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Burlingame • Capitol Hill
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Celebrating 21 years of continuous Southwest news coverage!
Volume No. 22, Issue No. 4
www.swportlandpost.com
Portland, Oregon
Complimentary
– Page 6
February 2014
Multnomah NA threatens lawsuit over sale of Freeman water tank property
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
Woods Park Advocates, a subcom-
mittee of the Multnomah Neighbor-
hood Association, recently threat-
ened to sue the city if the Water
Bureau completed the sale of the site,
0.7-acres of wooded land that houses
a defunct water tank, to Renaissance
Homes.
The neighborhood’s attorney ar-
gued the city violated state and local
laws with the sale.
Commissioner Nick Fish, who runs
the bureau, maintained that the city
was bound by its sales contract with
Renaissance, which the city signed
more than a year ago.
Fish said the city faced the possibil-
ity of a lawsuit from the developer
if he canceled the sale — or from
neighbors if he completed it. So he
requested mediation.
“In response to the city attorney’s
correspondence,” said Woods Park
Advocates chair Jeremy Solomon,
“we support Commissioner Fish’s
effort to improve citizen involvement
and decision-making
in the stewardship
of valuable public
resources like the
Freeman water tank
property.”
Solomon went on to
say that Multnomah
provisionally agrees
to mediation between
the three parties: the
c i t y, R e n a i s s a n c e
Homes (the develop-
er), and the neighbor-
hood subcommittee.
“Provided this can
be accomplished in
an expedited manner,
the closing of the sale
will be postponed
until mediation has
been tried or one of
the parties quits,” The Woods Park Advocates board continues to fight the sale of the Freeman water tank property to Renais-
Solomon explained. sance Homes. (Post photo by Erik Vidstrand)
He maintained the
subcommittee’s willingness to medi-
water tank property, sent a letter to
have been happening at an acceler-
ate does not change their fundamen-
Commissioner Nick Fish, and the
ated pace. Attorney Kristian Roggen-
tal position that the contract for the
city attorney.
dorf, who was hired by the Woods
proposed sale is illegal.
The letter detailed the many ways
Park Advocates to review the legal
Over the past several weeks, things
(Continued on Page 7)
standing regarding the sale of the
Safeway concerns include bus stop,
sidewalk connectivity, truck routes
THE COUNTRY STORE
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
Portland Bureau of Transportation is due to pave the TriMet bus stop pull-out lane at the
new Barbur Safeway by mid-February. A new bus shelter is also scheduled for comple-
tion. (Post photo by Erik Vidstrand)
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Portland, OR 97206
The TriMet bus stop situated at
Southwest Capitol Hill Road and
Barbur Boulevard still remains closed
since the new Safeway supermarket’s
grand opening last November. A tem-
porarily stop is located a half a block
farther south on Barbur.
According to Luke Stanhope, Safe-
way public and government affairs
manager, Safeway dedicated property
on Barbur to construct the required
sidewalk width and to allow for the
new bus pull-out.
Final construction plans will include
a bus shelter.
“The process took longer than we
had anticipated,” Stanhope explained.
“PGE had to install a new power pole
and relocate power from the existing
pole to the new one.
“At this point, we are discussing
approval of the paving and striping
final plan with the Portland Bureau of
Transportation. When that is resolved,
the work will commence.”
The bus stop isn’t the only project
left undone. The ongoing concern
about the lack of sidewalk connectivity
from the grocery store to Multnomah
Boulevard was brought up at a recent
Multnomah Neighborhood Associa-
tion meeting.
Some neighbors were also concerned
about delivery trucks that weren’t
meeting terms agreed upon by the
two parties. Safeway assured local
residents that trucks would not cut
through neighborhoods when leaving
the store.
According to MNA chair Moses Ross,
the understanding was that the trucks
were going to go down Multnomah
Boulevard to Oleson Road (by Lamb’s
Thriftway) and connect to freeways
and not use local access roads.
“It was part of the neighborhood
discussion [with Safeway officials]
prior to it being built,” Ross stated. “I
have also seen the trucks go to South-
west 40th and connect to Capitol Hwy
[which] can create a traffic headache
and also be dangerous, adding to the
pedestrian and bike safety concerns
along Capitol that already exist.”
Ross has yet to contact Safeway in an
official capacity but said he plans to.
Safeway had its grand reopening
in early November and business has
been relatively steady, especially with
the holiday season and unique kosher
foods department.
But weeks after opening, floor tiles
had to be ripped up to get access to
frozen water pipes which broke dur-
ing the extreme frigid temperatures in
early December.
The pipes have been replaced and
floor tiles are back like nothing had
ever happened.
“All-in-all, we hope customers have
been pleased with our new store,”
Stanhope said. “The paving should be
complete by mid-February depending
on weather.”
(Continued on Page 4)