It turns out your city really does, in fact, want to hear what you have to say. There are a few speakers and a lot of concentrated work at various tables at these presentations. The topics include schools, business environments, transportation, housing, sustainability and infrastructure. All the things needed to plan and run a city over the next 20 years.

If you’re ready to do a little bit of study during the workshop, then give real input and offer your opinion in a constructive way, then coming out to these workshops for 3 hours would really be in your interest. The tables have comment cards and voting keys to record feedback from the sessions as accurately as possible.
Please be polite, but please don’t hold back if there’s an issue that is important to you. You can present it in and accurate and professional way to the city. The city employees aren’t just at these workshops to focus your work to any one area. They’re also open to general input, offered in a polite and structured way, that they may not have considered in their own planning. If you are bringing something that you’re not sure may be on the agenda. Be sure to write down as much detail on your idea or issue as possible.

Printing off multiple copies of your notes or position will help a lot. Make sure to leave your preferred contact information as well, so that City officials or others who share your opinion can get back to you with questions they may have or feedback to share.
These photos are from the Saturday, December 5, 2009 meeting at the Mount Scott Community Center.

This is part one of a three-part update series on the Tacoma Park and Ride Station for the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail line.
Remember, there’s a Light Rail meeting this coming Monday, October 26th at Ardenwald School in Milwaukie. It’s on the calendar to the upper right as well.  The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), who, among other things, manages McLoughlin Blvd. (OR State Route 99E) and Oregon State Highway 224, will be taking questions about traffic going to and coming from the Tacoma Park and Ride.

This first part deals with DKS Associates’ traffic analysis of trips going to-and-from the Park-and-Ride.
The full set of traffic analysis slides are available on the Tri-Met project site at http://trimet.org/pm Look in “Library” and “Documents from Past Community Meetings” for the DKS Associates Johnson Creek Traffic analysis, which covers an area to McLoughlin and to SE 17th & Tacoma. Slide #12 is the one you really want to look at.
30% of the Park and Ride users will come in on Johnson Creek, from the East.
Only 25% of the Tacoma Park and Ride users will come up McLoughlin from South of the McLoughlin/224 interchange. Many of those users will come from North of the Oak Grove Park Avenue Park-and-Ride station. 25% of all Tacoma Station users will come from the East on 224, then link onto SE McLoughlin to go the last mile to the station.

About 8% of vehicle trips going to the Park and Ride will be SMILE residents going down Tacoma. 12% of vehicle trips to the Park and Ride will come from West of Sellwood Bridge.

So, even if the station fills up to 1000 users a day, only 120 of those users are coming over the Sellwood Bridge. And those folks are going in lanes against the direction of rush-hour traffic.

If a Lake Oswego-to-South Waterfront Streetcar goes in, we might see fewer of those folks as well.

One of the items the community had questioned was how long the cars driving into the site (or leaving the site) via the North-side ramp into the Park and Ride from the Tacoma overpass. It turns out that, including lights flashing, crossing arm dropping, train passing, arms going up and access being clear again is a 50 second cycle. It will happen once every 7 minutes. That means for every 6 minutes and 10 seconds out of 7 minutes, the pathway will be clear. That’s 88% of the time where the access to the station will be clear. Unlike freight trains, Light rail trains are exactly two cars long always. It makes for a pretty short crossing time.

Regardless of whether the Park and Ride gets built, the traffic analysis showed that Johnson Creek traffic volume will steadily increase through 2015.  That’s because it’s the only real East-West traffic corridor North of 224, but South of Holgate, the next totally straight shot into a downtown connector, and South of Powell, the next high-volume straight shot in from the East. The Ardenwald neighborhood is actively engaged with Tri-Met and the cities of Portland and Milwaukie discussing the suggested mitigation options for traffic management.

Although the DKS traffic analysis determined that the existing Southbound onramp was adequate, various community members in Portland and in Milwaukie have suggested adding a Southbound access path to the current Southbound exit path on the Northwest corner of the Tacoma overpass, acting as a NW corner cloverleaf on the  exit.

ODOT says they don’t have the funding or resources to be able to do that, but they are currently examining the possibility of having the right-hand Southbound lane of McLoughlin act as a slow-down lane and “drop lane” for the two Southbound exits that leave just North of and just South of the Tacoma overpass.  Southbound traffic would all exit this lane by the SW corner offramp onto Tacoma, leaving it empty just South of Tacoma. They’re also looking into the possibility of removing the stop sign at the base of the Southbound onramp and adding some space for a better “add-on” acceleration lane after Southbound users enter McLoughlin. Users in this lane wouldn’t have to merge with McLoughlin traffic, they would just be added to the McLoughlin traffic as a new lane. Since the lane is emptied by traffic leaving McLoughlin just before the new traffic joins McLoughlin, there would be no slowdowns as people attempt to merge. This would have the effect of keeping the onramp drained of users and ready to accept new users turning left from Tacoma. With enhanced signage and marking at the base of the onramp to keep pedestrians safe, this could be a really positive solution for keeping the Southbound traffic flowing away from the Tacoma Park and Ride. Additionally, it wouldn’t change the existing interchange configuration, so maps, GPS and navigation aids would still be accurate after the changes, but traffic flow would be enhanced. It’ll be interesting to see where ODOT’s discussions go on this subject. You can contact ODOT’s community affairs coordinator, Elizabeth Craig, by sending her a note at:
Elizabeth (put a dot here) Craig (put an @ here) odot (dot) state (dot) or (dot) us

If you want to stay in the loop on upcoming Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail meetings and discussions, be sure to sign up for Tri-Met’s E-mail alerts. In a time of reduced budgets on all fronts, including physical flyers, physical mail and advertising inserts, email updates are becoming the new normal for major civic project notification to the public.

Monday, October 12
6:30–8:30 p.m.

Ardenwald Elementary Cafeteria
8950 SE 36th Ave.
Milwaukie

Start Time: 18:30
Date: 2009-10-12
End Time: 20:30

The attendance by the neighborhood was less than 10 people at the start of the meeting, but about 5 more people stumbled in during the meeting. Trimet began with a summary of what they’d heard from the public regarding the stations. There were questions about security, pedestrian access, parking garage size, connection to the Springwater Corridor, etc.

Trimet then started with a project summary, regarding the nature of the Portland-Milwaukie line, going from downtown Portland, through the South Waterfront area, past OMSI, Southward through Hosford-Abernathy and Brooklyn, South along the East side of McLoughlin and then on to the Park Avenue Station in Milwaukie.

The agenda included presentations by a Metro Public Involvement Specialist, TriMet’s Community Involvement folks, the Trimet design team, a development and land use consulting firm, and a design firm, showing some possible, early design ideas for the parking garage.

Our Metro District 6 Councillor, Robert Liberty was present, as was Carlotta Collette from District 2 (Milwaukie, Oregon City).  Included with citizens at the work tables and in the room were representatives from various agencies, including Tom Armstrong from the City of Portland’s Planning and Sustainability Department, Oregon Department of Transportation representatives, Dan Packard from Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association, elected officials and various other public employees. David Ashton of the Sellwood Bee seemed bemused that the officials outnumbered the residents at the workshop, even as more showed up later.

At five stories tall, the parking garage on the site is likely to be the most visually impactful feature. Three early design suggestions were presented by Otak, an architectural and engineering firm, under the project directive of a 1000-space structure. As structures get lower, they impact the 50% maximum coverage limitation of the site. This and fairly strict stream setbacks are a result of Johnson Creek Crossing the site. There are numerous Federal, State and local regulations protecting the riparian streamside area. One “Giant Square Box” Design and two modified designs were presented and discussed.  At the table where I was sitting, Jim Friscia of SMILE, Roberty Liberty of Metro and Dan Packard of Eastmoreland were mentioning things like enhancing pedestrian access to the site, possibly adding a sidewalk to the South side of the Tacoma overpass above McLoughlin, questions about cars entering the site from the North, question about how much the parking structure, being South of the train platform would shade the platform and how to have as direct as possible a link between the station and the Springwater Corridor.

This is pretty extended design process. There will almost certainly be another meeting that doesn’ t take place in the summer months. It’ll be on the project calendar  at http://trimet.org/pm/getinvolved/index.htm when it gets scheduled. The next meeting that’s most-relevant to the Sellwood area will be the September Citizen’s Advisory Committee, on Thursday, September 16th, 2009 from 6pm-8pm at St. Philip Neri Parish, in Carvlin Hall, at 2408 SE 16th Avenue in Portland. Pizza is often served, and, once the CAC representatives have served themselves a first round, there’s really no shame in having some dinner to tide you through the proceedings.

Barbar Barber: SMILE Transportation Committee Chair
Agenda:
Set goals:
10 minutes define transportation
10 minutes of chatting

5 minutes Get list together.

20 Identify current and future projects

5 What’s in play and who’s heading it up?

Future Projects

Prioritizing Future projects.

Solutions.

Beauracratic tools

Creative Solutions

Barbara Barber – Transportation Chair

Mat Millenbach – Land Use Chair

Eric Miller – Working on Sellwood Pedestrian Corridor

Steve Sigizvy – MS in Transportation

Tina Osterink – SMILE Vice President

Peter Mortola – Bike Commuter

Jim Friscia – SMILE Board Member

Brad Heinz – Working on Sellwood Pedestrian Corridor Project.

Reid Kells – Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Citizen’s Advisory Committee Rep. for SMILE

*AR for REID *Turn on “who” for the mailing list.

Tell people how to “Who” the list and send a note to the list.

Allow members of the list to who the list.

4:06 Start meeting

Transportation Chair Barbara reiterates that we’ll want to not have a death march.

Mat Millenbach mentioned that there’s a lot of overlap between Land Use and Transportation due to Zoning.

Brad Heinz says that’s important.

Tina Osterink – Trying to find solutions

Reid Kells – CAC Rep for the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail

Jim Friscia – Interested in transportation. Working concerts for last 10 years. Security and Transportation is very important in that venue in particular.

Parking, for example, is important for those shows, flow into and out of the event, traffic control, all of that will be important.

Tina: Can you call the Pedicab folks to get them into that as well?

Eric Miller: Play groups and young children inspired his involvement. Brad Heinz and his work to finish the Tacoma Main Street Plan in conjunction with the bridge is what’s important. Pedestrian issues are big with him.

Peter Mortola – Met Brad and Eric through play groups. Lives in “So-Tacky”, near the yarn store. Bike commuting makes him hyper-aware of commuting issues.

17th South of Tacoma is pretty scary traffic-wise for kids.

Some signage might be good down there.

17th between Tacoma and ochoco are really important in particular.

19th between Tacoma and Ochoco are really important, too.

Signage is pretty rough in that section.

Steve Szigethy – Commutes downtown via bike and 41 bus. Walking, driving, did graduate project on Harold St. Station.

Brad Heinz – Worked his way into a large Pedestrian enablement grant for the Sellwood Pedestrian corridor via the Big Pipe Project.

One of his priority’s is also the 19th St. Biking route.

19th St. up to Tacoma.

He’s interested in gateways and routes and establishing a connection with the community in a visual way.

Barbara Barber – Focused on getting on the Sellwood Bridge task force. Largely around the love of the neighborhood. Wanted Sellwood to be able to call the shots on the planning for the bridge issues.

—-

Commuter traffic has a big impact on the neighborhood. Maybe there’s a way to alter how that functions if we wanted to do so.

Some comments here about signage from 224.

What is Transportation about:

Obvious: Peds, Bikes, Buses, Streetcars, Passenger Vehicles, Light Rail, etc.

Eric Miller: All sorts of things that SMILE can do like planting strips, beautification, etc.

Brad: Putting an emotional image out to people coming in is important.

Peter: Transportation should be defined as movement to and through the neighborhood.

Steve: Even something static like a gateway feature ends up being a transportation issue.

Mat Millenbach: Some projects are so large that the whole organization is focused on the issue, such as the Bridge. How can that be broken out so that new issues can be addressed?

Jim Friscia: Involvement levels rise and fall. It’s important to make sure people don’t pull back in.

Barbara Barber: We can probably sell transportation to people by letting them know that things can be changed. A lot of people think “that’s just the way it is” for how transport or ped crossings are set up.

General discussion of retaining input from

Mat Millenbach: How do you decide where the committee activity ends and the board activity begins.

Projects currently in play:

Sellwood Bridge

Tacoma Main Street Plan – Including the crossing at Tacoma and 19th.

http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=9093

Spokane Bike Boulevard

Business District 20 mph restriction on SE 13th and SE 17th.

Bidwell-Lamber Pedestrian Corridor

Springwater Corridor Sellwood Sellwood Gap

Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail

Bus Service – Cancellation of the 41.

Speed Limits along Milwaukie in Westmoreland are inconsistent and change North-to-South (on Milwauke N of Bybee).

Land Use: Umatilla Pump Station

Peter: 11th and Tacoma crossing was important as well.

New Projects:

Neighborhood Gateway, signage that establishes neighborhood place and distinguishes the neighborhood from being just a cut-through location – Kevin Downing has been circulating some emails about this lately.

Where 224 transitions into 17th is a good place to help people get out of “Expressway Mode”

Just South of SE Ochoco is a great place to put a gateway.

Peter: Bus stop, soon the bike people, trucking, vehicles,

Brad Heinz: Take a look at what happens in Linnton, on HWY 30, to get people to slow down. Figuring out what they do to slow people from 55 to 30 *there* would help us *here*.

SE 52nd & Hawthorne sign, for example.

Hillsdale is a great example of the benign City signs that look dumb.

Something artistic is what is important.

Mark Lakeman is a good person to talk to about that.

Linn St. Cut-through from people heading toward the bridge.

People begin to make a decision to cut through the neighborhood and get to the bridge that way.

Cut-through traffic in general is this.

Peter: in a way, SE 17th *is* cut-through traffic if people are going to the bridge.

Cut-through reduction on SE 17th-

Light change at SE 17th and 224.

Pedestrian Crossing across McLoughlin and over the Union Pacific Tracks at Reedway

More pedestrian crossings between SE Ochoco and SE Umatilla on SE 17th.

Mat Millenbach: More crosswalks might be helpful.

SE 17th bumpouts and crosswalks.

More crossings from SE Umatilla to SE Ochoco on SE 17th.
Steve: Why are there no crossings at SE 11th on Tacoma? That’s where everyone crosses to go to New Seasons.

Painted crosswalk there would be helpful.

Peter: Looking to count cars coming to SE & 17th intersections versus cars that come straight up Tacoma.

DEIS for the bridge may have that already.
Action Required (AR) for Peter and Brad: Get in touch with each other to create a drawing of what they want SE 17th to look like.

Crosswalks at 22nd and Bybee near the park.

Five weeks out. July 22nd – Next meeting.

AR for Tina: Look at the Capitol Improvement Project list for the City.

Email good city contacts to Barbara Barber

Peter: Will get a petition ready by July 6th for the first Concert in the Park series.

He’ll send a sample to the list to get feedback.

If we get this out before June 17th the board can weigh in with their support.

Focus: Make SE 17th safer w/ bumpouts & crosswalks, speed limit reductions.

It’s the Southern Gateway already.

We’ll make it safer with these tools.
Bring the map when we’re tabling.

General Consensus: Let’s start with SE 17th and focus there.

Barbara: Let’s “community-size” this street to begin.

Peter: Will take notes and update website after next meeting.

SMILE Officers

Paul Notti, President

Tina Nunez-Osterink, Vice President

Pat Hainley, Treasurer

Eric Norberg, Secy

SMILE Board members

Teresa Dunbar, At Large (thru May, 2010)

Nancy Walsh, At Large (thru May, 2011

Dana Beck, At Large (thru May,  2010)

Mike Pucik, At Large, (thru May , 2010)

Jim Friscia, At large (thru May , 2010)

Eric Fox, At Large (thru May , 2011)

Katy Dunham, At Large(thru May , 2011)

Mat Milenbach, At Large (thru May, 2011)

+++++++++++++++++++++

WHAT TO BRING
E-Waste: Only accepted from individuals or households—no businesses. Free Geek personnel will be on-site for assessment and processing.
Bring all your throw-away junk, scrap wood, yard debris, appliances, tires, unwanted furniture, metal, aluminum, styrofoam—block and bagged peanuts (no meat trays), et cetera.

WHAT NOT TO BRING
No food garbage, plaster, concrete, dirt, sheet rock, hazardous materials* or any material unacceptable at the landfill.
*Paint, aerosol cans, liquids, et cetera. Paint cans with lids off and dried paint are okay.

COST
$ 5 – $10 sedan, small station wagon $25 and up larger vehicles
$10 – $15 small pickup $15 extra charge for appliances with freon
$15 – $25 full-size pickup $10 optional donation to recycle computer monitors

Tires: Five tires per vehicle are free. No tires over 21 inches.

Hours
9 am to 2 pm
NOTHING ACCEPTED BEFORE 9 am OR AFTER 2 pm

Curbside collection for seniors and disabled individuals, call 503.794.8212. Pay driver.

 Thanks to:
• SMILE • METRO
• Heiberg Garbage & Recycling • Starbucks
• City of Portland Parks Bureau • QFC
• Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Program • Free Geek
• Bureau of Planning and Sustainability

MORE About SMILE
Sellwood-Moreland Improvement League
SMILE is your neighborhood association: concerned citizens who live, work, own property, or operate a business in our neighborhood. A non-profit organization, SMILE raises money from managing both The Oaks Pioneer Church, located on the edge of Sellwood Park at Spokane and Grand Avenue, and The SMILE Station, located on 13th Avenue and Tenino Street. They are both rented for weddings, special events, et cetera. Call 503.234.3570 for information. Donations and rental proceeds allow the Neighborhood Association to sponsor community events such as today’s Neighborhood Clean-Up, The Easter Egg Hunt, Sundae in the Park, and Sellwood Concerts in Sellwood Riverfront Park. Other SMILE community projects include Friends of Sellwood Community Center (raising funds to keep Sellwood Community Center open), SMILE’s Living Christmas Tree, the park benches along Sellwood Boulevard, Friends of Oaks Bottom, Friends of Trees, organizing crime prevention meetings, and helping neighbors get Neighborhood Watch programs going on their block.
SMILE volunteers work hard to make our neighborhood a better place to live and work. Come get involved. Everyone is welcome. General meetings are held the first Wednesday of every month at The SMILE Station, 8210 SE 13th Avenue, 7:30 pm. See you there.

The schools can receive between $200.00 and $25,000.00 of Intel grant funding in 2009. That’s a lot of potential money in a tight economic year. As a nonprofit, SMILE is eligible for less grant money than the schools, but certainly enough to help keep the lights on in the SMILE Station, to help fund Sundae in the Park, to keep the website hosting paid and to help publicize about neighborhood issues. These include things such as the Sellwood Bridge, the Light Rail, the sewer upgrades and the Spokane Bike Boulevard.

Just search for Sellwood, Llewellyn or Cleveland on the internal volunteer website at Intel. Look up Reid Kells in the Intel directory and contact him at work if you have more questions. If you know of an Intel employee in the neighborhood interesting in volunteering, please remind them that their five hours on May 16 in Westmoreland Park, from 9am-2pm, helping with the neighborhood cleanup, will help SMILE keep going through the Intel Volunteer Matching Grants program.

Title: Town Hall meeting with Carolyn Tomei
Location: SMILE Station 8210 SE 13th Ave, Portland, OR 97202
Link out: Click here
Description: Your state representative, Carolyn Tomei, will be in Sellwood for a question-and-answer Town Hall session. Bring your questions and participate in a direct conversation with the woman who represents Sellwood-Moreland at the state level
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2009-04-11
End Time: 11:00