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Celebrating 21 years of continuous Southwest news coverage!
Volume No. 22, Issue No. 5
www.swportlandpost.com
Snowmaggedon!
Portland, Oregon
Complimentary
March 2014
Southwest Corridor Plan rolls on with
full cast of characters and issues
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
Lucy and Tony Quinn of Multnomah measure snow depth on their deck Feb. 8.
Snowstorm story and photo essay on Pages 4-5. (Photo by Joanie Quinn)
Multnomah traffic-
calming campaign
aims to get attention
of drivers
– Page 3
The news of high capacity transit
planning has been in the news lately.
Everything from tunnels under Hills-
dale, MAX lines down Barbur Boule-
vard, and bus rapid transit have been
proposed.
Nothing has been decided yet. The
budget is not set. Barbur Boulevard is
not going down to one lane each way.
Bike lanes will not be sacrificed.
The mission is to bring some kind of
rapid transit service, either bus or light
rail, along Highway 99W between Port-
land State University and Sherwood.
There seems to be a role for anyone
who’s interested. To address this, the
Southwest Corridor Plan Portland
Working Group has been formed. It has
been meeting monthly since November.
The participants have read like a list
of who’s who of Southwest Portland.
Almost every Southwest neighbor-
hood and business association has been
represented.
Residents, business and property
owners have had influential voices.
Media, college students, and various
staff of elected officials have also been
in attendance.
The city of Portland, TriMet, Metro,
Oregon Department of Transportation,
Portland Bureau of Transportation,
Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc. and ad-
joining jurisdictional partners have all
been part of the mix. From a reporter’s
perspective, working with just one of
these entities can be a daunting task.
One of the main challenges has been
the variety of issues posed by the
Southwest Corridor Plan team in order
to appease bicyclists, pedestrians, and
commuters, while meeting strict envi-
ronmental regulations and addressing
mass transit needs for a growing south-
west community.
According to TriMet, over a quarter
of the Portland metro workforce com-
mutes from Southwest. There are a
variety of ways to become involved in
the Southwest Corridor Plan.
First of all, become familiar with the
website, www.oregonmetro.gov. A list
of all the partners, decision making
process, and timeline can be found here.
Second, consider attending the South-
(Continued on Page 6)
Portland teachers’ union strike averted Feb. 20 after 11th hour deal
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
After months of negotiations, Port-
land Public School and Portland Asso-
ciation of Teachers agreed on a tentative
deal that suspended the proposed strike
Feb. 20. At press time, the two sides had
not officially approved the deal.
The teachers union had voted to strike
at a special meeting Feb. 5 at the Arlene
Schnitzer Concert Hall.
If the conceptual agreement is ap-
proved, teachers and administrators
can get back to the business of serving
the 47,000 students of Oregon’s largest
school district.
Parents can breathe a sigh of relief
that they don’t have to worry about
child care or what to do with idle kids,
athletes can finish up their winter sport
season, and seniors can again count the
days down to graduation.
“With the latest snow closures,” one
parent said, “we weren’t looking for-
ward to more delays in the school day.”
The main issues were oversized
classrooms, increasing workload, add-
ing more school days, language about
standardized testing, and providing fair
compensation.
“It has never been about salary, they
just want to sustain what has been
promised,” one Southwest high school
teacher stated.
“PPS paid a state consultant $15,000
a month for the last 18 months to work
on mediation for the district! I’m in the
wrong field!”
The Portland Association of Teachers
and Portland Public Schools worked
over 10 months to reach a negotiated
settlement at the eleventh hour that
prevented a strike.
“Today, our schools are open as usual,
our teachers are in their classrooms and
our students are engaged in learning,”
Superintendent Carole Smith said. “I am
really pleased we are in this place today
and I share our whole community’s
sense of relief.”
Smith went on to say, “I want to
acknowledge that the process of bar-
gaining this contract has been long
and, at times, difficult for everyone
involved. Through it all, both teams
stayed committed to crafting a better
labor agreement.”
The Portland Association of Teachers
will soon announce their process for
ratifying the agreement. If the tentative
agreement is ratified by their member-
ship, the proposal will then go before the
Portland School Board for ratification.
Smith said she hopes all of this will
happen within the next few weeks.
“I would like to thank all of our com-
munity partners who stepped forward
with offers to help us keep our students
safe and fed in the event of a possible
strike,” Smith said.
Trying to capture the story proved
difficult for this reporter. Another high
school teacher, who also wished to re-
main anonymous, summed it up.
“Every teacher I know has a slightly
different perspective on the entire (bar-
gaining) process. I know I would not be
representing perhaps even the majority.
“The issues are extremely compli-
cated. It would take a long time and an
objective, diligent reporter to uncover
the complexities and undo the damage
that biased reporting has done.”
The details of the final agreement will
not be released until both sides have
ratified the deal.
Wilson High School teachers and parents demonstrate before a possible strike.
(Photo courtesy of Portland Association of Teachers)
Don’t forget to renew your subscription. Form on Page 2.
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Portland, OR 97206