Give Us Back The City

Almost two years have passed since I first began writing and documenting the surge in Portland’s creeping gentrification and what the monoculture means for the rest of us. I barely recognize the city anymore. In my last article on gentrification I talked about the gay street I used to hang out on when I first moved here and how different it is. I could write an essay on every neighborhood here with similar content.

Our mainstream media has finally caught up and started writing about gentrification and the current housing crisis. It’s not without drama however, the latest being a Willamette Weekly contributor writing an arrogant op-ed about his apartment complex the Burnside 26 which created a lot of controversy with it’s promo video showing a very White Upper Middle Class heterosexual couple enjoying a leisurely lifestyle. It made a lot of people angry.

Some bullet points about the current issues at hand include us having the lowest vacancy rate in the country (12%), a recent exposé that provided documents showing City Hall officials had hidden high-rise development projects from the public, news that Google will be opening an office downtown and a recent report that Portland is the most gentrified city of the city.

So where does that leave the rest of us?

I’m terrified of being priced out; the signs are already there. The cost of food and transportation continues to rise as rents inflate. Looking at the housing market, homes that cost 300,000 in 2007 are now double that.

The city has changed so much. Along with the prices, the culture has changed. The people have changed. I don’t feel welcome in a city that was a sanctuary for me in my younger years. I am afraid I won’t be able to stay here in the long term.

Gentrification is breaking my heart.
I don’t have answers, I don’t have a solution.
I only have my slow boiling rage.

I’ve engaged in a lot of dialogue recently about gentrification, especially about those who are contributing to it such as tech companies and white collar suburbanites who are flocking to cities like Seattle, San Francisco and Portland. I’m done being civil about it.

So I’m going to be frank.

This is a culture war. It’s a war for the soul of the city. Somewhere along the line Portland got popular and was put on the cultural map. What was weird is now gone and replaced by this monolith of White middle-class monoculture. So I say this to you, the gentrifiers: You are pushing us out! If you want to live in a family-friendly neighborhood, go live in the suburbs!
GO AWAY. Stay out of our communities! We didn’t build this for you.


As Seattle artist John Criscitello said:

“WE CAME HERE TO GET AWAY FROM YOU.”

Life Under Portlandia

I’ve struggled over the last few weeks with what to write in this essay, it’s really been haunting me. I feel embattled by culture and by my own feelings. I moved here when I was still a teenager. Portland was exciting, new and even a bit gritty. Things here were more rockabilly and less twee. I suppose it must have been before the era of the IPA and brunch. To me it is not a surprise that a recent national study found that Portland was the most gentrified city of the century.

During my first three years I saw our rent increase twice, which was not ideal but it hadn’t priced me out of the neighborhood. As time wore one though, I witnessed the distinct character of the Portland that I was enthralled by as a teenager and young adult change. I would say that the change has been more drastic than gradual.

In college I learned what gentrification is and I also learned about the historical (and perhaps continued) redlining of certain districts in Portland that systemically disenfranchised the Black community. I would point out the Mississippi, Alberta, Albina, and Irvington neighborhoods as specific and ongoing examples of this gentrification.

What is (perhaps to some) not surprising is that this is now happening to other neighborhoods all around the city, mostly in Southeast but also much of the Downtown area is becoming gentrified. I think gentrification is still a dirty word in Portland, I swear it’s a conversation to clear a room or get looked at like you dropped a couple of f-bombs.

However it seems like now people care about it a little more now (see the somewhat offensive “Le Tour de Gentrification” of last summer) and some recent articles in local and regional papers. Perhaps this is because it’s not just happening to the POC neighborhoods. Portland seems to be full of perennial White guilt and avoidance of race-based discussion. But then, we have “Oh no, not our food carts”.

Anyway, gentrification is happening all over the city to some extent as the city government tries to attract new companies and higher-earning citizens to come invest in Portland. Two examples of neighborhoods being gentrified that are personal to me are the Stark street area downtown and Division Street in Southeast.

The stretch of Stark Street from what is now a McMenamin’s Crystal Palace to Living Room Theatres was the gay street. It was colloquially known as Vaseline Alley or the Pink Triangle. It is still home to the Roxy but also hosted five gay establishments including the bathhouse that the McMenamin’s corporation turned into a hotel/restaurant.  There was also a wonderful goth night at the Fez Ballroom which is also now closed. The last gay bar on the street is Scandals, and there are rumors that it too will be closing its doors soon.

As a queer person, I used to hang out on this street. It felt like home. Sure it was a bit wild and sometimes nasty, but it was familiar and safe. Now I don’t recognize the street of pavement covered in bougie hipster coffee shops, eateries (one of which whose owner has some questionable ethics) and the Ace Hotel. These new places, they’re not built for my communities. They serve the influx of new residents who move from places where these kinds of businesses are an expected norm.

Now to Division Street, which is a growing example of this norm. This stretch of asphalt had been, for a long time, gritty and exciting but not so suburban. I remember walking its lengths many times, past the porn theatre and various dive bars. One of my favorite cafés was on Division. At this point the clientele has changed so much that I do not feel comfortable or welcome in there anymore.

Along with the demographic changes of the neighborhood, developers have lined lower Division with condominium complexes, all with the same boxy style to where it’s difficult to see where one ends and one begins. Parking has become an issue for residents as tourists and others flock to the neighborhood to stand in line for hours at the new Salt & Straw or browse the many pop-up boutiques.

The neighborhood is becoming unaffordable to long-time residents and the new businesses and living quarters that are being built are a harbinger of this.  The rents are ridiculous. Just take a look at the prices of meals at the new restaurants, look at the clothes people are selling or the cars lining the side streets. It’s not a working-class or artistic community area anymore.

Two things happened recently that really galvanized my desire to write this essay. I had a conversation with a colleague of mine who was from Portland. We both used to hang out at the same spots downtown when we were younger.

Talking with her got us both nostalgic and we discussed how all the places we used to frequent were either closed or were now so different that we didn’t recognize them anymore. Some of our old haunts and activities included going to the two underage clubs, smoking cigarettes in the back room of Anna Banana’s, staying up ‘til 2am at Portland Coffee House on Broadway and Alder, dancing to salsa and bachata at Andreas over on Belmont. Sadly, these are all fantasy of distant memory now. A sports pub has replaced Andreas, and Portland Coffee House is now called Public Domain, closing around 9pm and definitively no longer welcome to the previous community of assorted freaks, students, street kids and artistic types.

It is this culture shift that I see in the Red & Black Café closing, the other recent event that has contributed to this essay. While the owners of the café did not specify why they are closing up shop, they did say that business took a nosedive once the New Seasons market and Starbucks opened for business on the street.

The Red & Black café has served many of our alternative communities in Portland for a long time. I know them as a safe space away from bigotry and police violence as well as functioning as type of community center for like-minded citizens. I think what scares me the most about their closing is that to me, it signals a visible shift in the politics of the city.  I perceive Portland as becoming more conservative, a neoliberal kind of conservative to be sure but we’re definitely not as radical as we used to be.

It is because of this shift in both demographics and politics that I fear for the soul and character of this city. Many of us have lived here for so long and are invested in the long-term health of our communities here, but when things change so drastically and it becomes unwelcoming to us, especially for those of us who are minorities, where are we supposed to go? Seattle, Oakland, Austin and other similar areas aren’t much different.

This is why gentrification matters to me, and why I won’t stop criticizing the Portland city commission, the business commission or the mayor’s office. It’s why I involve myself in writing, organizing and trying to fight bad policy that affects our communities. I live here; this town raised me and taught me so much.  

Gentrifiers beware: We want our city back!

Cultural Diversity & Portland's White Heterosexual Middle Class Monoculture: An Open Letter to Meg Descamp

Dear Meg, I recently received a copy of my alma mater's alumni news magazine and your article "Is Portland really Portlandia?" angered me. I am frustrated especially in light of the recent Blackface incident in North Portland. You detailed a "cultural diversity" here in our city that I don't agree with. You wrote, They [the young professionals] are committed to Portland and to all the city has to offer: cultural diversity, natural beauty, and a progressive political and social climate.The irony-cum-hypocrisy was especially poignant with the photo of all the lily-white faces at Ms. Tunstall's sewing factory. Seriously?

Please explain to me how a city that is 76% White is culturally diverse. A city where Mars Hill Church, an unabashedly homophobic and sexist religious organization set up shop in what was once a hippy heartland (the Hawthorne neighborhood). How is a city progressive when it can't solve its issues with homelessness, rampant gentrification and when the police force has admitted that it racially profiles? How can a city call itself "liberal" when it consistently votes against police accountability and statutes to assist the homeless?

The "cultural diversity" buzz phrase really angers me the most. Portland is home to a large DIY, sustainable/green, crafty organic type of culture, but it is still a monoculture practiced by mostly White upwardly mobile Middle Class heterosexuals who want to dye themselves as unique and progressive. It's still just a monoculture.

How does that qualify as diverse? That is not diversity. Bike lanes, pop-up shops and organic grocery stores are not diversity. This is especially true when they are here to serve the monoculture. To call Portland diverse insults the experience of the poor, the people of color and the queer folks who have to somehow exist within the phobic, classist and Whitewashed culture that Portland has created.

Please stop ignoring us.

Sincerely,
A community member.

Portlandia Needs to Check Its Privilege

I've always had the sneaking suspicion that Fred Armisen, SNL darling and co creator of Portlandia, was a smug dickhead. I was right! 

Armisen, who ironically admits to living in the posh Pearl district (a-not-so-Portlandy neighborhood), was recently interviewed by the Willamette Week. The interviewer asked some tough questions of Freddy, which was right on, but he gave mostly non-commital answers. When pressured about Armisen & Brownstein's safe, if not unrealistic portrayal of Portland, this eloquent gem caught my eye: Armisen states,"In fact, that's kind of like, you know, our world, for a lack of a better word. White people, sort of like privileged people."

Let me stop you right there, Armisen. First of all, White people (in Portland) are not "sort of like privileged", you're definitely privileged. It is a privilege to be able to go about ignorant of people of color's experience because your city happens to be overly White in it's racial makeup and segregated otherwise. Second of all, I live in Portland, I'm not White and I can safely say the world Portlandia portrays is not my world. Those people, those characters, are the folks me and my friends (and yes, some of them are White too) don't want to be. We make fun of those people. We don't associate with those people. We try to be aware of our privileges, White, economic or otherwise.

I think the big problem with Portlandia for me personally is that you have the opportunity to make fun of ignorant silly White Portlanders but you choose not to. You can tackle gentrification, you can tackle subtle racism, you can tackle micro-aggressions and cultural appropriation: that shit happens here. Why not make fun of it? That is a way to subvert it. I think I'm giving Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein too much credit though, that they'd actually use their "art" to do something revolutionary. They choose not to, to play it safe, because they don't want to offend their target audience: White people.

Grow some balls, Portlandia. Until then, I won't be laughing at you.

Another Portlandia Episode (Or, a Review Of Buffalo Exchange)

I gotta get this shit off my chest y'all...


I have lived in Portland for most of my adult life and used to enjoy hanging about downtown before it became clean and Powells decided not to provide internet service. One of my fav haunts was Buffalo Exchange, which has a plethora of used "hip" clothes.Yesterday I returned after a hiatus of a downtown-avoiding habit to browse around and look for some new head-wraps (also minding my own damn business, thank-you-very-much. The guy at the door (who I recognize as a Japanese-girl groupie from PSU) greets me and the person who walks in with me. About 5 minutes later as I'm looking at this awesome vintage shoulder bag (You know, schoolbook-style with brass clasps etc) this guy comes up to me and snottily states "I need to check your drink in, we have a no drink policy on the floor."


Please. Now I have been going here for over 7 years and no one has ever told me that bullshit before. Furthermore after I ask him to repeat himself and some random White girl (who doesn't work there wtf? Mind your OWN damn business) of to the side says, "Drink. Your drink."  So I just reply that no, I'm fine and that I'll just leave. Stupid bitches. Now I do not consider myself a connoisseur of fashion, but this kid cannot dress. On top of that he was rude, and probably lying. And I have other informed opinions about him as well. Apparently he is also a cocaine addict. I don't want to know how he got the job. I've heard many rumours about the employees at that particular location so just decide for yourself. You'll know him when you see him. Go check it out.


I have no idea why this happened. I could postulate, but why fucking bother.

Portlandia Yoga Episode

I thought it would be chuckle-worthy to share a little Portlandia moment with all y'all.

As a member of 24 hour fitness, I am apparently able to avail myself of free classes ranging from step aerobics to yoga. So, last Wednesday after a shitty day at work I met my boyfriend downtown and it happened to be yoga class day. I attended the class for only 30 minutes in an attempt to stretch and soothe my back which I have overstrained at work. I left, speaking with a nice elderly woman who left the class at the same time I did.

I proceded to go swimming for a bit, soak in the hot tub and then shower. On my way out I wait in the lobby area texting my boyfriend to let him know I was going home. I see the yoga teacher doing some kind of work-hours related stuff on the computers by the main entrance. One of the class members walks by and thanks her for a great class. I then say "Oh you're the yoga teacher?" "Sorry I couldn't stay for the whole class. It was nice for my back though." She then acidly states that "If you're going to come we ask that you stay for the whole session, are no more than ten minutes late and if you absolutely must leave early you must pose by the door and preform (some Ayurvedic word) before you leave."

I was so shocked at her verbal attack that I actually laughed incredulously during it and at the end of her diatribe in the same breath she smiles and says "I hope you have a wonderful night, okay?" My surprise turned to appall and I snarkily told her in French to go fuck herself as she turned around and walked out. The best part was another employee witnesses the entire thing and doesn't say a word.

It is a free yoga class. Yoga bitches like you are a dime a dozen, sweetie. Especially in Portland. Learn some aplomb! It almost ruined my nice evening at the gym except for my quick retort. Go me!

Portlandia

This happened to me recently, with all good timing considering the new television from IFC about our "fair" city. It's the brain child of Fred Armisen. At one point in an interview about the inspiration for the series, Armisen and Bronstein  refer to Portland as "Whiteland", and how it made an impression on them how white upper-middle class it is.  And then this happened...


Every day at work I walk down to the Urban Grind on my break to buy the 99 cent ginger ale that I need to get me through the rest of the day. On this particular day I walked in and was waiting by the counter while the barista finished making some mocha contraption for this tall, lithe blonde hipster lady. Typical Portland hipster girl attire: boots, pageboy haircut, skinny jeans and some kind of artsy blouse. 


What struck me was that she was talking to the barista about how she had moved here from some other place and how great she found Portland. The barista mentioned that she had moved from California. The hipster girl gushes on about how great Portland is and how she just LOVES it here. She feels so free! 


That's when I had an epiphany. That is what Portland is for these liberal white 20-30 somethings. It is a paradise to "escape" to from their veritable hell of some Republican small town (Midwest, the South, take your pick). Portland is this bastion of liberal culture and free thinkers, oh and eco-awareness (yeah, right!). The thing is though...they're all White and upper-middle class. How are you changing the world by moving to a place that just has people like you, that think like you? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to change the minds of those "Republicans" you dislike so much? What are you really escaping to but another bubble of ignorance? Food for thought.


As for Portlandia, I don't think it's very funny. It does, however, get the stereotypes about Portland spot-on. So if you hate trendy Portland as much as I do, then you should watch an episode just for that.


Cheers!