December 5, 2018
Page 3
INSIDE
The
Week in Review
C ALENDAR
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An artists’ rendering of a Major League Baseball stadium that’s envisioned to rise from the Port of
Portland’s Terminal 2 property, about 45 acres of riverfront property north of the Pearl District on
Northwest Front Avenue. Promoters announced last week that they have an agreement with the Port
to develop the property.
Stadium Envisioned
Riverfront site
gets backing
from Port of
Portland
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
pages 8-11
Portland Diamond Project, the
organization behind an effort to
bring Major League Baseball to
Portland, announced Thursday it
has signed an agreement in prin-
ciple with the Port of Portland to
develop the Port’s 45-acre Termi-
nal 2 property in northwest Port-
land for a new stadium,
“We believe this has the poten-
tial to be a transformative land-
mark project for this city,” said
Craig Cheek, Portland Diamond
Project founder and president.
“Building an iconic, state-of-the-
art ballpark along the Willamette
River will catalyze economic
development and capture great
views of both the urban scale of
the city and regional character of
the Pacific Northwest.”
This letter of intent with the
Port kicks off a collaborative pro-
cess with the City of Portland,
and local communities, to create
a Major League Baseball ball-
park and community destination
in hopes of luring a major league
baseball franchise to the city.
Cheek said the park would
champion using locally sourced
food and beverages, environmen-
tally sustainable construction ma-
terials and provide opportunities
for small businesses to create “an
atmosphere that celebrates diver-
sity and inclusion and is welcom-
ing to all Portlanders.”
Terminal 2, which for decades
handled commodities such as
steel rail, bulk ores, and other
oversized international cargo,
offers approximately 45 acres
of riverfront property with more
than 2,000 linear feet of wa-
terfront. The site is located on
Northwest Front Avenue, just
north of the Pearl District and
rapidly evolving Slabtown.
The Portland Diamond Proj-
ect steered away from pursuing
another centrally located prop-
erty, the administration build-
ing owned by Portland Public
Schools north of the Rose Quar-
ter. That clears the way for anoth-
er group that has been eyeing the
north Portland site for affordable
housing, called Albina Vision
Trust.
Cheek added Terminal 2 is now
the group’s “preferred location”
for the stadium after spending a
year analyzing multiple sites.
School Policing Contract Draws Fire
M ETRO
O PINION
C LASSIFIEDS
page 9
pages 12-13
pages 14
A proposed contract would for-
malize an arrangement between
Portland Public Schools and Port-
land Police Bureau to expand
School Resource Officer (SRO)
presence to five days a week,
though the proposal has received
mixed reactions from student
groups.
The current arrangement has
one armed SRO overseeing each
high school cluster, as available,
except Mondays, at no cost to the
district.
The contract, which must be
approved by both Portland Public
School Board and Portland City
Council, would cost the district
$364,000 this fiscal year and $1.2
million each school year through
mid-2023, the Portland Tribune
reported.
An initial vote by Portland Pub-
lic Schools board was delayed last
month when at least two students
raised concerns about the pres-
ence of SROs negatively impact-
ing their learning environment,
arguing they may disproportion-
ately affect students of color and
contribute to a punitive culture in
schools.
The school board is now plan-
ning to vote and debate on the
agreement set for a school board
session on Dec. 11.