Old Town Rebound Rattled by Rules
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Dance man YOUR ONLINE LOCAL Pitch pair Kevin Irving looks to bring DAILY NEWS Foxhoven siblings energy, variety to OBT www.portlandtribune.com reunite in Portland Portland— See LIFE, B1 Tribune— See SPORTS, B8 THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPER • PUBLISHED THURSDAY MAX At allergy funding Old Town rebound camp, no ticket rattled by rules s’mores to success are safe Metro audit fi nds public investment Camp Blue Spruce doesn’t always pay lets kids enjoy meals worry-free By JIM REDDEN The Tribune By JENNIFER ANDERSON The Tribune Regional policies to in- crease transit ridership are When Louise Tippens sent unevenly funded — and may her son off to Outdoor not produce the desired re- School in sixth grade, it was sults anyway. only after she had an hour- Those are among the fi nd- long talk with the cook and ings of an au- planned his every meal. dit released Tippens sent her son off “This is the by Metro Au- with a spreadsheet and note ditor Su- for the cook about what he fi rst time zanne Flynn could and anyone at on Wednes- couldn’t eat, day. It was and a “safe A true food Metro has unveiled as cooler” of his looked regional own foods just allergy retroactively planners are To come in case. affects the preparing to As it hap- immune at how these approve fur- pens he didn’t policies have ther study of eat the camp’s system, worked the next food — “he can be high-capaci- was too ner- triggered out.” ty transit vous,” Tippens corridor in says. by a small — Suzanne Flynn, TRIBUNE PHOTOS: JONATHAN HOUSE Metro auditor the region, a Tippens is a trace of new line be- Developer Julie Garver shows off the voluntary seismic upgrade that made possible redevelopment of the Rich Hotel in Old Town. “food allergy tween Port- Concrete and bolts were used to stabilize the building’s walls. mom” to Riley the food, land and Tu- West, her happens alatin that could cost up to 14-year-old suddenly $3.1 billion. ■ Financial incentives to bring Chinatown son who just and can Flynn’s audit focused on fi nished eighth three MAX stations. It found grade at be life- that public investment in the Northeast threatening. quarter-mile around the sta- buildings up to code could give district new life Portland’s tions varied tremendously Beaumont during the past eight years, hen Stephen Ying looks buildings are owned by Chinese families, Middle School. and that the station with the down Northwest Third TribSeries but most are owned by tongs — fraternal Since going into anaphylactic lowest investment neverthe- and Fourth avenues he organizations that can have as many as shock when he was a year old less experienced the greatest Wsees, as anyone would, a SECOND OF TWO STORIES 100 members. Years ago, when China- after trying a different brand of ridership increase. run of empty and near-empty buildings. BY PETER KORN town was vibrant, they ran a variety of rice cereal, Riley was diagnosed Furthermore, the audit But Ying, president of the Chinese Con- businesses and social activities upstairs as allergic to six of the top eight found that most frequent rid- solidated Benevolent Association, also in those buildings, and restaurants or food allergens in the United ers at the stations were not in- sees beyond the decaying Chinatown Developers say that motivation will grocery stores downstairs. States: dairy, eggs, peanuts, fl uenced by other public efforts structures to the people who own them. have to overcome what they consider the Now, Ying says, a generation of mostly tree nuts, fi sh and shellfi sh. The to increase transit ridership. “Even though the Chinese (residents) single greatest impediment to getting elderly tong members don’t have the for- two other most common are In fact, the audit found, differ- are not there, the tongs are there,” Ying those Chinatown structures renovated: mal hierarchy or the will to make deci- wheat and soy, which Riley can ent factors were more likely to says. the city’s seismic upgrade requirements. sions to sell or reno- eat. influence their decisions to Vacant buildings can be found at A few of the Third and Fourth avenue vate. In many cases Read more But what’s vexed Tippens the ride public transit. about 20 addresses in the Old Town/Chi- there is nobody with most hasn’t been what to feed “This is the fi rst time anyone natown area. Many of the buildings have the authority to ap- How other cities Riley for dinner. It’s been hard- deal with aban- at Metro has looked retroac- been empty or mostly empty for de- prove a bank loan for donded buildings est not to worry too much. tively at how these policies cades. Economists claim that people are renovation. — Page 3 “It’s the necessity of balanc- have worked out. We are rec- rational, which would indicate the own- Ying says city offi- ing being a helicopter parent ommending that Metro do ers of those vacant buildings would sell cials talked with mem- with giving him the sense of in- more of this instead of only their properties or fi x them up if the bers of the tong that owns the Suey Wing dependence and freedom he predicting the results its poli- right economic incentives were offered. building on Northwest Fourth Avenue, needs to grow up,” she says. cies will have in the future,” But, Ying says, economics work differ- vacant except for the Magic Garden strip With his EpiPen (which ad- Flynn says. ently in Chinatown. club on the ground fl oor and a nightclub ministers a life-saving shot of The three stations were The fate of Chinatown and most of that was closed after a series of Oregon epinephrine) and “safe snacks” North Killingsworth in Port- those decaying buildings, he says, is still Liquor Control Commission violations. always nearby, Riley has man- land, which is along the Inter- in the hands of mostly elderly Chinese Renovation would require a seismic up- aged to be a normal soccer-play- state MAX line; East 162nd Av- men who just don’t want change. With- The old Rich Hotel was built in 1905. The grade that would cost more than $1 mil- ing, bike-riding kid at Beau- enue, which is along the East- out some compelling outside motivation, modern Rich’s apartments, newly renovated, lion, a group of tong elders were told. mont and Alameda School. side MAX line at East Burnside they could allow those buildings to dete- were all rented out within three weeks of But he’s always at risk of on the border between Port- riorate further. being listed. See SEISMIC / Page 2 cross-contamination. An esti- land and Gresham; and Tuality Hospital/Southeast Eighth Av- See CAMP / Page 4 enue in Hillsboro, which is along the Westside MAX line near Tuality Hospital and Pa- cific University’s College of Health Professions. The audit found that $28 mil- Metro takes new lion in public funds had been invested in the quarter-mile around the Killingsworth sta- tion since 2005, compared with $12 million around the Tuality tack in hotel quest station and just $900,000 around the 162nd Avenue Sta- tion. The funding came pri- lished the Visitor Development briefi ng is expected to include marily from local governments Agency wants to tap Fund must be amended to help a discussion of the intergovern- and was spent to encourage tourism fund to pay fi nance the $180 million hotel mental agreement negotiations. the construction of transit-ori- project. According to Hughes, Opponents of the hotel proj- ented developments, such as for headquarters inn changes to the agreement ect worry that amending the apartment buildings with could provide new sources of agreement could put taxpayers ground-fl oor retail spaces, and By JIM REDDEN revenue to the city and county at risk, however. They say the to improve pedestrian and bi- The Tribune for tourism-related programs. current proposal — which in- cycle access to the stations. “The IGA governing the cludes a privately owned hotel “Although we only looked at To help win support for agreement is out of date and — could leave Metro holding three stations, the audit sug- their plan to build a head- needs to be amended anyway. the bag if occupancy is below gest there are inequities in the quarters hotel at the Oregon The changes could benefi t all expectations. region when it comes to public Convention Center, Metro of- their governments,” Hughes “It appears that the taxpay- investments around MAX sta- fi cials are talking with their says. ers are taking all the risks and tions,” Flynn says. counterparts at Portland Representatives of Hales’ of- getting none of the profi t, and Despite receiving the least and Multnomah County fice and Multnomah County we don’t think that’s a good amount of public investment, about redistributing funds Chairman Jeff Cogen declined deal for anyone,” says Paige the 162nd Avenue station expe- from an obscure but impor- to discuss the specifi cs of the Richardson, who represents a rienced the greatest ridership tant tourism fund. negotiations. number of hotels in Portland, increase over the past eight Metro President Tom The Metro Council is sched- including the Benson, deLuxe, COURTESY ESG ARCHITECTS Hughes says the intergovern- uled to be briefed on the status See AUDIT / Page 5 Artists rendition of proposed Headquarters Hotel. mental agreement that estab- of the hotel project in July.