so would “reopen some of the wounds that
have healed and will justify in some minds
that it is still okay to maintain and promote
Portland’s shameful racist gentrification of
its Black Community.”
“My fear is that a developer will come
in and quickly make an attractive offer and
level the building and replace it with a multi-
plex of sorts and mask it as affordable hous-
ing,” Pollard wrote in an April 10 letter to
Bishop Elaine Stanovsky of Greater North-
west Area of the United Methodist Church.
She also wrote a similar letter to the United
Methodist Idaho-Oregon Conference Board
of Trustees Chair Larry McClure on April 8.
Deliverance Center of Generation X Pas-
tor Treneil Washington said he sent a pur-
chase proposal to the church conference on
Friday. He too was disappointed that a real
estate broker was giving tours of the build-
ing.
In his own purchase proposal, Wash-
ington hoped to allow his church and a
non-profit he runs, called Torch of Hope—a
program to help people get back on their
feet after coming out of prison, to buy the
property for $1.4 million, over a 20 year pe-
riod. Washington, who also runs a for-profit
construction contracting company, said he
would continue to allow Albina Head Start
to lease the property as well, in that scenar-
io.
“I understand that this thing is bigger
than money. It’s about hope. It’s about sav-
ing a place for people that have already been
pushed out,” Washington said.
The fair market value for the 6,648
square foot property is listed by the Mult-
nomah County Assessor at almost $1.7 mil-
lion. Built in 1957, the site provided space
for a chapel and classrooms serving a Port-
land congregation that originally formed in
1891, Nelson said.
Albina Head Start has 33 Head Start
classrooms overall--serving children three
to five-- from 22 Early Start centers—serv-
ing prenatal to three year olds--around Port-
land.
The Tina Clegg Albina Head Start Cen-
ter at Woodlawn United Methodist has been
servicing low income children and families
in three Head Start classrooms for over 40
years. Currently it serves about 60 chil-
dren and their families, who receive social
service support through housing, food, and
security assistance, among many other ser-
vices. About 70 percent of the staff are cur-
rent or former Head Start recipients, and are
majority black or Latino, Herndon said. The
organization is also incredibly culturally
diverse, with staff originating from over 25
different countries and who speak as many
different languages.
Offsetting its rental costs, Albina Head
Start has facilitated repairs to the building
over the years, as part of their agreement
with the original congregation. The orga-
nization installed two new furnaces and re-
modeled the kitchen in 2015, and added two
new air conditioning units in 2017.
When the building’s management fell
under the purview of the United Methodist
Oregon-Idaho Conference, after the origi-
nal congregation subsided three years ago
due to dwindling membership, Albina Head
Start’s rent jumped by 40 percent, Herndon
said.
The management of the building, at the
behest of the wider church organization, has
changed hands quite a bit. It had been pre-
viously managed by Pollard, from the mid
2000s until 2017, but a community organi-
zation called Multicultural Impact Center
(MIC), headed by Pastor Jon Umdenstock,
took reigns after the congregation collapsed.
Umdenstock moved on to a ministry in Ida-
ho and the management since 2018 has
fallen into the hands of Washington and his
Deliverance Center of Generation X, a new
congregation that has been using the space
for what will be one year next month.
The building is also host to other com-
munity programs, like an Alcoholics Anon-
ymous meeting place of over 10 years, and
The People’s Poets, an open mic event
whose goal is to amplify voices of color,
hosted by MIC.
Nelson advised that “Any person or orga-
nization, particularly those who are current
tenants, who are interested in purchasing the
former Woodlawn UMC property can con-
tact Rev. Daniel Wilson-Fey, Conference
Treasurer for more information about the
process at 1505 S.W. 18th Ave. Portland,
OR 97201.”
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