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 persona this Spring when the primary elections …
A Primary Race Like No Other – Running for Office in District 42 Read More
By Midge Pierce Experts predict 400,000 people will move into Portland over the next few decades. Builder, scholar, entrepreneur Eli Spevak believes he has solutions for how to house …
Smart Infill Answers Vexing Problem Read More
By Nancy Tannler Portland Water Bureau (PWB) announced plans to disconnect Reservoirs 1, 5 and 6 from the city’s drinking water and construct new piped connections, valves and other …
Community Neglected in Reservoir Disconnect Read More
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 250 homeowners …
Bed & Breakfast Market Growing in Portland Read More
By Don MacGillivray With the increase of the number of apartment buildings without parking and the anticipated general growth in the future, parking is a big issue. To address …
Permit Parking Coming to the Inner Southeast Read More
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 is the owner …
Retail Renaissance on Belmont Read More
By M. Pierce Neighborhood children, a giant heritage tree and property listed on the National Park’s Register of Historic Places were endangered by illegal excavation over last month’s MLK …
Unpermitted Work Distresses Neighbors Read More
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 …
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 walkway between the park area and …
St Francis – a Park for Now Read More
By Don MacGillivray The Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID) has been the subject of planning activities for the last forty years. It’s time to renew and update these plans …
Preparing the CEID for Growth Read More
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 hurdles it must clear before …
Battling the Giant Over Water Rights Read More
Over the next several months, the 25-million gallon underground reinforced concrete reservoir being built atop Kelly Butte in SE Portland will begin to rise from the ground. The 394 by …
Kelly Butte reservoir construction Read More
By Rose Kelsch King It’s been nearly two months since students in SE Portland headed back to school. Homework, spending time with friends, and the next big sporting event …
Cleveland Students take the EcoChallenge Read More
By Don MacGillivray For those interested in the planning of Portland, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has outdone themselves. The new Draft Comprehensive Plan (Part 2 was released …
Guide To Comp Plan Draft Part 2 Read More
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 long-time residents age, …
Neighborhood Roll Over Rolls On Read More
By Nancy Tannler Providence Portland Medical Center on NE Glisan held its annual meeting with the community recently and presented plans for the Providence Guest House to be built …
Providence Builds Guest Housing Read More
By Rich Riegel Wandering the streets with overloaded shopping carts, camping under bridges, viaducts and next to businesses, and congregating in local parks, Portland’s homeless population is everywhere, and …
Homeless plight/solutions offered Read More
By Nancy Tannler The future need for more water in the Portland Metropolitan area is making the news. Most recently the Tualatin Valley Water District declared they plan to …
Portland Water Needs Solutions Read More
By Nancy Tannler Montavilla residents held a town hall meeting to address government officials, environmental experts and Portland Public School about their worry over the recent installation of a …
Smoke Signals Trouble for Neighbors Read More
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 that Oregon’s health reform has …
Oregon State Health Reform Read More
By Rich Riegel A $20 million renovation in the heart of the Central Eastside Industrial District is proof the area in inner SE continues to boom. Viewpoint Construction Software, …
Viewpoint Renovation in Central Eastside Read More
By Don MacGillivray With approximately 3,000 potentially susceptible elms throughout the city, Dutch Elm disease (DED) would have a catastrophic impact on Portland’s urban forest if it were allowed …
Can Portland’s Elm Trees Be Saved? Read More
By Jean Baker The Burnside Bridgehead site is located at the base of the east end of the Burnside Bridge. Extending north from Burnside Street to I-84 between 2nd …
Bridgehead Development Underway Read More
By Nancy Tannler Additional information provided by Mark Bartlett and Shannon Loch The struggle to identify the best use of the Mt. Tabor Park reservoirs is about to heat up. …
Public land use past and future Read More
By Nancy Tannler Last month in a series on the reservoirs, The Southeast Examiner wrote the article Open Air Reservoirs and Your Health. This month, we look back over …
The Cost of Decommissioning Read More
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 was our intrepid …
Lee Perlman 1949 – 2013 Read More
By Don MacGillivray Unfortunately, Portland still has many people in need of basic emergency assistance. When the paycheck is gone or is not enough for the rent and folks …
Fish: Neighbors Helping Neighbors Read More
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 from the bureaus of …
Col. Summers Gatherings Pit Neighbors Against Visitors Read More
By Lee Perlman Urban renewal advisory groups abolished Portland Development Commission announced plans for the abolition of the Urban Renewal Advisory Committees (URACs) that have provided local …
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 Brooklyn neighborhood’s plot. With …
A Garden Grows in Brooklyn Read More
Even though it seems as if Portland’s elected officials have capitulated over the covered reservoir ordinance (EPA Long Term 2 Enhancement Surface Water Treatment–LT2), a group of concerned citizens believe …
Open Air Reservoirs and Your Health Read More
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 Willamette River in downtown Portland. This merry …
Big Float 3 Sails the Willamette Read More
Bridgehead development continues Portland Design Commission last month held a second hearing for Key Development’s plans for a 20-story building on Block 67, vacant land immediately north of the …
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 Hawthorne Blvd. The massive installation is …
New Sculptures on Eastside Trolley Line Read More
Support for pedestrian safety, like motherhood, is de regueur for politicians. Last month, Mayor Charlie Hales literally walked his talk on the subject. Hales acted as a “decoy” in …
Mayor Hales Participates in “Pedestrian Action” Read More
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 stranger to organizational collaboration, …
REACH Hires New Director Read More
Kerns parkless apartments get in under the wire New rules recently passed by the Portland City Council now require new apartment projects of 30 units or more to have …
SE Updates June 2013 Read More
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 neighborhood, Cascade …
Tribute to a respected resident Read More
The 2013 Village Building Convergence (VBC), themed “Urban Succession: Shift and Sprout,” will happen May 24 – June 2 in Portland. At this year’s annual, ten-day Convergence on urban permaculture, …
Village Building Convergence Read More
by Allen Field Commissioner Nick Fish, Parks & Recreation staff, Portland Parks Foundation, Friends of Portland Community Gardens, community gardeners, and neighbors officially opened the new Mt. Tabor Community …
Mt. Tabor Community Garden Officially Opens Read More
By John McLaren Construction of the NE/SE 50s Bikeway, plans which were hotly debated two years ago in the Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association (MTNA), is now expected to begin in …
North/south bikeway changes 52nd/53rd Read More
The Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission heard testimony last month that proposed new parking requirements for new multi-family development was unnecessary and contrary to city goals, and also that it …
Commission Approves New Parking Rules Read More
by Tim Hall Portland Water Bureau Making way for a better Kelly Butte landscape During first three months of the year, construction vehicles were at work clearing a …
Kelly Butte Makeover Read More
Tower planned for Burnside Bridgehead Representatives of Key Development, and LRS and Skylab architects last month treated the Kerns Neighborhood Association to their plans for Block 67, next to …
SE Updates April 2013 Read More
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. Francis Parish is in the process …
Big Changes Ahead for St. Francis Park Read More
Historic Resources Code Improvement Project makes it easier, cheaper to make minor modifications to Portland’s historic resources PORTLAND, Ore. — This morning Portland’s City Council unanimously voted to adopt code amendments that …
By Don MacGillivray Mayor Charlie Hales campaigned on “common sense” priorities for the City of Portland. In the next three months the City will find out what this means. Mayor …
Defining New Budget Priorities at City Hall Read More
By Nancy Tannler Back in 2005, Carol Levine, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker here, recognized the need to assist veterans reintegrate themselves back into society after returning from the war …
Volunteer Program for Vets Read More
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. to be used …
SE Updates March 2013 Read More
By Lee Perlman At the direction of Portland City Council, and response to outcries from many neighborhoods, the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has proposed to impose …
City proposes some parking minimums Read More
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 explore the interior of …
What’s Going on in There? Read More
The minimum parking requirements for new multi-family buildings along high density corridors has residents living in the immediate neighborhood very concerned. At the City Council session of January 10, citizens …
Sunshine Dairy seeks street vacation The Sunshine Dairy at 801 NE. 21st Ave. is seeking a pair of street vacancies to facilitate its truck loading. As consultant Peter Fry …
SE Updates January 2013 Read More
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 expected to grow by nearly …
Comp Plan Visualizes Portland’s Future Read More
By Paul Leistner, Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association and MaryLouise Ott, South Tabor Neighborhood Association. Division St. between SE 60th and SE 80th is a dangerous place for pedestrians, bikes, …
Proposed “Lane Reorganization” for Division St. Read More
By Don MacGillivray For 40 years, the Senior Property Tax Deferral Program (SPTD) has been successful and self-supporting, allowing low income elderly the opportunity to remain in their own homes, …
Fixing Senior Property Tax Deferral Read More
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 Park. If …
New Community Garden Plots Read More
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 will be moved to …
Moving the Montgomery House Read More
By Lee Perlman Some say allowing large new apartments without off-street parking decreases neighborhood livability and endangers business vitality. Others say parking is still available, if not convenient, and parking …
Two Perspectives on the Parking Issue Read More
Apartment tower slated for Bridgehead Portland Development Commission is in the process of selling Block 67, part of the Burnside Bridgehead, to Key Development Corporation, staffer Steve Schain told …
SE Updates December 2012 Read More
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 Steward Program: citizens …
Green Stewards Take to the Streets Read More
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. Tabor Park. …
Weed Warriors Honored Read More
Inner southeast Portland is defined by train tracks. The rails enter under the Burnside Bridge, run close to the Willamette River through the Central Eastside Industrial District, and leave The …
Coal Trains Part 3 – Experts Weigh In Read More
The City of Portland’s Sustai nability at Work program provides free assistance and certification for Portland businesses looking to create a more sustainable workplace. Our businesses have taken a lot …
Sustainable local business Read More
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 the federal LT2 reservoir covering rule. …
Reservoir Advocates Seek an Economic Hardship Reprieve Read More
Southeast Precinct rededicated The old Southeast Precinct was reopened and rededicated last month, this time in partnership with other public safety programs. Under then-police chief Rosie Sizer the bureau …
SE Updates November 2012 Read More
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, local experts have their say. Part …
Coal Trains in Southeast Neighborhoods Part 2: What local experts think Read More
“The ambience of this showcase park (Mt. Tabor) would be severely compromised if the reservoirs were permanently capped. But if they must be closed, support the floating covers option as …
Floating Reservoir Covers–an Option Read More
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 election a giant sign hanging from …
SE Updates Octoer 2012 Read More
With speeches, celebrations and two days of free service, the Portland Streetcar’s east side loop opened for business last month, amid a rain of sour grapes from critics. At …
East Side Streetcar Opens Read More
Local artists open their studios for the annual Portland Open Studios tour for a variety of reasons. Some love to teach and demonstrate their process. Certainly the chance to …
The Artists in Portland Open Studios Find Community Read More
