(Hector Castaneda, 28, has worked at Tienda El Grande, a Mexican grocery store, in Southeast Portland for eight years. He's lived within a block of the store for just as long and says he's seen an increase in foot traffic since then. Photo by Eder Campuzano/Staff)
BY EDER CAMPUZANO
The Oregonian/OregonLive
The pantries at Tienda El Grande on Southeast 122nd Avenue are stocked with colorful Mexican sweet breads. Piñatas featuring cartoon characters like SpongeBob SquarePants and Olaf the snowman hang between the aisles. And two shelves brim with candles in jars with portraits of the Virgin Mary and Pope John Paul II on the sides.
Héctor Castañeda, 28, has worked behind the counter at the specialty store for eight years. In that time, he said, the surrounding neighborhood has changed drastically.
Many of those changes are for the better, he said. Foot traffic has ticked up and Castañeda has made friends with return customers who invite him to birthdays, baptisms and other community events. The market for such businesses has grown as the neighborhood’s Hispanic population has grown since 2010.
Eder Campuzano | The Oregonian/OregonLive
But customers also tell Castañeda that increasing rents have put a strain on their finances. Figures released this week by the U.S. Census estimate nearly 69 percent of the population in this parcel of Multnomah County are rent-burdened — that is, more than 30 percent of their household income goes toward the rent.
And even as rents increase, the median household income has declined by 20 percent since 2010. That’s shortly after Castañeda moved to the neighborhood, when the rent for the one-bedroom apartment he shares with his wife was $650.
It’s since increased by 30 percent. When he first moved into his place, many of his neighbors had been around for five, six years or more.
These days?
“You have somebody move in for one or two years and then they’re gone,” he said.
Eder Campuzano | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Ana Maria Ramirez has also noticed the neighborhood change in the 20 years she’s lived at the Evergreen Court mobile home park on Division Street.
The prospect of owning their home, rather than renting, is what lured the Ramirezes this far out in Southeast Portland. They rent the land their mobile home sits on, but those payments have only gone up by $150 in two decades.
“It’s never really been a problem for us,” she said. “We own the house. We just pay for the ground under our feet.”
When she and her husband first bought the trailer they now share with their two young daughters, there was no other Hispanic family in the park.
“When we moved in, we were the only Hispanic family in the neighborhood,” she said. “Now, there are maybe three white families in the area.”
--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344
ecampuzano@oregonian.com
Mark Friesen, David Cansler and Melissa Lewis contributed data analysis.
Ad Choices