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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 2009)
14 <;i I I I O í V i street r o o t s } |) Education* Dialogue* Independence City doesn’t have to play ball to invest in Lents BY PAULETTE FILZ G U E S T C O L U M N fST ore than 150 residents of Lents gathered in their beautiful park on June 3, to have a chance to-have their opinions heard. With a mixture of sadness, anger, frustration, even puzzlement, they made it clear that the park i§ heavily used, and cherished in its present form. Any commercialization intended to draw 6,000 to 8,000 people into a residence- ringed park will cause a serious drop in the quality of life for these, families. They already deal with parked cars crowding the small streets for blocks around on summer weekends, but have learned to live with it because they love the park, too. At least those crowds never approach 6,000. . But in their zeal to convince residents ■ that a stadium would be a good thing, developers suggest adding concerts, festivals, and other community events to make use of the large stadium on days when there gre no Beavers games. They miss the point Neighbors are not worried about baseball; they are worried about crowd noise, increased litter, bright lights, congested streets and lowered property values. If you decide to sell your house and move because of these problems, who would buy it? Though thè new light fail and 1-205 can carry large numbers of people, they only go nórth and south. The east-west routes drivers will use are Powell^ Holgate, Harold and Foster. Of these,, only Foster is consistently four lanes; the others .fluctuate between two and four lanes, causing congestion as lanes nyerge. There is real resistance to coming to an “outer-southeast” area by those Who live on the west side, as stated in many comments on sports blogs. This is yet another reason why a new stadium here may not be successful. Supporters of the MLS/Baseball deal M " If we look at the URA in Northwest Portland or the South Waterfront Project, we would see a number of URA-funded projects that were divergent from the originally intended uses. Most of these projects happened under Mayor Vera K atz' administration with Chief of Staff Sam Adams." Paulette File is a member ofth e Friends o fLents Park Steering Committee: lentspark@gmail.com insist that a stadium Will “revitalize” Lents. However, the research does not bear that out. (Here is a link to a lengthy study of Triple-A baseball and community economics just released^ bojack.org/iihages/ stadiumstudy.pdf). Only if a stadium is sited in a downtown area does it signal improved economy. Stadiums built farther out, particularly hot at major transportation Crossroads, rarely improve the neighborhood. Instead of seeing their home values rise, the Lents neighborhood may see an under-used stadium surrounded by - ‘ closed restaurants, coffee shops, and other bhsinesses. And the only place to build those new shops is where houses are now. Developers are notorious for forcing out homeowners while paying them pennies on the dollar for their homes. Then Lents would have an even greater need for affordable housing. We have been given a rosy picture of the commercial future of Lents that may not happen. Can Lents afford to gamble with its families on this deal? But another significant concern is the proposed use of $42 million in urban renewal funds. Although planners speak in terms of wanting to help Lents, it is becoming apparent that the existence of these funds is what makes Lents so attractive to developers. This targeting of urban renewal funds is exactly why the 30 percent set-aside for affordable housing was created in the first place. It would be sad if the very commissioner who worked so hard to get it designated - Randy Leonard — is the very person instrumentalin wanting to disregard the affordable-housing protection now. Locals say that the transfer of such a large amount into one project would nearly eliminate new affordable housing in Lents forthree to five years', to build up' the fund again. There have been criticisms in the media that Lents is “not using” these funds. But there is steady progress in Lents, in small projects, which are the kind to help a community grow gradually. Using $42 million on one project, one that has some risk to it, is not the best use for the community. Think of how many housing units and business startups could be nurtured with that money! That is what Lents needs,not a ball stadium. "This targeting of urban renewal funds Is exactly why the 3 0 percent set- aside for affordable housing was created In the first place. It would be sad If the very commissioner who worked so hard to get It designated K Randy Leonard— is the very person instrumental in wanting to disregard the affordable housing protection now." Urban renewal funding by Lents, for Lents BY DAN NEWTH also own a thank-you to all residents of economic development. The mayor’s; office commissioned a study to evaluate the Portland and Multnomah County because oving into a home after years on they are subsidizing the Lents Urban economic impact of the sweetheart deal, Portland streets was bitter sweet. Renewal funding. • and the result was Portland would lose I loved my wife,. Twila, and her Lents area property taxes have been more than 100 "living-wage jobs. Lately the crooked little house that she’d owned diverted and away from desperately needed mayor’s office refers to the project as an “amenity?^' S® ~~ —— — lived in for 20 years, bu^Tfelt"separation county services, like jails, county medical, anxiety from the community I had come to mental health and Adult and Family - What really made me mad is the plan to know volunteering and selling Street Services, leaving others to carry the load " take $42 million from the Lents urban Roots. To. overcome the insecurity, I began or just fall through the cracks. renewal area funding on Lents Park by bonding with my new home. Cooking our building a baseball stadium and parking lot Understanding the benefits and terrible meals, growing a garden in the backyard for Paulson’s minor league baseball team. cost of urban renewal funding, I still and doing handyman repairs around the The project has the support of Randy support the concept if it is used for its house put a smile on Twilá’s face and Leonard, Mayor Sam Adams and most of intended purposes of building affordable helped me feel I was contributing. There the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal housing, helping people with incomes was no shortage of house repairs needed, Committee. below median income become home ‘ includingplumbing, electrical and sagging I don’t think the committee represents owners, helping low-incóme homeowners sheetrock from a leaky roof. The leaky roof maintain their homes and supporting the majority of Lents residents. Every turned into a bigger problem than I could neighbor I have talked to thinks building a economic'growth through small professional baseball stadium in Lents deal with. And black mold quickly ^become businesses. Too often it has been Park using URA funding is wrong. Lents . a serious health concern, not to mention subverted to build pet projects that make residents have even organized “Friends of the dangerous, imminent collapse of the | developers richer and deprive the poor Lents*Park.” June 3rd was the first roof and all that would destroy. We needed and under-represented of the support they meeting. About 150 to 200 people to completely tear off and replace the have a right to. attended and opposed the baseball If we look at the URA in Northwest ' 80-year-oldroof. . stadium. I was energized by the ftnity Portland or the South Waterfront Project, We didn’t have money to replace the building in my community. We. don’t want we would see a number of URA-funded roof, but because we were below median " to lose our green park space, we don’t income and lived in the Lents Urban projects that were divergent from thè want the increased traffic in our originally intended uses. Most of these Renewal Area (URA) we were able to projects happened under Mayor Vera Katz’ residential neighborhood,and we; don’t apply to the Portland Development administration with Chief of Staff Sam ‘ want our URA funding sunk into a get- Commission for a loan that we used to ' richer-quick scheme by some multi- repair our roof and the water damage that Adams. millionaire team owner. y ♦ Vera’s back at City Hall again, this time was destroying our home. Without the as a lobbyist for multi-millionaire sport We do have some allies in this political J URA funded loan, we would have lost our teàm owner Merritt Paulson. Paulson, struggle; Commissioner Nick Fish, home, and without anyone living in our with Vera’s help, has come up with a local Commissioner Amanda Fritz, Community crooked old mold infested house the plan to take our tax dollars and build one neighborhood would have suffered one Development Network, Portland Parks new stadium in Lents Park while renovate Advisory Board and other politically aware more blight. There is.no question in my mind that Lents Urban Renewal funding . the PGÈ Park Stadium. Re iseven pulling Portlanders. Please help us by contacting a trick out of Dick Cheney’s bag and has has gradually improved the Lents Commissioner Dan Saltzman dsaltzman® awarded himself a no-bid contract for his community. I own thanks to; the residents ci.portland.or.us, 503-8234151 or construction company to do all the work. of Lents because our property tax dollars write: c/o City Hall SW Fourth Avenue^ Portland, Oft 97204 5 They tried to sell this pork project as subsidized the loan to repair our roof. I G U E S T C O L U M N IS T M Read up on previous stories a t our blog, www.streetroots.wordpress.com
