The gentrification is not all bad from the standpoint of those being "displaced." Many of them are getting a fair chunk of change for their homes and buying nicer properties in the suburbs.
Census figures suggest that blacks in Seattle and Portland have not been displaced into homelessness and that they are not economically worse off in the suburbs than they were downtown. In many cases, housing in the suburbs is newer, schools are better and crime is lower. ... "I have said I would never sell," Ford said. "But who can resist these prices?"
But it also means that they no longer have a common core for African-American owned businesses, churches and other community centers.
As black residents leave the central areas of Portland and Seattle for the suburbs -- either because they have sold their homes or been forced out by higher rents -- their community is being splintered by geographic dispersal and racial integration.
I've been noticing this phenomenon for years, as many of my friends have been buying houses in North & Northeast Portland. Hipsters move in, cool new shopping districts take shape, crime and gang activity goes down. But, Portland being Portland, there is also much angst at displacing the few pockets of diversity in this very white town. This liberal angst was also noticed by the WaPo reporter:
In both Seattle and Portland, which take considerable pride in being green, liberal and tolerant, the fading away of black inner-city communities has occasioned considerable hand-wringing among the overwhelmingly white population. Portland is 75 percent white, and Seattle 68 percent white.
Interesting. I've seen a lot of changes in Portland in the 16 years I've been here. It will be strange to come back to visit after some time away and see how else it changes!
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