As you may remember, parking is an issue for neighbors in Eliot, especially in the southern part of the neighborhood. Whether it’s commuters parking here and taking the MAX into town, or Blazer fans using the streets for free event parking, it is becoming harder for neighbors to be able to find parking.

The primary tool we have access to as a neighborhood to solve parking issues is an area parking permit (APP) which would allow neighbors and their guests to park in the neighborhood while limiting visitor parking to a specified amount. The APP should solve the problem for people who live in Eliot because people won’t be able to use our neighborhood as free parking for Moda Center events or as a park-and-ride parking lot since they’ll be limited to how long they can leave cars on our streets without a permit.

From talking to folks, putting a survey in Eliot News, and utilizing data from Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), the area with the largest parking issues is between NE Hancock and NE Sacramento and between N Williams and NE MLK. To start the process of forming an APP, PBOT requires 50% of the addresses in the proposed permit area to sign a list indicating that they want to have a discussion about forming an APP.

A group of neighbors went door-to-door to collect signatures over the last few months to meet this goal. We have collected enough signatures to move the process forward. Of the neighbors we talked to, over 80% were in favor of having a conversation about forming a parking permit district.

We enjoyed meeting a lot of the neighbors and hearing about their concerns. While it seems like commuters and event-goers cause issues for most of the area, there are also localized issues in certain parts of the neighborhood that are unique to that area. We’re optimistic that the area parking permit will be a relatively painless way to address most of these issues.

The next step in the process is for PBOT to collect data to better understand how parking is utilized in this part of the neighborhood. They’ll do an analysis to ensure we meet the thresholds for forming a permit district.

If we meet the APP requirements, PBOT will meet with the community to discuss details and answer questions. They’ll be at the Eliot Neighborhood Association on November 19th at 6:30 pm at 120 Knott Street. After the meeting, all neighbors who live in the permit area will receive one ballot per address to vote on establishing the parking permit district.

Note: The annual price per permit per car recently went up from $60 to $75. It has been years since an increase in price and this is an adjustment for inflation and likely won’t happen again for many years.