The Jade District, the neighborhood center located around Southeast 82nd Avenue and Division Street, is literally boxed in by major transportation corridors: Southeast 80th Avenue to the east, outer Southeast Powell Boulevard to the south, 93rd Avenue to the west, and outer Southeast Harrison Street to the north. These are some of the most traffic-congested corridors in the entire region and correspondingly, this community faces the highest exposure to air toxins from vehicles in the city. While toxic air emissions may be the more pervasive and chronic health concern, the most immediate danger for local residents is from auto collisions. Since 2013, 10 of 13 pedestrians killed by cars were walking east of Southeast 82nd, with five fatalities in the area in the last few months. This past Valentine’s Day, a 78-year-old Asian community elder was hit and killed by a car while trying to cross Division Street at 84th Avenue, along with her 80-year-old husband, who was also injured. This is no accident. The infrastructure was built to prioritize drivers, with limited safe crosswalks, often spaced too far to be of use.
The Jade District also happens to be home to the only census tract in the city with a majority of residents of color, and the greatest concentration of Asian residents. The Jade District is one of six Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative (NPI) zones in the city of Portland, part of the city’s new approach on urban redevelopment and is quickly becoming Portland’s new international district with a heavy Asian, Pacific Island, Latino, and Slavic population.
This leads to the question of why the largest concentration of people of color in the county also face the highest exposure to air toxins.
Southeast 82nd Avenue presents unique challenges. This major corridor cuts directly through a commercial district surrounded by low-income housing, but as another “orphan highway” under state control, the traffic calming and pedestrian safety measures have proven insufficient. I-205, bifurcating the heart of East Portland neighborhoods, can be difficult to circumvent for pedestrians depending on the location and accessibility of the underpass.
This freeway is already at maximum capacity. It is no surprise then, that this area has an elevated asthma rate.
Despite the challenges, this neighborhood is also an area of tremendous community strength. This is the home of PCC Southeast, Fubonn, a major Russian church, Wong’s King, and many other immigrant entrepreneurs. Just this past week the community came together to build a community garden at Harrison Park School, Portland Public Schools most diverse K-8. The other project beginning in August is the Jade District Night Market. The Jade District Night Market would target emerging refugee and immigrant business owners to be vendors at the market and really put the Jade on the map as a destination.
As this community becomes used to working together on smaller scale projects such as a community garden, we need to step up and unite around larger and shared challenges to our health and welfare. We need to demand that decision makers make investments in our community to ensure that our elders can cross the street safely, that there is access to affordable housing, and good jobs. The community needs more access to public transportation, better walkability, and marked slower speed limits to prevent any more accidents from occurring. The Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon has been active in community organizing and leadership development, particularly in the Jade District. We hope to empower community members in the Jade District to recognize the changes that need to be made, to ensure a safer and livable neighborhood. We also encourage the Oregon Department of Transportation to support our efforts in fixing up Southeast 82nd, and hope that with our calls to action, they may acknowledge the work that still needs to be done to best serve the Jade District community.
Luann Algoso is the communications associate and Duncan Hwang the director of communications and development with the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon. APANO is a statewide, grassroots organization, uniting Asians and Pacific Islanders to achieve social justice.