June 2011
NEWS
NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge
construction affects traffic
The Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge
now under construction has had some
effect on local traffic, and is about to
have more.
Periodically, preliminary work on the
$13.2 million span linking the South
Waterfront with Southwest Kelley
Street has necessitated closure of the
I-5 Freeway off-ramp at Southwest
Hood Street.
According to project manager Jean
Sennechal Biggs, during two nights
between late June and mid-July, late at
night, the freeway itself will be closed.
Ironically, the detour will utilize Hood
for southbound traffic, while north-
bound traffic will be shunted to South-
west Macadam Avenue.
The closure will allow the relocation
of overhead directional signs that the
new bridge will hide from view, Biggs
said. Sometime between late July and
mid-August there will be a week of
nighttime work as crews hoist a main
Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge (File
illustration courtesy of Jody Yates,
Portland Bureau of Transportation)
horizontal girder into place.
“This is exciting,” Biggs said. “This is
the real bridge.” During this work the
Hood exit may once again be closed.
The project is somewhat behind its
original schedule due to more compli-
cated than anticipated utility work at its
inception. It was due for completion by
January 31, Biggs said, but is likely to
continue into mid-February.
City breaks ground on affordable
housing
Work crews last month broke ground
on a long-promised affordable housing
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project in the South Waterfront. The six-
story structure will be located on Block
49, bounded by Southwest Moody and
Bond avenues and Lowell and Bancroft
streets.
The new building will contain a total
of 209 units. Of these, 42 units will be
reserved for veterans earning 30 percent
of median area family income (about
$15,000 for a single person household)
or less. The rest will be affordable to
people earning 50 percent M.F.I., or
about $25,000.
The $50 million project is a partner-
ship between the new Portland Hous-
ing Bureau and REACH Community
Development. With 1,400 housing units,
concentrated primarily in southeast
Portland, REACH is the city’s largest
non-profit housing manager. They will
manage the building and purchase
12,000 square feet of ground floor space
for their new administrative offices.
The City of Portland is contributing
$29 million of the project cost, including
$21.71 million in tax increment funds
from the North Macadam Urban Re-
newal District.
The Southwest Portland Post • 3
office. Instead, Don Baack of Hillsdale,
chair of the SWNI Trails Committee,
and Marianne Fitzgerald of Ash Creek,
Transportation Committee chair, were
prepared to vie for the top spot.
At other positions, Jim McLaughlin of
West Portland Park challenged incum-
bent Ken Love of South Portland for
first vice-chair. Sharon Keast of Arnold
Creek and Moses Ross of Multnomah
were both seeking the second vice-chair
position. Lee Buhler of South Portland
was unopposed as secretary, as was
Linda Troutman of Marshall Park as
treasurer.
Southwest neighborhood
coalition holds board elections
The board of Southwest Neighbor-
hoods, Inc., a non-profit which contracts
with the City to provide services to
southwest neighborhood associations,
was scheduled to hold its annual of-
ficer elections on May 25, and unlike
some years the process promised to be
contentious.
Chair Brian Russell of Multnomah
is moving out of the neighborhood,
and was not a candidate to retain his
South Waterfront jail (Post file photo
by Don Snedecor)
Hearing set for
South Waterfront jail
A public hearing has been scheduled
on a request for a conditional use permit
for a detention facility for the federal
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(Continued on Page 7)