 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
 |
MEMO BLOG | |
Memo Calendar | Memo Pad | Business Memos | Loaves & Fishes | Letters | Home |
| 102nd Avenue workshop The Portland Office of Transportation is holding a workshop on the 102nd Avenue Project from 7 to 9 p.m., Thursday, May 4, at the East Portland Community Center, 740 S.E. 106th Ave. The project is an attempt to make the avenue between Northeast Weidler and Southeast Stark streets more useable and pleasant for all modes of transportation, including pedestrians and bicycles. It would remove some parking, install continuous bike lanes and some strategically-placed pedestrian islands, call for the sidewalks to be widened as part of new development, and provide more street trees and sidewalks amenities. Project planners originally thought that they had enough funding from the Gateway Urban Renewal District and a federal appropriation to do the entire project. However, due to rising costs of materials such as steel and concrete, they are now $3 million short. Rather than compromise the project, they now propose to do it in phases. They would begin with the area between Northeast Weidler and Glisan streets, then look for more money to continue south. Project planners and citizen volunteers are reconsidering a “windscape” art installation planned as part of the project. They planned to cover the “jug handle” at Northeast Halsey Street with asphalt recycled from the project work, and on top of this to place light, plastic poles designed to bend with the wind. However, cost estimates for the installation have reached $500,000, and project planners doubt this is the best use of so much money. Cascade Station moves forward Cascade Station, the sleeping giant to the north and west of Parkrose, is about to become at least a partial reality. Now its neighbors are wondering what that means for them.
Cascade Station, with two airport MAX red line stations of its own located 1.2 miles apart, was to be an urban village - with office buildings, a cinema multiplex, a 1,200-bed hotel and retailers. All this would be grouped around a green mall, with strict design review for all buildings and no single structure larger than 60,000 square feet. Many of its visitors would be people dropping in via the red line while waiting for their flights at the airport. 9/11 put a large crimp in such plans, first by cutting off airport traffic just when it was most critically needed - the airport MAX red line opened on September 10, 2001 - and second by ensuring that no one would go through beefed-up airport security a second time for any attraction on earth. However, there were flaws in the model even before that famous event. Former Planning Commission Chair Rick Michaelson called the project “a suburban mall with urban features” and predicted that Cascade Station’s mass transit ridership would be closer to the five percent of the typical mall rather than the 40 percent of downtown Portland. For years, the two stations were the only ones on the line at which no one got on or off. In 2004, Bechtel and Trammell Crow called on the city to change their master plan. The cinema complex was shelved, and the office and hotel components were reduced in size, while the projected proportion of retail was increased. Most significantly, the companies sought and received permission to build three big box “anchors.” Now, as Trammell Crow’s Steve Wells told the Parkrose Neighborhood Association last month, the changes are paying off. Sweden’s Ikea furniture company will break ground in July, “if all goes well,” on a 280,000 square-foot store on the east end of the mall. It should be complete by July 2007 and, Wells said, such is the company’s mystique that “you’ll see people camping out for a week” to be first in line when the store opens. “Portland is a very small market for Ikea,” Wells said. “They decided to come here because the demographics are right.” At the west end will be an 110,000 square foot Costco Home store, the first of its kind in Oregon. The developers decided after all not to create a third big box and instead will have 370,000 square feet of retail in smaller structures. Wells declined to name them because contracts have not officially been signed, but he said that deals are in progress for several restaurants. These should have a ready clientele from the immediate area, Wells said. “All up and down Airport Way, there aren’t a lot of (restaurant) choices,” he said. “We’ll offer shopping options you don’t have for three or four miles.” Of course, Ikea and Costco Home will draw people from the entire region - and, true to Michaelson’s prediction - Wells estimates that less than 10 percent will come by light rail, especially for the furniture. What, Parkrose residents wondered, will be the station’s effect on local traffic? Wells noted that a traffic analysis was done when the light rail station master plan was first approved. In nine places, where station traffic threatened to overload the road system or where it was on the verge of failure anyway, they were required to provide “mitigation.” For instance, they will improve the turn capacity at Northeast 105th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard, and at I-205 and Airport Way. Mary Walker and Ron Nelson asked about Northeast 105th Avenue and Colfax Road, which they said was already a dangerous intersection. “Like any mitigation, this doesn’t fix the whole system,” Wells conceded. Another issue is the Parkrose business district; will Cascade Station help it or hurt it? Wells admitted he hasn’t thought much about it (“I’ve been living and breathing Cascade Station for so long”), but he argued, “This kind of economic engine can be great for an established neighborhood, even if it’s a couple of miles removed. The retail draw tends to get spread out. There may be negative impacts on some businesses, but positive ones for others.” Hazelwood protests tree cutting The Hazelwood Neighborhood Association has appealed a city forester’s permission for a landowner to cut down 19 Douglas Fir trees at 1304 S.E. 130th Ave. The applicant claims that he intends to plant a fruit tree orchard in place of the firs. Hazelwood Chair Arlene Kimura told her board last month she had taken the step to give them time to properly consider the request. The board unanimously concurred. Board member Joyce Rothenbucher commented, “It just seems so strange, so close to David Douglas High School, to cut down so many Douglas Firs!” Weed and Seed fails to take root For the second time, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has rejected an application by the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association and others for a Weed and Seed grant. The program provides funds to combat criminal activity and other social problems by strengthening positive community institutions. Hazelwood Hydo Park meeting set There will be a public meeting from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, May 11, at the old Hazelwood Water District headquarters, Northeast 117th Avenue and Holladay Street, to consider the latest plans for the property. Commissioner Randy Leonard, who has charge of the Portland Water Bureau, has offered to let the East Portland Neighborhood Office use half of the existing building rent free, all utilities paid for. He also proposes to develop the surrounding four acres as a park in accord with neighbors’ desires. The tentative name for the park is Hazelwood Hydro Park. It is one of several unused or under-utilized water district properties that Leonard proposes to develop for public use. The word “hydro” is intended to distinguish the lands from Portland Parks Bureau properties. >>continued |
||||
 |
 |
 |
MEMO Advertising | MEMO Archives | MEMO Web Neighbors | MEMO Staff | Home