This week Jacob and I were able to do a real couple thing -- we went on a date with some friends! Stacey and Josh Noems work in Campus Ministry at UP. They are Notre Dame folks who moved out here after their time with Jesuit Volunteer Corps. We had dinner togther in the school caf with their two kids, baby Simon and five year old Oscar. It was the "Eat Local Challenge" at UP where everything served comes from within 150 miles of the schools. It was quite a feast and a real testimony to the abundance we can glean so close to home.
We also got to visit their home, something I've been wanting to do for a while. The Noems live in a place called New Columbia. It used to be Columbia Villa, one of the worst ghettos in the city. Ambulances and pizza drivers refused to go into the neigborhood. It was dotted with meth houses and the violence was never ending.
A few years ago the Housing Authority emptied the whole place out and ripped out every apartment. Within a year the area was transformed into a mixed income housing experiment. There are houses, apartments and townhouses, lots of green space, a community education center, a school for learning trades and a brand new elementary school called Rosa Parks.
The housing comes in three levels -- straight rent/mortgage, affordable housing and section 8. All the sudden there are young professionals living beside single mothers who live beside multi-generation immigrant families. It is a truly remarkable scene. It's really transforming North Portland by getting people to live next to each other, the anti-gentrification.
Jacob and I were so impressed by the neighborhood and to hear about how so many people are being transformed simply by living beside one another. It's certainly a place we could see ourselves living in a few years.
2 comments:
i love hearing stories about revitalized areas like that, but i worry about the folks that were displaced; if the majority of them are able to enjoy the new perks or if it becomes too expensive and all that happens is the problem is shifted elsewhere.
There aren't a lot of perks to speak of unless you count better safety and access to fresh veggies. There are a lot of communal committments which go into a place like New Columbia. People have to get used to how others want to raise their children. There are different standards about ways people think yards should look or how much help you should ask for from your neighbor. The section 8 and low income housing make sure that the neighborhood will always be mixed income.
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