New IRCO center creates parking woes and irks neighbors

Overflow on residential streets a source of friction

Lee Perlman

THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

The new Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) headquarters at 10301 N.E. Glisan St. has been hailed as “an asset” to the Hazelwood community.

Neighbor Phyllis Barrett doesn’t see it that way.

She glares through her living room window on Northeast Hoyt Street as a car pulls into one of the few remaining parking spaces on the block. Somewhat self-consciously, a woman emerges and walks west - toward IRCO.

“They start arriving at 9, and by 10 every space on the block is filled,” Barrett says. “At noon they leave, and then another group arrives in the afternoon. I can’t have anyone over to visit me during the day. Sometimes I can’t get out of my driveway.”

Barrett says that many of her neighbors themselves Asian immigrants, are as frustrated as she is, but without her wherewithal to complain effectively. “I could get everyone on this street to sign a petition,” she says. As for herself, “I’ve lived here since 1959, and this is the worst it’s ever been.

“Why were they allowed to come in if they didn’t have enough parking? They have 35 spaces in their parking lot, and they have 80 staff.”

According to IRCO’s Renee Jensen, the immigrant aid agency was promised use of the nearby Glisan Street Baptist Church’s parking lot. It later developed that the spaces in question were contractually committed to a nearby medical clinic.

Church pastor David Lake says the offer of parking was made by a church committee member, since departed from the congregation, “without the knowledge or consent of the church.” It was “well- intentioned but ill-advised,” he says. “When crunch time came, the medical clinic, which was only half-full at the time of the offer, was at full-capacity, and we had no more than a very few spaces available.”

He adds that in the original offer, “I don’t think any numbers were given to IRCO.” He notes that the agency has “heavily utilized that building.” Given the number of drivers coming to the facility daily, full use of the church lot “would have alleviated the problem; it would not have solved it.”

In fact, Lake says, Barrett’s block is not the only sufferer. “I know that the Plaid Pantry has towed IRCO cars,” he says. “The dental clinic has had to post notices to tow.”

Jensen says IRCO is trying to deal with the problem: they promote car pooling, they are trying to secure parking spaces from other sources, and they are expanding their parking lot.

Barrett is not impressed. “They say that they teach people to use Tri-Met and give them parking passes, but all of their clients drive, and many have better cars than we do. They don’t know how to back up, and they park in front of hydrants.” She also grumbles that the agency chose to build an adjacent gym- community center on land that could have accommodated parking.

(The new center became a sore point from another direction when, reportedly, some local youths who inquired were told it was reserved for immigrant use. Jensen says the facilities can be, and are, leased by a variety of groups. IRCO hopes to make the gym available for community use for part of the week free of charge, she says.)

IRCO staff says that sometimes new arrivals are loaned cars from relatives who have preceded them. Privately, they admit that some begin driving before they know how, or at least what all the regulations are. As for driving instead of using mass transit, this merely means that they have assimilated quickly. “They’ve been told that no one here takes the bus if they can help it,” one staffer says.

As for the community center, Jensen says that city zoning codes in Gateway would have prevented IRCO from using the land as parking even if they had wanted to. “The city doesn’t want tons of surface parking here,” she says.

In fact, there is plenty of blame to go around. Barrett says that city agencies, such as the parking patrol, have been useless in addressing the problem: “By the time they come out, the cars are gone,” she says. As for the Hazelwood Association, she complains about their support of IRCO without consulting nearby residents. “I noticed some construction going up and I said, ‘Oh, good, maybe there’ll be some shops I can go to. The next thing I know...” Now, she says, Hazelwood has not been an effective advocate for her.

Notes from a January 10 meeting at her house suggested establishment of a residential permit parking district, such as those in effect in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Northwest Portland, as a possible solution. The notes also say that those present called on Barrett and her neighbors to “have patience.”

“Baloney on that!” she says. “I’ve been patient for a year.” Neighborhood crime prevention organizer Roseann Lee counters, “IRCO could be contributing, but they’re not the total problem.” Barrett has said overflow parking on the street has been an issue for six years - long before IRCO took up residence. She has also complained about, among other things, a Glisan Street Church evening Weight Watchers class.

Hazelwood chair Arlene Kimura says, “Phyllis has a legitimate issue.” However, she adds, “I’ve heard Phyllis say she wants things to be the way they used to be - with the only parked cars being the people who live on the street and occasionally their guests - and that’s just not going to happen.” She won’t take back her assertion that IRCO is “an asset” - “Our association represents the whole neighborhood, including the businesses and social services. It isn’t a homeowners association.” Kimura says she is doing the best she can to attend to Barrett’s issue, but “I have my own life and I have to earn a living; I can’t devote 24 hours a day to this.” (Barrett acknowledges this; “I wouldn’t want Kimura’s job for anything,” she says.)

Finally, Kimura seconds Jensen in saying that part of the problem is city codes that limit the amount of office-street parking any land use can have. “This is going to come up again and again, all over Gateway,” she says.