The Southwest Portland Post., January 01, 2012, Page 6, Image 6

6 • The Southwest Portland Post
NEWS
Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge
half complete
NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
Last month the Portland Bureau
of Transportation and its contractors
installed the third of five horizontal
girders on the proposed Gibbs Street
Pedestrian Bridge, creating a span
more than halfway across the space
between Southwest Kelley Street
and Macadam Avenue.
Project Manager Jean Senechal
Biggs of PBOT said that the project
is on track for completion by March.
Lake Oswego to Portland
streetcar route more to
neighbors’ liking
The long-proposed Lake Oswego
to Portland streetcar route has been
given a new lease on life thanks to
a new study, one that pleases South
Portland residents for other reasons.
Earlier this year the Portland and
Lake Oswego city councils called
for further study of the controver-
sial route despite vocal opposition
in both cities.
Even Council members who
voted for further study said they
were not completely sold on the
project and, in particular, were
concerned about its projected $460
million price tag.
Last month Art Pearce of the
Portland Bureau of Transportation
told Portland Streetcar Inc.’s Citi-
zen Advisory Committee that new
studies had reduced the capital
cost to just $200 million.
Details of the new analysis were
not available at press time, but they
did include a shorter terminus in
Lake Oswego, initial acquisition
of fewer cars providing less fre-
quent service, and discounting the
acquisition cost of the Willamette
Shore Trolley right of way, valued
at nearly $100 million but already
publicly owned.
Another feature of the study is
that it puts more of the streetcar
route through South Portland on
January 2012
Portland Streetcar stops at Gibbs Street in the South Waterfront neighborhood.
(flickr file photo courtesy of pchurch)
Southwest Macadam Avenue rath-
er than the Willamette Shore right
of way. The switchover would
occur at Southwest Lowell Street
rather than Hamilton as previously
proposed, Pearce said.
South Portland activists feel the
Macadam route would allow the
streetcar to provide service and
incentive for development where
it would do the most good. The
Willamette Shore Right of Way
would take it, in some cases, within
a few feet of residential bedroom
windows.
South Portland activist Bill
Danneman told Pearce, “It’s only
taken us four years to get to this
place!”
Neighborhood coalition
weighs grant applications
As The Post went to press last
month, the staff and board of
Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc.
were contemplating how to dis-
perse the latest round of Neighbor-
hood Small Grants.
Under this program the City
of Portland annually disperses
money from its general fund
through the Office of Neighbor-
hood Involvement to SWNI and
six other neighborhood offices and
coalitions.
They in turn use it to award
grants to local community groups
for special projects. Among other
things, these projects are intended
to “increase the capacity” of the
group making the request, “en-
courage participation by under-
represented communities,” and
encourage partnerships.
This year SWNI was allotted
$23,000. They received 23 applica-
tions requesting a grand total of
$36,000.
A photo simulation of the Gibbs Street
pedestrian bridge as it crosses Inter-
state 5. (Courtesy Portland Bureau of
Transportation)
Coalition board members
fear community budget cuts
Anticipating bad economic times
ahead, Portland Mayor Sam Adams
has asked City bureaus to prepare
budgets that reflect an eight percent
cut from the 2011-2012 level.
Some southwest community ac-
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