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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 2002)
Page B2 îl!i'Jjlortlatth©Hseruer MED Week October 09, 2002 Mary Fetsch, Tri-Met’s Leading Lady W ynde D yer T iii P orti . and O bserver It is said that behind every great tnan there is an equally great woman. Mary Fetsch, director of communications for Tri- Met, plays right hand woman for Tri-Met General Manager Fred Hansen. They are something of a dynamic duo, a Batman and Robin-esque team in the tight for public transportation. The bus is their Batmobile. But Fetsch would rather talk about Tri-Met than herself. 'T in nobody,” she said, "but my bowling is improving.” Fetsch has her involvement with Tri-M et’s ‘Inter state Avenue is Open for Business' campaign to thank for those bowling skills. She has organized four bow ling chai lenges at I nterstate Lanes to help reduce the impact of construction on business for the north Portland Bowling alley. “At first everybody thought I really loved to bowl,” Fetsch said. “ I was basically going everywhere say ing, ‘Hi, do you like to bow l?’ 1 was constantly recruiting bowlers.” T he first ch a lle n g e w as b etw een T ri-M et maintenence staff and the administration. Next came by a bowl-off against the Portland Development Com mission, and another against Port of Portland. Tri- Met has yet to take home a trophy, but the events have been hugely successful, Fetsch said. One time the bowling bus brought in a crowd o f 45 people who spent $550 in an hour at Interstate Lanes. Once construction began on Interstate Ave., Tri- met began hosting weekly Lunch Bus tours. Staff at Tri-Met partner agencies, like PDC, City of Portland, Metro and DEQ could reserve a spot on the bus for $7. At the end o f the tour, they have lunch at a different restaurant along the Interstate alignment. Festch estimates over 1,000 individuals have enjoyed Lunch Bus tours and the total revenue generated is somewhere around $ 10,000. ‘T h a t’s tremendous,” she said. "M any o f those people will be return customers.” Since the bowling alley wasn’t on the Lunch Bus route, Fetsch devised a plan to help out. The bowling challenges have been just as good for the bowlers, she said. Members from different departments of large public agencies don’t always come intocontact in the workplace. Fetsch thinks bowling has been a good exercise in team building. As for the completion of the light rail, Fetsch is Within NECA7IBEW Local 48,craftsmanship still exists. As partners, our electricians and contractors perform their work every day with skill, pride and attention to Mary Fetsch is intimately involved in helping businesses thrive along the Interstate Max line while construction is taking place. PHOTO BY D avid P lechi / T he P ortland O bserver proud to say that Tri-Met is ahead of schedule and under budget. The construction impacts on busi nesses will be gone by the end of the year. New handicapped sidewalks along with on-street parking and freshly paved roadways, should make businesses more accessible to pedestrian traffic. Once completed, there will be three times the current number o f trees and art exhibits at each Max stop. “The new look is one that we find very inviting,” Fetsch said. “The area was really in need of revitaliza tion.” Since Fetsch lives less than a mile away from the new Max line, she knows this first hand. She rides her bike every morning to work from herhome in the Arbor Lodge neighborhood along the bluff. Fetsch said she remembers Interstate Ave. before the construction began. The road was infamous for potholes, speed ing vehicles and large trucks. “Interstate was so tom up,” she said. “It was not at all friendly for a cyclist.” She also thinks the long strip of road was un friendly for shoppers, “It was a place you just sort of drive through,” Fetsch said. So Tri-Met launched a business support program to help the marginalized stores and restaurants along the line. They financed temporary 'Open for Busi ness’ signs, paid for advertising, signs to redirect traffic if parking lot entries were blocked and made a commitment to work on 4-block segments to disrupt business as little as possible. During the second phase came the ‘Interstate is Open for Business' campaign. Tri-met paid for the design and distribu tion of adirect mail piece that was sent to 16,000homes in the Portland area. When the business directory was created, the campaign slogan appeared in bus shelters and along the side of the Max for months. Tri- Met involved the University of Portland entreprenuial program to host free workshops to provide technical assistance and write business plans for Interstate businesses. Over $300,000 in low-interest loans were awarded to business owners along the line. “W e’ve tried to be a good neighbor and I think w e’ve succeeded,” Fetsch said. “Some of these busi nesses didn’t even have logos and one didn’t even have a checking account. W e’ve helped with all that.” Once the light rail is running, Fetsch said the businesses will be in good shape. As for her, well, like any other superhero, she’ 11 be on to something else. “Every day it’s something different around here,” she said. detail. State-of-the-art training and an award-winning apprenticeship program assure you that the electricians of Local 48 are the best in the industry. For skilled work — contact us. m m nnN rnuwBiAg^-i * o e » P ic tu r e Y o u rs e l f as a P o r t la n d F ir e f ig h t e r « 503-233-5787 • www.necaibew48.com BROUGHT TO YO U BY THE SKILLED ELECTRICIANS OF IBEW LOCAL 4 8 A N D THE PROFESSIONAL CONTRACTORS OF NECA Hoffman Builds homes, businesses, schools... Portland Fire & Rescue is accepting applications from October 7th through October 21st, 2002 for Firefighter Trainee, and Firefighter. Please call our 24-hour job information hotline at (503) 823- 4573 or go online at www5.ci.portland.or.us/jobs. PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS Come Bid With Us Portland Public School District welcomes interest and participation by MBEs and WBEs in our contracts for goods and services. Throughout the year, we purchase a variety o f items including office equipm ent, schools supplies, pa per products, maintenance services, construction projects and more. and community Please contact our office for additional inform ation on bidding opportunities. i p EZ a , i t HOFFMAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY www.hoffmancorp.com S03.221.8811 Darin Matthews, CPPO, C.P.M. Director of Procurement Portland Public Schools P.O. Box 3107 Portland, O R 97208 (503) 916-3113 (503) 916-3109 fax “We encourage and appreciate your interest in doing business with Portland Public Schools.” Jim Scherzinger In te rim S u p e r in te n d e n t
