You may have glossed over the headlines about the City Council’s infatuation with new arenas for minor sports. The deal being crafted is for public financing and subsidy to convert the current baseball stadium (PGE Park) into a soccer venue and to construct a replacement stadium in either Lents, or at the Rose Quarter.
Graham Street Commons
In the Real Estate section of the Oregonian on January 18th there is an article about the urban infill housing project near the corner of Graham and Williams. Graham Street Commons is a “common green” project that has 4 buildings planned. The commons now has 3 single family homes with a duplex yet to be built.
ABC’s of Land Use Workshop
Are you interested in finding out more about the City of Portland Land Use process? If so attend the “ABC’s of Land Use Workshop” on January 24th.
City and Metro Planning Activities
Writing this column about land use issues in our neighborhood tends to get my dander up because our neighborhood seems to bear the brunt of some poor land use policies and decisions. The problem with that is that I want to discuss more issues in more detail than space in this column allows. I have been encouraged therefore, to participate in the Eliot web site land use blog to supplement the Eliot News column and to provide more timely news. I haven’t blogged before, so you may have to bear with me. As a result, I am going to try to just present highlights of current land use and transportation issues in Eliot News and provide more background, detail, and discussion on the web site.
House Move on MLK
If you were out and about the morning of Sunday June 29th you may have noticed a house on NE Martin Luther King Boulevard. Not a house along MLK but a house in the middle of the road!
Multi-Craft Building update
The Mercury has a sneak preview of the former Multi-Craft Building, which is located just outside Eliot between North Broadway and Weidler near the I-5 southbound off-ramp.
The building once housed a jazz claub called the Dude Ranch.
Building Green
Around the Neighborhood…
I recently found out that the Irvington newsletter has featured a column of the same title (Around the Neighborhood) for several years. Apologies to Dick Levy, but I decided to keep using this title anyway.
This column is for Earth Day, April 22nd. One of my pet peeves in the land use/development world is how politicians and businesses get away marketing themselves as “green” when they are anything but. Recent articles have extolled how “green” Oregon and Portland are. Also, several recent housing developments in Eliot have made the same claim. The combination finally set me off.
Dawson Park Master Plan
George Lozovoy from Portland Parks and Recreation presented the Dawson Park Master Plan in April at the Spring General Membership Meeting.
The master plan gives future planners a guide for updating the park. The plan is not a guarantee of implementation but instead a direction depending on funding.
Developments on Hold
The real estate slump is hitting Eliot, gently so far. Two major developments have been put on hold for now including The Kaiser Group (Ben Kaiser, architect/developer) projects at Fremont and Vancouver and the planned development on the Wonder Bread site across the street.
Central City Concern’s Ramada Inn
Central City Concern is moving forward with redevelopment of the old Ramada Inn at the Rose Quarter into workforce housing. At least that is what it is supposed to be. Recent news articles indicate it is being used for a shelter for homeless women and is planned to host Hopper Detox.
Interstate Development Plan
Development along the Interstate Max line has not met expectations thus far, so the City asked Planning staff to look at the current zoning to stimulate it. Staff held an open house in the fall to provide a first look to area residents. Gary [ENA Chair] and I both attended separately. However, we both came away with the same impression, namely there was not a lot of support for the proposal.
Emanuel Hospital Expansion
Emanuel Hospital has announced plans to expand its children’s wing and add a large new parking structure. The expansion follows that of other area hospitals and will allow the hospital to eliminate shared rooms and a small increase in the number of beds. The new wing will occupy a surface parking lot.
More street car possibilities in Eliot
Portland transportation officials are looking at the Williams/Vancouver corridor and MLK as possible street car routes.
Officials are looking at neighborhood support and whether the street has under-developed property.
Mike Warwick, Eliot resident and longtime land-use committee chairman, says MLK fits the bill perfectly.
And clearly, the street car won’t be built on both streets.
More Development on Graham
Graham Street has yet another development in the works near the corner of Graham and MLK. Recently Graham has been a popular street for developers and appears as though it will continue.
Cascadia Planning Housing
At the Eliot Neighborhood Fall General Membership meeting Jim Hlava, Vice President Garlington Center, announced that Cascadia Behavioral Health Care at 3034 NE MLK is starting planning for on-site housing.
Eliot Neighborhood 