Key to
Victory
Portland vote put
Kitzhaber on top
See page 3
Football
Playoffs
Jefferson
opens tourney
undefeated
See page 3
community service
Volume XXXX, Number 43
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • November 10, 2010
Leaf Drop Brings Fees
For the first
time, residents
will be billed
by M elissa C havez
T he P ortland O bserver
In the summer, you love them. But, come
fall, Portlanders’ feelings toward the city’s
spectacular tree-lined streets turn to annoy
ance.
*
Fallen leaves clog stormwater drains caus
ing flooding, pile up blocking residential
streets, and make roads slippery in the rainy
season.
“Whether you’re driving, riding a bicycle,
or walking, street leaves create a road haz
ard,” said Cheryl Kuck, public information
officer with the Portland Bureau of Transpor
tation.
To combat this problem, the city of Port
land has been sending out crews to remove
curbside leaves from streets for the past 20
years. But this year marks the first time that
residents will be charged a fee for this ser
vice.
Residents in areas with one scheduled
cleaning will be charged $15; those with two,
$30. Small commercial properties will pay the
same rates, but commercial properties with
more than 76 linear feet of street frontage will
be charged $65.
The city’s 28 designated leaf-districts in
clude some of the most affluent neighbor
hoods in Portland— Alameda, Eastmoreland,
Laurelhurst— and some of the poorest pock
ets of Boise, Humboldt and St. Johns.
According to the Portland Bureau of
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Leaves are plowed into piles in northeast Portland’s King Neighborhood by the
city’s transportation crews before they are hauled away. For the first time, local
residents in 2 8 districts will be billed for the leaf pickups which keep streets clear
from hazards and blocked storm water drains.
Transportation, the agency responsible for
the leaf removal service, approximately 30,000
residents and property managers will receive
a bill for the service on the Monday after their
only or final scheduled street cleaning.
Kuck said that, though the city has been
offering this service for free, a proposed fee
has been in the works for years.
The decision to bill residents and busi
ness was not been sudden, she said. On May
26, the Portland City Council approved the
leaf removal fee. And it had been a part of the
proposed budget for two years prior to its
approval.
“W e’ll continue to provide the service,
but the difference is — because this is only
provided on only 25 percent of streets —
w e’re charging addresses in all o f the leaf
districts where die removal service is pro
vided,” Kuck said.
News of the fee, however, has been lack
ing. Residents in the leaf districts usually
receive notice about collection times in mid-
October. This happened on schedule, but
the plan for residents who wanted to opt-out
of the now fee-based service was not yet
ready.
The cost of the service— $800,000— has
been paid out of the city’s percentage of the
state gas tax. City officials say that this new
fee to residents and businesses that receive
the service is a more fair financial breakdown.
“We pay for this out of our share of the
state gas tax — so that’s every resident
purchasing gas at the pump,” said Kuck.
“W e’re now charging a fee to individuals
and businesses on those streets (citywide)
that get the direct service.”
Beaumont/Rose City resident Rebecca
Conant expressed concerns about the lack of
continued
on page 5
Remodels of Portland Schools Proposed
»
Jeff, Roosevelt make
list for first upgrades
Superintendent Carolé Smith presented
the Portland School Board with a proposal
Monday to modernize school buildings so
that its students have the same equipment,
technology and updated learning environ
ments as students in newer buildings in
neighboring school districts.
“I am excited to present a proposal to
deliver modem learning environments for all
of our students, well-equipped, well-de
signed schools with the technology and
spaces to support great teaching in every
neighborhood,” Smith said.
Over a cycle of bond measures in the next
20 to 30 years, the school district plans to
fully modernize every school building. Su
perintendent Smith proposes to fund the
first phase of the rebuilding work through a
bond measure on the May 2011 election
ballot.
The six-year, $548 million bond measure
would cost the median homeowner about
$25 a month, and would pay for major one
time safety and structural updates to school
building system s and rebuilding eight
schools.
continued
on page 20