CLLAS associate director Gerardo Sandoval is one of several experts consulted by The Oregonian for an article that explores gentrification in Portland and around the country. Sandoval, an assistant professor in the Department of Planning, Public Policy & Management at the University of Oregon, is quoted extensively in the article, which is archived on OregonLive.com (March 7, 2014). Sandoval, who wrote a book about the successful revitalization efforts in the MacArthur Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, where he grew up, is quoted as saying that through policy tools such as inclusionary zoning, it is possible to revitalize an area without pushing out an entire class of people.
MacArthur Park, he said, “was a rough area in the 1980s, the center of drug activity, a lot of homicides, a lot of drug violence. Today, it’s a vibrant urban place, dense, linked to regional transportation, good access to a bus line, very walkable, strong public spaces. They managed to do it without forcing all the Latino folks out.”
The Oregonian article notes that Oregon and Texas are the only states that ban inclusionary zoning.
The article, written by Anna Griffin, came as an exploration of remarks made by filmmaker Spike Lee last week at the Pratt Institute in New York City as part of an African American History Month celebration. When an audience member posed a question about the “other side” of gentrification, Lee responded in what was described in the media as a rant. He could easily have been talking about Portland, Griffin notes. She goes on to say that: “Gentrification is broadly defined as the mass displacement of a group of people that occurs as a result of revitalization. It can be caused by practical changes – higher rents and property taxes, say – or more subtle cultural changes,” with the transformation of inner Northeast Portland being a “near-textbook” example.