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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2008)
July 2008 tRaNSpoRtatIoN By Lee Perlman The Southwest Portland Post Southwest community largely opposed to halo street assessments In the face of widespread opposition, the Halo L.I.D. experiment is on hold, if not derailed. A Local Improvement Dis- trict is a special assessment of nearby property owners to pay for a specific public improvement, such as a new street or sidewalk. Typically, assessments are made on property immediately adjacent to the proposed improvement. Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc. and the Portland Office of Transportation had proposed to fund some long-sought pedestrian safety projects through this method, but to spread the cost over a wider area, reducing the impact to each participat- ing property owner. Unfortunately, the assessments were spread over so wide an area that some The Southwest Portland Post • 5 NEwS of those included could see no benefit to them from the improvements. Others questioned the needs for the improve- ments at all, and some said that the changes would interfere with their ability to park, and bring unwanted visitors to their homes. The opponents expressed these sentiments loudly in surveys and public open houses. According to SWNI land use special- ist Leonard Gard, volunteers working on the Southwest Hamilton Street project have given up, and are looking at other, lower-cost ways to provide pedestrian safety on the street. In addi- tion, Commissioner Sam Adams’ staff is reportedly looking at adjustments to the program that would make it more palatable and feasible. City seeks to improve access and connections to South Waterfront Confronted with the reality, rather than just the plans, of a large new popu- lation moving into the new South Wa- terfront community, the city is starting to do what community activists have long told them they needed to: figure out how these people will get in and out of the district. Art Pearce of the Portland Office of Transportation presented the South Portland Neighborhood Association last month with a list of possible auto, transit, bike and pedestrian projects that would ease access into both the South Waterfront and the older South Portland neighborhood to the west. At the moment, he said, the project is in the “brainstorming” stage, listing ideas to be considered at greater length. Some of these are projects already under study, including a light rail extension to the site of the proposed new Oregon Health and Sciences University campus, extension of the Portland Streetcar line to Lake Oswego, and reconfiguring I-5 access ramps to provide easier and safer access to South Waterfront. Other proposals include a better bus connection to the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, replacing two pedestrian underpasses that are cur- rently the scene of unsavory activities with at-grade pedestrian crossings of Southwest Naito Parkway, installing a bike lane on Southwest Corbett Avenue on the steep northbound slope between Boundary and Hamilton streets, and adding various trail connections. Two of the proposals concerned South Portland board member Jim Gardner. One calls for new traffic signals on Southwest Naito Parkway, and one sug- gests an extension of Southwest Hooker Street from Naito to Kelley Avenue. Gardner is a longtime advocate of the South Portland Circulation Study, which would downgrade Naito from the freeway it currently is to a local street with at-grade connections. The improvements might lead to more use of Naito, which would give traffic en- gineers more pause about reducing its capacity, Gardner said. The Hooker change could lead to this street becoming a shortcut from Southwest Barbur Boulevard to Naito Parkway, dividing the neighborhood east and west as well as north and south. “We could get the worst aspects of the South Portland Circulation Study with- out the benefits,” he said. Told of Gardner’s comments, Pearce later told The Post that due to such concerns the Hooker connection would probably be only for pedestrians. He added, “The problem with improving access to the neighborhood is that a lot of people other than residents will use it. We’re trying to balance the transpor- tation needs of the South Waterfront with the livability needs of the older neighborhood.” Real Estate Guide To Advertise call Don or Harry 503-244-6933
