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County adopts East Portland Plan

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Last month the Multnomah County Commission officially endorsed the East Portland Action Plan. In the process its members received a reminder that the community is still there and has unfinished business.

A team led by paid advocate Lore Wintergreen made a presentation to the Commission. Mary Li, county human services Manager, said that Ted Wheeler had started the Plan process three years ago, together with then-mayor Tom Potter, in “a collaborative process.” As part of that process, “We were able to review the action items as they were being developed,” she said. All told, the Plan identified 268 short- and long-term goals. She added, “The near-term goals are still relevant three years later.”

Hazelwood Neighborhood Association president Arlene Kimura recited the area's problems, all too familiar to local activists. East Portland has 28 percent of the city's population and is growing rapidly as it receives a disproportionate amount of new development. It is more ethnically diverse than the city as a whole, and “immigrants are focused on coming out here,” she said. It has 40 percent of the city's public school students, and 72 percent of them qualify for free or reduced lunches because their families are in poverty. “Their parents are both working, and they're still finding it tough to make ends meet,” Kimura said. “We have one library, and if it were twice its size it would still be well-used. Sidewalks are scarce to non-existent. We have people using wheelchairs in the street because there's nowhere else to go. Streets are not improved. Mass transit is very inadequate. We have many multi-family [housing] projects, most with no common areas, no place for kids to play. We have many people working minimum-wage jobs. Safety is an increasing concern. We have a gang problem, no doubt about it, and we will need to do more than just hope it goes away.”

Wintergreen herself reminded the Commission that the City Council, TriMet, Metro and the Oregon Department of Transportation have already endorsed the Plan and that the County is designated as the lead agency for some action items. The Plan's Advisory Committee members have been appointed to budget review committees in the City and elsewhere. “We've worked hard to see the Plan implemented, and not put on a shelf,” she said.

Plan co-chair Larry Kotan discussed the planning effort's substantive accomplishments: $50,000 worth of improvements for Southeast Powell Boulevard. $115,000 worth of Portland Development Commission Storefront Improvement grants awarded to businesses; a $30,000 pilot project on Southeast 122nd Avenue to encourage better multi-family development design; $60,000 for three Safer Routes to School street safety projects.

“We're helping east Portland find a voice,” Kotan said. “We've been ignored a long time because we allowed ourselves to be ignored.”

Katie Larsell of Parkrose said that over time the process has changed from “planning to advocacy. We now act as a guide for department and agency work. We want to be something you're aware of all the time. Our goal is to make the Plan obsolete” by implementing all its action items.

Commissioner Judy Shiprack, who brought the ordinance to the Commission and whose district covers most of the area in question, said the Plan will “help us acknowledge the benefits and burdens of growth, and distribute the benefits equitably and consciously.” However, she made it clear that no money is being set aside.

Commission chair Jeff Cogen said, “In a city that loves to plan, it's great to see an ACTION plan. It's good to see you demanding what's right.”

Commissioner Deborah Kafoury said, “We often act as a rubber stamp for city programs. Here we have a chance to be an active partner.”

Commissioner Barbara Willer said the Plan is “a great testament to what citizens can do when they step up and step forward. Keep holding us accountable.”
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