The city of Portland and its economic development agency will pay a total of $2 million and turn over two parcels of land to settle a federal lawsuit filed by 26 Black descendants of families whose Albina district homes were destroyed in the 1960s and ‘70s.
As part of the agreement, the city acknowledges that Portland’s zoning code, lending practices and urban renewal policies led to “systemic discrimination” and segregation that harmed Black communities.
The discrimination excluded residents from owning homes and denied them access to education, jobs and “healthy” neighborhoods, the agreement says.
The City Council has set aside more than two hours to hear testimony on the settlement next Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
The city and Prosper Portland, the economic development agency, will each pay $1 million toward the settlement.
Prosper Portland also will convey two properties to one or two limited liability companies known as “EDPA2” and formed by the people who sued. EDPA2 stands for Emanuel Displaced Persons Association 2.
The properties include 240 or 3620 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., both surface parking lots, or, if approved by the Prosper Portland board of commissioners, an undeveloped grassy parcel of land at 4500 N. Albina Ave.
Whether the Albina Avenue property will be one of two available will depend on the Prosper Portland board’s vote. Once the city approves the settlement and the board votes, the plaintiffs will have 120 days to inspect each property and decide which two parcels of land, if any, it chooses to obtain, according to attorney Hope Whitney, Prosper Portland’s general counsel.
The city also will recognize for at least five years an annual Descendants’ Day, starting this year, provide 10 years of hiring preferences for the displaced family descendants at its future renovated Keller Auditorium and allow the descendants to place a prominent and permanent display inside the renovated Keller Auditorium dedicated to the history of the destruction of the central Albina district.
The families who sued also will be able to obtain a temporary license free of charge to use the Martin Luther King Heritage Marker site in the 400 block of Northeast Hancock Street for up to four times a year for three days at a time for community events, according to the agreement.
For 10 years, the city and Prosper Portland will issue a letter of support for any of the plaintiffs’ applications seeking grants to help fund a documentary on Central Albina.
The families filed the civil rights suit against the city, Prosper Portland and Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center in February 2023, alleging the hospital conspired with the city and what was then the Portland Development Commission to destroy the predominantly Black community and displace hundreds of families from their homes and businesses in the central Albina neighborhood under the guise of urban renewal.
The descendants argued that the hospital and city worked together to violate their families’ civil rights, engaged in “unjust enrichment” and left a “public nuisance.”
Homeowners were forced to sell their houses for a planned Emanuel Hospital expansion. But much of the land the hospital acquired through the defendants’ actions has languished, empty and unused, creating blight to this day, the suit said.
“Our homes were demolished so that the city and Legacy Emanuel could make a profit,” Karen Smith, one of the plaintiffs, said when the suit was filed. “As first-time homeowners, my parents had dreams of passing down their home to me, so that we might build inheritance. In the end, their dreams, and the amount of work they put in to accomplish them, simply didn’t matter.” The Smith family home was at 222 N. Cook St.
“This settlement is a remarkable testament to EDPA2 and these 26 individuals’ commitment to honoring the dignity and hard work of their displaced elders, and to keeping alive a history that is as much a part of this city’s past as it is a part of its present,” said Diane Nguyen, Legal Aid Services of Oregon, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs. “It is hard to fully right some wrongs, but their willingness to bring this fight has opened up new possibilities.”
Attorneys for Legacy Emanuel, the city and Prosper Portland were unsuccessful in arguing early in the case that the families suing were not the homeowners who were directly affected. They also had argued that the suit was filed far beyond the two-year or six-year statute of limitations allowed for the various claims.
But U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon ruled in December 2023 that each of the descendants’ claims could proceed to trial and rejected the defendants’ motions to dismiss the suit.
The agreement with the city and Prosper Portland came after two settlement conferences last November before U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson and U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta, according to court records.
Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center reached a separate settlement with the families in January, according to Oregon Law Center attorney Edward Johnson, who helped file the suit. The details of that settlement were not available.
The city and the hospital had razed nearly 300 homes and businesses in what was then the heart of the city’s Black community.
In 2012, Legacy’s chief administrative officer told the families that the hospital wasn’t proud of that part of its history. The hospital then unveiled a permanent exhibit to honor the neighborhood’s history and accept its role in devastating it. Hospital officials also made a promise to never commit that sort of act against the community again.
A team of civil rights lawyers represented the families, including Albies, Stark & Guerriero law firm, the Oregon Law Center and the Legal Aid Services of Oregon.
— Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, mbernstein@oregonian.com, follow her on X @maxoregonian, on Bluesky @maxbernstein.bsky.social or on LinkedIn.
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