Author: Markos Miller

Franklin Street, conceived as a futuristic arterial in the mid-20th century, was widely understood to have been a destructive mistake by the dawn of the 21st. But even if everyone can agree that it’s a problem, that doesn’t mean everyone agrees on the solution. Since 2006, politicians and the public have struggled over the change. Markos Miller, one of the citizens at the center of the effort to rethink Franklin Street, recounts the convoluted history of trying to make a redesign a reality over the past two decades in this Part 2 on Franklin Street. Despite regular roadblocks, wrong turns, and roundabouts, read to find where the project has progressed up to the current day.

In part one of a series on Portland’s most divisive street, community organizer Markos Miller recounts the life story of Franklin Street. From bustling ethnic neighborhoods to slum-clearing mass demolition, the shadow of this quasi-highway casts long over Portland. To understand the debates over the road today, one most have some grasp on Franklin’s history.