By Don MacGillivray Much criticism has been leveled at the City about housing development of recent years. It seems that the city is over building apartments that will remain vacant …
Empty Apartments Pale in Comparison to China Read More
By Midge Pierce As goes the City, so goes Salem with bills on the legislative docket for rent control and densification. Mayor Ted Wheeler indicates support for the bills similar …
State Housing Bills Reflect City Proposals Read More
By Jonathan Maus, editor and publisher of BikePortland This article originally appeared on BikePortland.org bikeportland.org/2018/12/20/business-owner-uses-attorney-and-electeds-to-fight-trimets-carfree-gideon-overcrossing-project-293425) Neighborhood transportation advocates in SE Portland are sounding the alarm about TriMet’s Gideon Overcrossing project. They …
Business Owner Fights TriMet’s Overcrossing Project Read More
URM Year End Update by Gabriel Frayne Jr. The battle between URM building owners and the Portland City Council over seismic upgrades ended the year on a litigious note as …
By Don Mac Gillivray Predicting how much our region will grow is the job of the Portland Metropolitan Service District (Metro) and it isn’t easy. The current approximate population of …
Metro Urban Growth Boundary Read More
By David Krogh There is no simple solution to eliminating homelessness, much less addressing it in a meaningful way. November’s edition introduced this topic. This part explores remedies. Homelessness is …
Homelessness in Portland Part II Read More
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 Kotek proffers a statewide mirror …
RIP Positions Intensify Read More
By Midge Pierce Good Neighbor Agreements are touted by staffers from SE Uplift and Portland’s newly rebranded Office of Office of Community and Civic Life as a way to solve dicey …
Good Attitudes Make Good Neighbors Read More
By David Krogh Speaker Tina Kotek has announced (per Willamette Week and The Oregonian) she is working on legislation that could mandate densification for single-family zoned areas. This appears to …
By Jack Rubinger There’s no shortage of interesting, fun and easy seasonal giving and volunteer opportunities in our community this season. Here are a few: • Ben Gernert from Lutheran …
Seasonal Giving Opportunities in SE Portland Read More
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 living. Housing needs the most attention …
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 pilot program ended last month. While Portland …
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 morning, after …
Centennial of the Armistice that Ended The Great War Read More
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 by the owner with …
Phantom Laundromat on Belmont Read More
By Midge Pierce Portland is awash in a toxic stew that is impacting the elderly, vulnerable and particularly children with particulate exposure that causes everything from dementia to lower IQ …
What’s in the Exhaust of 60,000 Trucks? Read More
Historic preservation Historic preservation is an uphill battle in Portland. Opponents claim preservation obstructs growth. Proponents claim it can be compatible with growth through adaptive re-use and that it honors …
By Don MacGillivray 82nd Avenue, the Avenue of Roses, has many changes ahead to realize the vision of local business people and neighbors. Community advocates have worked diligently to improve …
Progress On 82nd Ave. of Roses Read More
By Don MacGillivray In the 2017 energy audit of three quarters of Portland’s large buildings scored above the national average as compared with other major cities across the United States. …
Rating Commercial Building’s Energy Use Read More
By Midge Pierce Portland’s future may spin on whose interpretation of urban activist/journalist Jane Jacobs prevails. In a recent showing of Citizen Jane: The Battle for the City two Janes …
Film Explores Future of the City Read More
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 2011. On Saturday, September …
Mt. Tabor Visitors Center Marks Fifty Thousand Read More
By Don MacGillivray The Metro bond measure on the November ballot will authorize $653 million in general obligation bonds to fund affordable housing in Washington, Clackamas, and Multnomah counties. It …
In-depth Look at the Metro Housing Bonds Read More
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 school shares …
Signs of the Times at PPS Read More
By David Krogh Mayor’s Bureau Assignments Mayor Wheeler has been shuffling bureau assignments for City Commissioners as he becomes aware of bureau problems. Since Portland is the last large city …
By Midge Pierce Tens of thousands of residents could be displaced by a rezoning proposed by the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission (PSC) to allow up to four houses on …
Is PSC Turning Deaf Ear in the Name of Profit? Read More
Office of Community and Civic Life (formerly Office of Neighborhood Involvement) Director Suk Rhee responded to last month’s Southeast Examiner article about Process that questioned open meeting rules and the …
ONI Changes Clarified Read More
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 determination to save historically significant architecture …
Belmont’s Christmas House Lives for Another Holiday Read More
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 Development Partners, a California- …
Artist Live/Work Facility Under New Ownership Read More
By Midge Pierce A grievance filed within a SE neighborhood association may shed needed daylight on changing roles, responsibilities and rules of NAs and their supporting organizations. Filed by a …
Procedures Matter in Times of Change Read More
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 in the …
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 the Office of Community and Civic …
What’s in a Name – ONI?/OCCL? Read More
Innovative Pre-school Art, the outdoors and early childhood education intersect at Fiddleheads, a new program this fall that will immerse young children in nature. Known as an urban forest preschool, …
The Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association holds its first home tour Sunday, September 9 from 11 am to 4 pm. Six homes of varying architectural styles and features will open to the …
Laurelhurst Home Tour Read More
By Midge Pierce Shocked by a planning commission recommendation to add more multi-units to internal lots in the proposed Residential Infill Project (RIP) and include virtually all R2-R10 zones that …
RIP Changes Demographics Read More
By Midge Pierce The Feds return of the state’s paperwork on the Eastmoreland National Historic District containing 5000 potentially unverifiable trust objections may open the door for re-submission and provide …
Historic Designation Not Dead Yet Read More
By Midge Pierce For several years, an undercurrent of tension has rippled through Richmond Neighborhood Association meetings as distrust, disrespect and charges of election shenanigans have surfaced. RNA is not …
Turning Toxic Around, One Neighborhood at a Time Read More
By Midge Pierce Citing the potentially devastating effect on its commercial strip, the Hawthorne Boulevard Business Association unanimously voted to oppose a PBOT proposal to implement permit parking for 623 …
Pushback Over Parking Permit Read More
By Midge Pierce With the Mayor, Police Union Chief and other Portland residents trading barbs that the city has become everything from ungovernable to a cesspool, one thing most agree …
Montavilla Explores Remedies for Houselessness Read More
By Nancy Tannler At a recent Lents Neighborhood Livability Association meeting, knowledgeable officials fielded questions about why your water bill was 4.46 percent higher starting in July. Michael Jordan, Director …
Increase in Water Bill Read More
By Nancy Tannler In August 2018, Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) will be sending mailers to residents in the Richmond and Sunnyside neighborhoods to inform them of a proposed parking …
Proposed Permit Parking Read More
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 way: “One of Portland’s oldest and …
Hawthorne Vacancies – New Normal or Not Read More
By Midge Pierce “Density with Sensitivity” is the motto of urban planner and architectural firebrand Heather Flint Chatto, who with longtime landuse activist Linda Nettekoven, launched the Division Design Initiative …
Mainstreet Style Design is Good for City Read More
Shelter Approved Despite Objections Multnomah County is moving forward on a controversial 120-bed shelter at SE 61st and Foster. Ignoring pleas of neighbors concerned about proximity to schools and childcare, …
By Don MacGillivray There is no end in sight to the urbanization of the Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID). What once was an industrial district of one and two story …
The Urbanization of the Central Eastside Read More
By Don MacGillivray Tax Reform Initiative Petition 37 will be on the November ballot. It is a referendum to eliminate any and all future taxation of the groceries in Oregon. …
Tax Proposal on Unhealthy Food Read More
By Midge Pierce A pair of petitions demanding the City take forceful action against criminal elements on our streets has struck a nerve. The petitions were started after a handful …
Petition Urges Portlanders to Take Back the City Read More
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 scheduled between June 1-10. For nearly seven …
18th Village Building Convergence Read More
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 Manor home since 1993. …
Holgate Manor is Microcosm of Crisis Read More
By Midge Pierce Grassroots support for the City’s Residential Infill Project (RIP) slipped during last month’s testimony before the Planning and Sustainability Commission raising the opposition’s hopes that planners might …
RIP Backlash Emerges from Former Supporters Read More
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 the past few months have caused considerable …
Blue is for Better Housing Design Read More
By Midge Pierce Portlanders concerned about the changing cityscape are bracing for the outcome of a June 13 City Council hearing on new seismic retrofit rules. Proposed Unreinforced Masonry (URM) …
URM Update: Over-reach or Critical Need Read More
By Don MacGillivray Cyclists are a huge part of the Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID) and their numbers are increasing. The building boom here is complicating the future of the …
Cyclists Input Needed in CEID Transportation Network Read More
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 significant cycling changes to Portland’s …
Balancing Recreation with Nature Read More
Correction: A slight but important correction needs to be made in this article: https://www.southeastexaminer.com/2018/06/the-case-for-participatory-budgeting/ The author refers says “The new organization is “The Rosewood Initiative” and they recently held a …
The Case for Participatory Budgeting Read More
By Midge Pierce Finding balance between compassion for the homeless and diffusing neighborhood tensions is a dilemma for police caught between charges of excessive force on one hand and increasing calls …
Police Explain Homeless Crisis Limits Read More
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 wonder if the new label …
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 this through lower posted …
Best Practices for Making Vision Zero Work Read More
By Midge Pierce 135,000 Portland residents received notices from the City that their single family property would be rezoned under the Residential Infill Project (RIP). Now they’re realizing their home, …
Clarion Call Issued for Final RIP Planning Testimony Read More
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 will lose it longest-serving member …
City Council Candidates Read More
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 shadow of chemical factories …
Frontline Communities on Climate and Environmental Justice Read More
By Allen Field The Richmond Neighborhood Association holds its 1st Richmond Graffiti & Litter CleanUp Day, Saturday, June 16, from 9 am to 1 pm. From a staging area at …
SOLVE Richmond’s Graffiti and Litter Clean Up Day Read More
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 breathing significantly easier. “We delivered …
Tabor Park House Sale Averted Read More
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 run or walk, and kids’ fun run …
Community News May 2018 Read More
By Gabriel Frayne Jr. The city-wide dilemma concerning how to mandate seismic retrofits for Portland’s nearly two thousand unreinforced masonry buildings (URMs) without forcing their demise will take a step …
Council Ponders URM Retrofits Read More
By Don MacGillivray In 2016 Portland adopted the Vision Zero program. The accomplishments in its first year are impressive. Vision Zero’s intent is to end all roads related deaths and …
Vision Zero Has Miles to Go Read More
By Don MacGillivray Portland has serious transportation issues growing in ways that concern everyone, especially commuters. The cost of traffic congestion averages $1,200 annually in wasted time and fuel for …
PDX Transportation Goals Read More
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 Portland’s most …
Cyclists Rally For Safety Read More
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 neighborhoods with vastly different …
Divisive Diverter Impacts Hawthorne and Division Read More
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 Monzon, neighborhood project …
Thorburn: Successfully Slowing Roadrunners Read More
By Adam Meltzer The Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) has proposed cutting the Graffiti Abatement Program for the 2018-2019 City budget stating that the program does not align with its …
Proposed Elimination of ONI’s Graffiti Abatement Program Read More
By Don MacGillivray Diesel exhaust has been an issue in Portland for many years. Recently the central city has more than thirty large buildings under construction at one time and …
Diesel Exhaust Emissions Control Lagging in Oregon Read More
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 vibrant at Belmont and …
Mural Mixes Art and Ethos to Benefit Art Community Read More
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 Pacific and it better encompasses …
WP Goes from College to University Read More
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 Saturday in which Portland was …
Discourse Drives Homeless Protest Read More
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 brew coffee while …
Future Trends in Portland’s Demographics Read More
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 work on Kellogg …
101 year-old School to be Reborn Read More
By Midge Pierce As analysts sift through thousands of comments to the Recommended Draft of the City’s Residential Infill Project, a commonality emerges: housing affordability is paramount. Some respondents say …
By Midge Pierce With delays likely in federal grant funding and a design estimated at some $14 million over budget, Trimet officials have trotted out a new descriptor for the Division …
Transit Recalibration Offers Opportunity Read More
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 $600 million, Oregon’s least fortunate …
Club Impact Fills Social Gap Read More
By Midge Pierce Preservationists, thwarted by Portland’s perceived pro-growth demolition practices, finally have a turn at the mike. To launch its Historic Resources code process that calls for identifying, protecting …
Preservation Gets Its Turn Read More
By Midge Pierce Portland’s biggest story continuing into 2018 is its housing emergency. Homelessness remains rampant despite shelters such as the 100-bed facility planned for a vacant store at 62nd …
Petition Calls for Public Vote on RIP Read More
By Midge Pierce Even though the Portland Bureau of Transportation has temporarily delayed a final decision on a semi-diverter proposed on the Lincoln Street Greenway at 50th, the rift between …
Diverter Divides Cyclists and Community Read More
Artwork by Aaron Trotter – a wonderful local artist. Check out more of his work @ https://www.illustratedplayingcards.com/ Property owners throughout Portland are preparing for an imminent event of historic proportions that could …
Seismic Retrofits for URMs Read More
Diverters Two competing perspectives about a PBOT-proposed street diverter at SE Lincoln and 50th circulated through the Mt. Tabor and Richmond neighborhoods last month. Those supporting the diverter say it …
SE Updates December 2017 Read More
By Don MacGillivray OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is planning for significant growth and change over the next twenty years. With one million visitors each year the …
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 services. Both perspectives were …
When it Comes to Crime, the County Matters Read More
By Midge Pierce As neighborhood associations hunkered down last month to meet the deadline for response to Residential Infill Project amendments and individuals circulated petitions to stop RIP’s elimination of …
New Challenges to RIP Read More
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 because …
Community News December 2017 Read More
By Don MacGillivray The City of Portland is experiencing a housing boom and crisis happening simultaneously. In spite of herculean efforts by government and the not for profit sectors, the …
Density and Design Around the Nation Read More
By Midge Pierce Montavilla has become a flashpoint in recent debates over social justice and the use of police force. Last month’s neighborhood association board elections ushered in new faces …
Progressives Push; Montavilla Pivots Read More
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 significant change to Portland’s …
RIP Follows the Money: Splits Southeast Read More
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 50th & Hawthorne Blvd. First, …
By Midge Pierce Caught between crime and compassion, residents along the commercial corridors and tree-lined streets of SE are in a quandary about how to solve problems the City can’t: …
Grassroots Group Grapples Crime Read More
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. According to a recent report …
By Midge Pierce Under new leadership, Portland’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) is steering its seven neighborhood coalitions that include SE Uplift (SEUL) to look beyond neighborhood self-interest toward support …
Potential Seismic Shift Comes to SEUL with New Leadership Read More
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 Rose Quarter, where the state plans a $450 …
Transportation Bill Partially Funds Congestion Relief Read More
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 of 30 …
Solutions for Homeless Remain Elusive Read More
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 will be available for public review …
Mt. Tabor Long Block Gets Makeover Read More
By Midge Pierce Climatologists, foresters and other experts – one of whom calls the recent Gorge conflagration “a postcard from the future” – have advice for Portlanders anxious to help …
Climate Change, Gorge Fires and Volunteer Actions Read More
By Nancy Tannler Thanks to the $482 million school building improvement bond the citizens of Portland voted for in 2012, Franklin, Roosevelt and Grant High Schools and one K – …
Franklin High School Re-Opens Reinvented Read More
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 Powell. Portland Housing …
Affordable Family Housing and Apartments Coming to Powell Read More
