Sears Armory Design Meeting Tomorrow
So, don’t forget the Design Workshop this Saturday the 10th (tomorrow) from 9Am to noon in the Multnomah Center Gymnasium (the auditorium is booked). According to Brian Russell almost ALL of the proposal applicants have confirmed their attendance, even PDOT’s maintenance department. For those of you just joining us, this discussion is to share visions and concerns and (one assumes) develop an advisory document which will be furnished to firms and organizations submitting proposals to redevelop the Jerome F Sears site on Multnomah Blvd, which has been declared surplus by the Federal Government. More info about this is below.
Multnomah Village Post article about the meeting is here, although you will learn more about the real Jerome F. Sears than the process of re-purposing the armory, which is not a bad thing.
My earlier post (complete with cynical comments about the term “charrette”) is here.
And another of my earlier posts with the backstory behind the whole “surplus” thing is here.
In other news, the Neighborhood Association Meeting next Tuesday night will be a short one and it’s starting early (at 6:30), followed by the sure-to-be-adventurous” Multnomah Sewer Repair Open House at 7:00. I’ll be skipping THAT meeting, sorry.
March 9th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Thanks for the post! BAR
March 15th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
I hope as people are deciding what to do with this property, they’re considering that the speed limit on Multnomah Blvd in front of this property is 45 mph. That’s faster than Beav-Hillsdale Hwy and Barbur Blvd.
March 15th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
That issue has come up every time this has been discussed at the MNA meetings. Well, not the speed limit specifically, but the difficulty in accessing Barbur Blvd for the future residents of a housing development, if that ends up being the use. We’d almost assuredly need a stoplight there. I am POSITIVE that this was raised very vocally in the design meeting.
March 15th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Thank you - that’s great people recognize the need for a stoplight. Maybe someone from the PDOT could explain why the speed limit is so high? Why does it take planning for the Armory site (for changes years from now) to get recognition for the traffic safety issue? People already live on Multnomah Blvd and the bike lanes are used frequently by bicyclists and pedestrians.
I wish someone from PDOT would explain why there isn’t consistency in speed limits in this area. Barbur Blvd belongs to ODOT, but why is Multnomah Blvd faster than Beav-Hillsdale Hwy? (PDOT put bikes lanes on Multnomah, but apparently didn’t bother to assess the speed limit.)
Sorry for the rant (again), but I’m tired of bad drivers who have the law on their side…
March 16th, 2007 at 7:32 am
It is likely due to the fact that the I5 offramp feeds onto Multnomah, but I have no idea if this is true. I certainly can ask around - my personal bugaboo is people that do not yield to the RED yield sign on the feeder down from Barbur (past Safeway) on to Multnomah. I can’t tell you how many times people just blow by that yield sign without even slowing.
March 16th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
If people recognize the need for a traffic signal at 25th, doesn’t that imply that drivers are going too fast? It’s a two lane, residential road. Usually cities get drivers to rapidly reduce speed when they come off a freeway onto a city street, especially a residential street. I can’t think of anywhere else in Portland that people live on a street with a speed limit of 45 mph.
And yes, the merge from Barbur Blvd doesn’t work very well. The speed limit on Barbur is 35 mph, so drivers have to speed up to merge into the traffic on Multnomah Blvd (the downhill helps with that). There really isn’t enough room or visibility for that merge to be safe. And yes, drivers ignore the yield sign.
I ride a bicycle on Multnomah Blvd, so for better or worse, I notice the speed limits:
I-5 to 31st: 45 mph
31st to 45th: 35 mph
45th to 65th: 40 mph
65th to 69th: 35 mph (Washington County)
69th to ??? : 25 mph (Washington County)
To paraphrase my elementary school teachers, it’s time for PDOT to put their collective thinking cap on. (My cynical side says that it will take a big collision on Multnomah Blvd before they’ll do that.)