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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2009)
NEWS 4 • The Southwest Portland Post May 2009 Hillsdale, Multnomah neighborhoods to vote on Capitol Hill Road speed bumps By Lee Perlman The Southwest Portland Post The residents of Southwest Capitol Hill Road are off and running to make traffi c on their street slow down. Under a Portland Bureau of Trans- portation program, volunteers began on April 2 to secure the signatures of at least 67 percent of the occupants of the street to install 11 speed tables (elongated speed bumps) on the street between Southwest Barbur and Bertha boulevards. They have 60 days to get them. Proponents must also obtain the sup- port of the Hillsdale and Multnomah neighborhood associations. If they succeed, they win the right to raise the money for the tables, at $2,200 each, through voluntary contributions and fundraising. As City transportation planner Will Stevens explained at a kickoff meeting at West Hills Christian School in early April, the City has in the past helped pay for traffi c calming projects such as this through the Safer Routes to School and the Speed Bump Subsidy programs, among others. All such support is now gone, victims of the recession and subsequent budget cuts. “Here tonight we have neighbors so invested in traffi c safety that they’re willing to step up to the plate and self- fund this project,” Stevens said. Moreover, he said, it was local resi- dents, especially Mellani Calvin and Lisa Broten, who initiated the project. “They are the champions of this proj- ect,” he said. “This is not the City’s wish list project, this is the neighborhood’s project brought to you by the City.” However, it does meet the City’s cri- teria for these improvements. Surveys have shown that the 85 th percentile for the street is 31 miles per hour (meaning 15 percent exceeded this speed) while the posted limit is 25. Capitol Hill Road is designated a neighborhood collector (intended to carry through traffi c but not a major through route), and has a daily traffi c volume between 2,500 and 3,400 auto trips, less than the 10,000 limit for the program. Under the rules of the program, multi-family complexes of four units or more get one collective vote. The oc- cupants of all other occupied buildings, residential or otherwise, get one vote each. This includes properties with ad- dresses on side streets that in fact have frontage on CHR, and those on streets that have no other access. “Every property on the street is as Design commission approves Gibbs Street pedestrian bridge By Lee Perlman The Southwest Portland Post On their second review, after initially asking for additional information and revisions, the Portland Design Com- mission approved the design of the proposed Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge in April. At a previous hearing the month before, the Commission asked to see samples of the exterior materials to be used on the structure, and criticized the design of its two supporting piers. Project manager Jodi Yates and ar- chitect Carol Mayer Reed said that the materials would be cast concrete, with galvanized steel and steel mesh on the east end. Pedestrians and bicyclists will use an elevator to reach the bridge, 60 feet above ground at that point. Yates said the project team decided not to change the bridge piers, saying they didn’t want to “compete” with the aerial tram above it. While expressing some disappointment with this last choice (Gwen Millius called the piers the project’s “weak link,” and Jeff Stuhr said that they “really ruin this for me”), overall they expressed guarded satisfac- tion with the project. The bridge will connect Southwest Kelley and Moody streets, spanning Naito Parkway, Macadam Avenue and Interstate 5. According to Yates, construction should begin by the end of summer. This narrow stretch of Capitol Hill Road has little or no room for pedestrians. Speed bumps might make it a little less frightening. (Post photo by Don Snedecor) important as every other property, whether it’s half the size of the property next door or twice its size,” Stevens said. However, he added, “Vacant buildings don’t count. We’re not instituting traffi c calming to make buildings safer.” Turning to Steve Sagnotti, an outspo- ken opponent of the project, Stevens said, “Let’s say Steve doesn’t want the project, and I know he doesn’t. Let’s say his wife wants it, and I know she does. They have to work it out, and cast one vote either way.” Sagnotti has maintained that speed bumps are ineffective in slowing traffi c, and that there are better alternatives. At the kickoff meeting he suggested that CHR receive the same treatment as Southeast Clinton Street, where divert- ers restrict its use as a long-distance through route for autos. Stevens replied that Clinton has lower traffi c volumes and is not designated a collector. “The intent here is speed reduction, not diversion,” he said. “We’re trying to get it to operate at a safe speed.” Noting that proponents have two years to raise the money, Sagnotti then asked, “If they come up $1,000 short, will the City say, ‘Oh, we’ll give you $1,000?’ That’s not fair. They should pay the whole amount or stay out of it.” Stevens noted, “This project qualifi es for a subsidy; we just don’t have it.” Proponents can go with an alternative plan utilizing just nine tables if they are short of full fi nancing, but not for less than this. “The idea isn’t to reduce speed here, here and here, it’s to reduce the speed profi le of the street,” Stevens said. The Hillsdale Neighborhood As- sociation is scheduled to vote on the project on May 6 (at 7:00 p.m. at St. Barnabus Episcopal Church), and Multnomah NA on May 12 (at 7:00 p.m. at the Multnomah Center). According to Calvin, Hillsdale has informally shown strong support for the tables, while Multnomah is somewhat more ambivalent. Stevens emphasized that if the proj- ect does get off the ground, fi nancial contributions from property owners will be strictly voluntary. “Lisa’s a big proponent, but she’s paid me so much money on the side that she can’t afford to contribute,” he quipped. 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