Prosper Portland history

In November 1965, as part of the development of Portland’s downtown and the inner east side, the city decided to build a sports coliseum in the Rose Quarter.

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) was founded in October 1966 in Oakland, California, by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, two young Black men who met at Merritt Junior College.

What began as a political rally to stir the African American community to “revolution” in Irving Park on Sunday, July 30, 1967, turned into two-nights of disturbances.

Strong community opposition lead to a Replacement Housing Agreement in 1971, signed by Emanuel Hospital, the Housing Authority, the Portland Development Commission, the Model Cities Citizens’ Planning Board, and the City Demonstration Agency.

In recent years, PDC has contributed about $1 million of URD money into the Portland Mercado, a Latino market that opened in a PDC-owned property last year. For example, the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area in Southeast Portland, created in 1998, can borrow a maximum of $245 million over its lifespan.

In 2000, city planners identified 4,000 acres along North Interstate Avenue for urban renewal, establishing the city’s largest urban renewal area.

That changed in 2007 when a charter amendment gave City Council more oversight of PDC and its budget.

The agency’s budget for this fiscal year is $205.6 million, down slightly from just about $209 million in 2011.

A URA established around Portland State University in 2012 was dismantled less than two years later after opponents cried fowl over how much revenue it would actually raise and over the loss of taxes for local schools and other jurisdictions.