State-Of-Black-Oregon-2015

Dr. Lisa K. Bates at the work siteof a changing Williams Avenue inPortland, OR.language for this change. Today’s neighborhoodrevitalization is celebrated as sustainabilityand a “return to urbanism.” Politicians pointto new amenities and vitality, asking “what’sthe downside?” of change. Others dismisscommunity outcry by saying that neighborhoodshave always changed, and gloss over the unevendistribution of change’s benefits and burdens.The more the community demographicschange, the more new housing and commercialdevelopments respond to new tastes at higherprices. Policymakers call this “the market” andclaim it’s beyond their control.Behind these rationalizations, planning policiescontinue to “upgrade” urban neighborhoods withlittle attention to the needs of the people alreadyliving in them. As development and rehabilitationfunds pour into Portland neighborhoods, thepromised programs and resources to stabilizeand prevent displacement don’t materialize.In Oregon, Tax Increment Financing subsidiescan only be used for “bricks and sticks,” leavingout workforce development, education andhealth interventions. As historically Blackneighborhoods become high-value hot spots foreconomic growth, Black community indicatorshave hardly budged.The small size of Portland’s Black populationmakes the effects of gentrification even worse.You couldn’t erase Blackness from a placelike Harlem, where the deeply ingrained Blackpresence is seen as culturally vital. But forPortland’s N/NE neighborhoods, it will soon be asif Blacks had never been there at all.135