Portland observer., June 09, 2021, Page 7, Image 7

June 9, 2021
Page 7
Apology Issued 73 Years after Vanport
C ontinued froM f ront
In a video released on the Sunday anni-
versary of the May 30, 1948 Memorial Day
Flood, Michael Buonocore, executive di-
rector of the low income housing provider,
said he wanted to acknowledge the racism,
the negligence and wrongdoing that Home
Forward, formerly the Housing Authority of
Portland (HAP), played in the disaster and
aftermath.
Vanport was built in 1942 to provide
housing for people working in the shipyards
and at its peak housed about 40,000 people
making it the second largest city in Oregon
at the time. But the structures weren’t built to
last, Buonocore said. Its homes were not on
permanent foundations and under strain from
heavy rainfall and melting snowpack, a near-
by dike burst and flooded Vanport.
While the history of the city has been the
subject of many articles, documentaries, in-
terviews, art installations and tours, Buono-
core said there had never been an acknowl-
edgement from the Housing Authority of
Portland, now Home Forward, about its own
role in the tragedy.
He said in the spring of 1948, as the like-
lihood of flooding increased, HAP down-
played the threat of disaster.
Michael Buonocore
“We put notes on people’s doors that said
‘Remember, dikes are safe at present, you
will be warned if necessary. You will have
time to leave. Don’t get excited,’” Buono-
core said. HAP itself, however, got a “little
excited” about the flood threat at the time, the
official pointed out in the video.
“We removed our files from the property
and the horses, but we didn’t evacuate the
people,” Buonocore said.
He said it was important to tell the truth,
that HAP didn’t want anything to do with
Vanport when it was created, and the agency
also did not help the Black residents of Van-
Greene, Hollands Elected to School Board
C ontinued froM p age 3
a four –way race for Zone 4 representing
north Portland, capturing 73 percent of the
vote; Gary Hollands, a small business own-
er and executive director of the nonprofit
Albina Sports Program, captured 83 percent
of the vote for Zone 5, representing north-
port after the flood relocate to other housing
throughout the Portland area.
“Albina was still the only area where
Black people could live, but there wasn’t
enough housing to accommodate them and
what we really wanted was for Black people
to leave,” Buonocore said, describing sedi-
ments at the time.
“Instead we reinforced their isolation and
segregation,” he said.
Edgar Kaiser built Vanport in 110 days,
circumventing the local officials that were re-
sistant to its existence and HAP took over its
operations out of necessity, Buonocore said.
“By 1948 we had allowed Vanport to fall
into disrepair. It was considered an eyesore
and a slum. Black people were not the only
people living there, but they were a high
percentage of the population because there
was really nowhere else for them to go,” he
said.
“From its earliest days, the Housing Au-
thority of Portland did what the institutions
of this country were founded to do, reinforce
the progress of white people at the expense
of Black, Brown, Indigenous and people of
color,” Buonocore said.
“We were wrong. And I apologize to the
community and the people who were hurt,”
he said.
east Portland.
Jaime Cale, a Black secretary at Rose
Parks Elementary, fell short in her write-in
campaign against Greene. While also gain-
ing several endorsements from activists in
the Black community, write in-votes reach
Elizabeth Mosley
Celebrating
102 Years!
Elizabeth Mosley of Portland
celebrated her 102th birthday on
May 25 with the love of her fam-
ily and friends.
Mosley was born on May 25,
1919.
“Happy Birthday, with love
from your family!”
just 4 percent of the total.
Julia Brim-Edwards, the only incumbent,
and a non-minority board member who led
the search that resulted in the hiring of Gua-
dalupe Guerrero as school superintendent,
was re-elected with 80 percent of the vote.