2 • The Southwest Portland Post
EDITORIAL
February 2016
Is mismanagement, rather than lack of funds, keeping PBOT projects from completion?
OPEN FORUM
By Don Baack
Portland Bureau of Transportation
and Commissioner Steve Novick have
been singing the “No Money Blues” for a
long time. But is it really a lack of money
that keeps projects from getting done?
In 2001 the State of Oregon awarded a
$1,000,000 grant to the Transportation
Bureau to fix five crosswalks along
Barbur Boulevard in Southwest
Portland.
A couple were done in a year or
so, the fourth was done in 2014,
and the fifth crosswalk (Southwest
Alice Street) was just completed in
December 2015, and was reportedly
funded by the Oregon Department of
Transportation. What happened to the
$1,000,000? I have never seen a report
of where the money went.
The crosswalk of Southwest Naito
Parkway at Whitaker Street, one of five
included in the city council-approved
South Portland Circulation Study of
2001, was funded with the Hooley
Pedestrian Bridge.
The crosswalk design has been done
for years; ODOT’s permission to build
the crosswalk (Highway 99W) has
been secured.
The bridge was completed in 2012;
the crosswalk was unfunded, then
refunded and was supposed to be
constructed in the fall of 2015.
It is still not done and no one seems to
know where the money went or when
this important link will be completed.
It is a key connection between
Oregon Health & Sciences University
campuses, 4T walking route, Urban
Trail 1 and an alternate route when the
OHSU aerial tram is not in operation.
People trying to cross Whitaker Street
without a signal-protected crossing
face a serious safety challenge.
In September 2014, SW Trails obtained
an agreement with Commissioner
Novick’s office to build a trail for the
many students going from the new
Stephens Creek Crossing housing
development to Robert Gray Middle
School.
The Portland City Council funded
the project in October 2014. The
transportation bureau is still fumbling
around trying to figure out how work
with SW Trails to get the project done.
It is not that SW Trails has never
built important connections. We have
done 20 to 30 of them all with permits
when they were required, some of
which now need maintenance.
The transportation bureau seems
to have become a black hole of
planning, planning, planning and
not getting projects, especially small
projects, done in a reasonable time.
The bureau has had funds to do
trail maintenance since the 2015-2016
budget was passed but is still trying
to figure out how to work with SW
Trails to get the maintenance done.
Problem is they have never engaged
SW Trails in a conversation about
getting trail maintenance done. SW
Trails has submitted suggestions, but
nothing has happened. No response,
just a black hole. We deserve better
than that from our city government.
well
be
…
and well informed
Bowman’s Hillsdale
Pharmacy
6256 SW Capitol Hwy.
Celebrating
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509, Portland, OR 97206
Years in
Business!
Phone: (503) 244-6933; Fax: (866) 727-5336
general email: news@multnomahpost.com
web address: www.swportlandpost.com
23
Editor & Publisher .........Don Snedecor
Reporters/Writers ...........KC Cowan, Jack Rubinger
.............. Erik Vidstrand
Copy Editor ......................Rich Riegel
Advertising Sales ...........Rich Riegel, Don Snedecor
Graphic Design ..............Leslie Baird Design
Printing ............................Oregon Lithoprint
Circulation .......................Rick Hepper
© 2016 by The Southwest Portland Post. All rights reserved. The opinions of the
artists and authors contained herein are not necessarily shared by the publisher.
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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
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503-244-7582
email: pharmacy@hillsdalerx.com
• Flu shots available
•Blisters? We can help
•Experienced compounding
pharmacists
What is the problem Commissioner
Novick? Is it money or is it poor
management?
Don Baack is a Hillsdale resident
and is founder of SW Trails. The
Post welcomes reader response. Write
letters up to 300 words to editor@
multnomahpost.com. Please include
name and contact information. Interested
in writing a guest column? Contact
Don Snedecor, editor, at 503-244-6933
or don@multnomahpost.com. Note: we
reserve the right to edit all opinion pieces
for brevity, clarity, punctuation, and
libel concerns. Deadline is the 20th of
the month prior to publication.
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in the March edition of The Post!
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(richriegel@aol.com) or Don Snedecor at 503-244-6933
(don@multnomahpost.com).
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Deadline is February 19.