/action/builder
REACH Community Development
There's a story in this week's paper about Lee/Lisa Iacuzzi, a bi-gendered person who is suing one of Portland's women's shelters for gender discrimination. He/she has already won two claims with the bureau of labor and industries against Reach Community Development, and the Bradley-Angle House.
There's an online/bloggish aspect to this story. When Iacuzzi lived at the Rose Apartments in Southeast, s/he was running a blog called Not A Good Queer. Iacuzzi alleges Rose tenants began running a "hate blog" called Not A Good Queer Or Anything Else, which you'll find still online, calling him/her the Rose's "Problem Child" and a number of other things.
Rose tenants obtained a stalking order against Iacuzzi, which s/he eventually violated for being in the building where s/he lived. S/he stands trial for it on Monday morning. Iacuzzi alleges the arresting officer told her "all you want is money, you will never get any press, you're a nobody."
But we think there's merit to his/her story.
$60,000, twenty-one projects, twenty-one years
On June 26, 2008, the Metro Council announced $60,000 in new grants that will benefit residents of North Portland as well as support neighborhood improvement projects. The grants will fund a variety of programs, including training and jobs for local residents in conflict resolution, first aid and CPR; safety and accessibility home repairs for low-income seniors and the disabled; and educational paddle trips for area youth to learn, explore and enjoy the Willamette River.
The 2008-09 grant cycle marks the 21st year Metro has invested funds in the community through the program. In that time, more than $2.1 million has been awarded to help fund 441 neighborhood improvement projects in North Portland.
2008-09 North Portland grant awards
Bethel Neighborhood Youth Drop-In Center
$2,800 - Hire, train 4 youth to serve as counselors for 6 week summer day camp program
...
On five acres in Northeast Portland, school is in session. No classrooms. No desks. No textbooks. Just a building team that's figuring out how to create an affordable green housing project in an on-the-job learning lab.
As infrastructure construction wraps at Host Development's Helensview project and home construction begins, the team's learned a lot about what does and doesn't work in creating environmentally sensitive and still-affordable homes. And those lessons are ones developers of price-sensitive spaces across Portland have studied up on as well.
"One of the key ways affordable housing can go green is to do things that make common sense," said Laurel Lyon, spokeswoman for Reach Community Development.
South-facing windows. Buildings oriented to maximize heating and cooling efficiency. More insulation. Specifying small-cost, big energy-saving swaps for lighting and plumbing. Easy to do ? as long as the whole team is thinking about building better homes from the beginning.
Read the full story at the Daily Journal of Commerce, Station Place is mentioned.
The TriMet board of directors approved the sale today of the Crown Motel property along the Interstate MAX line to REACH Community Development for an affordable housing project.
The sale of the motel at 5226 N. Interstate Ave. falls under a federal rule that allows transit agencies to sell property for significantly less than it's worth if it will generate riders.
The agency bought the 24,000 square-foot property in 2005 with $907,000 in light-rail money. TriMet planned to use the land for redevelopment around the MAX line.
REACH will pay TriMet $300,000 for the site.The nonprofit developer agrees to build an $11 million project featuring at least 50 units of affordable housing, including 12 to 13 hard-to-find three-bedroom units, and 3,000 square feet of retail.
TriMet estimates 30 years of transit fares generated by the project to be worth $602,000.
"This is really a positive," said Fred Hansen, TriMet general manager.
Federal Transit Administration rules, Hansen explained, allow transit agencies to discount the sales price of property in order to encourage transit-oriented development that might not otherwise be supported by rents.