The skanner., October 29, 2014, Page 5, Image 5

Local News
Houses
Garfield
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townhouses.
For writer and histori-
an Sandy Polishuk, this
development battle has
deep roots in Portland
history.
“It’s an ongoing strug-
gle to maintain the histo-
ry as it is reflected in the
physical things around
us,” she said.
To that end, Polishuk
and her group the Histo- The house on NE Going Street before demolition.
ry of Social Justice
Organizing host an event
next month documenting
successful community
efforts to protest the
demolition of three his-
toric houses in North-
west Portland years ago.
The event is Tuesday,
Nov. 18 at 7 p.m., at the
Architectural Heritage
Center, 701 SE Grand
Ave. The discussion is
free and open to the pub- The same house afterwards with chalked protests.
lic.
On May 23, 1989, developer Philip J. “These communities care very much about
Morford ordered the demolition of houses the character of their neighborhood and
on NW Overton Street one day before the their ability to have a say in their neigh-
Portland Commission on Historical Land- borhood.”
For Polishuk, activism doesn’t get any
marks was to consider their historical and
more grassroots than when neighbors fight
architectural value.
The neighborhood responded by protest- against development. She described the
ing. Some sat on the porch of the house, scene 25 years ago when protestor Frank
take any classes at Garfield
and cannot be included in
the headcount for staffing.
“The review also indicat-
ed that the remaining 20
students should not be
included for a variety of
reasons (e.g., they were
athletics only, transferred
to other schools and other
factors).”
Last week hundreds of
Garfield
supporters
thronged outside the red-
brick school in a rainstorm
to protest the proposed cut
which – if carried out in
mid-semester — would
have left an estimated 150
students suddenly without
one class per day and could
keep as many from gradu-
ating on time.
For that reason the walk-
out was held at 1:50 pm, a
half hour before the end of
the school day. Scores of
parents and school sup-
porters participated along-
side students and staff.
“Please know that this
adjustment is not expected
to affect a teacher of a core
required subject and will
not occur immediately; the
affected teacher is expect-
ed to stay in place at least
through the end of the first
‘These communities care very much about
the character of their neighborhood and their
ability to have a say in their neighborhood.’
semester in order to mini-
mize any disruptions to
students’
schedules,”
Nyland said Monday in a
statement.
However school advo-
cates – and many media
reports – hammered the
district for poor communi-
cation and what some say
is a consistent refusal to
give proper resources to
schools that need them the
most, including Garfield,
where almost 40 percent of
the student population
teachers to opt out of the
“Measures of Academic
Progress” test program.
“Seattle’s Garfield High
School (where I graduated
from and now teach histo-
ry) has once again united
the students, parents, and
educators in common
struggle,” he wrote last
week on his blog, ‘I AM
AN EDUCATOR.”
“Last Friday it was
announced that our school
had until the following Fri-
day, October 24th, to raise
Last week hundreds of
Garfield supporters thronged
outside the red-brick school in
a rainstorm to protest the
proposed cut
qualifies for free or
reduced price lunches.
Garfield history teacher
Jesse Hagopian, himself a
Garfield graduate, has gal-
vanized the school com-
munity since he led last
year’s successful boycott
of high stakes standard-
ized tests that led the
Seattle schools to allow
$92,000 or else one of the
teachers in a core subject
area would be displaced.
We still don’t know which
of us will be targeted for
displacement, but we do
know the pain of this cut
will be severe.
Read the rest online at
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—Sandy Polishuk
adamantly refusing to move. That day, 23
people were arrested; most were charged
with trespass and obstruction of judicial
administration.
After the showdown, the Northwest Dis-
trict Association and the neighborhood
negotiation committee managed to save
one house in its original place and move
two other houses nearby.
For Polishuk, the demolition of old
houses is more than an issue of nostalgia;
it is a social justice issue where communi-
ties need to voice their concerns.
“I think that community empowerment
is a social justice issue,” Polishuk said.
Dixon used an old brick-style cellphone to
call everyone he knew to come to the
protest.
Dixon is the current state chair of the
Democratic Party of Oregon and one of
the speakers at the Save the Good Old
Houses forum. He is joined by Nancy
Nesewich and Ruth Roth, who were some
of the first people to be arrested that day;
Joleen Jensen-Classen, who coordinated
the negotiation process; and Rick
Michaelson who worked with Dixon to
reach a final settlement.
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October 29, 2014 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 5