Stimulus doesn’t go past 82nd

Despite high needs, area receives tiny share of the dollars

By Steve Law

The Portland Tribune, Nov 19, 2009 (13 Reader comments)

JONATHAN HOUSE / TRIBUNE PHOTO

A bicyclist tries out new lights on the bicycle and footpath along Interstate 205 — the lights were a rare East Portland improvement made possible with federal stimulus dollars.The money came via the Oregon Department of Transportation, not the city.

Stimulus money from Uncle Sam has largely bypassed East Portland – even though that part of town has the city’s shoddiest infrastructure and a disproportionate share of poor people.

One in four Portlanders lives east of 82nd Avenue, yet the area scored only 0.7 percent of the federal stimulus money that was channeled through the city and geared to neighborhood projects, according to an analysis by Nick Sauvie, executive director of ROSE Community Development.

“We are easily forgotten,” says Arlene Kimura, co-chairwoman of the East Portland Action Plan, a community coalition seeking to revitalize the area.

Over the summer, Sauvie scrutinized a list of federal stimulus projects in Portland, and tossed out projects of a citywide nature such as water- and sewer-system improvements. That left $122 million in projects that directly benefit host neighborhoods. Of that amount, Sauvie found, only $750,000 was targeted to East Portland.

“The results are shocking, yet not so shocking to anyone familiar with regional equity issues,” leaders of the East Portland Action Plan wrote in a Sept. 18 letter to Mayor Sam Adams.

The group asked to meet with the mayor to discuss getting a “fair share” for East Portland. It took a couple months, but the meeting is scheduled for Nov. 20.

After community leaders presented Sauvie’s findings to City Hall, Adams’ staff countered with its own spreadsheet in October, showing stimulus projects by various sections of the city. That list, which includes more recent federal stimulus awards, shows 6 percent of the money being spent in East Portland – an area the city defines as east of 82nd Avenue south of Division Street, and east of Interstate 205 on the north side of Division.

However, much of that money was for a new reservoir at Powell Butte Park, which is of citywide benefit. When Sauvie pared the updated list down to include only neighborhood-oriented projects, he calculated that $1.9 million, or 1.5 percent of the federal money for those projects, went to East Portland.

Area declining

In the past two decades, as homes and retail areas got spruced-up in North, Northeast and Southeast Portland, more of the city’s poor were displaced and migrated to the outer east side.

In 1990, the median income in East Portland was 105 percent of the median for Portland as a whole, according to Census figures. By 2000, the median income in East Portland slipped to 95 percent of the city as a whole – a trend that likely has accelerated this decade.

At a Nov. 3 community meeting convened by ROSE Community Development, East Portland leaders noted the area has high unemployment, rampant foreclosures, overcrowded schools, and lacks sidewalks and other basic infrastructure.

“There’s a tremendous amount of inequity here,” says Mark White, president of the Powellhurst-Gilbert Neighborhood Association. “Nothing has been done to upgrade the streets of East Portland, for the most part,” since much of the area was annexed into the city in the early 1980s, White says.

City Hall response

Laurel Butman, spokeswoman for the city Office of Management and Finance, agrees the area has many holes in its infrastructure.

“They were the last annexed area so there is a lot of catch-up to do,” Butman says.

The city has tried to apply for stimulus funds in projects across the city, Butman says. However, there often are federal requirements that limit where the money can go. These rules include an expectation that projects are “shovel ready,” so the money can be deployed quickly.

“The city doesn’t make a lot of decisions (about) where the money goes,” Butman says.

The city has been aggressive about adding new parks and swimming pools in East Portland. And city councilors tried to steer urban renewal funding accruing from the Pearl District to build a new facility for David Douglas School District.

However, East Portland community leaders, including State Rep. Jefferson Smith, D-Portland, say they’re still not getting their share.

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