Portland Gentrification Makes NY Times

My wife found this article on the front page of the New York Times today, under the Portland Journal section. "Racial Shift in a Progressive City Spurs Talks".

"PORTLAND, Ore. — Not every neighborhood in this city is one of those Northwest destinations where passion for espresso, the environment and plenty of exercise define the cultural common ground. A few places are still described as frontiers, where pioneers move because prices are relatively reasonable, the location is convenient and, they say, they “want the diversity.”

Yet one person’s frontier, it turns out, is often another’s front porch. It has been true across the country: gentrification, which increases housing prices and tension, sometimes has racial overtones and can seem like a dirty word. Now Portland is encouraging black and white residents to talk about it, but even here in Sincere City, the conversation has been difficult."

While it's obvious that the NE has changed, we missed the beginning of the change. We decided to rent a house in the NE as it was a less-expensive neighborhood, relatively convenient to downtown and also convenient to my job in Vancouver.

As we drove around looking for places to rent, some of the first things we heard were a blatantly racist real estate agent encouraging us not to live in certain areas of the NE (near Killingsworth), and our movers who told us "when we saw your address we were afraid to come out here."

I'll leave you to read the full article if you're interested, but this comment struck me as disingenuous.

"Ms. Laufer offended some, but she said in an interview a few days later that she had meant well, that she felt enlightened by what she heard at the meeting and hoped to be able to discuss her feelings about race honestly with blacks. Unlike some other whites new to the area, she was not aware of the city’s history when she moved there. The price was right, that is all, and Mrs. Laufer loved the front porch."

I find it hard to believe that nobody told her the history of the NE, we learned about it without even asking. And just looking around it's pretty obvious what's going on.

Portland Has a New Blog – Portland Gentrification

There’s a new blog in town that covers the effects of gentrification in and around Portland.

It’s a bit rabid and in the author’s (who wishes to remain anonymous) own words “we're/I'm intending to keep a very pissed off blog with a few laughs thrown in, for everyone who writes a rent check every month and is starting to feel like their f@$king home town wants to kick them the f@$k out.” There is definitely passion behind this blog.

It’s worth checking out, but obviously the language might offend some.

http://portlandgentro.typepad.com/portland_gentrification_a/