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LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
Editor's note: Welcome to Perlman's Potpourri, news items from across the Gateway and Parkrose neighborhoods of mid-Multnomah County from veteran Beat Reporter Lee Perlman.
Coming up, the nonprofit Home Ownership One Street at a Time has plans to build a housing complex on Southeast Stark Street near 106th Avenue. Portland Adventist expands again. This time, its School of Nursing gets an added classroom, accommodating more students.
The Portland Development Commission and Portland Parks & Recreation seek citizen input on what to do about a toxic waste cleanup at the site of the future Gateway Park on 106th and Northeast Halsey Street.
Watch for groups of students walking to school on Bike or Walk to School Day, Wednesday, Oct. 7. Five east Portland middle and elementary schools are set to participate.
Also in this month's Potpourri, Perlman reports additional Oregon Air National Guard jet-training maneuvers over Portland airport have been approved.
Good news for neighborhood do-gooders: Neighborhood grants are back. People can land earmarks from $500 to $5,000 for their neighborhood pet projects.
And finally, two neighborhood concerts held at Ventura Park in August were, respectively, a failure and a success.
But first, to the proposed HOST housing project …
HOST pursing Gateway project
The nonprofit Home Ownership a Street at a Time is pursuing a courtyard style 14-unit housing project on a 20,000-square-foot lot on Southeast Stark Street at 106th Avenue. Developer and HOST board member Ted Gilbert told the Gateway Program Advisory Committee last month that development of the site is probably at least a year away. In the meantime, HOST is seeking a partnership with medical and other institutions in the area to subsidize the project and significantly lower the price point in the interest of having the institution's workers own homes near where they work. HOST previously had such an agreement with Legacy Health Systems to help workers buy homes near Legacy hospitals. HOST would like to make the units available to owner-occupants, preferably first-time homebuyers, earning 70 to 100 percent of median area household income. For more information visit www.hostdevelopment.com
Adventist adds to nursing school
The Portland Adventist Medical Center will be adding another classroom to its School of Nursing, spokesperson Warren Tyler told the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association last month. The 3,700-square-foot addition will be on the north side of the existing building, north of Southeast Main Street at the 104th Avenue right of way.
The addition will help the hospital expand its enrollment by 20 students per year this year and next, from the previous 96.
Because the addition meets the design standards of the medical center's master plan, it does not have to undergo design review. “I didn't think that things that were in our master plan had to come to you,” Tyler told Hazelwood Chair Arlene Kimura. “The city very politely corrected me and told me to visit the neighborhood association.”
Kimura said that according to the photos and renderings, it appeared that the addition would not be visible from the road, even after the removal of one large tree. “You're just like a (an audience) plant!” Tyler told her with delight. No other committee members voiced concern.
PDC and PP&R seek input to ignore it
The Portland Development Commission and the Portland Bureau of Parks & Recreation are about to perform a toxic waste cleanup on a future park site. First, they're seeking your input, but probably won't follow it.
Part of the four-acre site on Northeast Halsey Street at 106th Avenue was once a dry cleaning business, and tests have shown the presence of toxic chemicals beneath the soil. According to PDC's Justin Douglas, Senior project programs coordinator the city is considering four courses for dealing with this: (1) Do nothing. (2) Excavate down to 20 feet. (3) With no excavation, place a cap over the contaminated area. (4) Do a less extreme excavation and then place a cap over the area.
Douglas told the Gateway Urban Renewal Program Advisory Committee last month that the city is leaning heavily toward option four. They are reluctant to perform option two because, Douglas said, “As we go down farther, we encounter more and more toxic plumes.” He said that option four is in excess of what the Department of Environmental Quality demands.
They do demand public input, however, which is why PDC is going through this process. He concedes that the city is unlikely to pursue the do-nothing option, regardless of how popular it may be.
Asked where the excavated soil would go, Douglas facetiously replied, “We'll dump it in Lents…no. To a site in Hillsboro or the landfill in Arlington, depending on how toxic it is.” Planning for the new park will probably begin next year, and improvements installed between 2011 and 2013.
Bike/walk to school Oct. 7
This year, Oct. 7 is Bike or Walk to School Day. It is part of the larger Safe Routes to School program, which encourages young students who live near schools to get there by means other than riding in their parents' cars, both to save gas and to promote physical fitness. On this day, parent volunteers will ask students to congregate at strategic points and escort them on a walk to the school. Participating schools include Earl Boyles, Parkrose Middle School, Prescott, Sacramento and Shaver. For more information, call 503-823-1189.
Safe Routes to School also works with parents, school officials and city traffic experts to identify the best and safest routes to schools, then seeks to remove barriers to use, such as lack of sidewalks or dangerous intersections. According to Safer Routes to School Program Coordinator Gabriel Graff of the Portland Bureau of Transportation, the city has recently secured a $100,000 federal grant to continue the public education portion of the program, and is seeking another $500,000 for physical improvements. For more information call 503-823-5291 or e-mail gabriel.graff@trans.ci.portland.or.us.
Jet overflights approved
The Port of Portland's Citizen Noise Advisory Committee (CNAC) last month approved a request by the Oregon Air National Guard to allow its F15 supersonic fighters to conduct certain maneuvers within city limits.
In the requested maneuvers, instead of a direct landing approach, the jets descend gradually as they circle the airport under reduced power. The guard says such maneuvers are necessary for pilot training, and doing them near the airport saves fuel. Some community leaders fear the noise this will descend on them.
At the CNAC meeting, guard-backers seemed to question the patriotism of those opposed and argued that national defense is worth making sacrifices for, saying that those who choose to live near airports must expect noise. Opponents conceded this, but argued that the proposed maneuvers would bring a new level of disturbance.
The final vote was 10 to 2 in favor of the request. CNAC attached several conditions to its approval, among them that the maneuvers were to be limited to between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays, with no more than two jets practicing at a time and the program reviewed after six months.
Neighborhood earmarks are back
The popular Neighborhood Grants program is back. The city has appropriated the funds through the Office of Neighborhood Involvement, to be administered by the East Portland Neighborhood Office and the city's six other neighborhood offices. Grants from $500 to $5,000 will be dispensed for projects that increase the capacity of community groups, that are geared to involve and attract underrepresented communities, and that promote partnerships among community groups. Applications are due by Nov. 2. For more information, call 503-823-4550.
Parks concerts hit, miss
Hazelwood Neighborhood Association volunteer Linda Robinson reported success with two free concerts in Ventura Park in August. There was relatively low attendance at the first concert on Aug. 21 because of 98-degree heat, but the second on Aug. 28 drew several hundred people. Volunteers also collected $400 in contributions, and this, together with a grant secured too late for this year, means, “We're $1,500 ahead in paying for next year's concerts!”
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