The state legislature is in the final stages of passing SB 1182, which will authorize the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to give away property and development rights and contracts associated with the four-acre highway cover over I-5, which ODOT plans to build in the Rose Quarter. The cover has an estimated construction cost of at least $500 million, making this quite a generous donation of taxpayer dollars.
Who will be the recipient of such largesse? A private, nonprofit organization called the Albina Vision Trust (AVT), which is attempting to redevelop a 94-acre section of northeast Portland that was bisected by the construction of I-5.
AVT was chosen for one reason: it is a Black-led organization dedicated to advancing the interest of Black families and businesses who were impacted by “urban renewal” projects decades ago. ODOT supports this racialized mission. The agency’s Conceptual Design Summary for the highway cover states that a “Black-led community development corporation” will control the air rights created by the lid.
The leader of Albina Vision Trust has stated that the “Black community should be able to have both the land on the freeway caps and the jobs that come with building them.”
After the Legislature approves SB1182, the plan will then authorize the denial of opportunity to anyone who is not Black, based solely upon their race. Not only would this be a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Supreme Court also outlawed such practices two years ago in Fair Admissions v. Harvard when the majority wrote, “ameliorating societal discrimination does not constitute a compelling interest that justifies race-based state action.”
Handing over $500 million of public assets to an organization that plans to hire only Black businesses will surely invite litigation from non-Black competitors, and they will likely win.
The Governor should veto SB 1182.
John A. Charles, Jr. is President and CEO of Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research organization.
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