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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 2023)
December 13, 2023 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 site this week. Nike designer Tinker Hatfield designed the kicks in 2019 for Lee, who wore his pair to the Academy Awards that year when he accepted an Oscar for his “BlacK- kKlansmen” screenplay. The donated sneakers weren’t Lee’s personal pair, but were among a “ It’s a hap- py ending to a really great proj- ect few made for him to give out to his inner circle, the Portland Rescue Mis- sion said. Hatfield visited the shelter and authenti- Lloyd cated the shoes. He also signed a replacement box and donated other Nike merchandise. The com- pany is based in nearby Beaverton, Oregon. “I’m thrilled the shoes ended up here,” Hat- field said in a statement shared by the Portland Rescue Mission. “It’s a happy ending to a really great project.” The shoes are on auc- tion at Sotheby’s until Monday, and could fetch $15,000 to $20,000, ac- cording to the auction house. Sotheby’s is waiv- ing its fee, so all of the proceeds will benefit the shelter, which has helped people struggling with homelessness, hunger and addiction since 1949. The identity of whoev- er donated the shoes re- mains a mystery. “ Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero informed the PPS School Board on Monday morning that he would not seek a third contract extension to further his leadership tenure at PPS. He shared that his last day as Superintendent will be February 16, 2024. “I believe PPS is a better school system, and with a capacity of talent that has grown over the years, right now is the best time to step down and pass the baton.” They’ve found a community and have created an environment that people feel really good about being in taken quite a beating in the way of eco- nomic success,” Bailey said. “So many of the large anchors have changed their business models, or ended their busi- ness models. Lloyd Center’s prior own- ership was struggling financially and really weren’t able to come together on a next generation concept.” As KKR began to conceptualize the Lloyd Center’s future, the Urban Re- naissance Group (URG) commercial real estate agency has managed the mall and its more than 120 tenants. Local small businesses have moved in: The quasi-cabana entryway that was Hollister Clothing’s trademark facade, Lloyd’s Next Chapter The Lloyd Center was opened in 1960, added a cover in 1990 and went into foreclosure in 2021 after the previous owners defaulted on their 2015 reno- vation loan. KKR Real Estate Finance Trust took ownership beginning in Book Fair Guerrero to Step Down as PPS Superintendent 2021. (The old Sears store, which was under different ownership from the rest of the mall, is also tentatively part of the conceptual plan.) “Historically, malls in general have cont’d from pg 1 the surrounding neighborhoods, be- cause we know there are communities that are all sitting on the periphery that would love to have a little bit more of a connector.” The planning team emphasizes that with the addition of homes – including some affordable housing – and work- places, the Lloyd Center will see round- the-clock activity. Amidst a severe housing shortage, a more efficiently planned Lloyd Center could provide relief. “From a Portland zoning code per- spective, this area allows for a certain amount of density,” Bailey said. “The (site’s) 30 acres could actually have up to 10 million square feet of usable area. There’s a real interest from the city and the community to utilize density better and to continue to make sure that we’re repurposing our land area in a good way, in the highest best-use way.” PHOTO COURTESY PPS Jordans for example, now leads to vintage offer- ings from local retailer Bauhaus Mode. “A lot of them have really created a community of using each other as cat- alysts, because they came in with their own little bit of a following and now they’ve found a community and have created an environment that people feel really good about being in,” Bailey said. Elsewhere around the country, an eerie subgenre of photography has formed around documenting aban- doned shopping malls as they are re- claimed by nature and the elements, decaying from disuse. But the Lloyd Center mall persists as a kind of arti- fact of public and commercial life in a bygone era – one that holds novelty for creatives looking to reimagine spaces. In August, the Northwest Classical Theatre Collaborative took over the former Victoria’s Secret space to stage Samuel Beckett’s “Happy Days,” an ab- surdist piece with a minimal set and only two characters. What was once a Spencer’s Gifts now houses the Hallow- een Cultural Preservation Museum, an exhibit of personal collections of vintage Halloween decor that charts the growth of the holiday in popular culture. And in January, local artist Mike Ben- nett will set his next installation in the mall: A large-scale “national park” im- mersive experience, with his wood cut- out cartoon characters populating an intricate forest setting. “Because of some of the availability we do have, and because of the activa- tor that the ice rink is, it has become a place where a lot of special events have happened,” Bailey said. “So there’s been theater, we’ve had a secret roller disco, we’ve had a number of community or- ganizations that have held their fund- raisers or their big annual events be- cause we’ve got these big open spaces with plenty of parking, and they have an opportunity to feel safe within the environment here.” Making Connections The Lloyd Center has the advantage of being centrally located and surround- ed by established neighborhoods. URG led community outreach and polling ef- forts, with residents of Northeast Port- land over-represented in the groups surveyed. They have partnered with at least one consultant firm to make sure Black residents are engaged in the pro- cess. Read more at TheSkanner.com cont’d from pg 1 know they can just have fun.” Bradford worked with Sistah Scifi, an Oakland bookstore specializing in work by BIPOC science fiction writ- ers, to put together a list of around 100 books to be sold and distributed at Norse Hall on Dec. 23, the first inaugu- ral BIPOC Book Fair. Volunteers from SMART Reading will be available to help kids find the right book for them – and children and teens who attend will each get one free book of their choice. “We believe that all children deserve access not only to quality literature, but to books that reflect and affirm their identities, families, communities and cultures,” SMART Reading Program Di- rector Rashelle Chase-Miller said. A Winning Idea Bradford first put together the book fair concept in an application to an EventBrite contest, which would award the winning idea with $10,000. Though she made it to the final round, Bradford was not ultimately selected. But her idea had gained a lot of local support, and one friend had told her that if EventBrite didn’t award her the $10,000, he would. He made good on his pledge, and Bradford organized the book fair with “ There should be a way for every kid to leave with a book the sponsorship of the nonprofit Carl Brandon Society, which promotes ra- cial and ethnic diversity in the genre of speculative fiction -- both among writ- ers and among readers. Bradford herself was raised by an avid Star Trek fan. “I just love how much science fiction, and to some extent fantasy, is such a transformative genre, in that you can show the world that you want to see,” she said. Her debut novel, ‘Ruby Finley Vs. the Interstellar Invasion,’ is aimed at mid- dle grade readers – an outcome that surprised Bradford. “It was accidental in that I didn’t mean to write that book, but that book kind of knocked me over the head and jerked me into the house and was like, ‘Write me!’ “I wanted my character to be a young Black girl who’s a genius, and I wanted her to have an adventure that included a whole community, because that was how I grew up. My book takes place generally in the present time, but it takes place in a version of the neigh- borhood where I grew up that I want to see in the future. They’re not there yet. I enjoy being able to put out there what I want, how I want things to work.” BIPOC Authors In Attendance Bradford will be present with a num- ber of other local BIPOC authors at the book fair, including Nisi Shawl, author of ‘Speculation,’ a fantasy that follows K. Tempest Bradford a young woman who inherits a pair of glasses that grant speculative, “what if- ?”-style wishes; David F. Walker, comic book writer and author of ‘Naomi: Sea- son One’ and ‘Naomi: Season 2,’ a graph- ic novel and TV series about a young woman discovering her own miracu- lous origin story; Diana Ma, author of ‘Heiress Apparently’ and ‘The Unbeat- able Lily Hong,’ stories that follow Chi- nese-American protagonists as they See BOOK FAIR on page 7
