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Got Traffic?

Posted on by Mike Warwick
Concept 4c. Three‐Point Interchange (couplet). One of several proposed freeway concepts.

The Central City plan process is in full swing in N/NE Portland.  The process will re-examine and rezone the entire “central city” which includes the Lloyd District, Convention Center, Broadway/Weidler corridor, and portions of Eliot south of Russell.  Our area of town is the first of the four central city “quadrants” to plan.  The effort in this quadrant is unusual in that it includes the participation (and funding) of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).  ODOT’s interest is in improving the freeway between I-84 and I-405.  Improvements to the freeway mainline will require changes to the freeway ramps as they intersect Broadway and Weidler.  ODOT’s preference is for a conventional freeway interchange, which will take up a much larger part of the neighborhood than the current ramps do.  In order to minimize property condemnation and demolition many of their options make use of existing surface streets.  In Eliot, this includes Flint and Hancock, which ODOT’s plans envision as part of the freeway access system.  As a result, traffic on these streets will increase significantly.

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Crime Blotter – Summer 2011

Posted on by Eliot Neighborhood

By Ofc Peter Helzer NRT  & Angela Wagnon ONI

Hello!  The weather has finally begun to swing in the right direction, and school is letting out for the summer.  It’s time to remember our basic prevention techniques.  Check your outdoor lighting and watch out for your neighbors.  Just as a reminder, please keep your valuables out of your cars or out of sight and watch out for roving bands of teenagers out tagging.  Also, as we start leaving windows open for ventilation, remember to block them in some way, so they only open a little bit to keep the burglars out.

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Free Summer Concerts at Dawson Park

Posted on by Tamille Lundmark
2010 Concert in Dawson Park

Hello Neighbors!  Amazingly enough, summer is just around the corner and your Dawson Park Concert Series Committee has been hard at work gaining sponsors so we can again host some amazing free concerts in Dawson Park this July.  Thanks to sponsor and audience generosity we managed to snag some great music last season, drawing record-breaking and increasingly diverse crowds to the gazebo.  We are working towards hosting 4 concerts this year which will be held on Wednesdays in July at 6:30pm to dusk.  No general fund money from Parks & Recreation underwrites these concerts, which means we raise every penny through the work of our concert committee, gathering sponsors from local businesses and donations from concert lovers.

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Imagining a Different Course for MAX

Posted on by Allan Rudwick
Proposed Alignments of the Yellow line through Eliot. From the 1998 Draft EIS.

In 2001, a light rail line opened with service between the Portland Expo Center and downtown Portland. This service could have included service to residential Eliot and Legacy Emanuel Hospital with two stops on the east side of I-5. Imagine a dense commercial and residential corridor linking MLK with lower Albina along Russell Street. Vancouver Avenue would have been one block from the MAX, thriving with new businesses housed there. In southern Eliot, imagine the parking lots between MLK and the Broadway Bridge supporting residential or commercial buildings and lower Eliot with parking problems all day every day instead of just during Blazers games. Imagine pedestrian-scale connections around the Broadway/Williams intersection, connecting places that you want to visit, shop, or use to get from point A to B. Would Eliot have been better served?

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Planners Planning

Posted on by Mike Warwick

The First Course

The Portland Plan planning process continues as does the Central City and Rose Quarter Plans.  The Portland Plan process focuses on an updated vision of what residents want Portland to be like in 25 years.  That kind of process allows for setting goals that include government and the private sector, such as high school graduation and employment rates, access to fresh, local food for city residents, and so on.  The Central City Plan is focused on specific land use and transportation actions that are expected to be taken in the next 25 years to accommodate goals that are more dependent on future development, such as providing housing and employment in the core of the city, which includes the Lloyd District and parts of the Eliot neighborhood.  The Rose Quarter Plan process is focused on two specific areas in the inner eastside; the Rose Quarter and the area north of it centered on the school district property known as the Blanchard Block.

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