Deciding City Parks Funding
By Don MacGillivray Comprehensive is not a meaningful enough term for the all encompassing qualities of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. …
Local Headlines
Options to Raise Revenues for Street Maintenance
By Don MacGillivray Transportation funding has long been an important issue in Portland. Our streets are deteriorating under the pressure …
Some Like it New
By Midge Pierce In response to last month’s story, The Rubble Within, Justin Wood with the Portland Homebuilder’s Association says the ass…
Tweaking Portland’s Zoning Code
By Don MacGillivray The City is embarking on its Seventh Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment Package (RICAP #7). Those that remember …
Up for Review and Comment – the New Draft Comprehensive Plan
By Don MacGillivray Portland residents are invited to view and comment on elements of a long-range plan to direct growth and change over t…
Central City 2035 SE Quadrant
By Nancy Tannler In 1988, the Central Eastside became an official district of Portland’s Central City and is now part of the Central City …
Have Patience While Commuting
By Midge Pierce You may feel like your car, bike or sandals are barely squeezing through Portland’s tightly-packed commercial corridors an…
Hawthorne Street Fair 2014
Portland’s longest running STREET FAIR Hawthorne businesses are looking forward to hosting our community on Hawthorne Boulevard on August 17. The B…
Preserving Pristine Environments
By Don MacGillivray The Nature Conservancy is an organization taking climate change seriously. The Conservancy has revised its activities …
Park Progress Made Frustrations Mount
By Midge Pierce The progress presented by a citizen’s group that reduces damage in Mt. Tabor Park from Portland Water Bureau’s upcoming, 1…
Home Demolition Epidemic
By Don MacGillivray Quality homes are being scraped away. This is not infill or added density, it is the gradual devastation of many neigh…
People’s Water Trust Initiative Petition
By Rich Riegel An initiative petition for a proposed ballot measure is being circulated in our area in an effort to give guidance to how t…
Franklin Centennial
By Midge Pierce The year-long Franklin High School Centennial ends this month with an alumni weekend that starts with the planting of a Ce…
Public Opinion About the Draft Comprehensive Plan
By Don MacGillivray Nearly 1,100 public comments were received in the review of the second section of the Draft Comprehensive Plan in the …
Graffiti – Art or Visual Vandalism?
By Don MacGillivray While some graffiti shows artistic talent all of it is considered vandalism. Perhaps, more importantly it is criminal …
Washington High School’s Commercial Comeback
by Karen Hery It’s taken quite some time for a closed down high school in the inner Southeast to graduate to its next use. The diploma is…
Excavating Old Properties
Heavy equipment enthusiasts may have been delighted with the massive 20-plus ton excavator digging up the old Portland Impact Building at 4703 SE Hawth…
Negotiations on Reservoir Disconnect
By Nancy Tannler The community meeting about the Mt Tabor Reservoir Disconnection Project was co-hosted by Portland Water Bureau (PWB) and…
PCC Celebrates
By Nancy Tannler The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new SE Center Library and Student Commons Building at Portland Community College was …
High Drama Saves Centurion Tree
By Midge Pierce High drama capped a 15-year-saga that saved a priceless, century-old tree. Thunder clapped and the sky spit shards of i…
Growth in the Eastside Industrial Area
By Don MacGillivray The Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID) appears to the layperson as a unique, but under-developed section of P…
In memoriam
Greg Hulbert, a popular and highly-respected adviser at the information desk at Portland Nursery for twenty-three years, passed away at home on Sunday …
Public officials explain reservoir disconnect project
By Midge Pierce Mt. Tabor’s Proposed Reservoir Construction Project plan is now posted in southwest sections of the park prior to a public…
Improving Neighborhood Commercial Centers
By Don MacGillivray The improvement of community life in Portland is often the topic of policy discussions resulting in implemen…
Regulations on Short Term Rentals
By Don MacGillivray Airbedandbreakfast.com, known as Airbnb, is initiating a “Shared City” concept to help the city of Portland and local …
Facts about the PPWD
By Nancy Tannler Co-petitioners for the Portland Public Water District (PPWD) Floy Jones and Kent Craford held a meeting that detailed the…
The Fast Track Reservoir Disconnect
By Midge Pierce Time is running out on the preservation of the Mt. Tabor reservoirs with the April filing of a Portland Water Bureau land …
A Primary Race Like No Other – Running for Office in District 42
By Karen Hery The inner Southeast’s pride in being ever so unique gets one more boost and another notch in our not-like-anywhere-else pers…
Smart Infill Answers Vexing Problem
By Midge Pierce Experts predict 400,000 people will move into Portland over the next few decades. Builder, scholar, entrepreneur Eli Speva…
Community Neglected in Reservoir Disconnect
By Nancy Tannler Portland Water Bureau (PWB) announced plans to disconnect Reservoirs 1, 5 and 6 from the city’s drinking water and co…
Bed & Breakfast Market Growing in Portland
By Don MacGillivray How well do you know your neighbors? Are they renting out a room or two to visitors from out of town? There are over 2…
Permit Parking Coming to the Inner Southeast
By Don MacGillivray With the increase of the number of apartment buildings without parking and the anticipated general growth in the futur…
Retail Renaissance on Belmont
By Karen Hery First to market can be a fast path to success or a lonely walk. Stephanie Sheldon, is far from lonely right now. Sheldon …
Unpermitted Work Distresses Neighbors
By M. Pierce Neighborhood children, a giant heritage tree and property listed on the National Park’s Register of Historic Places were enda…
Who’s Moving In
By Karen Hery There’s a building boom going on in the inner SE. It’s not a sudden surge in box stores or single family homes, not a slew of new …
St Francis – a Park for Now
by Karen Hery There’s not much stirring as winter approaches St. Francis Park except the final work of a city sewer project along the walk…
Preparing the CEID for Growth
By Don MacGillivray The Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID) has been the subject of planning activities for the last forty years. …
Battling the Giant Over Water Rights
Nestlé’s proposed water bottling plant in Cascade Locks may still be years away, but a recent state ruling helped Nestlé over one of multiple legal hur…
Kelly Butte reservoir construction
Over the next several months, the 25-million gallon underground reinforced concrete reservoir being built atop Kelly Butte in SE Portland will begin to…
Cleveland Students take the EcoChallenge
By Rose Kelsch King It’s been nearly two months since students in SE Portland headed back to school. Homework, spending time with friends,…
Guide To Comp Plan Draft Part 2
By Don MacGillivray For those interested in the planning of Portland, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has outdone themselves. Th…
Neighborhood Roll Over Rolls On
By Karen Hery Picking the next neighborhood hot spot is, at best, one part social science, two parts intuition and a fair bit of luck. As …
Providence Builds Guest Housing
By Nancy Tannler Providence Portland Medical Center on NE Glisan held its annual meeting with the community recently and presented plans f…
Homeless plight/solutions offered
By Rich Riegel Wandering the streets with overloaded shopping carts, camping under bridges, viaducts and next to businesses, and congregat…
Portland Water Needs Solutions
By Nancy Tannler The future need for more water in the Portland Metropolitan area is making the news. Most recently the Tualatin Valley…
Smoke Signals Trouble for Neighbors
By Nancy Tannler Montavilla residents held a town hall meeting to address government officials, environmental experts and Portland Public …
Oregon State Health Reform
By Eve Dodds The people of Oregon are about to get healthier. A national study by the Department of Health and Human Services has shown th…
Viewpoint Renovation in Central Eastside
By Rich Riegel A $20 million renovation in the heart of the Central Eastside Industrial District is proof the area in inner SE continues t…
Can Portland’s Elm Trees Be Saved?
By Don MacGillivray With approximately 3,000 potentially susceptible elms throughout the city, Dutch Elm disease (DED) would have a catast…
Bridgehead Development Underway
By Jean Baker The Burnside Bridgehead site is located at the base of the east end of the Burnside Bridge. Extending north from Burnside St…
Public land use past and future
By Nancy Tannler Additional information provided by Mark Bartlett and Shannon Loch The struggle to identify the best use of the Mt. Tabor Park…
The Cost of Decommissioning
By Nancy Tannler Last month in a series on the reservoirs, The Southeast Examiner wrote the article Open Air Reservoirs and Your Health. T…
Lee Perlman 1949 – 2013
Lee Perlman was one of our ace reporters here at The Southeast Examiner. He knew how to meet deadlines, follow local news and tell great stories. Lee w…
Fish: Neighbors Helping Neighbors
By Don MacGillivray Unfortunately, Portland still has many people in need of basic emergency assistance. When the paycheck is gone or is n…
Col. Summers Gatherings Pit Neighbors Against Visitors
By Lee Perlman According to some of its neighbors, Colonel Summers Park has become too popular as a place to hang out and drink. Reactions…
SE Updates
By Lee Perlman Urban renewal advisory groups abolished Portland Development Commission announced plans for the abol…
A Garden Grows in Brooklyn
By Lee Perlman There are many other community gardens in Portland, but it’d be hard to find one with a more spectacular view than the Broo…
Open Air Reservoirs and Your Health
Even though it seems as if Portland’s elected officials have capitulated over the covered reservoir ordinance (EPA Long Term 2 Enhancement Surface Wate…
Big Float 3 Sails the Willamette
Around noon on Sunday, July 28, a couple thousand people will climb into inner-tubes and other human-powered watercraft and set sail down the Willamett…
SE Updates
Bridgehead development continues Portland Design Commission last month held a second hearing for Key Development’s plans for a 20-story bu…
New Sculptures on Eastside Trolley Line
By Don macGillivray You may have noticed the towering sixty foot high rust-colored steel sculpture at the corner of SE Grand Ave. and SE H…
Mayor Hales Participates in “Pedestrian Action”
Support for pedestrian safety, like motherhood, is de regueur for politicians. Last month, Mayor Charlie Hales literally walked his talk on the subject…
REACH Hires New Director
Dan Valliere is not only new to Portland and to REACH Community Development, but he is new to housing development in general. However, he is no strange…
SE Updates June 2013
Kerns parkless apartments get in under the wire New rules recently passed by the Portland City Council now require new apartment projects …
Tribute to a respected resident
Portland has lost a great civic and environmental activist with the death on May 4 of Cascade Anderson Geller at age 59. A resident of the Mt. Tabor ne…
Village Building Convergence
The 2013 Village Building Convergence (VBC), themed “Urban Succession: Shift and Sprout,” will happen May 24 – June 2 in Portland. At this year’s annua…
Mt. Tabor Community Garden Officially Opens
by Allen Field Commissioner Nick Fish, Parks & Recreation staff, Portland Parks Foundation, Friends of Portland Community Garden…
North/south bikeway changes 52nd/53rd
By John McLaren Construction of the NE/SE 50s Bikeway, plans which were hotly debated two years ago in the Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association (MTN…
Commission Approves New Parking Rules
The Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission heard testimony last month that proposed new parking requirements for new multi-family development …
Kelly Butte Makeover
by Tim Hall Portland Water Bureau Making way for a better Kelly Butte landscape During first three months of the year, con…
SE Updates April 2013
Tower planned for Burnside Bridgehead Representatives of Key Development, and LRS and Skylab architects last month treated the Kerns Neigh…
Big Changes Ahead for St. Francis Park
By Don MacGillivray and Lee Perlman The one-acre private park that graced the Buckman neighborhood for 40 years is about to disappear. The St. Fr…
City Council Unanimously Adopts Code Amendments That Help Homeowners in Historic and Conservation Districts Modify Their Homes
Historic Resources Code Improvement Project makes it easier, cheaper to make minor modifications to Portland’s histor…
Defining New Budget Priorities at City Hall
By Don MacGillivray Mayor Charlie Hales campaigned on “common sense” priorities for the City of Portland. In the next three months the City will f…
Volunteer Program for Vets
By Nancy Tannler Back in 2005, Carol Levine, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker here, recognized the need to assist veterans reintegrate themse…
SE Updates March 2013
By Lee Perlman Green Castle to become apartments Joe Westerman waged a long legal battle to allow his parking lot on NE 20th Ave. at Everett St…
City proposes some parking minimums
By Lee Perlman At the direction of Portland City Council, and response to outcries from many neighborhoods, the Portland Burea…
What’s Going on in There?
Editors note: Have you ever gone by a non-descript building and wondered “What’s going on in there”? So have we. In this new column, we will explo…
Parking Study
The minimum parking requirements for new multi-family buildings along high density corridors has residents living in the immediate neighborhood very co…
SE Updates January 2013
Sunshine Dairy seeks street vacation The Sunshine Dairy at 801 NE. 21st Ave. is seeking a pair of street vacancies to facilitate its truck…
Comp Plan Visualizes Portland’s Future
By Don MacGillivray Today, more than 584,000 people live in Portland which is 200,000 more residents than were here in 1980. By 2035, Portland is …
Proposed “Lane Reorganization” for Division St.
By Paul Leistner, Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association and MaryLouise Ott, South Tabor Neighborhood Association. Division St. between SE 60t…
Fixing Senior Property Tax Deferral
By Don MacGillivray For 40 years, the Senior Property Tax Deferral Program (SPTD) has been successful and self-supporting, allowing low income eld…
New Community Garden Plots
The Parks Bureau is taking applications for plots in the new Community Garden, being prepared now at the east end of the city nursery yard in Mt. Tabor…
Moving the Montgomery House
The redevelopment of Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard at 26th Ave. will take place – but at least one of two large and venerable buildings in its path wil…
Two Perspectives on the Parking Issue
By Lee Perlman Some say allowing large new apartments without off-street parking decreases neighborhood livability and endangers business vitality. …
SE Updates December 2012
Apartment tower slated for Bridgehead Portland Development Commission is in the process of selling Block 67, part of the Burnside Bridgehe…
Green Stewards Take to the Streets
On a cool rainy Friday last month, local business people gathered to clean up the bioswales on SE Ankeny St. They are part of the Green Street Stew…
Weed Warriors Honored
October 27 was a big day for the Friends of Mt. Tabor Park Weed Warriors, the band of volunteers who pull invasive plants from the slopes of Mt. Ta…
Coal Trains Part 3 – Experts Weigh In
Inner southeast Portland is defined by train tracks. The rails enter under the Burnside Bridge, run close to the Willamette River through the Central E…
Sustainable local business
The City of Portland’s Sustai nability at Work program provides free assistance and certification for Portland businesses looking to create a more sust…
Reservoir Advocates Seek an Economic Hardship Reprieve
The latest news relevant to the Mt. Tabor and Washington Park reservoirs comes from Rochester, New York where they’ve received a 10-year reprieve from …
SE Updates November 2012
Southeast Precinct rededicated The old Southeast Precinct was reopened and rededicated last month, this time in partnership with other pub…
Coal Trains in Southeast Neighborhoods Part 2: What local experts think
Note: In Part 1 last month, neighbors of SE Portland’s railroad tracks expressed their opinions regarding the coal transport proposal. In Part 2, here,…
Floating Reservoir Covers–an Option
“The ambience of this showcase park (Mt. Tabor) would be severely compromised if the reservoirs were permanently capped. But if they must be closed, su…
SE Updates Octoer 2012
DeMuro’s passing leaves void A large house on East Burnside St. was once occupied by one of Senator Wayne Morse’s strongest supporters. At every ele…
East Side Streetcar Opens
With speeches, celebrations and two days of free service, the Portland Streetcar’s east side loop opened for business last month, amid a …
The Artists in Portland Open Studios Find Community
Local artists open their studios for the annual Portland Open Studios tour for a variety of reasons. Some love to teach and demonstrat…