Our 8/12 meeting will include:

• A conversation with a representative from the Portland Bureau of Transportation about the Zone V Parking Permit Program

It’s raining plums and apples!

Have an overabundant fruit tree? Hop on the Portland Fruit Tree Project website and register your fruit trees for a harvest —or drop off harvested fruit using their easy, DIY, at-your-convenience process. Then they’ll get the fruit out to the community! Learn more here: https://portlandfruit.org/share/

Or… looking for ways to up your fruit tree game? Portland Fruit Tree Project offers full price, discounted, and free fruit tree care services as well as free educational opportunities so you can DIY. Despite their name, they can help with ALL fruity plants including trees, shrubs, and vines. Learn more: https://portlandfruit.org/tree-care/

#keepportlandabundant #keepportlandfruity

This article first appeared in the Eliot News! There will be another issue in September. The Eliot NA wants you to know that we are here to support your block party! Sign up here for a low-effort non-competitive $100 grant! or reach out to board@eliotneighborhood.org.


By Norm Van Eeden Petersman, Strong Towns & Allan Rudwick

How did my family end up with over 40 people mixing and mingling on the street in front of our home last night?
Easy: I just hit “print.”

I printed out a rough-and-ready invitation to a block party in front of our home and the rest of the plan came together once things were set in motion. Hitting that print button and stuffing our invitations into mailboxes may not seem like a big deal, but it was really the biggest hurdle for me: It was the point of no return.

Once we did that, we were committed to seeing the party through and we’re so glad that we did. We had no idea how many people would show up, but we knew that there would at least be a few of our closest neighbors there.

Our neighbors, some of whom have lived in our neighborhood for over 40 years, said that it was the first block party that they could remember. Some neighbors recalled that they would meet up for a bonfire and fireworks at Halloween, but this was the first party where everyone was invited and so many people attended. One couple moved their 38th anniversary dinner to the night before so they could attend. Another family celebrated their father’s 59th birthday with cake for all of us, and another grandmother invited her grandkids over just so they could be there for it. One of our older neighbors, who doesn’t get out as often these days because of her husband’s health needs, said she looked at the invite and said to him, “I’m going to this whether you come with me or not!” And so he came with his walker and held court with stories and quips to keep us all entertained. An enduring image for me of the night was another older couple walking up the street carrying a pair of lawn chairs between them. The common refrain, when everyone was heading home, was, “Let’s do this again—and soon!” That was music to my ears and all the encouragement I need to plan for a Fall-themed block party.

Are you wondering how you can do something similar?
There are so many guides out there (I’ve read several of them over the years), but I realized that it was not a lack of information that was holding me back. I was waiting for perfection, and that was the problem. I was waiting for a group to come together to apply for a community grant. I was waiting for our conversations with neighbors who agreed that “we should do something” to mature into a full-fledged party. I was waiting for what I’d seen in photos and stories of neighborhood parties that were happening for the 30th year in a row with bouncy castles, petting zoos, and stilt walkers.

I would still be waiting if I hadn’t hit “print.“

Yes, we had to scramble once our initial estimate of 15 people grew to over 40 as the RSVPs rolled in last minute. And, ok, we were aware that our “unofficial” street closure wasn’t exactly by the book. And sure, we ran out of forks and bowls and people were eating birthday cake off of napkins with their hands. But by the time 9 p.m. came and folks were still sticking around, I knew that we were onto something great.

What would you like to see in your neighborhood? Make an invitation, hit “print,” and figure everything else out as you go! You’ll be glad you did.

The Eliot Neighborhood Association Board wants give small grants (up to $100) to neighbors who want to host a block party or other outdoor event in the neighborhood.

Because we know that the foundation of neighborhoods is actual neighbors, we want to do what we can to encourage people meet their neighbors.

Join us for a free community event at Boise-Eliot/Humboldt Elementary School on August 8th, 11am–2pm, featuring a giveaway of 200 backpacks and school supplies, a food bank, BBQ, and fun activities for youth.

The event is hosted by First AME Zion Church, Clara Peoples Satellite Food Pantry, Cascade Pacific Council, Scouting America, and the Order of the Arrow Cascadia Chapter.

Our 7/15 meeting will include:

• A conversation with volunteers from the Braided River Campaign on the City’s update to the North Reach River Plan for the Willamette
• A presentation from Thomas Meinzen from Friends of Trees, an organization working to increase Portland’s tree canopy

The June meeting of the Land Use and Transportation Committee has been cancelled, but the LUTC chair (Anders) will be available for office hours on 6/10 at the Garlington Center at 6 pm for anyone with comments/concerns/ideas related to land use or transportation.

We also hope to see you at our next meeting on July 15th at 6 pm at the Garlington Center!

This article first appeared in the Spring 2026 Eliot News

Zoning is the practice of limiting development to specific areas/properties. I say “limiting” as that is how it has been used – to limit buildings and uses existing neighbors don’t want. It can go hand in hand with “redlining,” or racial exclusion. It can also be used to “encourage” certain kinds of development, although it is a rather crude tool for that purpose as we will see. 

Portland’s Mayor Katz famously said, “We planned. It worked.” It was the use of zoning that led to Portland’s reputation as a model for urban development. That process played out in Eliot as intended by City planners but not as anticipated or appreciated by all residents. Briefly, City planners envisioned inner city neighborhoods as hosts for higher housing densities than the existing single-family neighborhoods. They used “up-zoning” to encourage that future. Up-zoning changes or increases the allowed development on an existing parcel. In this case, from one favoring homeownership to one favoring mid- and high-rise rental housing, consistent with City planner’s density goals.

A single-family home lot that is up-zone to allow 4-6 units is no longer valued for the home on the property, but for the potential to build 4-6 units of rental housing, townhomes, condos, etc. This transformation is evident across Eliot today. The new City Council intends to up-zone Eliot and other eastside inner-city neighborhoods even more! What many people do not realize, potentially including City planners, and certainly not City Council is that up-zoning changes the financial underpinnings of existing properties and the associated owners two, significant ways: first, by financial institutions, and second, by the real estate market. 

Financial institutions are the source of almost all money to build, buy, repair, and renovate property. After the ability of a borrower to repay, lenders evaluate their ability to sell the property in case of default. In other words, if you don’t make payments, who will buy the property to repay your debt. In that role they don’t care about the historic accuracy or interior design of a property, only what a real estate investor is willing to pay as soon as it is offered for sale. A large home in an established family neighborhood, like Irvington, will be valued as a single-family home in the eyes of the real estate market. (That is changing in Irvington, with some single-family homes being replaced by townhome development.) Most of Portland’s inner eastside homes are small, old, and not in established family neighborhoods. All of these neighborhoods have also been up-zoned. Consequently, they are now being evaluated based on their development potential more so than the buildings on them. This is evident in property tax assessment records where the “land” is valued much higher than the “improvement,” or buildings. Unironically, this is an old story for most of them and for Eliot specifically as a brief historic review confirms.

The late 1970s and 1980s began the transition of the State’s economy from forestry and agriculture to high tech and sportswear manufacturing. The dislocations from this transition were magnified by the recession gripping the rest of the country. Home prices in Eliot were stagnant because of the recession, the age and size of homes (old and small), and the legacy of redlining that left it a mix of Black and white residents in a housing market favoring majority white residents. Although it was predominantly a single-family home area, it was not zoned as such. Instead, there was a mix of multi-family and small commercial zones under each residence. 

As noted, zoning is a two-edged sword.  A zone is both a restriction and inducement for certain kinds of development. It acts as a signal for developers and the financial industry where to invest and where to avoid investment. Single family zoning is a green light for mortgage lenders. Other residential zones are a caution sign, as they suggest future development that isn’t compatible with single-family ownership. It can act as a de-facto form of redlining. That was the case for Eliot throughout the 60s and 70s and into the Katz era. One result was that banks looked at Eliot’s mixed-race and relatively low economic status and elderly residents as poor prospects for loans. Consequently, residents were starved of money to repair and rehabilitate their homes, which gradually became ever more worn looking – blighted in the mind of the real estate industry. Accordingly, when it came time to sell, interested buyers had difficulty obtaining mortgages and sellers received low price offers. That created an opportunity for young, mostly white buyers with their own financial resources and “sweat equity” to buy into Eliot and revitalize it as a “starter home” community. 

The displacement of elderly, established residents by new residents was decried as “gentrification.” Although Eliot remained a mixed neighborhood it was younger, whiter, and somewhat more wealthy due to the professions of new residents. Unlike “gentrifiers,” most of these new residents came to put down roots, not to “fix and flip.” Ironically, many are now our elderly residents. The point is that up-zoning in the 70s and 80s made home ownership for existing elderly residents economically untenable because they couldn’t borrow to maintain their homes. As a result, they sold their homes for much less than the going rate in the rest of Portland. 

Eliot’s new younger residents could finance home improvements and did so in dramatic fashion saving the neighborhood from Mayor Katz’s vision of wall-to-wall apartments. Now, once again, up-zoning is repeating the same cycle. Rehabilitated and well maintain homes in Eliot that might ask $1 million or more in Irvington are being valued at half that just to be torn down to build a 6-unit townhome or apartment block. Worse, multiples of adjacent homes are being purchased to develop even larger apartment buildings. Although delayed, Mayor Katz’s vision is being realized, and the new Council wants to accelerate that process. And once again, long time residents will bear the financial loss due to sales prices lower than they deserve.