May 2011 open thread
Mayday! Mayday!
As a new month begins, so must a new open thread.
To get the ball rolling, this morning’s Oregonian has a front page article on the changing faces (and races) of inner north-northeast Portland, mainly along the MLK Jr. corridor north of downtown. In 1990, Portland’s population of non-whites was mainly concentrated in the corridor. Today, much of Portland’s African-American population has been further north and east; and Washington County has seen a significant influx of Latino immigrants, with a particularly heavy concentrations around Hillsboro, Cornelius, and Forest Grove. The Latino communities seem to be mostly new arrivals to the region, but the shift of (generally poor) blacks from traditionally-African American neighborhoods like Albina to places like Rockwood, ought to give pause. Gentrification has most certainly come to North/Northeast Portland, and many people who used to live there cannot afford to live there any more.
What role transit, or other infrastructure improvements, have in this is hard to discern. The Yellow Line did open on the western edge of the region in 2004, but most of the neighborhood in question is cut off from MAX by the freeway.
But this is the Open Thread, so feel free to discuss any relevant topic you like!
