2 • The Southwest Portland Post
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Former Sears Armory should be
used as a shelter for homeless
people
Patti Waitman-Ingebretsen vows
she is “shocked and appalled” at
[Portland Mayor Charlie Hales’]
recent effort to address Portland’s
housing emergency by opening a
temporary shelter at the former
armory in Multnomah [November
2015 letter].
She claims that the City is “dumping
EDITORIAL
these people on Southwest Portland.”
Really, Ms. Waitman-Ingebretsen?
You aren’t shocked at the numbers
of Portlanders losing their housing
because of skyrocketing rents and
heartless evictions? You aren’t
appalled at the conditions that some
families are forced to live in on the
streets around us?
Instead you are indignant over an
honest effort to provide basic shelter
to some of the most vulnerable
amongst us?
The mayor ’s measured plan for
a temporary housing facility in
Multnomah, primarily for women and
families, has touched off a vigorous
debate on social media, with a very
troubling surge of ugly NIMBYism
[not in my backyard] in Multnomah.
Fortunately, cooler heads have
prevailed and plans for temporary
housing in Multnomah are proceeding
quickly, hopefully in time to provide
shelter for over a hundred souls for
Thanksgiving.
Ms. Waitman-Ingebretsen, you don’t
speak for me or for the neighbors I
know in Multnomah. I, for one, salute
the political courage of the mayor
and welcome this belated effort to
begin to address the homeless crisis
all around us.
Chris Dearth
Multnomah
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23
Editor & Publisher .........Don Snedecor
Reporters/Writers ...........KC Cowan, Jack Rubinger
.............. Erik Vidstrand
Copy Editor ......................Rich Riegel
Advertising Sales ...........Harry Blythe, Rich Riegel,
Don Snedecor
Graphic Design ..............Leslie Baird Design
Printing ............................Oregon Lithoprint
Circulation .......................Rick Hepper
© 2015 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 $24
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.
December 2015
Need for up-zoning in the Multnomah
neighborhood should be questioned
OPEN FORUM
By Jerry L. Ward
Regarding, “Portland Comprehensive
Plan: Multnomah Village neighbors fight
for corridor at mixed-use forum,” by Erik
Vidstrand, The Post, November 2015.
I want to thank Multnomah
Neighborhood Association and
[Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc.] for
all the efforts they and have made to
“fight” the extreme up-zoning that our
planning and political bureaucrats have
been trying to foist on all of our city’s
neighborhoods through the [Portland]
Comprehensive Plan 2035 process.
I want to make three points that
I’ve experienced representing South
Portland NA (formerly Corbett/
Terwilliger/Lair Hill NA) as land use
chairman, Portland Development
Commission, North Macadam
Urban Renewal Advisory Committee
representative, and as a longtime
Portland architect/planner.
First, several years back after
completing the Macadam Avenue
Improvement Project and our own
(Johns Landing) Design Zone the
Planning Bureau thought that much
of the Johns Landing area needed to
be rezoned.
It was an attempt to up-zone even
though they tried to sell it as tweak-
zoning to better reflect how the area
had changed and better anticipate the
future. The future they wanted was
more density and introduction of more
commercial/retail, denser housing, etc.
Carl Simons (president) and I
questioned (with the board’s approval)
the need for up-zoning, and said the
present zoning allowed for the growth
they were anticipating.
We spent months cataloging all the
zoning and what had already been
built. We discovered that the build-out
was less than 50 percent of what the
present zoning allowed.
We also commissioned a traffic study
using an unbiased traffic engineering
firm from Seattle to show that if the
proposed up-zoning was allowed,
even with the completed Macadam
improvements, that there would be
over three major traffic intersection “F”
failures (the worse) along Macadam
Avenue plus several neighborhood
streets, like Corbett Street would reach
“F.”
We p re s e n t e d t h e s e f i n d i n g s
throughout the process and were able
to prevent the up-zoning. Our studies
proved to be true and there still remains
after almost 20 years much capacity for
growth in the Johns Landing area with
the existing zoning.
I think these same findings would
apply to Multnomah Village. I
encourage the Multnomah NA to
demand the [Bureau of Planning and
Sustainability] prove that the present
zoning hasn’t the capacity for several
decades of growth.
Also building taller isn’t always the
solution to adding density within the
present zoning, or what the planners
are proposing from going from CS to
CM2. Many times FAR (floor area ratio),
density can occur in the present zoning
of an area.
Second, Metro, Portland State
University, TriMet, and [Portland] city
planners have consistently predicted
more population growth than actuality.
For the past decade the predictions
have been over seven percent while it’s
[actually] been around 1.5 percent. Once
again planners in the 2035 process have
been predicting high growth rates.
All of their predictions for the past 40
years have been wrong. The planning
population projections should be
strongly questioned. Large planning
assumptions are being made based on
this one false premise.
Third, many citizens are not aware
how these minor or major up-zonings
or even “small” changes within building
codes can increase property taxes
immensely.
The recent media attention about
“granny flats” [detached accessory
dwelling units] that allowed for a total
reappraisal of property [by Multnomah
County accessors] to more than double
one’s property taxes demonstrates this.
Neighborhood plans, even with
minor changes affects appraisals. And
they even have appraisal effects beyond
the boundary of a planning area; it leaks
to nearby properties and sometimes
beyond.
Even those who expect change over
time, and realize that values most of
the time goes up, should be fearful of
how these neighborhood plans affects
their ability to continue to be a vibrant
citizen of their neighborhoods and not
to be displaced.
This applies to all categories of citizens-
homeowners, renters, commercial/
business owners. This point should be
clearly stated to all citizens as well as all
(Continued on Page 3)
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