BOARD RECONVENES AFTER SNOW

Will Gateway lead to gentrification and displacement?

According to the Gateway Urban Renewal project representatives, for the first time in 19 years all the elements needed to build an interconnected intergenerational community and campus in the East Portland-Gresham area are converging.

Even so, some MHCC District board members remain skeptical about the project over worries it could displace current community members and businesses.

The project’s real estate developer, Ted Gilbert, and his associates, Noel Johnson and Chip Gabriel, presented their vision of creating a community of all ages learning, living and working together to the board on Wednesday.

Gabriel, the president of development for the family-owned Generations retirement communities, said that one of the greatest complaints by senior members is the lack of social interaction with people of all ages. Gateway has already developed a community in East Portland area around Northeast 99th and Halsey streets that has successfully incorporated daycares, family centers, and other intergenerational businesses in their communities, he said.

If the new project is approved, Johnson, a mixed-use urban developer known for his work on the “Goat Blocks” in inner southeast Portland, described the community as a quilt with many different parts: A YMCA, Prosper Portland, MHCC, the David Douglas School District, Warner Pacific College, and housing advocates, all working together to create one unified community that welcomes all ages. The team has even met with TriMet officials to discuss transportation between locations, and other improvements.

Gilbert said all the elements needed, such as the property, financing, market climate, the political will and priority of city hall, and other key people have fallen into place.

The Gateway initiative would offer jobs and partnerships to MHCC students, especially in the medical field, as part of the community age diversification, supporters said.

According to Johnson, Prosper Portland is a big factor in helping to prevent displacement of current businesses and community members, should the project advance. In previous meetings, the public-private agency (formerly the Portland Development Commission) discussed plans to incubate small, mobile businesses with proper training and hopes to establish workforce housing and development.

Since the initiative is in the early stages of what could be a multiple-year process, the details are not fine-tuned, he said.

“Of course, homeowners are important. Of course, business owners are important,” said Mt. Hood board member Michael Calcagno. “I also think that the least among us are important as well, and If they are continually displaced it spirals their future opportunities in life.”

Calcagno asserted that the involuntary displacement of current residents and businesses with the inevitable gentrification shouldn’t just be Prosper Portland’s problem, but instead the object of a holistic approach.

As the project evolves, Prospect Portland will come speak to the Mt. Hood board with more detailed plans to prevent the dislocation, members were told.

For more background on the Gateway district: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/07/broken_promises_gateways_lost.html.

Mobile-centric certification opens up 600 jobs

The board approved a new MHCC program that offers a certificate for computer game and mobile applications programming. According to Rodney Barker, the dean of business and information systems, certified students will meet requirements for more than 600 jobs with no experience required. These entry-level jobs offer an average starting wage of $67,000, he said. This type of game and mobile app programming provides a complementary, and significantly different, set of skills than computer science.

This is the first step of transitioning from traditional tech training to a mobile-centric program.

Auto lab named after ‘Patron Saint’ family donors

Nancy Jaksich was named the MHCC 2016-17 Patron Saint for Mt. Hood. She was an MHCC Foundation board member, and her family gave nearly $200,000 for scholarships and equipment for the college’s automotive programs.

In honor of her and her husband, Jerry, and daughter, Erinn Sowles, the board resolved to name the Mt. Hood Automotive Technology laboratories the “Jaksich Family Automotive Technology Center.”