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Editor's note: Welcome to Perlman's Potpourri, news items from across the Gateway and Parkrose neighborhoods of mid-Multnomah County from veteran beat reporter Lee Perlman.
Coming up, the Portland Plan, our city's strategic plan for the next 25 years, is ready for round two of public workshops, the next at David Douglas High School.
Portland Parks & Recreation is testing the waters for a bond measure in November. The proposed measure would begin basic construction at four Mid-county park sites, including one, Beech Park, in the Argay neighborhood.
Two community gardens were dedicated last month, one at Vestal School and one at Madison High School.
East Portland will host one of five Sunday Parkway events - a circular route five to eight miles long on low-traffic streets is declared off limits to auto traffic for six hours, leaving it to be used by bikes and pedestrians. Also in this month's Potpourri, Perlman reports that the pedestrian fence along Northeast 82nd Avenue, designed to halt jaywalking, has inadvertently become an attraction for skateboarders.
And finally, a cadre of Portland State University students is conducting a study for a possible “eco-district” in Gateway.
But first, let's see where the Portland Plan is at …
LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
Portland Plan approaches Stage Two
The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is gearing up for a second round of public workshops relating to the Portland Plan. In this round, the public is invited to react to proposed directions suggested by city staff. Of the six workshops, the one most convenient for Mid-county residents will be from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. May 15 at David Douglas High School, 1001 S.E. 135th Ave. The Plan will examine existing zoning and development regulations, and set city policy upon which this and other official actions are based.
Part of the “input,” which will be used to develop staff proposals, is a series of meetings scheduled through the month of March specific to the sub-areas the Plan is seeking to address, At the first of these meetings, which discussed housing and neighborhoods, east Portland's plight figured prominently.
Planner Barbara Sack provided a series of statistics relating to housing, and especially to low-end housing. Ideally, she said, a household should not have to pay more than 30 percent of its income for housing. In the nation as a whole, she said, 36 percent of households do exceed this degree of cost; in Portland, the number is 45 percent. A contributing factor to affordability is the cost of transportation. “The more you have to spend on transportation, the less affordable your home becomes,” Sack said. Mid-Multnomah County, which has a disproportionately high percentage of low-income residents, in general has relatively poor access to both mass transit and retail services, requiring greater spending on transportation.
Russell Neighborhood Association Chair Bonny McKnight emphasized this point. “There are no grocery stores near me, and no place to put one because of the zoning,” she said. “The old Albertson's is closed. I'm driving further for groceries than I was before annexation. If the goal is urbanization, it's not working.”
Jean DeMaster, executive director of the nonprofit Human Solutions, said the need for affordable housing is even more critical than is recognized by city planners. By their standards, “very” low-income housing is affordable by people making 30 percent of median area family income. In fact, DeMaster said, “For seniors, many can afford only 17 percent (median family income). For those on welfare it's 10 percent; for the homeless, 5 percent. People below a certain income level are forced to live in substandard housing because it's all that's available.”
McKnight said that in her neighborhood the most “affordable” housing is what currently exists, and as such should be preserved as a matter of policy. “You can retain it much more cheaply than you can build anything new,” she said. Developer Brad Malsin disagreed, saying, “The existing stock is certainly important, but it's a limited resource.” We can build higher-density housing more cheaply than we have previously, he said, citing Chicago, New York and Japan as examples.
Planner Kathie Briggs said that the city has not always made the best use of its public resources. For instance, she said, it has offered generous tax abatement to developers willing to build housing with three bedrooms or more downtown or in the Pearl in the hopes of attracting families to the inner city. Few such units have in fact been built, she said, but in those that have, many owners have converted bedrooms to offices or other uses.
Nick Sauvie, executive director of ROSE Community Development, said, “If you're putting resources into three-bedroom units in the Pearl, you're not putting them into affordable housing in east Portland.”
There were other concerns raised. According to RCD staff, 59 percent of white and 58 percent of Asian households own their own homes, but only 33 percent of African Americans and Hispanics do. Also, 25 percent of Portland households have school-age children compared to 33 percent of households in the region as a whole, reflecting withdrawal of families with children from the city.
Proposed Parks levy heavy on Mid-county
Portland Parks & Recreation is considering putting a $200 million bond measure before the voters this November to repair, upgrade and add to their facilities. In this last category, east Portland would receive a major part of the benefits.
PP&R spokespeople are currently airing the proposal before community groups to gauge their reaction. Based on input received, the proposed measure, perhaps with some changes, would go before the voters in November.
PP&R has put together a list of its greatest needs, with a total cost of $400 million. From this they compiled a second list reflecting the most urgent items from the first list, totaling $200 million. Among the east Portland entries are:
o Leach Botanical Gardens: “Address code and safety issues in the 1930 residence, improve trails and accessibility, improve the wedding area and demonstration gardens” at a cost of just under $2.5 million.
o East Portland Community Center, Berrydale Park and Argay Park: “Remove unsafe and outmoded play equipment and install new ADA-compliant equipment with safety mats” at a cost of $1.2 million at the center, $460,000 at the parks.
o Clinton, Lents and Ventura Parks: “Convert wading pools to a splash pad” at a cost of $600,000. Because of liability and health reasons, PP&R cannot maintain old-style wading pools unless they also provide staff to oversee it every minute. They can, however, provide fountains and facilities with circulating water.
o “Provide basic park development” including “earthwork paths, irrigated lawns and landscaping, benches, utilities and drainage” in Beech Park ($5.2 million), Parklane Park ($6.1 million), East Holladay Park ($1 million) and Clatsop Butte ($3.8 million).
o “Contribute toward a new Gateway Plaza development” on a four-acre site on Northeast Halsey Street previously occupied by J.J. North's Restaurant and the Bingo Parlor site, at a cost of $1 million.
At a recent community meeting, bureau spokesperson Chris Dearth said that in recent years the bureau's budget has been $9 million a year short of what it should be to provide basic regular maintenance; the measure is seeking to correct the effects of this deficiency. It is also intended to meet an objective to provide a measure of geographic “equity” by placing recreation facilities within or near all communities.
As noted above, the bond allocation would create very basic parks in east Portland. The bureau has also compiled desirable future phases of the work for which they would spend an additional $2.8 million in Beech Park, $18.6 million in Parklane, $5.75 million in Clatsop Butte and $2.35 million in Leach Botanical Gardens.
The bureau currently estimates that the bond measure would cost homeowners about 36 cents per $1,000 property value assessment per year, or about $80 more per year in property taxes on average. Dearth added that these are “very preliminary” estimates, and may change significantly in the actual measure.
New community gardens added
Last month Portland Parks & Recreation added two new sets of community gardens at two sites on Northeast 82nd Avenue. At ceremonies attended by Commissioner Nick Fish, PP&R Director Zari Santner and others, the bureau officially dedicated new gardens on the grounds of Vestal School and Madison High School. The garden at Vestal School will contain 20 full-sized garden plots (20 feet by 20 feet each), four half-sized plots, and two raised-bed plots intended for seniors or the handicapped. At Madison, there will be 27 half-plots and two raised beds. The garden allotment will encompass an area of 6,000 square feet at Vestal, 4,000 at Madison. At each school part of the garden will be tended by students.
Full-sized community garden plots are available for use by the public at a fee of $75 per season, with “scholarships” available to low-income gardeners. According to bureau spokesperson Beth Sorenson, all of the Madison plots had been spoken for the day after they became available. The waiting list for plots by new gardeners is about five years, Sorenson said.
Sunday Parkways beckon
Although no specifics were available at press time, community groups, and especially cyclists, are getting ready for the first-ever East Portland Sunday Parkways.
In this event, a roughly circular route five to eight miles long is declared off-limits to motor vehicles for several hours. This enables residents to safely tour nearby neighborhoods on foot or by bike in a way not normally possible. The route links area parks, and the Portland Bureau of Transportation, the sponsoring agency, urges nonprofits and community groups to provide public activities in the parks on this day. They also encourage nearby businesses to hold sales and special events.
The first Sunday Parkways was held in 2008 in North Portland. Last year similar Sunday Parkways were held in northeast and southeast; the southeast event, coinciding with the annual Hawthorne Street Fair, drew 20,000 people. This year the city will host five Sunday Parkways. The east Portland version, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 18, will have a route that includes parts of Southeast Bush and Harold streets, the Springwater Corridor, 93rd, 100th and 115th avenues. It will touch on Ed Benedict Park, Bloomington Park, Earle Boyles School and the Beggars Tick Wildlife Refuge. A spur will extend to the south edge of Lents Park.
What will happen at these sites remains to be seen. Organizer Rich Cassidy of PBOT is encouraging any nonprofit group to sign up, at no fee, to provide a table, booth or activity with the only caveat being that they must provide “some type of game or physical activity” for either a passive or active audience. They can provide entertainment, conduct a class, provide face painting or art projects for kids, stage a bike rodeo or set up a climbing wall. “You can't just give out literature,” Cassidy says. For more information call 503-823-6051 or visit portlandsundayparkways.org.
A new skate facility?
Although a date had not been set at press time, a new pedestrian barrier is nearing completion on Northeast 82nd Avenue between Wasco and Jonesmore streets. It is intended to prevent commuters switching from buses to the MAX light-rail line, or vice versa, from jaywalking across Northeast 82nd Avenue, disrupting traffic and endangering themselves. Most community groups have endorsed the addition, while a vocal minority complains that it inconveniences transit riders without addressing the underlying problems.
According to reports, the incomplete barrier has been adopted by local skateboarders, who find the cast concrete base an enticing challenge to skate off of. Construction crews are reportedly trying to engineer some features to discourage the practice.
Students conduct Gateway study
A team of Portland State University students headed by Erin Roome and Aaron Wilson are conducting a study for a possible “eco-district” in Gateway. They are looking in the Gateway area for “assets” and potential sites for “catalyst projects” relating to a healthy environment. The team will hold public workshops from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 12, at a place yet to be determined, and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 15, at Midland Library, 805 S.E. 122nd Ave. For more information call 801-661-2678 or e-mail EcoGateway@gmail.com.
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