Homelessness in Portland Part II
By David Krogh There is no simple solution to eliminating homelessness, much less addressing it in a meaningful way. November’s edition introduced t…
Local Headlines
RIP Positions Intensify
By Midge Pierce Sweeping land use reform that would eliminate single family housing is all the rage in entering 2019 as Oregon House Speaker Tina Ko…
Good Attitudes Make Good Neighbors
By Midge Pierce Good Neighbor Agreements are touted by staffers from SE Uplift and Portland’s newly rebranded Office of Office of Community and Civi…
RIP Year End Update
By David Krogh Speaker Tina Kotek has announced (per Willamette Week and The Oregonian) she is working on legislation that could mandate densificati…
Seasonal Giving Opportunities in SE Portland
By Jack Rubinger There’s no shortage of interesting, fun and easy seasonal giving and volunteer opportunities in our community this season. Here …
PDX in Motion
By Don MacGillivray Our city’s growth is a continuing issue for the many citizens that rely on local public services and infrastructure for daily li…
SE Updates
E-scooters update Hear ye, hear ye, e-scooter haters and lovers. The experiment is over. With some 676,000 trips logged covering 775,000 miles, the …
Centennial of the Armistice that Ended The Great War
By Right Rev. Roland Lakey November 11 of this year marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War. At five am on that damp Monday morni…
Phantom Laundromat on Belmont
By Gabriel Frayne Jr. It’s not often in our fair city that one finds a long-abandoned building that has been tagged over by graffiti artists hired b…
What’s in the Exhaust of 60,000 Trucks?
By Midge Pierce Portland is awash in a toxic stew that is impacting the elderly, vulnerable and particularly children with particulate exposure that…
SE Updates
Historic preservation Historic preservation is an uphill battle in Portland. Opponents claim preservation obstructs growth. Proponents claim it can …
Progress On 82nd Ave. of Roses
By Don MacGillivray 82nd Avenue, the Avenue of Roses, has many changes ahead to realize the vision of local business people and neighbors. Commun…
Rating Commercial Building’s Energy Use
By Don MacGillivray In the 2017 energy audit of three quarters of Portland’s large buildings scored above the national average as compared with othe…
Film Explores Future of the City
By Midge Pierce Portland’s future may spin on whose interpretation of urban activist/journalist Jane Jacobs prevails. In a recent showing of Citizen…
Mt. Tabor Visitors Center Marks Fifty Thousand
By Nancy Tannler The Friends of Mt. Tabor Park (FMTP) held a celebration marking the fifty thousandth visitor to the visitor center since it opened …
In-depth Look at the Metro Housing Bonds
By Don MacGillivray The Metro bond measure on the November ballot will authorize $653 million in general obligation bonds to fund affordable housing…
Signs of the Times at PPS
By Midge Pierce The needle drop-box positioned on the fence in front of the Sunnyside K-8 school is a sign of the times, and while the park the scho…
SE Updates
By David Krogh Mayor’s Bureau Assignments Mayor Wheeler has been shuffling bureau assignments for City Commissioners as he becomes aware of burea…
Is PSC Turning Deaf Ear in the Name of Profit?
By Midge Pierce Tens of thousands of residents could be displaced by a rezoning proposed by the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission (PSC…
ONI Changes Clarified
Office of Community and Civic Life (formerly Office of Neighborhood Involvement) Director Suk Rhee responded to last month’s Southeast Examiner article…
Belmont’s Christmas House Lives for Another Holiday
By Midge Pierce A once grand, century-old house at 5631 SE Belmont is being meticulously restored by a tour de force with the skill and determinatio…
Artist Live/Work Facility Under New Ownership
By David Krogh, The artist communal living center, Milepost 5, in the Montavilla neighborhood at 850 NE 81st St., has been sold to CDP – Community D…
Procedures Matter in Times of Change
By Midge Pierce A grievance filed within a SE neighborhood association may shed needed daylight on changing roles, responsibilities and rules of NAs…
Booming Belmont
By Gabriel Frayne Jr. SE Portland has a new street of dreams. The entire Belmont St. corridor from Grand Ave. to the foot of Mt. Tabor is presently …
What’s in a Name – ONI?/OCCL?
By Don MacGillivray Names are always important and a name will make a difference when the City of Portland’s Office of Community Involvement becomes…
SE Updates
Innovative Pre-school Art, the outdoors and early childhood education intersect at Fiddleheads, a new program this fall that will immerse young chil…
Laurelhurst Home Tour
The Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association holds its first home tour Sunday, September 9 from 11 am to 4 pm. Six homes of varying architectural styles…
RIP Changes Demographics
By Midge Pierce Shocked by a planning commission recommendation to add more multi-units to internal lots in the proposed Residential Infill …
Historic Designation Not Dead Yet
By Midge Pierce The Feds return of the state’s paperwork on the Eastmoreland National Historic District containing 5000 potentially unverifiable tru…
Turning Toxic Around, One Neighborhood at a Time
By Midge Pierce For several years, an undercurrent of tension has rippled through Richmond Neighborhood Association meetings as distrust, disrespect…
Pushback Over Parking Permit
By Midge Pierce Citing the potentially devastating effect on its commercial strip, the Hawthorne Boulevard Business Association unanimously voted to…
Montavilla Explores Remedies for Houselessness
By Midge Pierce With the Mayor, Police Union Chief and other Portland residents trading barbs that the city has become everything from ungovernable …
Increase in Water Bill
By Nancy Tannler At a recent Lents Neighborhood Livability Association meeting, knowledgeable officials fielded questions about why your water bill …
Proposed Permit Parking
By Nancy Tannler In August 2018, Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) will be sending mailers to residents in the Richmond and Sunnyside neighbo…
Hawthorne Vacancies – New Normal or Not
By Gabriel Frayne Jr. The bustling allure of Hawthorne Boulevard is any realtor’s dream. A local commercial realtor describes it in a brochure this …
Mainstreet Style Design is Good for City
By Midge Pierce “Density with Sensitivity” is the motto of urban planner and architectural firebrand Heather Flint Chatto, who with longtime landuse…
SE Updates
Shelter Approved Despite Objections Multnomah County is moving forward on a controversial 120-bed shelter at SE 61st and Foster. Ignoring pleas o…
The Urbanization of the Central Eastside
By Don MacGillivray There is no end in sight to the urbanization of the Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID). What once was an industrial dis…
Tax Proposal on Unhealthy Food
By Don MacGillivray Tax Reform Initiative Petition 37 will be on the November ballot. It is a referendum to eliminate any and all future taxatio…
Petition Urges Portlanders to Take Back the City
By Midge Pierce A pair of petitions demanding the City take forceful action against criminal elements on our streets has struck a nerve. The peti…
18th Village Building Convergence
The City Repair Project, the Portland-based non-profit that hosts the annual Village Building Convergence (VBC), invites you to join in the many events…
Holgate Manor is Microcosm of Crisis
By Midge Pierce The human toll of the housing crisis is measured in the wizened face of 92-year-old Anna Lendya, an immigrant who has called Holgate…
RIP Backlash Emerges from Former Supporters
By Midge Pierce Grassroots support for the City’s Residential Infill Project (RIP) slipped during last month’s testimony before the Planning and Sus…
Blue is for Better Housing Design
By Midge Pierce Which mailer did you get–blue, yellow or none at all? Did you respond? Distinctively colored notices sent by city planners over t…
URM Update: Over-reach or Critical Need
By Midge Pierce Portlanders concerned about the changing cityscape are bracing for the outcome of a June 13 City Council hearing on new seismic retr…
Cyclists Input Needed in CEID Transportation Network
By Don MacGillivray Cyclists are a huge part of the Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID) and their numbers are increasing. The building boom …
Balancing Recreation with Nature
By Don MacGillivray For years off road cycling has been tossed around like a political football with major advocates and critics who argue about any…
The Case for Participatory Budgeting
Correction: A slight but important correction needs to be made in this article: https://www.southeastexaminer.com/2018/06/the-case-for-participat…
Police Explain Homeless Crisis Limits
By Midge Pierce Finding balance between compassion for the homeless and diffusing neighborhood tensions is a dilemma for police caught between charg…
What’s in a Name?
By Midge Pierce A name change for the Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) to the Office of Community and Civic Life has surprised observers who…
Best Practices for Making Vision Zero Work
By Sean Miller Portland has rolled out its Vision Zero Action Plan in order to engineer reduced speeds into city roads. The plan hopes to accomplish…
Clarion Call Issued for Final RIP Planning Testimony
By Midge Pierce 135,000 Portland residents received notices from the City that their single family property would be rezoned under the Residential…
City Council Candidates
By Don MacGillivray It is rare to have the opportunity to choose a new member of Portland’s City Council. With Dan Saltzman retiring, the Council wi…
Frontline Communities on Climate and Environmental Justice
By Bryan Brumley The Rev. E.D. Mondaine became president of the NAACP Portland Branch in March. He remembers growing up in St. Louis, Mo., in the sh…
SOLVE Richmond’s Graffiti and Litter Clean Up Day
By Allen Field The Richmond Neighborhood Association holds its 1st Richmond Graffiti & Litter CleanUp Day, Saturday, June 16, from 9 am to 1 pm.…
Tabor Park House Sale Averted
By Midge Pierce Now that a proposal to rezone a chunk of Mt. Tabor Park has been rescinded by Commissioner Amanda Fritz, park supporters are breathi…
Community News May 2018
Run Mama Run PDX The Mother and Child Education Center invites the public to participate in the 10th Annual RunMamaRun, a 10k/5k stroller-friendly r…
Council Ponders URM Retrofits
By Gabriel Frayne Jr. The city-wide dilemma concerning how to mandate seismic retrofits for Portland’s nearly two thousand unreinforced masonry buil…
Vision Zero Has Miles to Go
By Don MacGillivray In 2016 Portland adopted the Vision Zero program. The accomplishments in its first year are impressive. Vision Zero’s intent …
PDX Transportation Goals
By Don MacGillivray Portland has serious transportation issues growing in ways that concern everyone, especially commuters. The cost of traffic cong…
Cyclists Rally For Safety
Dozens of street safety advocates rallied at Powell Park on Tuesday to oppose the removal of the bike lanes on SE 26th Ave. at Powell Blvd. one of Port…
Divisive Diverter Impacts Hawthorne and Division
By Midge Pierce Add “diverter” to a meeting agenda in SE Portland and tension and attendance rise especially if the diverter is at the junction of n…
Thorburn: Successfully Slowing Roadrunners
By Midge Pierce Love ‘em or hate ‘em, new speed bumps are doing their job along Thorburn St., the curvy route between SE 62nd and Gilham. Debra M…
Proposed Elimination of ONI’s Graffiti Abatement Program
By Adam Meltzer The Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) has proposed cutting the Graffiti Abatement Program for the 2018-2019 City budget stati…
Diesel Exhaust Emissions Control Lagging in Oregon
By Don MacGillivray Diesel exhaust has been an issue in Portland for many years. Recently the central city has more than thirty large buildings unde…
Mural Mixes Art and Ethos to Benefit Art Community
By Midge Pierce 60 Minutes viewers may think Portland’s moment has passed, but a 100 foot long, 10 panel mural is helping keep Portland’s art scene …
WP Goes from College to University
President Andrea P. Cook, Ph.D. announced that Warner Pacific College will now have the designation as a University. This reflects a new era at Warner…
Discourse Drives Homeless Protest
By Midge Pierce Hate was a no-show at a recent rally expected to bring out angry protesters over a proposed Foster Rd. homeless shelter. On a Sat…
Future Trends in Portland’s Demographics
By Gabriel Frayne Jr. Roughly a decade ago Portland acquired a reputation as a city “where young people go to retire,” or at least wait tables and b…
101 year-old School to be Reborn
By David Mayne Kellogg Middle School at Powell and 69th Ave. will be rebuilt and ready for SE Portland middle schoolers in the fall of 2021. The wor…
RIP Update
By Midge Pierce As analysts sift through thousands of comments to the Recommended Draft of the City’s Residential Infill Project, a commonality emer…
Transit Recalibration Offers Opportunity
By Midge Pierce With delays likely in federal grant funding and a design estimated at some $14 million over budget, Trimet officials have trotted ou…
Club Impact Fills Social Gap
By Don MacGillivray Last year’s budget cuts to the Oregon State Human Services budget are taking effect now. Because of the short fall of nearly $60…
Preservation Gets Its Turn
By Midge Pierce Preservationists, thwarted by Portland’s perceived pro-growth demolition practices, finally have a turn at the mike. To launch it…
Petition Calls for Public Vote on RIP
By Midge Pierce Portland’s biggest story continuing into 2018 is its housing emergency. Homelessness remains rampant despite shelters such as the 10…
Diverter Divides Cyclists and Community
By Midge Pierce Even though the Portland Bureau of Transportation has temporarily delayed a final decision on a semi-diverter proposed on the Lincol…
Seismic Retrofits for URMs
Artwork by Aaron Trotter – a wonderful local artist. Check out more of his work @ https://www.illustratedplayingcards.com/ Property owners throughou…
SE Updates December 2017
Diverters Two competing perspectives about a PBOT-proposed street diverter at SE Lincoln and 50th circulated through the Mt. Tabor and Richmond neig…
The Future of OMSI
By Don MacGillivray OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is planning for significant growth and change over the next twenty years. With o…
When it Comes to Crime, the County Matters
By Midge Pierce Crime prevention may be as close as ballot measures in the next county election or as remote as finding funds for more preventative …
New Challenges to RIP
By Midge Pierce As neighborhood associations hunkered down last month to meet the deadline for response to Residential Infill Project amendments and…
Community News December 2017
Home Energy Score If you’re in the market to buy or sell a home, you’re about to get a peek at the inner workings of your Portland home. That’s beca…
Density and Design Around the Nation
By Don MacGillivray The City of Portland is experiencing a housing boom and crisis happening simultaneously. In spite of herculean efforts by govern…
Progressives Push; Montavilla Pivots
By Midge Pierce Montavilla has become a flashpoint in recent debates over social justice and the use of police force. Last month’s neighborhood asso…
RIP Follows the Money: Splits Southeast
By Midge Pierce A shift in proposed housing densification from vast tracts east of I-205 inward to more neighborhoods in inner SE and NE is a signif…
SE Updates
An inevitable by-product of Portland densification is the loss of local landmarks. This is a tale of Two City Sites with very different outcomes. SE…
Grassroots Group Grapples Crime
By Midge Pierce Caught between crime and compassion, residents along the commercial corridors and tree-lined streets of SE are in a quandary about h…
The Opioid Epidemic
By Don MacGillivray Recent reports say that Oregon has one of the worst overall drug problems in the United States based on per capita consumption. …
Potential Seismic Shift Comes to SEUL with New Leadership
By Midge Pierce Under new leadership, Portland’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) is steering its seven neighborhood coalitions that include…
Transportation Bill Partially Funds Congestion Relief
By Don MacGillivray Gov. Kate Brown’s signed the new state $5.3 billion road-and-bridge funding bill that will provide “congestion relief” at The Ro…
Solutions for Homeless Remain Elusive
By Don MacGillivray For developers and landlords it is the best of times. For low income renters and the homeless it is the worst of times. In spite…
Mt. Tabor Long Block Gets Makeover
By Midge Pierce The results of a 10 year process to improve sub-standard building and working conditions at the Mt. Tabor Central Maintenance Yard w…
Climate Change, Gorge Fires and Volunteer Actions
By Midge Pierce Climatologists, foresters and other experts – one of whom calls the recent Gorge conflagration “a postcard from the future” – have a…
Franklin High School Re-Opens Reinvented
By Nancy Tannler Thanks to the $482 million school building improvement bond the citizens of Portland voted for in 2012, Franklin, Roosevelt and Gra…
Affordable Family Housing and Apartments Coming to Powell
By Midge Pierce A project that will likely be the largest affordable complex in SE Portland is slated to replace an aging strip club at 30th and Pow…
Portland Map App
By Don MacGillivray Many people in Portland are concerned about the building boom currently underway within the inner city neighborhoods. Recentl…
SE Updates
By Midge Pierce Peacock Lane is on track to be the first of three SE Portland neighborhoods considering a National Historic District designation to …
Future Vision Looks Rosy on 82nd Avenue
At a recent City Council meeting held at the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO) on 82nd Ave., Council and audience heard from residents a…
Laurelhurst Neighbors Seek Solutions for Homeless Crisis
By Nancy Tannler Homeless camping and the negative impact on the neighborhood compelled the Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association (LNA) to hold the L…
Dizzying Array of Landuse Changes Coming Your Way
By Midge Pierce Brace yourselves. The back half of 2017 will bring ever more dramatic changes to Portland’s cityscape as new state laws are implemen…