Trader Joe's on MLK: Northeast Alberta Street and MLK boulevard

A senior NAACP staffer weighed in on the Trader Joe's development in Northeast Portland while calling Portland a 'case study' in gentrification

(Casey Parks/The Oregonian)

The NAACP's senior director of economic development called Portland a "case study" in gentrification and criticized "the cronyistic city policies" that led to a $2.4 million incentive for Trader Joe's to develop in Northeast Portland.

Dedrick Muhammad, senior director of the NAACP's economic department, wrote the blog post for the Huffington Post on Wednesday. The post called for an end to gentrification in urban areas to help advance economic equality. Muhammad cited grass-roots efforts across the nation as evidence of a growing movement.

"To halt this practice a growing community-led movement calls for an end to displacement by promoting policies that dismantle systemic barriers to economic opportunity and prosperity," he wrote.

Muhammad cited the typical compliments of Portland from national organizations – the urban planning, the 20-minute neighborhoods and "quaint local business culture."

But he continued: "Unbeknownst to many, however, Portland is also a case study in gentrification, a glaring reminder that urban economic disparities will persist as long as the structural inequalities of our economy remain."

The NAACP senior staffer referenced the decision by the Portland Development Commission in November to sell a nearly two-ace parcel at the corner of Northeast Alberta Street and Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for just $502,160, as evidence of that gentrification.

Muhammad called the property "in the heart of the city's historically Black community; which happens to be one of the fastest gentrifying zip codes in America."

"Growing economic inequality will only cease with an end to gentrification," he wrote. "There must be restorative policies that address past wrongdoings, and forward thinking policies that will make our urban centers as places of opportunity for all racial and income groups."

Earlier this month, PDC Executive Director Patrick Quinton and Mayor Charlie Hales acknowledged the urban renewal agency's past contributions to gentrification.

**

Reading

The Oregonian: Portland throws weight behind Phil Knight, OHSU's cancer challenge



Portland Mercury: Knives out, everybody wants a piece of Portland's budget surplus



Willamette Week: State court throws out Jack Bogdanski's art tax lawsuit again



-- Andrew Theen