Portland Oregon newspaper 2002 archives



Feature Articles	Memo Calendar	Memo Pad	Business Memo's	Loaves & Fishes	Home


		Fun, Fun, Fun at the 2002 Gateway Fun-O-Rama

		Parkrose Community Fair at hit

		Jane Baker, Hazelwood & East Portland leader, dies at 69

		Parkrose Loses Long- time Resident

		There's a new school on the block

		Data shows less poor, more rich, more singles in Gateway

		About the MEMO
		MEMO Archives
		MEMO Advertising
		MEMO Web Neighbors
		MEMO Staff

© 2002, Mid-county MEMO

Data shows less poor, more rich, more singles in Gateway

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

The times they are a-changing. In Gateway, that means there’s a little more housing, more single parents, a few more rich folks and a few less poor ones.

Those are some of features of a demographic study of the area put together by the Portland Development Commission (PDC) as a prelude to an area housing development strategy. Staffers Angela Kremer and Kirby Pitman delivered the report to the Opportunity Gateway Program Advisory Committee last month.

Rough boundaries of the demographic study are: West - 82nd Avenue, East - 162nd Avenue. The Northern boundary of the survey is Halsey Street, east of 122nd Avenue, but west of 122nd Avenue the North boundary is I-84 and Northeast Skidmore Street. The Southern boundary of the survey is Southeast Division Street.

The data shows that between 1990 and 2000:

The total population of the area increased from 50,525 to 58,625.
Children under 18 increased from 11,632 to 14,404, and their percent of the total population went from 23 percent to 24.6 percent. During the same period, the citywide proportion of such youths declined from 22 percent to 21.1.
Those 65 and older increased from 8,036 to 8,499, but their proportion of the whole dropped from 15.9 percent to 14.5. Even so, they remain above the citywide averages of 14.5 and 11.6 percent, respectively.
The number of households with five or more people increased dramatically, from 1711 to 2,570.
Married couples declined, from 10,564 to 9,977. Single parents, while still relatively few in number, increased. Single fathers went from 310 to 590, single mothers from 1,184 to 1,669.
The ethnic breakdown of Gateway in 2000 was: whites, 45,300, or 77.3 percent of the total; African Americans, 1,827, or 3.1 percent; Native Americans, 649 or 1.1 percent; Asians or Pacific Islanders, 5,534, or 9.4 percent; others, 2,836, or 4.8 percent.
Households earning less than $15,000 dropped from 4,427, or 22.1 percent of the whole, to 3,994, or 19.4 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, households earning $150,000 a year or more increased from 47, or .2 percent, to 102, or .5 percent. Those earning $100,000 to $149,999 increased from 172, or .9 percent, to 346, or 1.7 percent.
Home ownership increase from 12,007 households to 12,872, while renters increased from 8,078 to 8,989. The number of vacant units increased from 750 to 1,218.
The number of African-American homeowners nearly doubled - from 69 to 137 - but was still miniscule compared to the 12,060 white households. The number of households occupied by other races also increased dramatically, but was still small in terms of actual numbers.

••••••••••

In other Gateway Urban Renewal district news, PDC once again reviewed the 2002-2003 budget. The district budget is about $1.5 million. Of this, however, nearly $1 million is pledged to the county’s Children’s Receiving Center, and another $250,000 to a “contingency fund.”