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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2008)
10 • The Southwest Portland Post NEWS August 2008 North/South light rail project planning moves forward without funding By Lee Perlman The Southwest Portland Post Public bodies last month gave their approval to a revised Portland to Milwaukie light rail route, including a new transit bridge across the Wil- lamette River. As The Post went to press, the South Portland Neighborhood Association, the Portland Development Commis- sion and the Portland Planning Com- mission had given their blessing to the $1.3 billion project. The Portland City Council and Metro Council were scheduled to vote on it in late July. The proposed line would extend from the Transit Mall to a station at Southwest Third Avenue and Lincoln Street. From there it would go to a station at Southwest Porter Street in the South Waterfront, near a proposed new Oregon Health and Sciences Uni- versity campus and within fi ve blocks of the school’s aerial tram. From there it would cross the river on a new bridge, available for rail transit, buses, bikes and pedestrians, to a station at Southeast Sherman Street, near the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and land it in- tends to develop. From there it would proceed south through southeast Portland, with several stops along the way, to Milwaukie. A major unknown is where the funding for the project will come from. Metro will apply for $750 mil- lion from the Federal Transit Admin- istration, but to receive it they must have specifi c commitments for the rest. Making the application “doesn’t require the city to come up with the money now, but we do need to start looking for it,” TriMet’s Dave Un- sworth told the Portland Planning Commission. Representatives of the urban re- newal advisory committees for the North Macadam and Central East Side Urban Renewal districts gave their support in principal to the project, but made it clear they could contribute little if anything to it. Steve Gray of the North Macadam URAC told the PDC Commission, “We need rail transit; otherwise we’ll have more cars than the district can support.” However, he added, “All our urban renewal funds are com- mitted through the year 2012. We also have fees and Local Improve- ment District assessments that are excessive.” PDC chair Mark Rosenbaum noted, “Light rail has served this city in the past extraordinarily well. A key con- cern is that the two urban renewal areas this route will go through have no funds, and no expectations of hav- ing any in the future. We will need creative solutions.” South Waterfront Park to get new European-style public toilet By Lee Perlman The Southwest Portland Post The South Waterfront’s proposed new public park may become a guinea pig for a new public toilet. As City Commissioner Randy Leonard told the Portland Design Commis- sion last month, he is working on a prototype public toilet that would provide necessary privacy, yet be open enough to preclude the types of crime and misuse public toilets traditionally are used for, and would cost a fraction as much. Modeled on European models, the new facilities would have enough opaque material to cover the mid-sec- tion of a man standing up or a woman sitting down, but allow people to see in at the bottom and top. The fi rst prototype will be placed at Northwest Third Avenue and Couch Street, an area where public urination is a serious problem, he said. Among other locations identifi ed is the South Waterfront Park, bounded by South- west Moody and Bond avenues and Curry and Gaines streets. “Americans are a very modest people,” Leonard told the Commis- sion. “Europeans have a very different attitude. They don’t care if you can see the lower bodies of men and the upper bodies of women” while they are using a toilet.” They could be used downtown, in parks and other locations, in place of more conventional toilets that cost as much as $350,000 apiece and often are kept locked for security reasons. Leonard conceded that the new toilets aren’t for everyone. “The original idea was to have a restroom your mother would be comfortable using,” Leonard told the Commission. “My reaction is that your mother is not the problem.” Tourists could use the facilities in their hotel rooms or restaurants, he said. He conceded that the facilities could and probably would be used for “illicit activities” in some cases but added, “To use that as an excuse not to have public restrooms is not a suffi cient argument. Balance that against the alternative.” Leonard’s prototype called for plastic panels that could be easily replaced if damaged. 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