So the Business Journal has this item this morning, officially declaring Community Partners for Affordable Housing’s proposal the choice for the eventual redevelopment of the Jerome F Sears Army Reserve Center.
Here’s a link to the article, but there will certainly be more press (and has already been much press) about this.
Between this and the Watershed development, CPAH’s going to be responsible for a lot of our resident’s housing in a few years….
As many of you long-time readers know. I don’t “endorse” candidates or measures or anything. I consider it rather overly-self-important to assume that anything I have to say should be used as the basis of someone’s vote. Having said that - I have this to say about Amanda Fritz, who has been an occasional commenter on this blog.
I don’t necessarily agree with her politics in many cases, but anyone who demonstrates the kind of dedication to the arcane processes of local government, participates in the process to the degree that Amanda does and is willing to jump through the hoops required to run for office in this town, should be given a shot. Amanda’s been an active blogger - check out her sites at the links below - and if she’s your cup of tea, consider supporting her with your vote. People will say what they are going to say about her style, and they do, but in my experience she walks her talk. We’ll see how that plays out when she eventually gets into office.
Here’s a link to Amanda’s “personal” blog which has more information about the workings of the City of Portland than you’ll ever what to even know exists, trust me.
Here’s link to Amanda’s campaign site.
So anyway, for what it’s worth, don’t forget to vote when your ballots arrive in the mail. Or rather, don’t forget that there are other races besides the presidential primaries going on!
In case you’ve missed the HUGE SIGNS tacked up all over the Village for the last several days, there is another in the series of town hall meetings to discuss Sam Adams’ ongoing effort to develop a “citizen supported” tax program for repairs and upkeep for area roads and bridges.
You can read about this more here, at safeandsoundstreets.com (which is a pointer domain to a page at Portland Online) - and if you’re interested, show up at Wilson tonight from 7-9PM. Given the recent spate of bicycle vs. car fatalities - expect a heavy turnout from the pro-bike lobby.
A useful guest post by Rose Florek on Amanda Fritz’ blog highlights the current status of the air conditioning at the Multnomah Center. It’s worth a read, so go over to Amanda’s and check it out, here: Seniors Need Air Conditioning
The Multnomah Center is a designated cooling center for seniors!!!
Awareness is the first step in fixing a problem. Unfortunately, money is usually the second.
The same one that several hundred of you have as well. Although I must say, at least getting on Sam’s email list gets you some communication - so many “email signups” are just black holes - ironic that it’s hard to get the messages you’re interested in, but when it comes to cheap “performance enhancing” drugs…..
Apparently “they” have tallied the results of the suveys that were handed out at the recent series of neighborhood lobbying town-hall meetings about transportation funding issues. I am trying unsucessfully to restrain my inherent cynicism when Sam announces that the “results are surprising” and then lists these selections from the feedback:
- Transportation is important. Transportation ranks second to schools as PortlandersÂ’ highest priority.
- Intersections and school crossings need to be safer. Portlanders want safer crosswalks, especially around schools and at intersections.
- New funding sources, please. Portlanders dislike overreliance on the state gas tax and strongly encourage funding diversification.
- Promote conservation. New funding sources that encourage conservation are most favored; a local gas tax is strongest followed by a “gas guzzler” tax and a fee on parking spaces.
- Be clear and accountable. While Portlanders want a full-service package, they also want transparency and accountability. Portlanders support: an independent oversight committee, buy-in from neighborhoods and neighborhood business districts, capped administrative costs, a defined list of projects, and “sunsetting” taxes and fees after 10 years.
- Get it done. Town hall attendees support more expansive funding packages than the $23 million proposal Adams presented: eliminating the maintenance backlog in ten years at $45 million annually scored highest, followed by a more comprehensive package at $70 million per anum.
Gee - if THESE results are surprising, the only surprise is that it cost something like 40K to find out that transportation is important, and school crossings should be safe. It’s this sort of thing that makes me realize that I will NEVER have the patience to work in the public sector, where so much time and energy is spent pointing out what was obviosu to everyone going into the process. Hopefully, there are some pieces of real information in the full survey results, which are here.
However, the survey was mostly an exercise in ranking taxation balances and priorities, so don’t hold your breath thinking you’re clicking to some great epiphanies. An aside: some of you may have noticed that I was quoted in the Trib right after this meeting displaying even more of this boundless enthusiasm that’s welling up in me just now. Amanda Fritz has got a much more substantial discussion on these topics at her blog, www.amandafritz.com.
Sam’s email continues:
Next, we’re forming a 48-person steering committee representing a wide range of uses and interests to focus funding options and priorities. When completed, I will present the proposals to the public at another round of seven neighborhood coalition town halls from September 10 to September 23. The soonest I envision action on this topic would be January.
So I guess we’ll wait until Fall and see where this process is taking us. Save your pennies. Sorry this turned into a bit of a rant. It’s the heat.
Well, I got there FAR TOO LATE to get a seat, although I was able to lurk in a corner for a while where I took, this - the Worst Picture Ever Posted to This Blog (TM). There was HUGE turnout for the transportation town hall meeting last night, with many neighborhoods represented. After hanging about for a bit, and asking a question, I retreated to the quieter, cooler side room equipped with a TV feed.
Without deconstructing the whole session, the gist of it is this: This is step one in a long lobbying campaign for a shiny new assortment of taxes that are coming our way. The City will be happy to repair streets and bridges, and install sidewalks and curbs, as soon as we agree to pay for it all. Oh, and Sam was none too happy to have the bikes-vs-cars crowd hijacking his meeting, thank you very much. Still, I think he did a good job presenting the facts and potential solutions, all the while doing the best he could to soft-pedal the hard sell that will have to come sooner or later if any of these “funding options” are to become reality. It was nice to see so many people come out for this type of issue. Transportation can be one of the wonkier local government issues to begin to get involved with, but it touches on so many of the things we value, that we really need to be informed and involved if possible.
Once again, it is clearly obvious why Sam had such an easy time getting elected. He knows how to work a room, and doesn’t feel “political” in the way that, for instance, Dan Saltzman does. I have no problem with Dan, but these two men give off a very different impression when addressing and handling large groups.
I must admit, guiltily, that I had planned all along to link to Amanda Fritz’s blog for the writeup on this event, knowing that she’d deliver far more information than I would ever be interested in recapping. Amanda didn’t disappoint, so go to her blog and read her writeup on the event, here.
There’s discussion options, email signup, the survey some of us took (although not apparently a digital copy of Sam’s Powerpoint deck, which is too long for me to scan) at www.commissionersam.com. EDIT: The powerpoint is up now, in PDF format (619K) - download it here….
Commissioner Sam Adams is hosting a town hall meeting TONIGHT at the Multnomah Center from 7PM to 9PM to discuss “Portland’s Ailing Transportation System”.
Selectively reading the press release for this event gives us these gems: “The City of Portland, in response to the unlikely event that the Oregon Legislature will approve an increase of the gas tax….” and “These meetings create a dialog for how to garner transportation dollars and spend them more effectively”. So… Sam is pretty much coming out to soften us up for some shiny new tax proposals - and while we probably won’t have much say about those, we should have some input as to how those extra dollars are prioritized.
Amanda Fritz has a thorough writeup about this process over on her blog (www.amandafritz.com), and here’s a quote from Amanda that’s worth repeating here:
I’m hoping many people show up at the meetings to ask why there is funding for new streetcar routes and not for basic services in outer neighborhoods. Up to now, there haven’t been many opportunities for citizens to have that public conversation with the commissioner-in-charge of Transportation.
We certainly have our share of road issues here in the Village, and with some of the upcoming development projects, traffic is more likely to get heavier in the near future. If you’re interested in these types of issues, and want to hear what Sam has to say, and maybe get a chance to have your opinion heard, you should come out tonight.
PDF document, 182K, click to download or view.
As you probably know, the Jerome F Sears Army Reserve property is being surplused by the US Government. There have been numerous meetings and plans surrounding this site. PDC came to the last Neighborhood Association meeting and gave us an overview of the process of screening and selecting potential development proposals for this site. This is the update sheet handed out by the PDC representative at the last MNA meeting.
The website for keeping track of what’s going on here is www.pdc.us/dod, and you can sign up for email alerts at the site. This is a large parcel of property, and there’s LOTS of potential options for its future. If you’re interested in the potential develeopment of this site after it’s vacated by the Army, check out this PDF and sign up for the emails. It appears that we (the Multnomah Neighborhood Association) will be able to have something of a voice in this process, as long as people show up to be heard.
The PDC project manager is:
David Sheern
Portland Development Commission
Associate Project Coordinator - Housing Department
503-823-4103
sheernd@pdc.us
In the Multnomah Center, in the room in the back corner. We’ll be there at 7PM - come out and join us!
Yes, it’s that time again. The Multnomah Neighbrohood Assocaition will be holding its monthly meeting this Tuesday night (May 8th) at 7PM in the Multnomah Center. That’s tomorrow night. So for those of you that haven’t been to one of these yet, and are just longing to dive into the scintillating world of zoning, cryptic city regulations and plans for village-wide events, now’s your chance! Don’t worry - it’s not really that dry. You’ll get a chance to meet some neighbors, and put faces to the names that often show up attached to local events and news. We’ll <b>try</b> to get Brian to hold the meeting duration to a respectable hour.