The ENA obsesses on demolitions

Frustrated that the City of Portland was more interested in increasing density to accommodate the flood of new residents, and exhausting other options, the ENA board turned its focus on creating a historic district to limit changes to Eastmoreland homes.  

But living in a historic district carries with it some annoying baggage that may be unacceptable for many neighbors.  For example, alterations to the exterior of the home may be expensive or even denied.  Creating a dormer for additional living space may very well be prohibited, or even something simple like modifying the porch, replacing windows or installing solar panels.  These restrictions can easily be too much for some residents.

The ENA decided to focus on the menace of demolitions to existing homes, the ultimate threat to the Eastmoreland lifestyle.  The demolition threat has worked well for the ENA, since many residents may have remodeling projects in mind which could be affected by a historic district but very few residents plan to demolish their own home.

Demolitions can be easily demonized as being the work of rich, greedy developers who are outsiders.  And any new home which is constructed in the wake of a  teardown is labeled as an "ugly McMansion", unfit to be part of Eastmoreland.

So the ENA message is that the historic district will stop demolitions.  (It won't but more on that later.)  

What you'll rarely hear the ENA talk about is the actual scope of demolitions,  because the unwelcome truth has a way of spoiling the message,   The fact is that there have been only four homes demolished within the boundaries of the historic district since 2016.  That's less than one home demolished annually, of the area’s 1279 homes.  That's  0.000625 of all homes that have been removed annually during the last five years.