November 29, 2017 The Skanner Portland Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
neighborhood could re-
ceive up to three points;
people with parents or
grandparents who had
lived in the neighbor-
hood could receive addi-
tional points, for a total
of six possible points.
Battles, a Summer-
Works coordinator for
Multnomah
County,
received all six points,
placing him high on
The preference policy is an
attempt to correct decades
of urban renewal policy
the priority list for the
homeownership assis-
tance through the pro-
gram.
This
summer
he
bought his first house
at North Chataqua and
Willis, three blocks from
where is mother grew
up and across the street
from Rollins’ grandfa-
ther’s former house.
“I was a Northeast Port-
land kid,” Battles said.
He was part of the first
class to attend De La Sal-
le North Catholic High
School, and had gone
to Holy Redeemer and
Woodlawn
Elementa-
ry Schools. One grand-
mother lived at the inter-
section of North Rodney
and Killingsworth; the
other lived at the inter-
section of Northeast 12th
and Stanton.
‘There was no mold
that I had to fit into’
The preference policy
is an attempt to correct
decades of urban re-
newal policy, as well as a
more recent rapid wave
of gentrification that
displaced Black families
in Northeast Portland.
Recent census figures
show about 20 percent of
residents of inner north-
east Portland identify as
Black, as compared to 50
percent in the 1980s.
The policy gives prior-
ity to African Americans
who have been displaced
or are at risk of displace-
ment, or whose parents
or grandparents were
displaced by eminent do-
main programs. Prospec-
tive homebuyers must
Reo’s
payment assistance —
administered
through
the African American
Alliance for Homeown-
ership, Proud Ground,
Habitat for Humanity,
the Native American
Youth and Family Center
and Portland Communi-
ty Reinvestment Initia-
tives — and some went
to funding for new de-
velopment, according to
housing bureau spokes-
person Martha Calhoon.
Battles was one in a
group of 65 people to be-
come eligible for home-
ownership
assistance
through the program. He
went to AAAH’s home-
ownership fair in 2016
and went on a bus tour
of eight houses listed for
sale.
“The funny thing is, of
the eight houses, the one
house I decided not to get
out and look at, that was
the house we bought,”
Battles said.
He was reluctant be-
cause it was being offered
through a model where a
nonprofit organization
would own the lot, while
he would own the house
— a model that made him
uncomfortable.
After discussing it with
staff at AAAH, he was
reassured they would
find an arrangement that
worked for him — and
they did. Battles moved
into his new home in July.
Battles attributes his
success to culturally spe-
cific services he received
through AAAH.
Read the rest of this story at
TheSkanner.com
DanceAbility and
UO Dance Present
‘Spectrum’
DanceAbility International, directed by Alito Alessi,
and University of Oregon senior dance majors,
directed by Shannon Mockli, will co-produce a
collaborative concert, “Spectrum” at 7 p.m. Dec. 7
at the Dougherty Dance Theater in Gerlinger Annex
at the UO Campus in Eugene. Admission is free.
DanceAbility International is a local dance company
that focuses on bringing people of all abilities and
disabilities together through dance and movement.
The senior undergraduate dance majors have
been studying the DanceAbility method this term
alongside community dancers with disabilities.
Pictured here are Ruth, a community member and
wheelchair user who has been participating in
the UO dance class which Alessi has been guest
teaching. Ruth contracted polio at age three and
grew up in an institution in Cameroon; when she
was released, she became an activist for disability
issues and women’s rights. She arrived in the United
States seven months ago. For more information
about the upcoming performance, visit www.
danceability.com.
PAALF
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event will take place from 6:30
to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at 4222 NE
12th Ave.
Along with celebrating the hard
work that went into the plan, the
PAALF will also present its key
vision statements concerning ar-
eas of justice, housing, arts and
culture, education and more.
“
If Portland
loved Black peo-
ple it would be
the best city it
pretends to be
“All too often we get asked to
come to the table after the dis-
cussion has already been made,”
PAALF executive director, Joy
Alise Davis, told The Skanner. “It
feels very reactive, and we want-
ed a more proactive way of shap-
ing our city.”
Davis explained how traditional
planning models can often intim-
idate community members with
technical language and complex
processes.
So instead, the PAALF designed
the People’s Plan to empower
Portland’s African American cit-
izens on their terms. That way
the solutions are informed by the
people they affect.
To gather the collective data, the
PAALF’s team hosted 16 events
around the city back in 2015 –
from traditional committee meet-
ings to happy hours, meetups
and dance parties – where they
surveyed African Americans on
their experience of living in Port-
land.
They were asked to actively
weigh in on what they want in a
thriving, resilient Black commu-
nity – and how to get it.
The survey was broken down
into five questions:
• If Portland was a utopia, what
would the African and Afri-
can American community look
like?
• What does the current African
and African American commu-
nity look like?
• How do we get to utopia?
• If you had to pick three priori-
ties for the People’s Plan to fo-
cus on, what would they be?
• Where can you be Black in Port-
land?
Among the responses across
all questions were: “If PDX was
a utopia, Black community looks
like me and you as family. Al-
ways looking out for each other…”
“Youth are valued and respect-
ed – and elders are honored and
revered…” and “If Portland loved
Black people it would be the best
city it pretends to be…”
The leadership forum then
spent the next two years writing
and editing the plan, as well as in-
ternally restructuring its organi-
zation.
The PAALF worked with grad
students and colleagues at Port-
land State — including Lisa Bates,
director of the Center for Urban
Studies, who Davis called “the
brainchild behind the project” –
to apply an urban lens while sift-
ing through the research.
Each topic area — housing,
health, justice, for example – has
its own chapter within the plan,
where it’s then broken down into
‘the vision,’ ‘the problem,’ ‘advo-
cacy and action’ and ‘emerging
ideas,’ based on responses from
the Black public.
The end result is a “data-driven
document for people to take to
neighborhood association meet-
ings, which typically tend to be
White spaces,” said Davis, who
added that the document itself
reads as a point-to guide to iden-
tify problem areas and their pro-
posed solutions.
As an extension of the project,
the PAALF is currently meeting
with various bureaus and depart-
ments, including the Portland
Bureau of Transportation, to find
out how their programs or ser-
vices might align with putting the
People’s Plan into action.
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scene witness interview with someone
who said she saw a group of Black ju-
veniles running from the scene of the
fire. That report concludes the fire was
caused by an ember left burning in the
barbecue pit.
In an interview with The Skanner
Tuesday, Varnado expressed skepti-
cism of the official account. He said he’d
been assaulted twice at the restaurant
and received a threat to the property
itself. Varnado, who opened his first
restaurant in Portland in 1999 and has
relocated four times, was in 2010 the
target of neighbors’ complaints about
the smell of the smoke at a southwest
Portland location.
Girod also expressed skepticism of
the report’s finding. But she and Var-
nado also said they’re eager to get back
to work, and to put their employees —
who have been out of work for several
“
I’d like to see
everybody come,
enjoy themselves,
talk and make new
friends
months — back to work as well. Land-
lord Leon Drennan, who has owned
the building since 2001, raised $3,030
through a crowdfunding campaign to
help support the couple financially
during the months their business has
been closed.
“It’s a unique place because it’s like
going to your grandma’s kitchen. It’s
like going to your family,” Girod said.
“It’s a fun place, and nobody cooks like
Reo.”
Varnado said the restaurant, which
seats about 20, is also a community
gathering space, and he’s looking for-
ward to seeing community members
get together again.
“I’d like to see everybody come, enjoy
themselves, talk and make new friends.
This world would be a better place if
people would just talk to each other,”
Varnado said.
PHOTO BY CHRISTEN MCCURDY
“
also be “mortgage-ready”
within a certain time
frame, and must make up
to 60 percent of the area
median income.
The first rollout was in
May of last year, when
the Portland Housing
Bureau allocated $5 mil-
lion in funding for home-
ownership
assistance
for first-time homebuy-
ers. Some went to down
PHOTO BY HAILEY BAYLISS
Home
The owners of Reo’s Ribs have announced the
restaurant will reopen soon, although they did not
have an exact date.
