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LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
When the East Portland Action Plan steering committee held its final meeting on July 24, those present had remarkably similar comments. What has been accomplished so far has been great, they said, and praised both participating political leaders and project manager Barry Manning, but emphasized that to be truly meaningful, at least some of the plan’s 250 plus action items must be implemented.
Mayor Tom Potter said, “I personally want to thank everyone involved: neighborhood associations, business associations, nonprofits, Metro. There are a lot of good things in this. Every good planning process engages the community. Barry has been a great conductor. The job you’ve done has been nothing short of amazing. But the next step is the most important — implementation.” City Council has allocated $500,000 toward this end, but for the larger project, that’s a drop in the bucket, Potter said. “I will do as much as I can to move this forward, but I urge you to stay with it. When large numbers of folks come to City Council, they get attention.”
Multnomah County Commission Chair Ted Wheeler noted that on the kickoff for the planning effort last winter, “it was snowing, and we’re ending on the hottest day of the year. These kinds of projects haven’t always had a positive outcome, but at the very first meeting Potter did something unprecedented: he put real money on the table. You’ve gotten the first piece done, and Multnomah County is fully committed to be a partner. I’m directing our department heads to look at this report and look for ways to help implement it. Thank you, Mayor, for setting the standard for community involvement.”
Of several elected officials who were nominally on the steering committee, Metro Councilor Robert Liberty was the most consistent participant. He told his fellow committee members, “The praise (for the process) is well earned. This is a wonderful document to rally around.” He said of the action items, “Putting a price tag on these things would be useful.” In that vein he noted that the city is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the South Waterfront and added, “What could be done here with an investment of equal scale? It would be appropriate.” In planning development, he said, “It costs twice as much to develop at the edges (of urban areas) as in existing communities. I hope you get your ambitions up.”
East Precinct Commander Mike Crebs said that with regard to implementing the plan, “A lot of this is on my shoulders. I want to make this area as safe as possible.”
Frieda Christopher, a member of the David Douglas school board, said, “These are problems the board has been discussing for five years. It’s so important we show people that things can get done. It may swing people over.”
Parkrose School Superintendent Karen Fischer Gray said, “I really appreciated this process. Staff, you’re doing really — wow! This is so important for this part of town.” However, she added, “You can do all the planning in the world, create big, fat documents, but without implementation you’re wasting your time.”
Community activist Michelle Winningham continued the theme of things being great so far, with more to do: “The word that comes to mind is ‘unprecedented.’ It’s unprecedented to see all this political attention.” However, she said, “Paper won’t do anything; it’s people who count. When I’ve gone to City Council to lobby, I’ve gone by myself. I’m not sure we have a vision yet; we just know what we don’t want. Portland is a major success and so far we’re not part of the story.”
Jim Chasse of the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood praised the elected officials, especially Liberty. He thanked Manning and said, “I’ve been to quite a few meetings where Barry’s been beat up real bad.” He thanked Winningham for saying, “Go down to City Hall and ask for money.”
Hazelwood Neighborhood Association Chair Arlene Kimura said, “I appreciated the interaction among us more than anything else. There were committed groups of people who were really sincere, and were willing to step outside their own interests to get something done.”
The first meeting of the East Portland Action Plan implementation team, the group that will decide how to spend the half-million dollar allocation, is Thursday, Sept. 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. and will continue monthly through December. The meetings will be open to the public, but no location has been named.
For more information call Manning at 503-823-7965.
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