6 • The Southwest Portland Post Parking Problems in Multnomah (Continued from Page 1) publicize the list.” Snedecor suggested that signs should be posted in all stores encouraging employees and customers to bike, walk, or take the bus if they are able; to remind everyone of the on-street parking time limits; and that free parking is available at the Multnomah Center. Back at the Fusion Hair Salon, Marshall, and her mother, Adrienne, the other co-owner, continued the discussion. They’ve seen it all during their 11 years at their salon. “The parking issues are complaint driven,” Marshall sighed, “so you don’t see them (enforcement officers) all that often. Some people call; many don’t.” “A lack of parking creates a domino effect,” Adrienne added. “This intersection (Southwest 36th Avenue and Capitol Highway) becomes a slapstick routine right out of a Laurel and Hardy episode. “Cars want to turn right, but then, someone is pulling out of a spot. This holds up traffic. Then folks coming down 36th try to turn and it becomes gridlock.” Suddenly, a TriMet bus roared down the viaduct into the village honking to warn pedestrians. “Maybe an elderly person won’t respond in time and then what?!” said Adrienne. Marshall said she has been calling TriMet for 11 years. “First responders have also had a difficult time getting to an emergency,” Marshall said. C a s h G o rd o n a t O ’ C o n n o r ’ s confirmed Marshall’s complaint. “This has happened several times,” said Gordon. “Between the new storm- swales and the traffic, it took almost 45 minutes to get to the medical emergency. “Fortunately, the customer was with NEWS February 2015 a medical doctor at the time.” What about metered parking? “Yes!” both women shouted. “The city is hungry for money.” As the conversation ended, another TriMet bus came barreling down the viaduct into the village and honked. Transportation bureau responds to Post questions about parking Post reporter Erik Vidstrand contacted Diane Dulken with the Portland Bureau of Transportation. After researching our questions with several city experts, she responded as follows. Q: There was a rumor that parking would increase to four hours in some spaces? A: There are no current plans to do so. The city rarely installs four-hour parking zones. A four-hour zone largely defeats the goal of parking turnover in support of local businesses. Q: How does the city determine if a vehicle is parked past the allotted time? A: We currently use electronic handheld devices, which allow us to know which cars have stayed past the time limit. Q: What can be done about parking violations? A. If you see cars staying over the time limit or parking illegally, give Parking Enforcement a call and request enforcement. If you can give license plates of the vehicles, that really helps. Call us at (503) 823-5195 and follow the prompts. Q: What happens when a new business moves in? When one of the new owners was asked about parking requirements, they said that parking wasn’t required. A: Parking requirements for new Dec. 21, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, found the lower lot of the Multnomah Arts Center with 36 empty spots while parking chaos was happening in the center of the village. (Post photo by Erik Vidstrand) developments are found in the zoning code, Title 33.266. Capitol Highway and 35th Avenue, and most of the “heart” of Multnomah Village, is zoned Storefront Commercial (CS). I n t h e C S z o n e , c o m m e rc i a l developments are not required to provide off-street parking. Bureau of Development Services manages p a r k i n g re q u i re m e n t s f o r n e w developments. Portland also has very robust programs for business owners to mitigate employee parking through transportation demand management strategies. For more information, they may call Steve Hoyt-McBeth at (503) 823-7191. Q: Will parking meters appear in the future? A: While we don’t want to speculate about the future, at this time the City has no plans to expand meters into Multnomah Village. If a proposal arises in the future, it will be accompanied by public outreach and public hearings. Q: Visitors think there may not be any ticketing since there are no meters. Does two hours mean two hours? A. Parking Enforcement Officers enforce regulated parking throughout the entire city – in metered and non- metered areas. Yes, one hour means one hour. Vehicles parked in excess of posted time durations may receive a parking ticket for that violation. (Operative hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mon. – Sat., excluding city recognized holidays.) Q: Will parking enforcement officers start coming to Multnomah Village more and more? Have there been a lot of tickets? A: Parking Enforcement already covers the village on a regular basis. We do not currently have the ability to determine how many citations are written for a specific area of town. For more information on city parking issues, call (503) 823-5185 or click on https://www.portlandoregon. gov/transportation. To continue the dialogue, join the Multnomah Village Facebook page. POST A TO Z BUSINESS CARD DIRECTORY 503-244-6933 Fox Accounting & Tax Services, Inc. (503) 246-6994 10151 SW Barbur Blvd., Suite 106D, Portland, OR 97219 connie@foxaccountingandtax.com Enrique Gomez Morayta, MD Board Certified Internal Medicine Integrative Holistic Medicine Enrolled Agents with over 20 years experience providing Tax Preparation and accounting services to individuals and small businesses. Let us put that experience to work for you. 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