Sidebar:
"I JUST CALLED TO SAY 'I LOVE YOU'"
Long-simmering tensions over gentrification have sloshed
over onto Northeast Alberta Street in recent weeks. Since
late September, vandals have targeted several local businesses
with incendiary graffiti, anarchist symbols and broken storefront
windows along the rapidly developing street.
To varying degrees, some Alberta Street business owners
blame Willamette Week for the damage, citing a
cover story published early last month that focused on
the friction between those who welcome the new development
and those who fear that it will change the character of
the heavily African-American and Latino neighborhood (see
"Alberta Rising?" WW, Sept. 6, 2000).
"The article gave them permission to be angry," says
Eric Wentland, a small developer who had one of his buildings
tagged with anti-gentrification agit-prop. He says that
the vandals have chosen "targets of convenience."
To date, WW has documented smashed windows at
Bernie's Southern Bistro and the nearby Guardino Gallery,
as well as Our Dream Gallery and Discourage Records. Six
businesses and properties were hit with graffiti slogans
such as "Gentrification Equals Genocide" and "Yuppies
Go Home." Many local merchants attribute the vandalism
to "members" of the officially memberless Black Bloc,
a term used to describe anarchists engaged in protest
activities. Until now, Portland-area anarchists have not
engaged in such concentrated property damage.
Donna and Sal Guardino say they had to replace a $490
window in their gallery after someone threw a 1-inch-diameter
ball bearing through it on Sept. 28.
The most substantial financial loss was reported at Our
Dream. There, gallery owner Reggie Petry says his glass
front door was shattered in the early morning hours of
Sept. 29 and a statue by Montyne Sudbury was stolen (Petry
estimates its value at $20,000 and is offering a $300
reward for its return, no questions asked).
Petry describes the mood among merchants as one of
"who's next."
Most of the business owners feel doubly angry because
their own political ideologies don't square with the modus
operandi of gentrifiers. The Guardinos, for example, say
they barely make ends meet each month and feel that their
leftist credentials are thoroughly in order. Sal Guardino
made civil-rights and anti-war posters during the legendary
1960s student protests at San Francisco State University.
"If you look at who owns businesses on Alberta and their
roots, then this doesn't make sense," says Wentland, who
himself lived off-the-grid for much of the 1970s and 1980s.
"Everyone got into this wanting to be self-employed,"
says Kellie Courtney, co-owner of the 2-year-old Bernie's,
which sustained a broken window and was hit with "Yuppies
Get Out" graffiti. "I'm sure they haven't seen my bank
account," she says. "I waited tables before I opened this
place."
The most recent incident is also the most baffling. On
Oct. 6, a front window at Discourage Records was broken.
If, as many believe, the new, aggressive dynamic on Alberta
Street is being fueled by so-called anarchists, then this
incident doesn't compute. Discourage's main emphasis is
on punk rock, typically favored by anarchists.
So far, only the Guardinos and Petry have reported their
damages to police, according to Officer Henry Groepper.
"It's just a perfect crime if it goes unreported," he
says.
"I
JUST CALLED TO SAY 'I LOVE YOU'"
Editor's note: WW received the
following anonymous voicemail at 11 am Wednesday, Oct.
4:
Hi, I was just calling to give a comment about your paper.
The Alberta Street article "Alberta Street Rising?" You
guys completely screwed our neighborhood. Trashed, trashed
it. Vandalism's going on. It's all on your guys' ass.
And another thing, too, is about the big rally that was
just held here a few days ago against the IMF and World
Bank--not one damn thing in your paper about it. And the
other times when there has been shit, like at May Day,
the guys, the arrogant assholes who were down there reporting
it, were part of the people that we were fighting against.
You know, the corporate-dominated bullshit, those guys
were perfect representatives that you guys had down there.
I'd just like to tell you that you guys suck, your paper
sucks--horrible writing--and we don't want your shit in
Northeast anymore. Take it and put it up in the Northwest
with the rest of the candy-ass, corporate-dominated fuck-nuts.
