Seven trashcans and five benches will be installed in permanent homes along the Northeast Halsey-Weidler corridor this fall, according to Tom Badrick, a member of the Halsey-Weidler work group. All the street furniture could be placed on private property as early as the end of September, Badrick said.
Although Halsey-Weidler work group members hoped to install some items in the public right of way, in July the city’s encroachment permit team turned down the business owners’ applications in order to avoid any blockage of the public pedestrian walkway.
Badrick then contacted all the private business owners who in turn agreed to place the furniture on their private property, keeping clear of any public right-of-way, but still accessible to the public.
Each owner signed a maintenance agreement, all of which Badrick sent to Susan Kuhn, a senior project manager at the Portland Development Commission in mid-August. “All I’m waiting for now is for her to send me back the contract and then we can get them ordered,” said Badrick.
Two cans and one bench will be placed at McGillacuddy’s Bar; two cans and two benches at Riverview Bank; one can and one bench at Portland Adventist Community Services; one can at Shoe and Boot Revival; and one can and one bench at the Outer Rim, a bike sales and repair store.
In all the private locations, the cans and benches probably will be closer to the building than the street, he said. “For Shoe and Boot Repair we’re talking about just off the sidewalk, so that people who are walking on the sidewalk can still do it,” he said.
Because the owner of the Outer Rim recently received a Portland Development Commission Storefront Improvement grant, the work group will be careful about the location of the can and bench at that location.
“It’s a matter of let’s not pick a spot and then work around it and find out it was wrong,” Badrick said. “Let’s make sure it fits into the bigger picture.”
Badrick isn’t certain when the benches will be constructed and installed. In some locations, such as Riverview Bank, cement pads will be installed before the street furniture arrives. The pads need to be installed and cured for a couple of days before a trashcan or bench can be placed on them.
“We’ll put them in place, put the cans in place, and then when the benches arrive we can just do a quick install,” he said. “It’s not complicated.”
A PDC grant, awarded to the group in February, provides $20,000 to install the cans and benches through its Community Livability Grant Program, a competitive program available throughout the Gateway Regional Center URA.
Asked if the grant required the benches and cans to be in place by the end of 2015, Badrick explained that “there’s lots of leeway in the grant for extensions if things come up. I don’t want to wait until then. I’d like the benches in as soon as possible. I just kind of assume we’re going to have decent weather all the way through October because we usually do. It would be really nice to have benches in for some of that.”
For more information, contact Badrick at tbadrick@aol.com.
