The Portland Real Estate Blog links this morning to a Businessweek article naming Alberta as one of the county’s top 15 “urban areas in transition,” thanks to the influx of entitled white people “artists.”
Of course, these transitional neighborhoods, such as Castleberry Hill in Atlanta, Wynwood in Miami, and Northeast Capitol Hill in Washington, aren’t for everybody. The neighborhoods typically aren’t known for their great public schools and are in early stages of gentrification.
“It depends on how tolerant people are of nontraditional lifestyles,” Villani said of transitional neighborhoods. “You have to have a capacity to overlook the presence of homeless people, to not be intimidated by street life. You need to have a sense of inner security that’s not going to be upset that life will be kind of chaotic at times.”
And of course, you have to be able to overlook the impact that your carefree whiteness is having on the poor “nontraditional” black people who used to be able to afford to live in your neighborhood. Not to worry: I, for one, am not one for trying to stop the inevitable or bitch about it incessantly. But I do think the Alberta story is all about Portland, now. For better or for worse. A good place to start, if you’re interested in reflecting more on this, is with Sarah Mirk’s article on the recent city permit given to a regular arts event up there.
Then the wealthy breeders show up falling all over themselves to buy an old house for $395k. Rent goes up– no more artists. Just rich dudes with hairplugs sipping wine at Radio Room or the gigantic new “french bistro” or whatever it is. When you hear “urban area in transition”, know that it means “shopping mall in progress”.
But it’s okay, we’ll just tear everything up and slap LEED certification on it and Hot Lips will make some locally-sourced pizza to celebrate. The black folks and artists alike can still come around sometimes if they want. Why, I’d hate for the area to lose its authenticity.
An area became so run down and affordable that it rebounded. Oh the horror.
Smiley,
Lets not forget that the area became rundown in the first place because in the 80s banks refused to lend money for home purchases or improvements to the now displaced, people of color that had been red-lined into that neighborhood after the Vanport flood.
If you really are a “PDX Native” then you would know that the area was rundown before the 80’s, and redlining was banned long before that as well.
PDXnative – good thing the banks were forced to all that money now, right?
So what of the place was “rundown” before the ’80s?
Just because the wonderbread suburbanite crowd wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole until recently doesn’t mean people didn’t call it home and have their own shit going on there prior to its “discovery.”
keep talking as though race and class are the same thing and it will continue to be the same thing.
way to generalize.
and i lived in that neighborhood and i think atleast it is going in a good way. there are no chains, its all local business, they all benefit the neighborhood. the fact of the matter is that cities grow, and the metro area will continue to push outward, and the lower class people will continue to be pushed outward as well. thats just the way it works.
“County’s” is perhaps not what you meant.
I was talking one night with Joe, who owned Joe’s Place (now the Nest), and on another night with his brother at one of my favorite dive bars, and we started talking about Alberta. The saddest part in their opinion is that the people who lived there had pretty much the same plan. Build up the neighborhood with local businesses that would benefit the neighborhood… but they couldn’t get loans to do it.
Now it’s easy for people from any other city in America, not just CA cities, to sell their house there and have enough money to not only buy a nice house here, but to also start a business on Alberta or Mississipi.
Don your comment is unintelligible. And Smiley, I DO realize that the area was in neglect prior to the eighties. I am simply saying that the changes that are lauded today, were impossible for the people who lived there before because they had no money. It reached its apex in the eighties when residents couldnt even get a bank loan to rehab in that part of town. And just because something is “illegal” doesn’t mean it isn’t still practiced quietly. Talk to anyone in the fair housing council if you want to know how well those laws are enforced.
A belated posting but I just the posting about the crass gentrification of bald heads (aka hairplugs) and the Alberta area.
A life-long friend of mine and I own the Radio Room. I lived in the Alberta area (on Sumner street)as a kid. Went to the first co-op preschool founded by the late, great Lee Owen Stone. We have lived most of our lives as close-in, east-side Portlanders. We understand that the changes on Alberta dont please everyone, but there is more to the story than the fearful view that Old Alberta will turn into a shopping mall or that change is entirely unwlecome by the long-term residents. Our restaurant/lounge was a dilapidated gas station that was last used as a service station for garbage trucks. It could have been converted into an AM/PM market, a Starbux, some expensive condos or a liquor store, all of which had been considered by others. We think an affordable restaurant/lounge that hosts neighborhood artists is a much better use. Our neighbors agree.
And, to rouguespierre’s passionate and funny comment, the only hairplugs to be found at our joint could be seen atop the fine head of VP Biden at Radio Room’s election night celebration, which was packed with neighbors and friends, many of whom have lived in the Alberta area for a lot of years. Everyone is welcome, including the few who seem to feel that everything about gentrification is bad. The inevitable development of Alberta has the potential to be good and/or bad for current residents, depending on how well the changes are managed and the people involved. We are working hard with our neighbors and other local businesses to keep Alberta the most interesting, diverse and creative neighborhood in Portland.