Portland State Magazine Fall 2012

Living How student housing started at Portland State. IN 1 9 69 , New Seasons cofounder Stan Amy was a Portland Seate student trying to live in south downtown, without much success. He'd already been evicted twice as housing in che area disappeared under che wrecking ball of utban renewal. After the third eviction, Amy, an urban smdies major, decided to look for a solution. He helped organize an independent smdy course, sponsored by Professor Sumner Sharpe, to explore the need for smdent housing at what was then Portland Stace CoUege (PSC). In those days, there was no housing owned or run by the College. Amy and other smdents found that the need was huge and suggested that PSC convince the Portland Devel– opment Commission to save nine apartment buildings near campus that were scheduled for demolition as part of urban renewal. Since the 1950s, the commission had been busy trans– forming south downtown through urban renewal. Demolition in the area directly around campus had starred in 1968 as a result of a federal program that set aside urban renewal dollars for colleges and universities. PSC had applied to the program years earlier in anticipation of expansion. Former students remember chose years as a time of noise, dust, and, in the case of Amy and others, displacement. WHILE THE ID EA of saving area apartment buildings made sense to many, contracwal issues and state legislators created a tight knot of red tape around the idea. Suddenly, what started out as a class turned into a full-fledged campaign. Students sent hundreds of postcards, provided by Professor Sumner's class, to the governor and to the State Board of Higher Education. After hearings and compromises, the nine apartment buildings were put under the management of Portland Student Services, a nonprofit corporation formed by the enterpris– ing Amy, and fellow s~udents Tony Barsotti, Dick Solomon '69, and John Werneken '77. Working with local business leaders, they procured two $5,000 loans for che new company and by 1970, managed 287 units in eight of the buildings. Monthly rent for a one-bedroom was $78. Years later, the company was renamed Col– lege Housing NW and managed all of PSU's student housing. Since then, housing on campus has changed significantly. PSU now oper– ates and manages all of its buildings, except for the new University Pointe. However, some things remain the same: Six of the original nine build– ings still house students today. ■ Su Yim, a former graduate assistant in the PSU Office ofUniversity Commu– nications, wrote "Seeing Autism" in the spring 2012 Portland State Magazine. A group of enterprising students, including Stan Amy (top), saved buildings marked for demolition, and managed them as student housing. Photos from the 1969 Viking Yearbook. FALL 2012 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 13