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T he P ori land O bserver • A pril 3, 1996
(Elje
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W bseruer
King Housing Plan Draws Fire
L ee P fri man
Debate over a new rental housing
or home ownership is waging on
Martin Luther King Junior Boule­
vard.
The Northeast Community De­
velopment Corp and its partners are
moving closer to a design for their
proposed 55-unit housing project at
Northeast MLK and Prescott.
At a meeting last week some of
their closest neighbors showed more
fundam ental concerns about the
project.
T hey w ere concerned about the
p r o je c t’s size, its h e ig h t, the
am ount o f traffic and p ark in g
co n g estio n it will g en erate, and
the d ecisio n to use the site for
rental housing at all.
Architect Don Stastny said that so
far plans call for the structure to be
divided into five “masses” ranging in
height from two to four stories. There
will be shared open space and a sep­
arate entry for each group o f four or
five apartments. Parking will be in
the rear.
Jaki Walker, NECDC executive
director, said the building’s front will
be designed to “ look like it was there
bv
Carl Talton
a longtime and recently remodeled.”
Lenora Jeanmarie, who said she
has lived behind the site since 1969,
was not impressed. “This will be
nothing but a red light district with
hookers flagging down Johns,” she
said.
Her neighbor, C arrie Spears,
agreed. “Next door is a rental build-
ing where there are problems all the
time. If this was owner-occupied, it
would be different,” Spears said
Rob Gui II, another neighbor asked,
"How was the decision made to make
this a rental instead o f condomini­
ums? Tenants don’t care, they expect
the landlord to fix things.”
Walker said that the decision was
based in part on available funding.
"It took us three years to get financ­
ing for our town homes on Roselawn,"
she said. “Condos are not popular in
the Pacific Northwest I don’t think
there’s a bank in town that would
want to finance 55 condos” on North­
east Martin Luther King Boulevard
She added that prospective ten­
ants would be screened for past prob­
lems, and that there would be a resi­
dent staff member to deal with prob­
lems in the complex.
Carl T alton, chairman o f the Port­
land Development Commission and
an NECDC board member, said,
“During the Albina Community
Plan people said they wanted a
diversity o f housing here. At first we
concentrated on home ownersh ip, and
w e’ve been a little too successful.
People are being forced out o f the
area by rising home prices, and there’s
a need for low-income rental hous­
ing,” he said.
Guill, Jeanmarie and Eugene Gora,
owner o f a nearby welding shop,
were also concerned about traffic
and parking congestion the building
might generate. "T here’s traffic ga­
lore on Prescott now,” Jeanmarie
said, “and what do you think 55 units
will do to that? I don’t appreciate
that." Guill and Gora also said they
wanted fewer units in a lower struc­
ture.
Walker said the project will have
1.5 parking spaces per unit, as com­
pared to .5 spaces for the Albina
Corner project now under construc­
tion at Northeast San Rafael Street.
Channa Grace o f the Los Angeles-
based ON E Corporation, a partner in
the project, said planners have delib­
erately kept parkingaccessoffNorth-
east Martin Luther King Boulevard
so as not to disturb traffic flow.
Guill said this didn’t address the
parking needs o f retail businesses
that may occupy part o f the ground
floor, particularly since the boule­
vard has no on-street parking.
Stephen Foust, chair o f the King
Neighborhood Association's land use
committee, said he liked the project.
The association agreed to allow high
density zoning on Northeast Martin
Luther
K ing B oulevard during the Al-
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t=i •
equal mousing
bina Plan in o rd e r to get the city
to p re se rv e the sin g le fam ily
housing behind it, he said. If the
c o m m u n ity w o n 't a c c e p t th e
hig h er d e n sity , the c ity m ight
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T alton said , “ No m atter w ha,
you put on this site , som eone w ill
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Adapt-A-Home Program
Wins National Award
The county o f Multnomah, O re­
gon has been named the First Place
winner in the category o f counties
in the 1995 N.O.D./UPS Commu­
nity Awards C om petition. The
county will receive an award o f
$3,500. Nine othercommunities na­
tionwide received awards ranging
from $ 1,000 to $ 10,000. The awards
recognize the most creative pro­
grams across America which in­
crease opportun ities for peop le with
disabilities to participate in the life
o f their communities.
The county was recognized for
addressing the shortage o f accessi­
ble. affordable housing for people
with disabilities by funding the
Adapt-A-Home Program created
Unlimited Choices Inc., which of­
fers grants to persons with disabil­
ities o f up to $2,000 to be used to
make houses or rental units accessi­
ble. Adapt-A-Home focuses on the
needs o f low-income and elderly
residents, and on foster home and
institutio n alized housing. The
grants are funded by Community
Development Block Grant funds.
The independent panel o f judges
commended the effective, profes­
sional evaluation o f need and the
bid process. The judges also noted
the additional services offered by
Unlimited Choices, Inc., the non­
profit sponsor o f the program, in­
cluding independent living skills
training, personalized counseling,
and education for program partici­
pants.
Program Director, Brenda Jose
explains, “Adapt-A-Home is a pro­
gram that is both fiscally conserva­
tive and socially responsible. By
keeping people out o f institutions,
we save tax payer dollars while pre­
serving an independent quality o f
life. Integrating people with dis­
abilities into our communities en­
riches us all.”
M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty C h a ir
B everly Stein, who accep ted the
UPS aw ard at the O pen H ouse
cerem o n y , p raises the effo rts o f
the s ta ff o f unlim ited C hoices
and the C o u n ty ’s C om m unity
D ev elo p m en t pro g ram . “ T his
aw ard and the opening o f this
new o ffic e are the icing on the
cake for a program that has been
p ro v id in g an in d ispensable se r­
vice to the com m unity for over
tw o years.
Senator Mark Hatfield adds, “Be­
cause ofthis creative program, many
individuals with disabilities are
benefitting from accessible, afford­
able housing, and those individuals
involved should take great pride in
their efforts.”
The 1995 Community Awards
Competition is sponsored by the
United Parcel Service, which has
underwritten a total o f $30,000 in
cash awards for the ten winning
communities.
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