Our long established area is undergoing really painful growing pains. Wonderful historic buildings are being
demolished and replaced by generic, cheap apartments. Thoughtless developers are going for the fast
buck, with little regard for neighbor's concerns. Cultural vandalism threatens the very soul of our beloved neighborhood. To quote a recent newspaper article "...SE Portland continues to be split at the seams by development..."
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When a dear friend died and his beautiful 1907 5-plex on our block was put up for sale in 2013, we jumped to gain control of it, knowing only that we had to save it. Armed with a lot of enthusiasm, creativity and willingness to work (though little money), we have soldiered on, painstakingly deconstructing the interior to be rebuilt as 5 airy and modern, professionally designed, family
units nestled in the original upgraded exterior.
We are a small group of neighbors and families working together on a shoestring budget. If we cannot close the gap
between what we have already done and what is needed to secure a loan to complete the rehab, we will be forced to
sell out. We have come a long way, but need to finish more work before an interested private lender
will commit to fund the rest.
We are responsive to change in the
form of progressive preservation. We are
problem solvers who have assembled a team of creative people who want to make
this work. We recognize that we are
swimming against the tide, making
LESS money in order to help preserve our neighborhood and the greater
community. We are going for a finished
product of exceptional quality and searching for solutions that help everybody
win.
Your assistance in helping us close this gap will have an enormous impact. The block most of our team live on will continue intact, others facing the same challenge will be encouraged to also get creative to resist destructive development, and our team will be repaid for over two years of hope and hard work.
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When we build…let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for. John Ruskin
Our goal is $8,000. to complete funding a Full Permit Package ($18,000 total)
We have created unique (some one of a kind) incentives related to the project and starting at the $5 level with The Barker House buttons and magnets, going up in increments to include The Barker House tote bags and tee shirts, puzzles of springtime pictures of the neighborhood, artwork donated by contemporary local artists, artwork found in the attic of The Barker House by well known artists of the early part of the 1900s, Portland Experience packages including hotel stays, restaurant and pub crawls, concerts, nearby hiking and biking and many other wonderful things. See our Perks page for a full description. More perks will be added throughout the 30 day campaign, so check back for some surprises.
PLEASE GO TO "GALLERY" TO SEE SHORT VIDEOS TELLING OUR STORY AND PHOTOS OF PERKS.