Two city-sponsored forums on a proposal to rename North
Interstate Avenue for César E. Chávez haven’t even
happened yet, but already Mayor Tom Potter is chastising neighbors for
what he calls a lack of respect during discussions over the idea.
“César E. Chávez’s work was rooted in his belief in
peaceful and nonviolent action,” Potter wrote in an open letter on
September 26. “Unfortunately, this same legacy of respect was not
present last week during a neighborhood discussion of a street
commemoration in his name.”
Potter was referring to a meeting of the Overlook Neighborhood
Association, held September 18 at the Kaiser Town Hall on Interstate.
There, the Chávez committee presented their proposal, and
Overlook’s neighbors had a chance to comment before voting on a motion
to support it (the motion later failed).
Indeed, the meeting was heated. Neighbors are upset that the
committee is presenting the rename idea to the community after securing
the support of the mayor and most of the city commissioners, making it
appear to be a “done deal” where neighbors’ input doesn’t matter.
Others simply don’t want the change, regardless of the process.
Several questions about the proposal weren’t answered at the
Overlook meeting, like why a street is the venue the committee chose to
honor Chávez, and if there’s a plan to mitigate “the economic
impact on the businesses and homeowners along Interstate.”
Chávez committee co-chair Jose Romero addressed the
mitigation question, saying “not knowing what it’s going to cost, the
city says they will work things out over a period of years.” His
response prompted laughter throughout the crowded room. Moments later,
committee co-chair Marta Guembes told the audience: “This is not easy
for me as a Latina to be here with all you guys. I brought my children
because I wanted them to see what a neighborhood association means, and
I’m going to ask you kindly to be respectful. Don’t laugh at us.”
“People were angry,” Guembes told the Mercury on Tuesday.
“People made fun of us, they laughed. When I was walking out, a man
told me, ‘you fucking bitch.’ There was anger; people were making fun
of us. It was horrible. It was the worst experience that I’ve had in
Portland.”
She adds: “That was disrespectful, that was racist how we were
treated. A lot of people who were in there were not racist, but there
were some people who were. I want to make it very clear.”
The day after the Overlook meeting, one neighbor in attendance sent
an apology to the Chávez committee, via the city: “I do
apologize for the anger in the room. It was not intended to be directed
to you. I felt that the anger was intended for the city council and
mayor who treat North Portland as an unwanted stepchild.”
Guembes likens an apology like that to the cycle of domestic
violence: “They feel awful, but it’s the domestic violence cycle. There
was violence, we got beat up with hate. And then there’s a
honeymoon—’We didn’t mean to, I’m sorry, you’re very good
people.'”
Potter’s staff heard about the tense meeting, and the mayor’s
spokesperson attended a second neighborhood meeting in Arbor Lodge on
September 20. “We got a lot of feedback from the Overlook meeting,”
John Doussard says. “In the wake of the Overlook meeting, I wanted to
hear Arbor Lodge first hand. I did not hear anything racist, though I
know there were some folks who felt they heard some inappropriate
comments. It was the kind of conversation you expect to hear when there
are passionate people on both sides.”
The mayor’s letter, he says, was intended to “make sure that all
future conversation had a civil tone and a respectful tone and that all
people had a chance to be heard,” adding that the mayor’s staff
“learned a lot of lessons from the Overlook meeting.”
The official comment period isn’t over, but dozens of comments have
already landed at the mayor’s office. The vast majority of
them—all but eight so far—are opposed to the name change.
Most civilly cite reasons like a lack of process (“stop using bully
tactics and follow the law”), expense to businesses and taxpayers
(“there are so many issues in this city that could desperately use that
money”), or Interstate’s historical connotations (“Interstate was the
gateway to Oregon from Washington before I-5 was built”) as reasons for
opposing the change.
Several comments, though, are jarring, saying things like “this
renaming of streets in North Portland reinforces the negative image
this part of town has,” “it’s obvious that this is a ‘knee-jerk’
reaction to the Del Monte raids where a bunch of illegal immigrants
were tossed back to Mexico,” and “Portland is predominantly a white
populated city, so why are you doing this?”
Still others have reacted to Potter’s open letter: “Please don’t
ignore us and our opinions because of a few individuals who choose to
make this a racial issue,” one neighbor wrote. Another added: “Shame on
you for setting the Chávez committee up to take your hits.”