State-Of-Black-Oregon-2015

ESSAY 13THIS IS GENTRIFICATIONLisa K. Bates, PhDAssociate Professor, Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning; andBlack Studies, Portland State UniversityPortland’s planning has been held upnationwide and internationally as theepitome of sustainability and urbanlivability. Our “emerging” and “up-andcoming”N and NE neighborhoods are cited asvibrant. But for Black Portlanders, this planning“success” just continues a history of displacementand disenfranchisement. Memorial Coliseum.The Minnesota Freeway. Emanuel Hospital. I-5.Long-time Black Portlanders can point to formerhomes and businesses as they run down thelitany of sites.During what we think of as the “bad old days”of urban planning, Black neighborhoods wereoften under threat from the bulldozer. Urbanrenewal was premised on stopping the spreadof blight—with slum clearance tearing downbuildings for real estate development andhighway construction. Community opponentsoften called it “Negro removal.” In effect, Blackpeople were seen as a problem, and urbanrenewal as its solution. The presence of Blackcommunities in substandard housing justifieda blight designation. These practices didn’taddress the structural causes of racializedpoverty, poor-quality housing and segregation;they simply eliminated the problem people froma valuable location.It’s now widely recognized that these practiceswere counterproductive. Many locations—like theWilliams Avenue lots, vacant for decades—werenever profitably redeveloped.More important, these actions deepened raceand class inequality by destabilizing Blackfamilies and communities. The results included:losing property, related to the massive racialwealth gap; “root shock,” caused by displacementfrom homes and neighborhoods and linkedto a variety of negative health outcomes; andseparation from economic opportunities. Urbanrenewal’s large-scale clearance has passed, butthe underlying concept remains an urban policyassumption—neighborhoods are fixed whenthey’re remade for new people.Even without government-sponsoreddemolitions, many Blacks are now experiencingdéjà vu. An estimated 10,000 Black peoplehave moved out of N/NE Portland. Many weredisplaced involuntarily from their homes by:rising rents; properties converted from rentedto owned; or foreclosure. 1 With no majorityBlack neighborhood left in Portland, today’sdemographic changes are more completethan the old “Negro removal” ever was inmoving Black people away from desirable andpotentially valuable locations.This is gentrification: fundamentally changingthe character of neighborhoods as those witheconomic means and racial privilege outbuyexisting residents. Unlike the days of bulldozersand red lines on bank maps, it can be difficultto identify the actors on the scene. Publicinvestments are framed as community benefits;equity goals are set in community plans;eminent domain is no longer the primary toolfor development; and “social sustainability” is abuzzword.Policymakers and real estate interests have a new134