2 • The Southwest Portland Post
EDITORIAL
The Southwest Portland Post
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
Fax: (866) 727-5336
email: editor@multnomahpost.com
Regarding, “Potholes and other miser-
able road maintenance issues, Part III,”
by Lee Braymen-Cleary, The Post, July
2014.
Legally, can neighbors pool
their funds and pave their
own street?
First, thank you for the time you
have put into researching this. I be-
lieve I’ve received a different answer
from each individual I’ve asked
despite the fact that the bottom line
has always been that my street ain’t
gettin’ fixed. In all honestly, this is
completely unacceptable to me.
I live on a dead end street off
[Southwest] Capitol Highway not
too far from Barbur Boulevard. We
have a paved road but wear and tear
from the 12 infill houses in the past
10 years, mine included, have been
destroying the street.
My neighbors on 42nd contacted
the city to rebuild their portion,
which has never been paved. The
City estimated $100,000 to $400,000
to pave, add sidewalks and manage
Celebrating
21
Years in
Business!
drainage for a quarter of a block. My
neighbors on 43rd hired someone
without permission and paid under
$10,000 for about the same area.
Is there any avenue to legally ac-
complish what the folks on 43rd did
or must we just accept the inflated
cost with all of the other unnecessary
(in my humble opinion) things like
sidewalks and drainage?
We don’t have them now, why
should we be required to pay for
them if the City isn’t willing to help?
Why can’t we just improve our road
at free market rate and let the City do
the rest if they want. That seems their
responsibility anyway, as if the streets
are not. These are not new questions.
Again, thanks for stirring the pot
on this issue. My grandkids may one
day live in my house and have streets
safe enough to walk and bike on. Or
at least I can dream about it.
Ben Sturgill
Multnomah
City needs to do something to
dam up the 41st Street River
I read your article with much inter-
est. The picture you posted is actually
in front of our house on Southwest
41st Avenue. 42nd is in very good
shape.
We’ve paid for patching once al-
ready and are about to patch again.
It’s worse than it’s ever been with
water now cascading off Southwest
Capitol Highway, traversing across
Carson Street, through a couple back
yards then down 41st Avenue. The
picture you have is after our last big
rain when we call it the 41st Street
River.
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
Phone: (503) 244-6933; Fax: (866) 727-5336
general email: news@multnomahpost.com
web address: www.swportlandpost.com
Editor & Publisher:
Reporters/Writers:
Copy Editor:
Advertising Sales:
Graphic Design:
Printing:
Don Snedecor
Lee Braymen-Cleary,
KC Cowan, Erik Vidstrand
Rich Riegel
Don Snedecor, Harry Blythe
Leslie Baird Design
Oregon Lithoprint
© 2014 by The Southwest Portland Post. All rights reserved. The opinions of the artists
and authors contained herein are not necessarily shared by the publisher.
Deadline for news and advertising is generally the 20th of the month prior to
publication. Please call for current deadline information. Advertising rates are available
upon request.
The Post has a circulation of 7,000 in Multnomah Village and the surrounding
neighborhood business districts including Burlingame, Capitol Hill, Garden Home,
Glen Cullen, Hillsdale, South Portland, Raleigh Hills, West Portland and Vermont
Hills. The Post is published on or about the 1st of every month. Subscriptions are $14
per year. Back issues are $2.50 each when available. All major credit cards accepted.
The Post is printed on recycled
newsprint using soy-based inks.
We are about to embark on our own
project (with the city or the Oregon
Department of Transportation—our
own fishing expedition) to get them to
stop the water off of Capitol Highway.
This is a recent happening.
A few years ago “they” put up a
sign which reads “Roadway Not Im-
proved.” We don’t know who put it
up, but we felt it was fairly obvious
that the roadway wasn’t improved!
Maybe Ken Martin will share some
insight after his fishing trip.
Susan Evans
Multnomah
Lee Braymen-Cleary responds: Ken
Martin says he caught no whoppers
August 2014
on his vacation, but he did help me
with more annexation facts that may
apply to your street as well as those
of many other residents. And these
aren’t whoppers; in fact, they are un-
derwhelming.
Here’s more or less what Martin
said. The city plans to maintain streets
that were up to standards when an-
nexed. So if, say, frustrated people go
ahead and pave without contacting
the city first, their paving job might
not be up to standards.
It would behoove interested people
wanting to pave to first check with the
city. Also, there is the chance that long
ago a developer paved a street and did
a poor job. Once again, the city would
feel no obligation to maintain them.