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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2019)
March 20, 2019 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 “ Nataki Garrett will become the sixth director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in August 2019. den Jacobs-Jenkins, in- cluding “Everybody” at California Shakespeare Theater and “An Octo- roon” at Woolly Mam- moth Theatre Company. Garrett also directed the first professional pro- duction of Jacobs-Jen- kins’ acclaimed play “Neighbors” at the Ma- trix Theatre Company in Los Angeles. Garrett’s production received five Ovation Award nomina- tions — including Best Production. She is a rigorous and thrill- ing artist; a thoughtful, confi- dent leader; and big thinker world premieres in 10 years for two DCPA-com- missioned plays — “The Great Leap” with Seattle Repertory Theatre and “American Mariachi “with The Old Globe. As the former associate dean and the co-head of the undergraduate act- ing program at Califor- nia Institute of the Arts (CalArts) School of The- ater, Garrett has been hailed as a champion of new work as well as an experienced, savvy arts administrator. At Ca- lArts, Garrett managed a $10 million budget and oversaw all operations of conservatory training. Garrett’s has produced more than 150 main- stage, black box, devel- opmental projects, plays, co-productions and tour- ing productions. She is responsible for produc- ing the world premieres of “Book of Will” by Lau- ren Gunderson, “Two Degrees “by Tira Palm- quist, “Zoe’s Perfect Wed- ding” by Matthew Lopez, “The Great Leap” by Lau- ren Yee, and “American Mariachi” by José Cruz González. She also direct- ed the world premiere of “Pussy Valley” by Katori Hall, the U.S. premiere of “Jefferson’s Garden” by Timberlake Wertenbak- er, and “BLKS” by Aziza Barnes. Garrett has collabo- rated frequently with MacArthur Award-win- ning playwright Bran- During June and July, in addition to directing, Garrett will continue to fulfill incoming artistic director duties. She as- sumes the full title and responsibilities of OSF artistic director on Au- gust 1. “I am absolutely thrilled to be named in- coming artistic director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival and it is an hon- or and privilege to in- herit such a wonderfully rich and dynamic legacy of artistic excellence in partnership with a dedi- cated board, staff, compa- ny and local community,” Garrett said in the re- lease. “I am equally excit- ed and inspired by OSF’s dedication to expanding our worldview and look forward to maintaining our commitment to the revolutionary spirit of Shakespeare and classi- cal text, while continuing to explore and expand opportunities for new voices and narratives through new play devel- opment.” In February 2018, OSF announced that Garrett’s predecessor, Bill Rauch, would be leaving OSF in August 2019 to assume artistic leadership of The Ronald O. Perelman Cen- ter for Performing Arts at the World Trade Cen- ter in New York City. The Oregon Shake- speare Festival’s 2019 season opened March 8 and runs through Oct. 27. PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER press release from OSF. According to OSF, Gar- rett will arrive in Ash- land in early April to prepare for the 2020 sea- son, and this season she will direct “How to Catch Creation,” which opens in OSF’s Thomas Theatre on July 23. “I have known Nataki Garrett for 17 years and have closely followed and admired her career. She is a rigorous and thrill- ing artist; a thoughtful, confident leader; and big thinker,” said Rauch in OSF’s press statement. “Nataki’s historic ap- pointment, as an Afri- can American woman running one of the larg- est-budget theaters in the United States, is a di- rect expression of OSF’s decades-long commit- ment to helping create a more equitable field.” Garrett most recently served as acting artistic director for the Denver Center for the Perform- ing Arts. During her tenure, she initiated and negotiated the first co- PHOTO BY BILL GEENEN Garrett PCRI Ribbon Cutting On March 7, Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives celebrated the grand opening of the Williams Townhomes (5250 North Williams Avenue), the latest successful development created in accordance with PCRI’s visionary Pathway 1000 initiative. The four new 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom townhomes were built by a Black-owned construction firm, Dennis Harris of Albina Construction and designed by Brett Schultz Architects. This project is part of the Pathway 1000 Implementation Plan, which outlines the goal of bringing 1000 displaced low-income families back into N/NE Portland over the next 10 years through affordable homeownership and rental housing. Pictured here are Maxine Fitzpatrick, PCRI (left); Yvette Davis, PCRI; Matt Mylet, Beneficial Bank; Dennis Harris, Albina Contruction; Jodi Dubyoski, Brett Schulz Architect; Linda Tellis-Kennedy, PCRI; and Andrea Debnam, PCRI. PBOT cont’d from pg 1 Northeast 9th Avenue will be- come a neighborhood greenway — defined by PBOT planner Nick Falbo as a “safe, calm street for walking and biking” with shared lane markings (sometimes called “sharrows”) on the street, extra marking at intersections to aid bike and pedestrian intersections and traffic diverters at high-traf- fic intersections. And Northeast 7th — previous- ly considered for development as a greenway — will undergo a series of improvements to make the route safer: safer crossings at intersections near schools and ar- eas with high levels of pedestrian activity and enhanced crossing markers at some intersections. The agency will also add speed bumps to slow traffic at certain locations, including Albina Head Start and King Elementary School. Falbo said PBOT plans to re- move some of the roundabouts on 7th in the Irvington neigh- borhood — which were intended to slow traffic but create pinch points instead — and will add bike lanes on some sections of the street, including a lane connect- ing Tillamook to Weidler. Also under consideration: bike lane markers on sections of the street where cyclists are climbing a hill and therefore moving more slow- ly, so they can safely move out of the way of cars as they ride. Eventually, the route will ex- tend to southeast Portland via the Sullivan’s Crossing Bridge, a bridge that will cross Sullivan’s Gulch and be open to bicycles, pedestrians and emergency vehi- cles. It’s set to begin construction in 2020. The new plan, PBOT officials said, is largely the result of com- munity feedback, particularly from the Black community. Falbo said the initial results of outreach efforts — including a February 2018 open house at King Elemen- tary School and an online open house early last year — showed support for a Northeast 7th Ave- nue greenway. “The outreach process and the work that Nick and the planning team has done on this has really led to a great sort of resolution and, essentially, a bigger win than we would have ever gotten from choosing one street over the other. And it’s really the re- “ “I think PBOT has addressed community concerns,” said Ron Herndon, director of Albina Head Start, which is headquartered at Northeast 7th and Fremont, who previously expressed concern that a bike lane would make it difficult for families dropping It’s really the result of all the wonder- ful feedback that we’ve gotten from the Black community, from neighborhood associations – from everyone sult of all the wonderful feedback that we’ve gotten from the Black community, from neighborhood associations — from everyone. Without having that participa- tion, I don’t think this project would have been as well thought out without that feedback,” Scha- fer said. Falbo noted that Northeast 7th sees an unusually high level of bike traffic, probably due to its proximity to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., and that’s why PBOT is still pursuing changes on the street that would better accommodate cycling. But, he said, Northeast 9th Avenue better meets the criteria for a neighbor- hood greenway: it’s parallel to a major thoroughfare, provides ac- cess to a lot of amenities and sees a relatively low volume of traffic (1000 or fewer cars per day). But as The Skanner reported last August, outreach efforts were slow in reaching households of color, and some members of the Black community were critical of making Northeast 7th a neigh- borhood greenway due to the high volume of car traffic on the street. The agency subsequently convened focus groups with in- stitutions like SEI – which draws Black families from around the metropolitan area to Northeast Portland for services — as well as the SOUL District Business Al- liance, the Portland Community Reinvestment Initiative. children off at the facility. “They listened to those concerns with a degree of seriousness that is un- commonly rare with city, county and state governmental institu- tions.” The transportation advocacy group The Street Trust, in a state- ment submitted to The Skanner, also expressed support for the Northeast 9th Avenue greenway, and praised PBOT for reaching out to communities of color. “Martin Luther King Elemen- tary School, Albina Head Start, and Northeast Community Fel- lowship Church are all located on NE 7th Avenue and persist in serving people of color even as massive economic displacement has changed the demographics of the surrounding neighborhood,” wrote Jillian Detweiler, execu- tive director of The Street Trust. “Understood through this lens, a street design intended to limit au- tomobile access would symbolize the City’s intention to further ex- clude people of color from neigh- borhoods that less than 20 years ago had concentrations of Afri- can American households.” Detweiler added that a 9th Av- enue greenway “can deliver the low-car experience needed to make a variety of cyclists feel comfortable without disrupting access to institutions serving people of color.” Read more at TheSkanner.com