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| Gateway seeks transportation funds The 102nd Avenue Project is seeking quicker completion by securing some MTIP funds. MTIP stands for Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program and is a $60 million pool of funds administered by Metro — the directly elected regional government that serves more than 1.3 million residents in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties — to pay for local transportation projects. The city of Portland has a list of projects it wants funded with a total price tag of $32 million. “Theoretically, Metro could fund all of this,” Sara King of the Portland Development Commission told the Opportunity Gateway Program Advisory Committee last month. “In reality, it will probably be about $14 million.” One of the items is for $1.9 million for phase two of the 102nd Avenue Project. The city has $5.5 million dedicated to this makeover of the avenue, but with a worldwide increase in the cost of building materials — what King called “the aerial tram syndrome” — this will only pay for a segment from Northeast Weidler to Glisan streets. The requested funds could continue the project southward to Southeast Stark Street. Citizens “educate” planning commission In late June, at the request of Russell neighborhood’s Bonny McKnight and her Citywide Land Use Group, the Portland Planning Commission held a small group, sit-down discussion with representatives of each of the city’s seven district neighborhood coalitions, including east Portland. The discussion topics were infill development and design, traffic and sidewalks, and trees and parks. The east Portland contingent included McKnight, Arlene Kimura of Hazelwood, Ross Monn of Wilkes, Jim Chasse and Mary Walker of Parkrose, and Linda Bauer of Pleasant Valley. In general the group felt that while the city’s policies and plans are pretty good, it has not been very good at implementing them. Mid-county residents — particularly — said the city has not come through with the streets, sidewalks, parks and trees it promised when the neighborhoods were annexed. The city is also not very good at enforcing regulations, such as those pertaining to tree removal. Afterward, commission members said they were impressed with the citizen comments, and said they considered the session time well spent. Commission member Tim Smith said, “I’d like to give a big thank you to you all. We have this big, fat thing called the Comprehensive Plan, and it’s a bit abstract.” It became more real due to the neighborhood representatives and their “urgent, articulate comments.” He added, “The most successful developments and developers are the ones who go out and talk to the neighbors.” Commission member Gail Shibley said, “I’m absolutely struck once again by what a wonderful city Portland is. We have a group of people speaking articulately and intelligently. You rock!” McKnight told the Memo, “It was great, and long overdue. It’s one thing to have grand plans and visions, but you should be interested in how your policies are working, and if you are — it’s ‘Communications 101’ to talk to people in the community. The commission members seemed to enjoy it, and they were really engaged.” McKnight credited Southeast Uplift Co-President Linda Nettekoven with helping bring about the session. New development’s small sidewalks concern neighbors Developer Bob Brady presented plans to the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association meeting last month for four new houses. The homes, he said, at 12929 N.E. Glisan St., would be 1,500 square feet each with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Garages would be located in the rear, a feature that tends to make the front façade more neighborly and attractive. Located across the street from Menlo Park School and a nursing home, they will have sidewalks four feet wide, with no planting strips. Hazelwood Chair Arlene Kimura told Brady, “That last concerns me.” Such narrow sidewalks would leave people, especially the handicapped, without enough room to pass each other, she said. Another Hazelwood board member, Linda Robinson, pointed out that in such cases, pedestrians would be forced into traffic. A third board member, Gayland German, said, “You don’t have any yards for children to play in? That’s just horrible.” Brady replied, “Well, there’s a school across the street.” Suggestive sex bar irks neighbors iCandy Bar & Grill, a new nude bar at 12309 S.E. Division St., is literally an attractive nuisance. Neighbors’ concerns begin with the overly graphic graphics that owner Sal Keobounnam insists on installing on the bar’s exterior, and go on to the dancers’ practice of waving to passing motorists in their bikinis. When Portland Police Officer Mike Gallagher asked Keobounnam why the dancers had to do this, he replied, “They’re just getting a sun tan.” “I asked, ‘Is there some reason they can’t do that in the back?’” Gallagher related to the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association. icandy has also been known to keep its front door open. Gallagher said that to him and other concerned neighbors, this overt public display distinguishes this place from other adult establishments. “We don’t have problems with places like Jody’s that just keep to themselves,” he said. On a recent visit, Gallagher and Southeast Crime Prevention Coordinator Roseanne Lee encountered things that were not just irksome, but violations of legal codes. For example, dancers under the age of 21 mingle with the customers. Under recent rulings, men and women this young can perform at adults-only venues, but cannot go where alcohol is served. Keobounnam had not obtained a permit from the Portland Fire Bureau to use the building as a public gathering place, nor did he obtain permission from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to have a pool table. As Lee entered, she thought she saw a dancer clearly younger than 18 quickly exiting, a no-no. According to Gallagher and Lee, Keobounnam has been trying to mend fences and offered to negotiate a good neighbor agreement with Hazelwood or Mill Park neighborhood associations. Technically, iCandy Bar & Grill is on Mill Park’s side of the associations’ borders. Gallagher suggested Keobounnam first show good will by painting over the offending graphics. The graphics were gone at month’s end. |
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