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East Portland activists feel numerous, costly studies are the only actions from City
LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
In late February, the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission heard a briefing on the 122nd Avenue Study and a clear message: Mid-county activists want the study not just completed and adopted by the City, but IMPLEMENTED.
As reported to the commission by Barry Manning, senior city planner, the results of the study of 122nd Avenue between Southeast Division Street and Southeast Foster Road are familiar: an over-supply of poorly designed, low-rent housing and a decided lack of commercial facilities to serve them. There is little alternative to auto travel due to a lack of through streets, inadequate or non-existing sidewalks on the ones that there are and a lack of mass transit services that can move people to destinations efficiently. To address these and other issues, the study calls for possible zone changes and new design review requirements.
However, as Powellhurst-Gilbert activist Mark White told the commission, success will only come when something changes on the ground.
He showed them a collection of studies relating to east Portland that, collectively, were several inches thick. “This doesn't include several things under way now,” he said, “... and every week I get a call from some graduate student who says, 'I need to do a thesis on a high-poverty area, and you're my pet (project).' ”
Annette Mattson, David Douglas School District Board vice chair, said the area currently is “zoned for lots of high-density housing, not for retail to service them.” Due to numerous tax abatements, the area has one of the lowest tax bases per capita in the state, making it difficult for David Douglas to meet its obligations. Commission chair Don Hanson noted that with an enrollment of 3200 students David Douglas is the largest high school in the state. Mattson said that 52 percent of the district's enrollment is students of color, and they come from households where 70 different languages are spoken. It was commented that some of the recently built housing, especially that done by non-profits, was attractive and desirable, but too many private developers tend to do it fast and cheap. Executive Director Jean DeMaster testified on behalf of Human Solutions, a non-profit serving 20,000 people. “People come to us when their utilities are being shut off, when they're about to be evicted, when they're homeless,” she said. “For them the problem isn't getting enough healthy food, it's getting enough food. Buses do not go where the jobs are.” She said available services for many are “a gas station, a convenience store, a tire store and a payday loan office. People carry their groceries home on unimproved streets. Powell Butte is great, but kids want a place to throw a ball around, and they do it in parking lots because there's no place else.
“We need a feeling of safety, and there is none in the study area. We need places for kids to ride their bikes that are safe. We need this to be a mixed-income area, not a place with so much low-income housing. We need things that make it feel good to live there.”
Commission member Karen Fischer Gray noted the lack of good food outlets is shared by other parts of Mid-county. Where an Albertsons store used to be on Northeast Halsey Street at 122nd Avenue she said, “We're getting another big, fat Goodwill Store.”
White said that there are things, such as the Leach Botanical Gardens, that give the area “the potential to be one of the most desirable place(s) in the city.” Turning to commission members he said, “The future is right here, right now. You have the ability to change things. I strongly urge you as guardians of equity to make this the Bureau of Planning, Sustainability - and Implementation.”
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