Notes from August 2007

New film subject

I've been shooting a number of film tests around the Central Eastside (CEID), an area which happens to be an urban renewal district of Portland. I've started thinking about somehow integrating another project, Open Road, with some of the film I've been shooting around the CEID. Transportation and urban renewal are linked by issues of accessibility, and one of the reasons change (or renewal) has been slow in the CEID, compared to other districts, relates to the railroad crossings in the older section, and the lack of parking for big developments. This renewal phenomenon is something I view as a new urban crisis in a period of post-suburban disillusionment. As city development commissions work to rebuild core areas, and increasing numbers of people move to the central city from outside areas, the effect will be various forms of displacement. A municipality's desire for increased property value (and the resulting tax) will forever frustrate the aspirations of low-rent tenants to locate affordable space to live and work.

August 16, 2007  –  permalink