A while back, I read this interesting editorial piece in the Oregonian about the city of Gresham, past, then and now. As Gresham has changed from a town of 10,000 to a city of 100,000 over the past 50 years, there have been a lot of very positive developments alongside with some minor concerns. Here’s a summary of the article’s main points.
Historic Downtown Gresham
There are a lot of attractive townhomes and condominiums close to downtown Gresham now, but there is not enough population density to attract a decent market , yet, and the quality and variety of shops aren’t quite there yet, either. This development is happening and downtown Gresham presents a good opportunity for potential home buyers.
Mount Hood Jazz Festival Site
The two-acre grassy site of the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival is proposed as the home of the Gresham Center for the Arts. With approval from the City Council, the project would bring a full complex of indoor and outdoor entertainment and event sites as well as a promising public-event plaza.
Leadership at City Hall
There now is unaccustomed potential at City Hall, too. For the first time in a long time, there is a uniformly bright, reasonably experienced and business-oriented council. There is great potential for quality development.
A developing multicultural population in Gresham
As far as a new multicultural population, Gresham used to be pretty homogenous — white — and mostly came from the Midwest. Now Gresham is an almost a polyglot population from around the world, still primarily white, but one can hear various Latin languages, those from Eastern Europe and a variety of Asian conversation on your average bus or MAX adventure. What we need are some stalls for these new citizens at the Saturday Farmers Market, some Latin or Cuban jazz at the festival and some enthusiasm among parents to encourage the schools to require a second language in their curricula. The potential for integrating and welcoming these new citizens to participate in Gresham is enormous.
Tags: Gresham