Committed to Cultural Diversity M etro îl!l ^Iortlanb (©bserucr www.portlandobserver.com May 05. 2004 Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Weekend of fun with Latino flavor at Waterfront Park ' See El Observador, page B7 I SECTION C o in in u n i t y a I e n d a r Healing Time A Community Forum, A Time to Heal will addresscrim e,com m u nity concerns and the conduct of the Portland Police Bureau with an open mic at 6 p.m. on May 14 at the King Neighbor hood Facility, 4815 N.E. 7* Ave. For more information, call 503- 284-0617. Salvation for Kids The Salvation Army’s IO* anni versary luncheon is all about kids, from noon to 1 p.m. May I4atthe Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel, 1 (XX) N.E. Multnomah. For more information, call 503-963-1187. Maya Angelou Visit Maya Angelou joins the Unique Lives and Experiences lecture tourat 7:30p.m. on May 19atthe Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. For tic k e ts , v isit www.eventsunlimited.org. OAME Luncheon The Oregon Association of Mi nority Entrepreneurs is holding its 16* annual Entrepreneurship Luncheon and Trade Show with keynote speaker Mayor Vera Katz from 10a.m. to 4 p .m . Thursday, May 6 at the Oregon Convention Center. The trade show is free and the luncheon costs $45. Women Speak Women have a voice at Women in N AACP, a new w om en's group, meeting from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. the first Saturday of each month at the American Red C ro ss B u ild in g , 3131 N. Vancouver Ave. For questions, call 503-249-6263. Thanks, Mom A M other’s Day brunch at the Oregon Z oo’s Cascade Grill is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 9. The buffet is $15.95 for adults and $7.95 for kids. For reservations, call 503-525-4299. Old Home Workshop A workshopcalled So, You Went A head and B ought an Old House? is from 6:30 to 8:30p.m. Thursday, May 13 at Rejuvena tion, upstairs at 11(X)S.E. Grand Ave. Cost is $17. To pre-regis ter, call 503-231-7264. Diabetes Walk America’s Walk for Diabetes is at 8 a m. at the Rose Quarter Amphitheater in Portland and Esther Shore Park in Vancouver. R e g iste r o n lin e at www.diabetes.org/walk or call 888-DIABETES. Housing Needs Filled with Density Infill apartments may be sign of the future by L f . e P erlman T he P ortland O bserver In some ways, the two-story block-like structure on a street o f single-family homes on N orth M issouri A venue, north o f Killingsworth Street, is an anomaly. In oth ers, it’s the future. The 10-plex at 5520 N. Missouri is one example of infill development, the introduc tion o f higher density into com munities of single unit frame houses, each on 5,000 square foot lots. The strategy is intended to provide more housing within the regional RENT A H MCE 1-8OO-352 5675 Urban Growth Boundary, where roads and other infrastructure already exist. The trend started in 1980 when Portland L / ” * • } f rezoned many single family home neighbor J hoods to allow row houses, units sharing i i common walls and built at twice or more the density of the housing around it. Some fit well into the neighborhoods they were built in, but to the chagrin of neighbors, many had tall living quarters sitting on top of street- level garages. One wrinkle in the infill saga has been the “skinny lot” developm ent. Here, what seemed like a routine change in the zoning code in 1991, and a little-noted pattern in the way lots were legally platted in much o f the city, allowed developers to build 15-foot wide homes at double the zoned density in many areas. After much controversy, there was con sensus by city officials on two points: Infill development o f some sort, in some areas, was worthwhile; and there is a need for photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver better design for the new houses to make Kurt Haapala, a north Portland resident and chair of the Humboldt Neighborhood Association, doesn 't care much for the them fit in better with local communities. development o f a 10-unit apartment complex on a standard size lot north of Killingsworth Avenue on Missouri Street. Haapala To this end commissioner Randy Leonard, says the housing looks atrocious and won t appeal to people looking for permanent housing The owner o f the property hopes the s tro n g e s t p ro p o n e n t o f “ sk in n y to cash in on demand for student housing near the PCC Cascade campus and transit rides who don't own cars. houses,” initiated the Infill Design Project. At a series o f open houses, residents were housing for students,” he said. city regulations and development. The zon rent here w on’t have cars,” Spitanagel says. shown apartment, row house and duplex The units, ranging from 450 to 6<X) square ing code tends to require less off-street The site is just five blocks from the North designs and asked to select which one they feet, should be com plete by July, he says, at parking for housing, especially if it is near Killingsworth light-rail station on Interstate liked best. Project manager Bill Cunningham which time PTR will either sell the complex or mass transit. The CS zone requires no park Avenue. em phasized that the project is dealing with The builder says the commercial zone the design o f such developments, not where, would have allowed the company to build 15 whether or how densely they should be units on the single residential size lot, but allowed. “We didn’t want to overwhelm the neigh The North Missouri development was borhood.” However, he adds, “I’m not a approved with no public review, builder believer that higher density is a bad thing.” PTR Homes having asked for no adjust He concedes that there has been badly ments to the zoning code. The site is zoned designed infill development, but he argues CS, which allows housing by right but is that some of it has been caused by city intended primarily for commercial develop regulations. In the case o f the Missouri — Humboldt Neighborhood Chair Kurt Haapala on a new infill-housing ment. project, for instance, a rule that all the units project that adds a 10-unit apartment to a standard size residential lot PTR ’sT om Spitanagel feels that with the face the street prevented the com pany from “tremendous expansion" o f Portland Com providing as much open space as they would munity College’s Sylvania Campus, modest rent it themselves. Heestim ated rents at $475 ing spaces, and this project contains none. have wished. apartments here is the highest and best use. to $550. “We agree with the city that being so continued on page H6 “W e’re really excited about providing The project is consistent with a trend in close to light rail, many of the people who L B V-/ i'"i . I— i 'J II jTîji We want housing people would want to live in permanently. The only reason anyone would rent this is because they were forced to because they couldn ’t find anything else. Fundraiser for PALS The Police Activities League, which serves youth in Portland and Gresham , is sponsoring its 8* annual PAL Campaign for Cops Helping Kids dinner auc tion benefiting PAL at 5:30 p.m. May 8 at the Multnomah Ath letic Club. For more information, call 503-823-0250. Dinos on Trial Dinosaurs are back in Portland withT. Rex on Trial, an exhibit at OMSI. Explore the evidence and decide foryourselfifT . Rex was a predator or a scavenger. The hands-on exhibit runs through May 9. Interest In Adoption? A free information meeting for prospective adoptive parents held the third W ednesday of every month from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Belmont Public Library, 1038 S.E. 39* Ave. For more informa tion, call 503-226-4870 or visit www.openadopt.com. A Healing Song S ankofaa H ealth Institute o f fers a free diabetes support group from 6 to 7:30 p. m . every th ird T h u rs d a y at A lb e rta Simmons Plaza, 6707 N E. MLK Blvd. For more information, call 503-285-2484, Public Works Effort Has Ripple Effect On Neighborhood Rebuilding team adopts northeast Portland home Pacific Power energized a northeast Port land neighborhood by painting, hammering and helping to rebuild a home with great repair needs. Armed with paint brushes and power tools about 50 employee volunteers con verged on a 1916 home on Northeast 65* Avenue recently to make repairs and tidy the inside and out for its elderly, disabled homeowner. “Many might wonder why w e'd choose to expend a lot of energy into fixing up a stranger’s house when we could be working on our own homes,” said Nancy Towne- Smith, a business analyst in Pacific Power’s Corporate Business Services department who has helped coordinate the Pacific Power team for the past three years and is on the board of Rebuilding Ttigether. “W e’re able-bodied, hard-working people who believe in giving back to our com m u nity,” Towne-Smith said. "O ur efforts have a ripple effect on the whole neighborhood, and it’s worth it to see the good that one day of hard work can bring to one home, one person, one area o f the city.” PHOTO c o t IRTESY OF A cK R O Y I) PHOTOGRAPHY Pacific Power employees Jamie Sims and Judy Ridenour volunteer to install a new fence for a northeast Portland resident. Rebuilding Together pmvides needed home repair and rehab services for low income, elderly and disabled homeowners and their fami I ies in l«x;al communities. The scope o f the work includes carpentry, electrical, plumbing, roofing, prep and painting, drywall, debris removal, yard maintenance and much more. Rebu i ldi ng Together solicits homeowner referrals from area churches, neighborh(xxl associations, concerned neighbors, com munity development corporations and state and local service agencies. Last year, the Portland chapter rehabili tated 58 homes and six non-profit facilities through the com bined efforts o f 1,400 plus skilled and unskilled volunteers. An esti mated $950,000 worth o f value was put back into the Portland community. Materials and supplies required are either donated to or purchased by Rebuilding Together and re pairs are com pleted by volunteers at no charge to the homeowner. “ In addition to im proving the co m m u nity w here we live and w ork, another b en efit is the sense o f accom plishm ent and team w ork am ong the em ployee v o lu n teers," said T ow ne-Sm ith. “T his activity helps disprove the m yth that Pacific Power is ju st a big co rp o ratio n by getting our em ployees out in the c»>mmunity to in ter act with our custom ers in a very positive and m eaningful w ay."