Blog

A World Champion in Our Midst

Photo of Molly McConnel
Molly McConnell, world champion boxer and owner of McConnell’s Boxing Academy

Place yourself at the corner of NE 7th and NE Broadway. What businesses do you remember seeing there? A few weeks ago, I would have said, “A mattress store, a few bars, restaurants, and the Les Schwab tire dealership.”

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Rezoning Eliot and Its Effects

Map of zoning changes in Eliot
Zoning Changes planned in Eliot. From the Map App.

Much has been made of the Eliot historic conservation district rezoning proposal.  Most of residential Eliot is being down-zoned from R2 to R2.5 which is more reflective of what is currently on the ground and slightly limits what can be built after tearing down an existing house. (The corridors are mostly getting up-zoned slightly and a new mixed use zone instead of the RX or EX designation they had before.) See the Map App for detailed information.

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Just Call Me Darcelle

Darcell and Sue
Darcelle and Sue Stringer at the Darcelle XV 86th birthday bash

“Just call me Darcelle,” says the new Guinness Book of World Records holder as we get started with our interview. Darcelle, born Walter Cole, has brought fame to our Eliot neighborhood and the city of Portland in the form of a world record for being the world’s oldest, still performing Drag Queen. However, before he was Darcelle XV, Cole was an entrepreneur. His business ventures survived urban renewal multiple times in rapidly changing city.

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Fishpeople: Sustainability is Key

New home of Fishpeople on MLK at Russell
New home of Fishpeople on MLK at Russell

It all started at Cascade Head at the mouth of the Salmon River.  It is quite tricky to get to the three rocks past the spit on the other side of the river, but this is where Kipp Baratoff and Duncan Berry were sitting in 2012 when they came up with the idea for their business venture.  They were sitting on those rocks talking about the ocean, the fish and how sad they were with some of the complexities of the seafood industry. They wished the industry could connect better with consumers.  There in the “original boardroom” the idea for Fishpeople was born to transform the consumer’s relationship with the sea.

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Housing our Community

52-Unit Apartment Building to Bring New Life on Monroe and MLK

Garlington Center Concept Rendering

Eliot is experiencing a sustained building boom that is slowly replacing housing that was lost by original residents, the majority being African Americans. With the new Cascadia campus on  MLK and Monroe, the neighborhood has a chance to revitalize and provide some housing relief for families that have been forced to leave as the neighborhood transitioned.

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Sewer and Stormwater Project

Map of the Eliot Sewer and Stormwater ProjectEnvironmental Services is designing a project to construct, replace, or repair up to 10,000 feet of public sewer pipes in the southern portion of the Eliot Neighborhood. Many of the existing combined sewer pipes are deteriorating due to age or are undersized for the sewer and stormwater flows in this area. This project is one of many that will protect the public and the environment by reducing the possibility of sewage releases to homes, businesses and streets.

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Legacy Emanuel Partnership Helps Students with Disabilities

Amelia Acala
Amelia Acala working at the 24-Hour Heart Beat Cafe

A good work ethic, a job, and a savings plan paid off for Amelia Acala. Before her senior year started, she was rolling in a car purchased with money saved from her customer service job with Legacy Emanuel’s Food and Nutrition Services.

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Winter Activity – Bella Flora Studio

Bella Flora WindoA series of posts about winter activities to keep you busy until spring featuring exciting business and organizations located in and around our amazing neighborhood. 

There is a wonderful little shop that is really quite a magical place on NE 7th Ave.  At the border of our neighborhood, Bella Flora and owner Elaine Falbo let us escape the day’s stress and enter in to a wonderland of fairy furniture, vintage clothes and glassware as well as antique books, stuffed animals and dolls and an assortment of wreathes and baskets, dried rose bud headbands and crepe paper flowers handmade by Falbo.

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Winter Activity – People’s Yoga

A series of posts about winter activities to keep you busy until spring featuring exciting business and organizations located in and around our amazing neighborhood.

There are many yoga studios in Portland but none are quite like The People’s Yoga.  A free class for riding your bike 10 times to the studio, family memberships at a reasonable price, multiple locations, workshops and special events.

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Winter Activity – Portland’s Culinary Workshop

A series of posts about winter activities to keep you busy until spring featuring exciting business and organizations located in and around our amazing neighborhood. 

Want to sharpen up your cooking skills, hone the skills you have or  learn to make international cuisine?  Well, right in our neighborhood at Portland’s Culinary Workshop you can take classes from the most basic knife techniques and the principles of baking to more advanced classes or classes for couples all in a relaxed environment with skilled professional chef instructors.  They also offer team building classes for your employees such as Pasta from Scratch or even private group classes.

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Winter Activity – McConnell’s Boxing

A series of posts about winter activities to keep you busy until spring featuring exciting business and organizations located in and around our amazing neighborhood. 

Ready to take on the new year and try something new with your fitness regimen?  Right at the corner of NE Broadway at NE 7th Avenue above Cotton Cloud Futons is McConnell’s Boxing Academy. McConnell’s offers a variety of classes for those 13 years and up.  Personal training and private lessons are also available and are geared towards men and women.

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