In July 2025, Oregon Metro purchased a 1.46-acre property at the intersection of SE 90th Place and SE 89th Avenue for planned Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). For over a decade, community advocates have envisioned the large, sloped property as a neighborhood park and are now seeking support for that project ahead of Metro’s RFP (Request for Proposals) this summer. Residents and interested parties can complete an Online Form to endorse a call for the City to purchase the lot from Metro and to direct Portland Parks and Recreation to create public green space for the expanding community in this area.
Park Rendering from the 2018 EPA Greening The Jade project document
Metro’s TOD team plans to introduce new affordable housing at the site with help from partner developers. The early concepts included open neighborhood greenspace, but not at the scale documented in the 2014 Jade District community visioning plan or the 2018 EPA Greening the Jade project. The community outreach recorded in those documents showed a desire and expressed need for green space across all groups in the neighborhood. The Metro-owned property at 2815 SE 90th Place is in the center of a community surrounded by busy city roadways, a State highway, and a freeway. Harrison Park is the closest park to this location, at over half a mile away, and often serves as an extension of the adjoining school’s campus rather than a neighborhood park.
2815 SE 90th Placeproperty with fence
Andrea Pastor, Metro’s Senior Development Project Manager of Housing and TOD, explained in a September 2025 interview that Metro purchased the land along SE 89th Avenue using an allocation provided by the Oregon State legislature for a revolving acquisition fund around 82nd Avenue. “With all of the improvements happening on 82nd, including the planning of the new transit, we wanted to prioritize the area. So we made a specific legislative ask back in 2023 for some funds to buy land near 82nd,” said Pastor. “We have been basically looking and making offers on properties in the area for the last couple of years.” She notes that Metro has often owned land around transit with the intention of developing it. “We are trying to think of ourselves as a regional land bank specifically aimed at building affordable housing near transit.”
The Jade District advocacy organizers seeking support for the park say Metro TOD is willing to sell the parcel, but City of Portland support must be secured before Metro releases an RFP to potential developers in August or September 2026. The park space is across from The Jade apartments, which are currently under construction and will offer 15 units with family-sized accommodations, including three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The workforce housing development will also create 14 one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom flats. The expanded pool of families on this street would benefit from a new city park with a safe crossing to a play area. The site can also amplify existing green space that is not publicly accessible but protected by Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services, which owns the lot to the south of this property. It serves as a natural stormwater detention area where plants and soil help absorb the area’s rainwater. It also contains a sewer pump facility that requires 24-hour security for community safety and asset protection. Depending on the City’s flexibility, designers could extend park space into some of the stormwater detention area land without compromising security.
Image from the 2018 EPA Greening The Jade project document
Park designs and amenities presented in the visioning materials are illustrative only and do not constitute final design options. If the idea receives community support through the Online Form and city officials adopt the property for a new park, future community outreach from park planners will drive the development of the green space. Whether the land serves as a public park or affordable housing, this large, underdeveloped property will become a needed community resource as housing density brings more people into the Jade District.
As the Multnomah County Homeless Services Department (HSD) readies the Harrison Community Village Shelter at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue for future residents, they invite people to attend a Public Meeting on February 26th. Nonprofit provider Do Good Multnomah will operate the alternative shelter under a “clean and sober” model. Interested community members can attend the 6:30 p.m. in-person event this Thursday. Portland Community College will host the meeting in its Community Hall Annex at 7901 SE Division Street.
Shelter operators anticipate opening the facility in spring 2026 and have worked on a Good Neighbor Agreement with community and business stakeholders to lessen the impact of the Harrison Community Village Shelter on surrounding properties. Multnomah County purchased the former recreational vehicle dealership at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue in December 2022 for $2.015 million. This 34,000-square-foot parcel was the second Montavilla location the County bought that year for temporary shelter services. The other shelter, Oak Street Village at 333 SE 82nd Avenue, opened in February 2025 and is currently operating at full capacity. The Joint Office of Homeless Services — now renamed the Homeless Services Department — has held several community meetings, including one in April that announced that Do Good Multnomah would operate the site as a sober shelter. Presenters explained that residents and staff are subject to drug testing, and policy strictly prohibits the possession of non-prescribed intoxicants on the property. Selecting a sober format meets a specific need for people transitioning into stable housing who are in recovery from substance use disorder, and it better matches community desires for the site, which is near two Portland Public Schools.
HSD will contract with the operator to staff the alternative shelter site at all hours of the day. The adult residents will receive one of 38 private sleeping quarters, each with a shed-style pod design. Six converted shipping container units will provide office space for staff, participant services, hygiene facilities, kitchenette amenities, and laundry facilities. Residents and their pets will have on-site access to green space. The site will receive upgraded fencing with privacy inserts on all street sides and a wood fence between the adjacent residential property to the east. The site intends to offer more than short-term shelter. People in the program will have access to dedicated housing case management and abstinence-based recovery services to help with long-term substance use recovery and housing stability.
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A new mural by artist Jeremy Nichols adds an underwater view to the side of Ocean Blue Seafood on SE Division Street. This colorful presentation at 8335 SE Division Street transformed a blank and often tagged wall at the seafood distributor into a vibrant coral reef with aquatic life navigating the blue waters lapping at the top of the building’s parapet.
Mural at at 8335 SE Division St. (Sara Sjol and Tiffany Conklin)
APANO commissioned this mural, capturing the underwater landscape through spray paint, with funding from a Venture Portland grant. The Portland Street Art Alliance (PSAA) managed the project and supported the renowned Asian American artist, working under the name “Plastic Birdie.” The business owner, Bing Chan, is a longtime supporter of the Jade District and APANO’s efforts in the area. He is excited to have this artwork adorn his building, enhancing the streetscape along the busy roadway.
Jeremy Nichols, “Plastic Birdie,” working on mural at at 8335 SE Division St. (Sara Sjol and Tiffany Conklin)
The Ocean Blue Seafood building is on the same block as the long-anticipated Jade Lofts development. Its project leaders anticipate the four-story multifamily apartment building will bring just under 150 units of housing to the area, driving increased activity along this section of SE Division Street. Creating an inviting pedestrian zone is an essential component to cultivating a safe space for patrons of local businesses, as well as future and current residents navigating the Jade District. APANO representatives believe this mural is a significant step toward creating a more walkable environment. The new mural is complete, and all users of SE Division Street can now enjoy the ocean view as they pass by the building.
by
Jacob Loeb
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Framing crews have made significant progress on the 40-unit complex at 2905 SE 89th Avenue. This joint venture between APANO and Gorman & Company will transform a 1.1-acre property into affordable family apartments in a dual courtyard configuration. Construction will continue on The Jade apartments throughout the year, with an anticipated opening date in 2026. The developers intend to create a healthy and sustainable community with solar panels providing the bulk of residential power and families having ample access to green space.
Fifteen units in the new apartment building will offer family-sized accommodations with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The developers will also create 14 one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom flats, each with a single bathroom. Residents can access various site amenities, including a bike room, package lockers, and resident services offices. People can also use a community room, two courtyards, and outdoor areas with a garden and play area for children. Larger apartments have in-unit washer and dryer appliances. The building offers laundry rooms on each floor for the rest of the residents.
Renderings courtesy Gorman & Co
The developers will reserve all units in the three-story building for people earning 80% or below the median family income (MFI) for Portland. That commitment keeps rents from exceeding levels set annually based on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) calculations, but does not fit what people consider low-income housing. Based on 2023 numbers, one of the development’s three-bedroom apartments would cost up to $2,347 monthly. At those rates, these homes support the working families often priced out of modern apartments west of Interstate 205.
A 2018 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded study of the Jade District identified the unimproved segment of SE 89th Avenue north of SE Brooklyn Street as a prime redevelopment opportunity for sustainable housing and a new public park. APANO is the fiscal sponsor of the Jade District Neighborhood Prosperity Network (NPN) and used the 2018 data with community input to pursue development opportunities in this area. With the help of Gorman & Company’s nearly 40 years of experience creating housing, APANO will begin work on what was envisioned for this part of the Jade District seven years ago.
The Jade apartments Aug. 7th, 2025
This area contains a multitude of housing with buildings around the site ranging from farmhouses to multifamily buildings. The architect worked to create a design matching its environment while still providing the desired housing density. “The building will have a residential character, and we’ve subdivided the masses to be consistent with the other buildings in the neighborhood,” explained Kevin Kellogg, Gorman & Company’s Market President for the Pacific Northwest. People will access the apartment’s upper floors through a central stairway, and a courtyard facing an open-air walkway connects the units. “Each of the courtyards has a unique character. One of them, we call the living room courtyard, and the other one is the family room courtyard,” said Kellogg. The ground floor will house the site’s accessible units and its 32 on-site parking stalls, half of which are partially covered by solar panels.
Renderings courtesy Gorman & Co
The developers are targeting a Net Zero certification for the building, making it environmentally friendly and resilient to changing weather conditions. “Our goal is for it to be as low maintenance and energy efficient as possible,” said Kellogg. The environmental goals also align with APANO’s goals for the Jade District. “We’re working to build the most climate-friendly, transit-rich, and affordable neighborhood we can. We feel this complements our work at PCC, Canton Grill, and the Orchards,” explained Duncan Hwang, Community Development Director at APANO.
Framers comple 3rd floor framing including a covered exterior hallway looking into a courtyard Sept. 15, 2025
This apartment complex will become the fourth housing project in the Jade District for APANO. The organization is interested in having a mixed-income neighborhood, and this project fits the need for workforce-priced housing. Other projects built by the organization or in development support lower-income renters. APANO often partners with other organizations in creating and managing developments. In this case, Gorman & Company will provide asset management and compliance, with APANO providing resident services.
In addition to improving housing availability in the area, this project will create public right-of-way improvements. Towards the end of the project, crews will construct new sidewalks along the frontage and build a portion of the paved street. These infrastructure upgrades will move the area closer to completing a disconnected street and sidewalk network that inhibits travel along SE 89th Avenue. Walkable access is a primary feature of this building, which is blocks away from the Fubonn grocery store and frequent public transit. Look for continued improvements to this area as work progresses on The Jade apartments.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oregon Metro, and partner organizations will host a community workshop focused on cooling down 82nd Avenue for the health and safety of its residents. The organizers invite people to pre-register for this free event on July 22nd from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. However, organizers are seeking youth participants, renters, and community members who are not often included in planning conversations to participate. The Dharma Rain Zen Center, located at 8500 NE Siskiyou Street, will host this Tuesday evening gathering. Attendees will receive food and beverages, but registration is required, and organizers explained that space is limited.
People familiar with 82nd Avenue understand how hot it is during the summer months, as the corridor exhibits a significant heat island effect, where pavement and other elements increase the temperature higher than surrounding areas. Workshop leaders believe that addressing this Portland urban heat zone requires governments to collaborate with the people who live and work in those areas to develop community-driven ideas for a cooler, healthier, and more interconnected 82nd Avenue.
This workshop will connect attendees with federal, regional, and city government officials working alongside community advocacy groups, including Oregon Walks, the 82nd Avenue Coalition, and APANO. Transit provider TriMet is also a partner organization, as it is working to expand the FX Bus Rapid Transit system along 82nd Avenue with zero-emission buses powered by hydrogen, which emit less exhaust heat.
People interested in participating should register before the slots fill up and consider sharing the information with renters and youth who can contribute their unique perspectives to solutions to the harmful temperatures in the 82nd Avenue community.
Disclosure: The author of this article serves on the 82nd Avenue Transit Project Community Advisory Committee (CAC) and the board of the 82nd Avenue Business Association which is a member organization of the 82nd Avenue Coalition.
On May 30th, APANO launched its online archive titled Behind the Wok: A Tribute to Iconic Chinese American Restaurants in Portland’s Jade District. This digital collection documents the shift in Chinese American dining toward East Portland. This online repository focuses on six restaurants that represent the phases of Portland’s Asian community’s eastward move from Old Town Chinatown. The work preserves stories from the families behind some of 82nd Avenue’s most iconic restaurants, attempting to create a record of these community cornerstones that are often missing from traditional archives.
Behind the Wok promotional items including tote bag, matches, pins, and coaster
The inaugural cohort of restaurants includes Hung Far Low, Canton Grill, Chinese Village, New Cathay, Legin, and Wong’s King. However, the project aims to expand the digital archive over time, documenting the history of these foundational restaurants and their enduring cultural impact on the East Portland Chinese American community. The early evening launch party included several family representatives who came of age in and around the restaurants preserved in the archive. Their recollection and photos of these gathering places represent some of the only records of what they symbolized to the region beyond their decades of food service.
Guide map, copyright 1933 by Terry Tebault Inc. with Behind the Wok notations Courtesy APANO
Conversations following the presentation continued to reveal more history and a deeper understanding of the role these Chinese American staples represented for the community, supporting the need for such an archive. Without the historical seedwork released last month, these accounts would fade, and other untold stories would remain unknown to a community built on that history. The group working on Behind the Wok noted how difficult it was to obtain information, partially because news articles often failed to document changes that impacted this community and how people’s cultural humility kept them from lauding their accomplishments. However, in terms of storytelling and praising others, participants and attendees expanded the group’s understanding of their shared history.
Behind the Wok promotional pin commemorating the launch date
That night’s brief open conversation revealed how many more details could end up in the digital archive. APANO is working to preserve the memory of the Chinese American restaurant as a community meeting place and support system for immigrants settling in Portland. The nonprofit purchased the Canton Grill property in 2022 for future housing development and named one of its other housing projects after Legin restaurant as a way to enshrine those shuttered establishments in the community’s consciousness. The project team invites people to visit the Behind the Wok digital archive regularly for in-depth information about their contributions to East Portland. APANO will host a celebration of the Canton Grill on June 27th from 4 to 9 p.m. at 8188 SE Division Street. That event will focus on the Canton Grill Memorial Project and further inform the cultural preservation efforts.
Crews with LMC Construction are preparing the future site of the Legin Commons apartment building on the southwest corner of Portland Community College’s (PCC) Southeast campus. The four-story building will offer 124 affordable housing units, including 63 family-sized apartments and 20 deeply affordable units reserved for people earning 30 percent or less of Portland’s Area Median Income (AMI). Workers on site will soon depave the former parking lot and clear many trees in preparation for principal construction.
In 1964, Kaiser Permanente built a one-story medical clinic on the property and operated there until 2014. PCC acquired the land several years before Kaiser’s closure and demolished the building in 2015. Since then, it has served the educational institution as an auxiliary parking lot with a large grassy spot where the building once stood. PCC had always planned to repurpose the space for more effective uses than parking. In 2021, College leadership worked to develop a twenty-year facilities plan for the educational institution’s properties. During that evaluation, PCC determined that portions of the school grounds should support low-income affordable housing. Instead of student-only dormitories, they opted to focus on attainable housing open to the community. From internal surveys of students, PCC staff learned that housing insecurity is a significant concern. They also observed that students often spread their education out over many years with inconsistent enrollment. Consequentially, PCC determined that tying housing programs to school affiliation would not help alleviate the housing insecurities among the student population.
Over the last two years, this housing project progressed with Our Just Future as the Sponsor and Developer. APANO and Edlen & Co. serve as development partners in the Bora Architecture & Interiors designed project. APANO, which has its offices a few blocks east of the site, will be the Service Provider at Legin Commons.
Our Just Future provided tree planting site map
Landscapers will surround the 110,000-square-foot building with trees and other plantings. However, many of the existing mature trees are either in the way of the future development or suffering from age and showing signs of a fungal infection. The project arborists will preserve a healthy mature tree on the corner of SE Division Street and SE 77th Avenue and three other trees mid-block on SE 77th Avenue. A net-style orange safety fence protects the remaining trees, including eight small street trees planted between the curb and sidewalk on SE Sherman Street. During community engagement, neighbors asked that project planners maximize onsite parking for residents, lessening the impact on street parking. They needed to remove and replace seven older trees with seven new plantings closer to the property line to accommodate that community request. The apartment will offer 32 parking stalls at the north end of the building and place ten new trees between parking spaces. It will take years before the tree canopy matures. However, the replacement tree selection emphasizes native, hardy, and drought-tolerant species to better fill in this parcel over the coming decades. Brian Shelton-Kelley, with Our Just Future, explained the city-approved landscaping design will eventually provide significant urban tree canopy thanks to a building footprint scaled back to adequately utilize the site’s housing density but not maximize it at the expense of green space.
Protected mature tree on the corner of SE Division St and SE 77 Ave
Mature trees along SE Sherman St slated for removal indicated by the white X mark
Towards the later part of the project, crews will replace some curb-tight sidewalk segments with walkways buffered by tree-planted furnishing zone strips. The developer received Portland’s approval to retain some curb-tight sidewalks on SE 77th Avenue, allowing the preservation of the three mature trees whose roots have grown up to the pavement’s edge. Unsuccessful challenges to the city-approved adjustments by some neighbors delayed groundbreaking and increased development costs. However, Shelton-Kelley explained that the project is back on track with all the necessary approvals to begin work on this new affordable housing. People should expect to see heavy equipment onsite early in 2025 to regrade the land and provide trenches for utilities, making way for a year of construction at this site.
Update January 2nd, 2025: Some neighbors opposing the tree removal and placement of the housing project have created a website expressing their concerns and presenting an alternative design of their creation at savethegreenspaceat77th.org (Montavilla News has not checked or validated any claims made on the linked site).
Update January 6th, 2025: Arborists with Wind Thin Tree Service began cutting down the trees slated for removal. Crews operating a stump grinder are following the crane and bucket team chipping down the visible stumps.
The affordable housing project slated for the southwest corner of Portland Community College’s (PCC) SE campus moved to its next phase of development, with project team members submitting building permits and selecting a name for the 124-unit apartment building. The Legin Apartments’ name honors the landmark Chinese restaurant demolished after closing in 2012 to make way for the PCC campus expansion. Although connected to the educational institution’s campus, the housing operator Our Just Future will independently manage this 110,000-square-foot residential building without any college enrollment requirements.
In 2021, PCC representatives collected feedback from students, faculty, staff, and PCC neighbors about the physical environment at its four campuses. The researchers combined this qualitative input with data on student enrollment, regional demographics, and market trends to create development concepts that accommodate the next 10 to 20 years of the college’s growth. In that exploration, affordable housing ranked high on the priority list for future developments. However, PCC leaders did not want to increase student housing insecurity by linking shelter to enrollment. Instead, they determined increasing affordable housing inventory near college campuses would better serve the community and PCC students.
Our Just Future, formerly Human Solutions, will develop this housing project in partnership with local nonprofit APANO. Bora Architecture & Interiors is leading project design work for this four-story building located at 7755 SE Division Street and conducted community outreach in 2023. Listening to neighbor feedback while adjusting to city and utility company concerns, Bora reshaped the project while retaining the same basic I-shaped footprint as first proposed. To address those concerns, the team requested several exceptions to Campus Institutional 2 zoning standards, allowing the building to sit further back from the sidewalk on its west and north frontages, among other minor adjustments. These changes will enable the builders to retain more of the established trees on the lot and provide a buffer for the one and two-story homes across from the site along SE 77th Avenue and SE Sherman Street.
A neighbor across from the site appealed the Land Use Adjustment approvals, citing his opinion that the project is too tall to integrate into the residential scale neighborhood and that PCC is not within its rights to lease the land for this non-school use. City officials scheduled the appeals hearing for September 3rd. In regards to this appeal, Brian Squillace of Bora noted this project is below the campus’s allowable density, which permits buildings up to eight stories tall on portions of the site. His team worked to strike a compromise between providing efficient land use and integrating with the existing scale of the campus and neighborhood. The design team also oriented the 30-vehicle onsite parking lot on the northern edge to further distance the taller building from the single-story homes across the street.
Bora Architecture & Interiors worked with the development team to design the building with several elements that support residents who may need enhanced amenities to meet their specific needs. The building offers tenants two elevators at either end of the building to ensure people with special mobility needs will have quick access to the upper floors from the parking lot entrance or the main lobby on SE Division Street. Providing two elevators ensures out-of-order equipment will not trap people in their apartments. Squillace explained the design incorporates communal elements to “expand the livability beyond the footprint of the unit.” Most floors offer two studying nooks for a single person to take a private video call or work in solitude. The building also features larger gathering rooms for two to six people, available without reservation or pre-approval. The project architects envision each floor supporting micro-neighborhoods with a diversity of shared spaces where people can socialize.
The designers of this project incorporated features that embody resiliency in a changing climate. The Legin Apartments is an all-electric building, utterly free of combustible fuels. Thanks to a Portland Clean Energy Fund investment, the apartment building will include mini-split heat pumps in each unit for year-round temperature control. Additionally, electricity costs are included in the rent, so people on a tight budget will not need to sacrifice in other areas to stay comfortable. Building management provides complimentary wireless Internet to residents with the option to buy enhanced service for video streaming and gaming. Our Just Future considers online access an essential part of modern living and a roadway to future success. The developers are working to secure funds for a significant solar array on top of the building that would reduce external energy demand by up to 60 percent. Limited battery storage onsite will serve critical loads such as refrigerators for medicines and Wi-Fi access during power outages.
The four floors in this building will support a mix of unit sizes, emphasizing family-sized housing. Legin Apartments will have 33 studio, 28 one-bedroom, 47 two-bedroom, and 16 three-bedroom units. Brian Shelton-Kelley with Our Just Future explained they would reserve apartments for households earning 60% or less of the Area Median Income (AMI). This site will also receive 20 Project-Based rental assistance Vouchers (PBVs) from Home Forward for people making 30% or below the AMI. Residents in the building will have access to many supportive resources not found in market-rate housing. Our Just Future will provide dedicated resident service coordination staff in addition to the building administrative managers and maintenance crew. The resident service coordinators host community-building events and connect residents to community-based resources, including health care or financial assistance. Our Just Future manages just under 900 units across 19 other properties. Nine resident service coordinators oversee those sites, and the new staff hired for Legin Apartments will have an extensive peer network from which to draw support.
Along with ground-floor apartments, the main level of this new building will offer a gated courtyard with play equipment and a variety of community rooms for classes and events. A central laundry room on the main floor is adjacent to the kid’s playroom so caregivers can watch their kids while they’re washing clothes. The building also offers smaller laundry rooms on each floor, so residents do not need to travel far. People living at this site will have access to APANO programming and services. The partner organization’s headquarters are across SE Division Street, just east of this location. They will provide workforce development and home ownership classes. The group may host some of their regular music and yoga classes from down the street in the educational space at the Legin Apartments.
APANO is an Asian and Pacific Islander advocacy organization with nearly three decades of broad community development experience. This PCC building is one of three APANO-affiliated affordable housing projects under development in the area. The group is committed to improving conditions for people in this section of Portland, which has an intertwined history in the city’s Asian American community. The site of the Legin Apartments once held a Kaiser Permanente leased one-story building. PCC acquired the property from the German American Society in May of 2010 and later demolished the building. During that time, the college expanded its campus and purchased the land used for 17 years by Legin Restaurant. The pioneering eastside location was a key gathering place for Asian communities in the city as populations moved east. Opening in 1995, Legin became an established regional anchor point with a large banquet hall to host events moving away from Downtown. When newcomers to 82nd Avenue needed a culturally specific communal location, Legin Restaurant’s iconic pagoda served as a beacon.
Google Maps image of the Legin Restaurant from 2012
In addition to honoring Legin Restaurant’s contribution to Portland through the building’s name, project staff will recognize Minoru Yasui, Oregon’s only Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee. The development team is working with the Minoru Yasui Legacy Project to spotlight his historic challenge of Japanese American internment during WWII and his lifetime defending civil rights by naming a key element in the development after Minoru Yasui. The team will announce the details of this homage later in the construction process as they plan a formal naming ceremony.
Construction crews anticipate breaking ground on the Legin Apartments at the end of 2024 or early 2025. APANO is still developing its final programming plan for the residents, and site operators will formalize more project details closer to completion. Next year, people should anticipate significant construction at the site as crews work to bring more affordable housing to the area.
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Throughout 2024, the community group APANO will work to create up to five new East Portland community gardens. Currently, Portland State University (PSU) students working in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program are gathering public input that will guide site selection. Residents have until May 10th to complete a survey before the MUPR team compiles submissions, discussion results, and research data into a proposal that APANO staff can implement east of 82nd Avenue.
APANO developed the Community Gardens project specification based on interest expressed by people living along the 82nd Avenue corridor and in East Portland. “There were many people asking for places to garden, gather, and connect in the Jade District, a neighborhood that APANO heavily works in,” explained Sam Guthman, Policy Manager at APANO. The organization identified a lack of public green space and a scarcity of produce diversity as an issue APANO wanted to address in 2024. “Our members were asking for places where they could grow culturally relevant produce, as most western grocery stores aren’t going to have Thai basil or galangal and other staples common in Asian American and Pacific islander cuisine,” remarked Guthman. However, garden placement and organizational structure require planning and partnerships when creating that type of community resource. For that part of the project, APANO looked to the graduate students at PSU working to complete their final project.
PSU MUPR students participate in a Planning Workshop where they apply their skills in real-world endeavors. This two-term grad-student project provides clients with professional recommendations based on direct community consultation and situational assessments. APANO saw the Community Gardens project as fit for the workshop process and submitted a request at the beginning of the year. “They sent a request for proposal to help them find and develop community gardens with a focus on culturally specific food, particularly with an emphasis on BIPOC (black, indigenous, and other people of color) and low-income individuals,” said Tyler Smith, one of the PSU MUPR students working on the project. Early engagement sent the MUPR team to food pantries and other places where people seek food assistance. They also spoke to community garden operators to learn about the efficacy of their models.
Smith explained there are many models to consider with different approaches to organizational structure. Outgrowing Hunger, for instance, uses a grassroots, bottom-up system that keeps organizers out of operational decisions, letting the mostly refugee and immigrant participants manage gardens. With a top-down approach that assigns space and manages access, the Portland Parks Community Gardens program is on the other side of that spectrum. Other groups, like the Ethiopian Eritrean Cultural Resource Center, work within different models, maintaining a few plots at the Dharma Rain Zen Center with others housed in Portland Park run locations.
Operational modeling is an integral part of this project. However, it is secondary to identifying site opportunities and narrowing them down to three to five viable locations. Smith points out that properties not owned by public entities are rapidly redeveloping in East Portland. Consequentially, nearly two-thirds of community gardens exist in Park bureau sites. Securing the half-acre or full-acre needed for the garden is challenging. It is also difficult to find property near the communities interested in working the land and accessible for people who may not have a vehicle capable of accessing remote sites. Smith also notes that relying on Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) run sites poses other obstacles and keeps some users from participating in those programs. “Accessibility can look like a lot of different things. I think there were some access issues around needing background checks to garden, and that could be a barrier. [Also], the knowledge that the garden exists and the ability to get a plot. Portland Parks have these immensely long wait lists. You also have to know about those wait lists and a lot of people with limited English language proficiency are not necessarily in the know about those things. Sometimes those wait lists can tend to privilege certain demographics,” explained Smith. He noted that PP&R is doing its best to address equity imbalance in its systems. However, limited staffing in the Community Gardens department restricts how fast they can improve the program for all Portlanders.
Micro Community Garden on SE Division street near 80th Avenue
The MUPR team has already made progress surveying the community and existing landscape, identifying design alternatives that could affect site placement. Considerations around soil conditions and accessibility for gardeners with limited mobility could dictate using raised beds at the cost of available planting space. Access to transit and sidewalks is also a key consideration. They need more public input through the survey at this phase to begin shaping community priorities. “We want to get more people to weigh in on the survey. It asks questions about what kind of things they would like to see in a garden. Would they like the garden to be more educational focused, food production focused, or have space for community gathering,” said Smith. “We’ve been hearing about how it’s more than just growing food; it’s about growing community.” He explained that many immigrants and refugees came from places where they farmed land. They no longer have that option when moving to Portland because gardening space is often a luxury in the American urban environment. They miss the process and the human interaction that comes with growing their own food.
The PSU MERP students and APANO hope more people can participate in this process, lending their input and knowledge of potential sites to team members. The MURP group will complete their report by early June, just before graduation. Then, APANO staff will use that siting work to advance their goals of creating places for people to grow culturally relevant produce. “Our goal is to set up as many Community Gardens in East Portland as funding allows and ensure that the community has full and equal access to these spaces. We are hoping to lay the foundation for at least three to five gardens by the end of this year, but I suspect our ambition and need for these spaces will extend far beyond that,” said Guthman. As plans transform into action, look for more information about this project later this year.
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On April 6th, Jade District organizers will host a series of interactive workshops focusing on greenspaces in East Portland. The two-part workshop takes place from noon to 3 p.m. on April 6th and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 20th. People should sign up online for the free in-person events held inside the APANO Community Space at 8188 SE Division Street. In May 2024, teams will distribute the mosaic planters designed at the workshops and invite local businesses and community members to help fill their planters with new plants.
The Jade District Planters project allows community members and small businesses to learn about inequities in green infrastructure and join efforts to address this issue in East Portland. Attendees will learn how green spaces impact health for all residents, particularly those near busy roads like 82nd Avenue, SE Division Street, and the Interstate-205 freeway. This community art project will create unique mosaics placed on planters around the Jade District. Planters alone will not address higher temperatures seen during heat events. However, this initiative will spotlight the positive effects of adding greenery to the streetscape and possibly encourage more investment in future green spaces in the area.
The first workshop focuses on plants’ role in keeping neighborhoods happy and healthy. Groups will get an introduction to mosaic creation and meet to create their unique mosaic designs. The second workshop provides open studio time for community members to meet and work on making their mosaics. Participants can come to work on the project at any time during those hours. People are encouraged to learn about how communities benefit from access to trees, parks, and gardens. Attendees will hear about the work planned that addresses missing greenspace and discover how they can get involved in community efforts.
