Portland’s theatre scene has yet another small company in its ranks with the new Northeast troupe BaseRoots. This fledgling company, however, sets itself apart through its mission: to promote African American actors and present work that “showcases the unique African American experience.”

Founded in the spring of 2009 with the help of sponsorships from Miracle Theatre Group and the Regional Arts and Culture Council, BaseRoots is a self-identified African American theatre company in a city where such groups are exceedingly rare.

According to Andrea White, a BaseRoots co-founder, Portland has historically offered few roles for black actors. Those that have been available are often ones where the character is explicitly defined by race, an experience she describes as “tiresome.”

An economy-battering recession has daunted many aspiring nonprofiteers. Not Balam McNally, who founded Circadia Arts Center in early 2009 despite the downturn. 

The CAC, an Oregon nonprofit, is a multi-use facility that houses rehearsal spaces, classrooms, a gallery, banquet hall, woodworking and metalworking shop, and private artist studios available for rent. The center offers courses in various fine and industrial arts, including screen-printing, painting, and film. There are also courses in martial arts, yoga, and dance, all of which are held in an area called the “movement space.” Courses in puppetry, life drawing, and video editing are currently being developed. 

UPDATED VIDEO  2.15.10

Mardi Gras celebrations are often synonymous with excessive drinking and public nudity — hardly family-friendly fare. This year, however, North Portland families will be able to celebrate Mardi Gras at an appropriately G-rated event. 

Philip Stanton, owner of Mississippi Pizza Pub and co-president of the Historic Mississippi Business Association, and Deborah Petricek, owner of Gumbo Gifts & Gallery, have organized a “family-friendly” Mardi Gras celebration to take place on Saturday, Feb.13, beginning around noon. 

The mainstay of the event will be a street parade comprised of Boise-Eliot Elementary students, clowns on bikes, mini cars, and anyone in costume who would like to participate. In the hours leading up to the parade, there will be mask-making activities at the Q Center (4115 N Mississippi Ave. at North Mason Street) for those in need of festive “facial wear.” The parade will commence at 3 p.m., and follow along Mississippi Avenue, starting at North Skidmore Street and ending at North Fremont Street.

In the summer of 2009, residents along Central Street in St. Johns came together to slow down the traffic that whizzed through their neighborhood. They didn’t petition the city for a stop sign, but rather painted a mural on the black asphalt of their street. 

The issue of speeding traffic first came up at a series of potluck meetings hosted by Walker Leiser, a self-described “involved neighbor.” Speeding traffic along Central Street, which runs parallel to Lombard Street, has long been an issue for residents because of the large number of children in the area.

A year ago, Mike Verbout, member of the North Portland Business Association, and Dr. Robin Anderson, dean of the Pamplin School of Business at the University of Portland, founded a roundtable discussion group aimed at helping North Portland’s small business community.

The group is comprised of Verbout and Anderson, Dr. Jon Down, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at UP, and ten NPBA member businesses, including North Portland Chiropractic, and Orleans Candle Company. In order to participate, business owners must commit to attending the meetings and regularly participating in all aspects of the roundtable.

Verbout described the roundtable meetings as a “pilot program” to help the businesses discuss issues they commonly confront, and hopefully brainstorm ideas as to how to abate those issues. “The whole agenda is driven by what the small-business people see as their issues, issues that might impede their survival,” Verbout said.

The Cannabis Cafe on Northeast Dekum Street opened on Friday, Nov. 13 amid a flurry of anticipation and controversy.

As this paper went to press,  just over a week into the cafe’s operation, it appears the worst fears of neighbors have not come to pass. One business owner on Dekum, who originally worried his store might be burglarized, commented that his business has not been affected by the presence of the cafe. “Everything seems to be cool, as far as I can tell,”
he said.

On opening day, another neighbor complained that the cafe’s location was inappropriate given its proximity to an elementary school. She also worried about the noise, an issue that had come up frequently in the past with events hosted upstairs in the Village Ballroom. A week later, her spirits were noticeably higher. In an interview she was relieved to say that there was “no activity to report,” and that “[the cafe] has been really quiet over there.”

In the early afternoon on November 21, 2009, Ejiria Walker called an informal meeting of concerned citizens, including Woodlawn residents and board members of the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association, to discuss issues surrounding the Cannabis Café. The meeting was held at In Other Words Bookstore on North Killingsworth.

Although not a Woodlawn resident, I attended the meeting as part of ongoing coverage on the opening of the café, and the ensuing controversy. Coverage began on November 13th, when the café first opened its doors at 4: 20 pm, and continues today as Woodlawn residents continue to debate the newest addition to their neighborhood. .

Walker stated that the intention of the meeting was not to personally attack Eric Solomon, but rather to discuss issues surrounding the Cannabis Cafe as a business. Nonetheless, discussion was centered almost entirely around Solomon.

Attendees engaged in a free-flowing conversation describing their feelings on the cafe, and recounting their interactions, past and present, with Eric Solomon, the leaser of the building which houses the Cannabis Cafe.

“It’s been great,” Benajamin Koenigsberg said of his medical marijuana treatment. “It really reduces pain, and anxiety, and irritation in my butt, which is where I was having the most discomfort.”

Koenigsberg suffers from complications due to hemorrhoids, which qualifies him to participate in Oregon’s Medical Marijuana Program. He is one of 23, 873 cardholders in the state.

He is also one of many such cardholders that came to the opening of The Cannabis Cafe at 700 NE Dekum this afternoon. Although the doors did not open until 4:20 pm (of course), cardholders began lining up outside the cafe hours in advance.

New signs indentifying the “Historic Mississippi District” are pending city approval, but should be up and viewable to North Portland residents by the end of the month.

The 2 feet by 3 feet signs are the latest endeavor by the Historic Mississippi Business Association, which will pay for them with money from their market and advertising budget.

The intent is to help Portlanders find Mississippi Ave. Business association members feel it can be difficult for non-residents to locate the street. Just north of Skidmore, Albina Ave. turns into Mississippi and then veers off slightly of Portland’s grid. Mississippi is also smaller in comparison to other North-South arteries in the area such as Vancouver-Williams and MLK. The signs, then, aim to clarify this confusion, and direct traffic to the iconic district and the stores that line its streets.

Residents of North Portland need not be alarmed this Saturday when Portland Fire & Rescue will set ablaze another two homes along North Interstate. The homes are situated on a piece of property surrounded by North Interstate and Maryland avenues, and Prescott and Skidmore streets, that was purchased last October by Prescott Partners, a development company based outside of Seattle.

The Muslim Community Center of Portland, located on Northeast Martin Luther King Boulevard, is hoping to build an entirely new center on the corner of North Vancouver and Northeast Killingsworth Street. Construction is slated to begin in July 2010 and conclude by June 2011.

The current MCC is the only Muslim center on the east side of Portland. It is a modest, single-story building with a separate masjid, or place of worship, for men and women. Prayer, religious events, and educational classes are the dominant activities that take place at the center. 

The newly proposed center will be a two-story, 12,000-square-foot building. According to Muhammad A. Najieb, the director and resident imam (spiritual leader) of the MCC, the new center will be a hub of activity open to people of all religious affiliations. Potential activities for the new center would include daily and weekly prayer, religious holidays, childcare, classes, programs specifically for women, assistance to formerly incarcerated people, a banquet hall, a nursery, and much more. 

Mississippi Avenue has played host to tremendous change over the years, and it continues to do so.

The Nu-Rite Way Food Center, on the corner of N Mississippi and N Shaver, has received a dramatic face-lift. With the help of funding from the Portland Development Commission, the grocery store began a renovation project last month, including cosmetic and structural work both on the outside and inside of the building. Most noticeably, the grocery store has taken down the metal bars and planks of particle board that once covered all of the front windows. Large glass windows now completely cover the store front, according to John Lee, whose parents own the market. The Nu-Rite Way is also in the process of putting in a wooden door with glass inlay, a new sign, as well as a new paint job and light fixtures on the exterior. The market removed a phone booth outside as well, which one local merchant claimed attracted illicit activity, and was a major issue for neighboring businesses.

The plan calls for expanding the total miles of developed bikeways in the project area from the current 23 miles to more than 70 miles, including 54 miles of low-stress shared roadways, 10 miles of cycle tracks, and 10 miles of bike lanes. All selected roadways are either currently identified as bikeways in the city's transportation system plan or are scheduled to be with the update of the demonstration project.