Archive for the ‘equity’ Category

August 08, 2014

The Portland Roots Festival is this Sunday!

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This Sunday, August 10, is the 2nd Annual Portland Roots Festival sponsored by the Portland Community Reinvestments Initiatives (PCRI). The African food festival will feature food and crafts vendors, educational activities, music, live performances and a keynote speech by chef Bryant Terry, author of Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine. The festival is out “to promote healthy living through nutrition and exercise by tapping into the rich and ancient sustainable food practices of the African people…[and] highlight the different yet similar avenues these cultures took through celebrating the food practices of African-American, Afro-Caribbean, Afro- Latin, and…

August 05, 2014

Is Biking Only for Fit White People?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Apparently. The biking community in Portland is overwhelmingly white and seems to be comprised of the ultra fit who routinely go on 300-mile bike camping trips or insist on biking long and hilly distances in town, scoffing at those who choose easier, multi-modal ways of getting around. Don’t get me wrong, this level of fitness and dedication is laudable, certainly. But it’s also very intimidating and unusual. The biking community in Portland, at least the biking community I have been exposed to, tends to skew heavily (or should I say muscularly?) toward fit and environmentally conscious white people. Granted,…

June 03, 2014

Gentrification: Original residents vs newcomers – is it all out war or are we all in this together?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet According to some of the comments I received on my article yesterday, Gentrification Hits Home: My Rent Goes Up and the $8 Sundae at Salt & Straw, I AM the problem that I am facing – being priced out of my cute studio near Hawthorne. Because I chose to move to Portland seeking a walkable lifestyle, I am displacing native Oregonians. I guess I should have just stayed in the apartment building in Maputo, Mozambique, the place where my family lived when I was born to avoid displacing other people. But if you go further back than that, I…

June 02, 2014

Gentrification Hits Home: My Rent Goes Up and the $8 Sundae at Salt & Straw

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Last week I heard a shuffle at my front door and saw that my building manager was slipping a notice under my door. I opened it only to read that my rent was being raised by 10%! I have lived in this cute little studio in the coveted Sunnyside Neighborhood in inner Southeast Portland for just over a year now. During this time, my rent has gone up a total of 14%. If it continues at this pace, I’ll have to find another place to live because I’ll be priced out of my very walkable, very centrally-located neighborhood. The…

May 29, 2014

Subversive Transportation and the Cultural Oppression of Women

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Subversion: An attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy. Subversion (Latin subvertere: overthrow) refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place, are contradicted or reversed. – Wikipedia Did you know that women in Saudi Arabia are not only banned from driving, but they are also banned from riding bicycles in public areas? A Saudi official says “women may not use the bikes for transportation but “only for entertainment” and that they should shun places where young men gather “to avoid harassment,” according to Al-Jazeera….