Back in November, DPC disseminated a call for proposals based around our theme for 2012: PERIPHERIES. This will be explored at length through our series of summer and fall tours, and publications. The DPC board has narrowed the pool to 15 proposals, and will put them before our membership for a vote. In true democratic fashion, the proposals with the most votes will be the tours we take!
You must be a member in order to vote on club programs. Not a member yet? Visit our “join” page; membership starts at just $50/ year, which goes to sustain our programs throughout the year. Members will be notified by e-mail as to how to vote.
This year’s tour schedule looks to be a full line-up, including trips exploring gentrification in N/ NE Portland, Portland’s queer history, an “Outer Limits” bike tour, a roving all-night dance party in abandoned buildings and much more. Read the entirety of the 15 proposal ideas after the jump…then sign up to be a member and vote!
2012 PERIPHERIES TOUR PROPOSALS
1. Oregon’s Migrant Labor
A daylong bus tour will focus on the conditions of migrant labor, specifically Mexican workers. Possible locations to be visited include Portland’s day laborers’ site, VOZ; migrant workers camps in Woodburn; PCUN, a farm worker’s union and community-run radio station; and IRCO, an immigrant and refugee community organization.
2. Housing and Urban Renewal
This tour will focus on the city of Portland’s urban renewal efforts—past, present and future—with attention to the need for economic development, the promotion of “neighborhood prosperity districts” and the displacement of low-income populations. Sites to be visited include Vanport, Cully, South Portland and New Columbia, while guests include urban historians, poets and representatives from the Portland Development Commission.
3. Rail in Portland: Steam Trains to Lightrail
From Portland’s steam trains to the future planning of lightrail, streetcar and regional high-speed service, this tour aims to educate why rail is so vital to the region. Sites may include historic trains, the construction site of Portland’s newest light rail bridge, the Steel bridge and a trip on a streetcar with TriMet planners, as well as talks by historians and transportation advocates.
4. Portland’s Empty Buildings (All-Night Dance Party)
This tour will provide first-hand access to several of our city’s empty buildings, as a way to explore the need for access to spaces where community can gather around art and culture. Led by artist Robert Tyree, the tour aims to educate participants about the viability of culture as a driver of both social and economic progress. Tour includes the option to participate in a dance party organized by Tyree, that relates to the notion of re-envisioning our city’s empty spaces.
5. Lloyd District/North Portland Summer Gentrification Stroll
This walking tour, led by community historian O.B. Hill and Walk There! author Laura Foster, intends to generate discussion about several important African American cultural and historical sites in relationship with the municipal planning and development efforts in the Lloyd and Albina/Eliot neighborhoods. Tour would include sites such as the Rose Quarter; Dawson Park; former jazz clubs from the Jumptown era; Legacy Emanuel Hospital; Hill Block Building; and Tropicana Bar Be Cue, one of the longest-running African-American restaurants in the area.
6. The Oh So (Queer) History of Portland
This walking tour aims to educate and inform about Portland’s LGBTQ community. Speakers may include Peter Boag (author of several books on gays in the Pacific NW), local celebrity drag queen Darcelle and maybe even Mayor Sam Adams. Locations may include Cascade Aids Project, Just Out newspaper, sites along SW Stark St and Paddy’s (Portland’s first gay bar).
7. Outer Limits Bike Tour
This bike tour, led by Hidden Portland author Carye Bye, will visit interesting and unusual businesses, art and local features on the peripheries of NE Portland. The tour focuses on the Parkrose neighborhood, an area with an unusual mix of long-time residents and recent immigrants. Sites include Fairley’s Pharmacy Soda Fountain, Sandy Jug, Ed’s House of Gems, the Bingo-Totem hotspot, Pioneer Cemetery #1, a fortune cookie factory, a German bakery and more.
8. Portland’s Former Swamps
This tour explores the demise of Portland’s swamps, and the impact of the Lewis and Clark Exposition and Guild’s Lake Courts housing development on the environment, our safety and our understanding of the past (both locations are superfund sites). Locations include Guild’s Lake, Donne Lake and Kittridge Lake, while guests would include historians and elders from the areas.
9. Oregon State Hospital
This bus tour, led by Jason Renaud of the Mental Health Association of Portland, would take participants to visit Oregon State Hospital, one of the most controversial and complex institutions in the state of Oregon. The tour would visit the hospital to see the new facilities and meet the superintendent, and include a facilitated discussion about the facility’s history, decision-making and treatments.
10. Vancouver, Our Neighbor to the North
This public transit and walking tour explores Portland’s sister city to the north, Vancouver, Washington. Tour would include a visit with city administrators, a walking tour of downtown businesses, as well as a historical and cultural perspective from selected guests (from Fort Vancouver to the more recent relocation of low-income Portlanders).
11. East Portland Tour
This bus tour would focus on the complexities of East Portland, including the area’s racial and ethnic makeup, crime and drugs, lack of transportation and access to food, and rapid urban growth—as well as its hopes for the future. Possible sites include the SE 82nd Asian community; Rosewood Café and Community Center, Highland Christian Center, and Police Activities League Youth Center. Guest speakers could include mayoral-hopeful Jefferson Smith, Jean DeMaster (Executive Director, Human Solutions), as well as representatives from the Portland Police Bureau.
12. Portland’s Urban Growth Boundary
This bus tour would take participants along Portland’s Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), a city policy that protects rural lands and encourages denser urban development, while exploring why and how urban and rural communities depend on one another. Speakers include professors from urban planning and other disciplines, planners from Metro, local farmers, land owners outside the UGB; and developers.
13. Historical Goose Hollow
This tour, led by Portland’s Goose Hollow author Tracy Prince, explores the history of the area, including its blue-collar origins. Tour would include a slideshow of historic images then a guided walk of the area as well as Tanner Creek—once a vital part of Portland but now almost forgotten.
14. There’s No Place Like Home
This walk would examine the conditions of Portland’s un-housed. Possible sites and guests include Sisters Of The Road Cafe, Right 2 Dream Too, First Presbyterian Church, Street Roots offices and a reading with authors from a Write Around Portland workshop who have faced homelessness. Conversation would also include a look at affordable housing in downtown Portland as well as practical ways in which people can help.
15. Portland’s Native Americans
This tour would focus on the history of Native Americans (Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya and Molalla tribes) in Portland and the surrounding area, as well as the current challenges and opportunities facing the community. Sites and guests could include Native American Youth and Family Center, Native American Student and Community Center at Portland State University and more.
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