Sorry Matt, but Mayor Potter wasn’t at the meetings about the Chávez rename, and he’s flat out wrong about how the community has treated the proposal. His letter today is offensive to neighbors—I can’t believe Potter has the gall to chastise neighbors at all, when they’re simply reacting to how Potter has backed them into a corner and put them on the defensive. And his characterization of the neighbors’ tone is misinformed, at best.

Sure, neighbors’ response to the proposal—which they’ve been lead to believe is a done deal—has been emotional. I’ve heard loud sighs when committee members haven’t fully answered neighbors’ questions, I’ve heard applause when neighbors have insisted Interstate retain its name, and I’ve heard genuinely enthusiastic and excited cheers for alternative suggestions for honoring Chávez. At worst, I’ve heard frustrated, almost nervous laughter when the committee has answered questions about the economic impact on Interstate’s businesses with comments like “the city will figure it out.”

What I haven’t heard? Widespread disrespect, negativity, or anything close to racist comments. (Could there have been an asshole or two in the crowd at each meeting? Sure—isn’t there one in every crowd? But if so, they didn’t get to the mic or say anything loud enough for the room to hear, and that certainly hasn’t set the tone.)

You write:

According to Kimberly Wilson at the Oregonian, “racial slurs” were hurled at the neighborhood meeting that voted against the renaming of the interstate. I called her to ask what those were, but she’s yet to get back to me.

My first thought in reading about opposition to the change was, “due process can sometimes incorporate unexamined prejudice.” I should point out that I think I’m in disagreement with most people over this, and am aware of that, but honestly, squint and look at this situation: We want to rename a street after a hero to Latinos in a city that’s got a history of racial problems. Neighbors refuse to do so.

I don’t know where Kimberly Wilson was sitting during the Arbor Lodge meeting (and I’m not sure she was even at the Overlook meeting) but the “slurs” she reported on weren’t audible to the rest of the crowd. (And frankly, I don’t think “Some minorities do what they want to do, and they should go somewhere else”—the most incendiary thing Wilson quoted—qualifies as a slur.)

The issue here isn’t due process incorporating unexamined prejudice—it’s the utter lack of due process for a neighborhood that has historically been disregarded. That’s what’s offensive and disrespectful.

Simply put, North Portland residents have put up with decades of being Portland’s least considered area, and they’re fed up. So when Mayor Potter signs off on a major change to their neighborhood before neighbors have even heard about it, and then sends the Chávez committee into the community to gauge neighborhood support, it’s a recipe for tension. The mayor bungled this one, but he gets to sit in his office while the committee has to face residents who feel their opinions don’t count. It’s a crappy position for our city’s leader to put a fantastic group of people who’ve got noble intentions.

But the tension is not about Chávez, or race. I can guarantee you the neighborhood would be responding in the same way if someone were trying to rename Interstate for JFK or another dead white guy without checking in with the community first. On the flip side, I do believe these meetings would have been calm and collected—and the effort possibly successful—if the Chávez committee had insisted on following the official process, a process meant to empower the community, and get them on board. Instead, the committee demanded the same ‘special treatment’ given to the group who wanted to quickly change Portland Boulevard to Rosa Parks Way. It’s that special treatment that pissed off North and Northeast Portlanders in the first place, and it was a politically disasterous move for the Chávez committee to want to follow the same route.

I imagine the committee was taken aback by the amount of opposition and neighborhood frustration they faced last week, and that’s what they related to Mayor Potter. I wonder if they also mentioned that nearly everyone who commented expressed support for honoring Chávez, and pleaded with the committee to start over with an open mind, and find a fitting way to honor the man that brings the community together, instead of splitting it apart. (There’s a huge list of interesting ideas, from naming a forthcoming North Portland library, to renaming I-5 up and down the West Coast.)

Finally, I took copious notes at both meetings, capturing 90% of what was said by every person who testified. My cleaned up notes are after the jump—you tell me if you see ethnic slurs or disrespect.

I really hope Potter plans to attend the hearings in early October, so he can see what this is really about. And Matt, perhaps you should go, too.

(I have a hard time capturing people's names in a public hearing setting, so for some people I've only tossed in the first names, and I hope I heard those accurately. Others are described, if I'd jotted down something.)

From the Overlook meeting:

Chávez committee member Sonny Montes:

There's probably some opposition here. It's obvious by the fact that we're here. We've always felt, we've always believed in trying to start a dialogue with people. I think what's important here is there's an opportunity here.

The reason i'm here tonight is because of our young people. We've got a very diverse community in North Portland. Chavez can be that unifying person that brings us together.

I believe this can be a unifying effort to start bringing our communities together.

Committee member Jose Romero:

It goes beyond just a name change, it goes much much deeper, and it goes not just for a year or a month. In other areas they've extended the process to include community centers.

In three or four years when i come to a meeting like this, I should see more faces of different ethnicities

We've been meeting since the early spring, our first meeting was in early march. We're learning and we're trying to leave as many stones unturned as we can find. We're doing everything we need to do and will continue to do so until our efforts are successful.

Committee member Marta Guembes:

We have met with all the boards of the neighborhoods. I am very impressed, this is great to see so many people. I wish I could see more people from my community.

We have met with the commissioners, and we have their support but they're open to us meeting with the community.

We have the support of the mayor, tom potter, 100%. We have a very beautiful letter of support from New Seasons. We are open to getting feedback, whatever we need to make this process better for everybody.

Romero:

I'm sure someone's going to say, why interstate?

We thought, we're not taking the name away from anybody, as a matter of fact we're adding to that community's history.

A man who's name I did catch, but he owns the Budget Motel on Interstate.

[He spoke about what he knows of Chavez' history.] I do admire him, I love him... but what do you gain by renaming the street?

Romero:

We have very few Latino leaders in this country compared to other groups. He's not alien to Oregon, he came here many many times.

Montes:

By renaming Chavez Boulevard, this is the first Latino name [in Oregon]. We're going to be making history here. We've never honored a latino leader in the state of Oregon. We feel this will motivate our young people. We're not going to stop there. One of the ideas for down the road is to secure private funding for a cultural center.

A neighbor whose name I didn't catch:

I would feel certain that probably everyone in ths room would love to honor Cesar Chavez for all of those reasons [much applause from the crowd]. I think that the question is whether or not Interstate Avenue is the appropriate vehicle for that, and whether the process that with a small group of people decided to honor him. [An alternate suggestion is to] come up with a number of different ways he could have been honored and that could have been considered.

Montes:

We thought of a few other options, and we explored other thoroughfares in the city. And we had criteria. The avenue met that criteria for this group, and we adopted it.

An older woman who sat near me during the meeting, but did not give her name.

I would like to offer an area for you to have a little plaza, which is on Greeley and Killingsworth. It would be a wonderful addition to an area trying to make a recovery. I would like to see that little square, which used to be a car wash, a taco place, and a dry cleaners. You cannot have the avenue, it's Interstate and always will be. [Loud applause and cheers.]

Another neighbor:

For the businesses on Interstate, do you know what cost that would be? MLK has never recovered [from their name change].

Brett Burmeister:

It was reported in July that you had the support of this neighborhood, that went to print. But in the latest [Overlook] newsletter it said you didn't have support.

Why in july, you went out or someone went out and said you had the support, when you didn't?

I'm just feeling that the way you're going about this Summer saying you have support of these organization is a little underhanded and calls into question your integrity.

Montes:

The media have said a lot of things that aren't true. The media a lot of times will say things that aren't true. None of our group will say something that isn't true, because we're all about the truth.

The other thing is about the new seasons, I believe that he had given us his support, and he would like to hear from the neighborhoods, but he was very happy to support us with changing the name.

Another neighbor:

What kind of research have you done of the economic impact of the businesses and homeowners along interstate, and how do you plan to mitigate since they have taken a blow with light rail?

Romero:

We're getting advice from the city and the county. There is a five year process, time to use up stationary, time to change signs. Not knowing what it's going to cost, the city says they will work thing out over a period of years.

Another neighbor:

Your group doesn't necessarily take on any of the financial impact this change is going to have.

Montes:

Whatever the city and the county did with MLK and Rosa Parks will happen here. All we want is the same treatment that everyone else has gotten. We're the only group that has really gone out here and spoken to the opposition.

Guembes:

This is not easy for me as a Latina for me to be here with all you guys. I brought my children because I wanted them to see what a neighborhood association means, and i'm going to ask you kindly to be respectful. Don't laugh at us.

A white woman who lives on N Alberta:

I live at 19XX N Alberta, which is in the Overlook neighborhood. When I moved to Portland in 1988, with my daughter who at that time was 14, and she's a Chicana. In 1988 there were very few Mexican Americans in Portland, and it was a lonely time for her. When you ask about the gangs, I thought no way would she join a gang, and then i became scared. She was not - we lived off of Hawthorne, and she graduated from Franklin High School, and she was not welcome at Franklin. Those of us that are white, we don't understand some of these things that happen to young people. And I've been speaking to young people of all races throughout this city, and there are people excited about this. I think this could add welcoming to this neighborhood.

A woman named Keela:

I did not come here with an agenda or knowing how I'd feel about it, I came to be educated. I do have a sadness about losing the name interstate, it was the road north. Northeast, inner NE and N portland have more intregation and more cross cultural communition amongst ethinic groups and class groups than lots of parts of the city.

A neighbor named Lonny.

I don't feel that renaming Interstate is the best way. There's a navigational impact. In a relatively small part of town, three names have changed. Rosa Parks was renamed maybe a year ago. I've known four people personally that have missed the exit, gotten lost looking for Portland Boulevard. I also feel that Interstate has a real unique historical meaning. This neighborhood is going through a lot of progress, which is great, but it's important to save elements of history, and to me Interstate is an element of history.

Romero:

Interstate has a history, and we respect that. 90 some years ago, it became Interstate. We will honor the history of it but look to the future.

A man named Richard:

I own two businesses along Interstate. Will we have the city council and the mayor break the city's own laws? Or is it going to follow the city's own process? There's a lot of people still upset about Rosa Parks because it broke the process.

Montes:

What they want to do now is to treat us differently from the other groups, and we said that's not fair.

A very old woman who cut into the line of speakers, waving a petition.

I have a petition with 70 or 80 names against your proposal, and it only took me 3 days. I only found one person [who supported it].

Montes:

We respect you having 70 names, I also know people who have 2000 names of petitions who are signed. We're not opposed to you collecting petitions or doing what you need to do, but we want you to respect our efforts too.

Guembes:

If you have an issue with [the commissioners] supporting us, we're the wrong people to talk to. We're working for something we believe.

Another neighbor:

I appreciate your efforts. My suggestion to us is to follow Cesar Chavez' work, and establish a nonprofit, do something that will truly honor him, either with the children, with health issues, or with opening the day laborer center and naming that for Cesar Chavez.

Montes:

We truly appreciate the fact that you listened to us. I hope you don't question the integrity. We're being very straight and honest with you.

At this point, time was running out and a neighbor made a motion to support the proposal. It lost, 6-86.

That left the neighborhood with no official position on the proposal, so another person made a motion "to vote against it, so it's actually proactive instead of neutral." That won by 92-12.

Finally, a neighbor moved to support the idea of honoring Chavez in an as-yet-undetermined way. A few people had left before that vote was taken, but as far as I could tell, it was unanimous amongst those still in their seats—70-0.

Two nights later at Arbor Lodge, the scene was a bit different. The committee gave a short presentation on who Chavez was, and why they'd like to honor him. Instead of staying at the front of the room to field questions, as they did in Overlook, the committee members took a seat at a table in the middle of the lunch room. In a noble attempt to be organized and let as many people speak about the issue in the hour available, Arbor Lodge had a facilitator, ground rules, and one major caveat—testimony would be limited to a very short 30 seconds. That proved to be a huge sore spot with neighbors who had a lot to say.

Arbor Lodge chair Chris Duffy:

I'd like to bring up the committee that is sponsoring the idea... they'll do a brief presentation for you, and then we'll move on.

Montes:

One of the reasons that we selected Interstate, it's visible, well traveled, close to the heart of the city, has good transportation, and reflects the rich diversity of the North Portland area.

We're a part of Oregon, we're Oregonians

Our young people need heros, Cesar was one of our heroes.

One of the things I keep hearing over and over again about the history of Interstate Avenue. We're not here to destory anybody's history, we're here to enhance history. This can be the start of a tremendous working relationship where we start treating each other as brothers and sisters.

Guembes:

We are here to answer and clarify any question that you guys wish to ask.

Montes:

One of the things that we want to make very clear, as hard as it is for some of us to come and talk to the community, we as a committee have answered every request. It's important for us to dialogue.

Duffy:

We have a representative tonight, owner of the Nite Hawk Cafe and Lounge, and he is ging to give us some thoughts on the business perspective of renaming Interstate.

Bill Mildenberger:

About five weeks ago I was approached by a Portland Tribune reporter, and at that point we had no knowledge whatsoever that there was an effort to rename Interstate.

We started a grassroots campaign that sought to get businesses' input. We've handed out a small flyer that states what our points are and what our concerns are, and who you can speak to if you oppose or are for it.

I've got names of upwards of 40 businesses opposed. There four or five reasons we're opposed.

Interstate has a significant history, 90 years of name recognition and a brand. With renaming, the businesses and the community loses that historic perspective. We recently spent 100s of millions of dollars revitalizing the Interstate cooridor.

When light rail connects to vancouver, it will be an interstate connection again.

Just now, three years after light rail, is interstate starting to prosper.

There are two costs involved - to the small businesses, reprinting, websites, email addresses, a fleet. That's not an expense that we'd like to incur, particularly after enduring three years of construction. The second is hard earned taxpayer dollars to change street signs. We don't think it's an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars.

We have a wonderful North Portland diversity. We celebrate that everyday. We applaud the Latino community.

A truly diverse city honors their leaders throughout their city and not just in one diverse community. I'd like to extend an olive branch and say lets find a less divisive, less costly, and more galvanizing way to honor Cesar Chavez. I would ask that you commit to a new process that is more galvanizing. We ask that the Arbor Lodge neighborhood support the opposition to renaming interstate avenue. Let's keep our wonderful Interstate avenue.

The facilitator, Judith Mowry, reminded meeting attendees of the ground rules: 30 seconds each to say if they're for or against the idea and briefly explain why, and don't repeat each others' points or make alternate suggestions.

Mildenberger:

Mr. Romero—I have been told that you are not interested in entertaining any other options.

Romero:

We did a lot of research prior to getting to the point we're at, and based on the criteria we had, this is what our group ended up selecting. That's the concensus of our group after exploring our options.

Duffy:

I want to stress that this meeting will be orderly and polite and respectful to all parties involved. We will not tolerate any rude comments or any name calling or any finger pointing.

Mowry:

If you agree with what the speaker is saying, you can raise your hand and wave it a little bit. If you've already heard your point, do your neighbors a favor and move on. The committee came to the neighborhoods because they wanted to come as early as possible in the process.

A neighbor named Keith:

We have a house in arbor lodge, and a business on lombard. All the people know the Interstate corridor from portland and all over the world.

A woman in a green cardigan:

I don't think this is about Cesar Chavez at all, it's about the destruction of neighborhood cultural identity. I believe Interstate blvd was chosen because North Portland is seen as the neighborhood of least resistance.

John Manuel Martinez:

I am a longtime resident of arbor lodge, and I am against the interstate name change. I worked as a migrant worker, I picked bing cherries, peaches, apples, and now I've been a longtime resident of Arbor Lodge. I do not see how the high cost of the name change will not be passed on to us, both as taxpayers and as mass transit users. Why not change the TV highway?

Mowry:

I'm going to remind people of the ground rule, that we're not going to spend time offering up other alternatives.

A woman named Janet:

I want to make sure it doesn't turn into a missed opportunity. The missed opportunity may be that we paint a sign and don't create a culture of change in the neighborhood.

A woman named Glenda:

I am against. A new factor that hasn't come up is the fact that they're not following procedure. That's on the front page of the St. Johns Sentinel. [She started to read from the article to explain what she means...]

Mowry, who had cut her off:

We're tight on time.

There's back and forth between Mowry and neighbors, who are all being cut off at 30 seconds. Mowry explains the time limit again, stresses that there's not a lot of time tonight.

From the crowd:

Then why are you talking?

Mowry:

Your elected leadership of the neighborhood association has made a choice of how the meeting should go. But I do hear a question about how are they not following the proper legislative procedure.

Duffy steps up to explain her understanding of the official renaming procedure, and how it was waived for Rosa Parks:

It is a very specific document here. We have been infomred by city council members that it can be waived by the city council in order to facilitate a process.

From the crowd:

So what's the point?

Duffy:

They take this into account when making decisions on these things, but the final decision lies with the mayor and the city council. They can either go with our concensus or go against it. They are there to represent the best interest of everyone within the city. So I think they do hear us. So I encourage you to speak out.

A guy in a cowboy hat:

The Hispanic community has not convinced me that there should be a change just because they are here.

Another neighbor:

[He prefaces with "I had a lady supervisor who was Hispanic, and she was the best supervisor I ever had."] We've always had these things foisted on us in this neighborhood. The metro area should share in this wonderful process of having diversity.

A neighbor named Monique:

The major complaint I have to this situation is that a lot of things get dumped on North Portland. What I want to see is a vote, a vote of the people. You say the city council can go right over your head, you say it's a done deal, you've never heard so much disbelief as I've heard over this. We need to be heard.

Mowry had to cut her off at 30 seconds, too, and explained the tight time frame once more.

From the crowd:

We've already listened to you for 15 minutes.

A neighbor named Leland:

I think it's unfortunate that our city council is making a decision before we do. Rosa Parks happened before we found out about it. No, no, no.

His "no, no, no" got applause, despite the rules forbidding it.

A woman named Maria Alvarado:

I'm proud to be here saying I want to be having a named street after Cesar Chavez. He is my hero. Interstate's name was Patton before and its name was changed. Are you guys opposed to that too?

A neighbor named Yvette Hernandez:

I've lived for the past 15 years on Interstate. I've seen Interstate go through so many changes, it's time that we breathe new life into interstate and bring on a new culture. People keep talking about history - the people of the neighborhood have the power to keep that history alive.

Melanie Davis, vice president of El Hispanic News:

We moved our business into this neighborhood about a year and a half ago, because this area represents an area of our highest distrobution. I'm not going to be here and debate emotion. There's a lot emotion here. You felt pushed around about Rosa Parks, felt a little slighted. What I really want to state here is we really want to debate practicality.

A woman named Lynn Roberts:

I want everyone to know you really really should be writing to Sam Adams. He's the one who's going to want to get our vote. Write, call, pester Sam Adams.

A woman whose name I didn't catch:

I decided about 20 minutes ago that I was going to fore sure come to this meeting. This is an opportunity, I'm new to this neighborhood, this symbolizes the city, the city and the neighborhood embracing the Latino community. This is not divisive, it shouldn't be at all.

A woman named Claudia:

A lot of us feel the procedure was not followed with Rosa Parks. We have not fully digested and processed that action, and now there's another change coming in our lives that we're not used.

From the crowd, a woman asked if the city would be not following procedure again, as with Rosa Parks:

Is this another token meeting for us silly people who have an interest in our neighborhood? North Portland people are getting real tired of this.

Another neighbor, addressing the committee:

You really need to show some flexibility. To not listen to your neighbors to try to come to some agreement is not reasonable.

A neighbor made a motion: "The Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association actively opposes the name change of Interstate Boulevard to Cesar Chavez now and in all future meetings." Several neighbors seconded it.

The room was quiet while Duffy and her fellow board members counted the raised hands—except for loud giggling at Melanie Davis' table. The motion passed, 64-10.

Another neighbor made a motion "in support of the effort to rename Interstate for Cesar Chavez." It failed, 11-67.