Where's Street Response?
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NW “Digging deep, p. 3 p. 9 p. 13 New rules for Shining a light” Land prices Inside a “direct doing us in Café Nell? action” march INSIDE INSIDE JULY 2021/ VOLUME 34, NO. 11 FREE SERVING PORTLAND’S NORTHWEST NEIGHBORHOODS SINCE 1986 nwexaminer Where’s street response? Pearl District Neighborhood Association board member David Dysert sees disorder and livability BY ALLAN CLASSEN problems all around him and believes the time to merely study the problem passed long ago. earl Neighborhood Association activists do not consider themselves to be in the “belly of beast” in Pterms of crime, trash and disorder. As disorder swirls out of control, core While things may be worse in Downtown and Old Town, they’ve seen enough to test their tolerance. Last neighborhoods wonder why mental month, they ripped into the City Council for brushing off a plausible remedy to the social debility at the urban core. health project is relegated to city’s edge Cont’d on page 12 Suburban Assault on slough-off the South Park Blocks Parked cars on South- west 58th Avenue clog a commuter shortcut through the Sylvan-High- lands neighborhood. Parking and traffic con- gestion have increased as apartment projects are constructed with insuffi- cient parking. The South- west 58th and Montgom- ery intersection handles 3,700 cars a day. City commissioner trivializes woes in Sylvan heights BY ALLAN CLASSEN borhood associations here. is that you are a little inconve- s the new city commis- It could hardly be called a nienced,” she told Tim Hutchin- sioner of Portland’s goodwill tour, however, as Hard- son at a Zoom meeting. Aneighborhood system, esty dishes out harsh medicine as To a description of rampant Jo Ann Hardesty has made the often as words of support. graffiti described by Sylvan-High- Vicky Zimmerman was one of several local rounds to inner Westside neigh- For instance, Hardesty trivial- lands Neighborhood Association artists commemorating South Park Block trees borhood groups. In addition to ized a Sylvan-Highlands man’s land-use chair Rick Kneuven as that may be removed under a pending Port- such appearances in May and concerns about downtown side- “death by a thousand cuts” Hard- land Parks & Recreation master plan to be June, she held a citywide town walks blocked by homeless esty responded bluntly, “I think heard by the City Council on July 7. The Paint hall meeting in March. No city campers. we’ve got the wrong focus. Graf- to Save the Trees event was organized by the commissioner in recent memory fiti is the least of our problems.” Elisabeth Jones Art Center. has been more available to neigh- “So what I hear you saying Story on page 10 Cont’d on page 6 TEA AND STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE IN THE LIBRARY PART OF CAPTAIN COUCH’S LEGACY — CHERRY CORDIALS AND A CROQUET GAME PRESERVATION WORKS 1898 VICTORIAN CRAFTSMAN WITH ENTERTAINER’S FLOOR PLAN 1735 Irving Street This 1884 Victorian tract home was built to last and is 2234 NW Hoyt Street in the Historic Alphabet District. One of four remaining Painted Ladies, this house on the corner has bayed Charming old world details plus all the important windows that flood the house with light and show off updates done with high quality. Perfect for displaying the myriad of architectural details. Updates are period- your art or hosting a book club meeting. 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Communication was terrific throughout the process, even post-close. If you are considering listing your property, call Dan now. — Ellen Bussing ” 2549 NW Marshall Street Gracious public rooms with original architectural details intact, but updated in the important ways. Lots of room to spread out with possibilities for working at home, art studio spaces, ADU or multifamily living. In the most coveted part ICE CREAM SOCIAL ON THE FRONT TERRACE of the NW neighborhood, the Golden Triangle. CITY HOUSE IN VIBRANT KERNS NEIGHBORHOOD 6 bedrooms, 4½ baths, 6,739 Sq. Ft., 2 off-street parking spaces, flat back yard. RMLS #21072232 $1,500,000. 20 NE 22nd Avenue 1904 four square with expansive front porch over the double- car garage for spacious outdoor entertaining. Light filled, freshly painted interior, oak floors and new carpet. Fenced back yard with lawn, raised beds and patio. Lower level with outside entry and ½ bath offers ADU potential. Walker and biker paradise with all the fun cafés and coffee shops just outside the front door. 3 bedrooms, 2½ baths, 2,241 Sq. Ft., 2-car garage. RMLS #21126289 $775,000. Specializing in Historic & Architecturally Significant Homes THE DAN VOLKMER TEAM DAN VOLKMER PRINCIPAL BROKER BURDEAN BARTLEM, KISHRA OTT, MARDI DAVIS & FRITZ BENZ BROKERS LICENSED IN THE STATE OF OREGON 503-781-3366 See our website at www.danvolkmer.com 2 Northwest Examiner, JULY 2021 / nwexaminer.com Editor’s Turn BY ALLAN CLASSEN | EDITOR & PUBLISHER Why aren’t we there yet? We’ve been standing on it all along! ou can’t say Portlanders are page book asserts that urban land not giving their all to address costs—rising 12 times faster than Ythe housing crisis. annual wages—make it impossible to keep housing prices within the Voters have passed three bond mea- Density bonuses, reach of many city residents: sures to build more housing, shelter now handed out the homeless and provide social “[B]elief in the ‘invisible hand of like candy, could services to aid the path to indepen- the marketplace’ and the ‘law of be limited to non- dence. A $258 million affordable supply and demand’ have held profits building housing bond measure passed in sway in the planning discourse affordable housing, 2016, followed by a $653 million since at least the ‘80s, and those for instance. Metro bond in 2018 and another who argue otherwise are dismissed In an email to the NW Exam- city bond for supportive housing as NIMBYs or worse. Only in the iner, Condon shared some services last year. last decade has widespread alle- thoughts on lessons for our giance to free market ideals eroded. The city is also turning its zoning city. “I have a long record The commonly accepted theory code inside out to spike housing with Portland and once of supply and demand has been construction and allow shelters did a well-attended debate undercut by the observed reality; across the metropolis. with Gordon Price at i.e., that no matter how much a Metro.” Six years after Portland first metropolitan area adds new hous- declared a housing emergency, our ing units, housing prices continue Price is a former Van- eyes and our politicians warn that to rise.” couver, B.C, City Coun- things are getting worse and will cil member and urban Condon believes the core problem continue to do so in the foreseeable planner frequently is soaring land values, which he future. Even neighborhood associ- cited by Portland separates from the value of build- ations are putting homelessness at officials. the top of their agendas, helping ings on the land. Buildings them- “I must admit that fill the gap we once assumed social selves depreciate year by year as my diagnosis is service agencies were taking care their components wear out and not widely accept- of. The Rose City has become Tent become obsolete. But because real ed,” Condon wrote. City. estate values link the value of land and improvements into one num- “Most of my peers in the urbanist by many in Portland’s City Hall Whatever we’re doing, it isn’t ber, the illusion is that housing by community are aligned with Price: that neighborhood associations are enough. Or perhaps it’s too much. necessity must appreciate too. The Density is always good, opposition a nuisance that should butt out and When a prescription warns the user result is a super-heated housing is always NIMBY, and neighbors stick to their knitting. to stop taking the medicine if cer- market drawing speculative invest- should have no (or much less) So far, Portland has followed the tain side effects occur, we tend to ment from around the globe. If Van- influence on what happens in their path blazed by Price. But is it not believe it. Perhaps we have ignored couver, B.C., is the prime example area.” time to consider what might have the figurative warning label regard- of this phenomenon, Portland is not Price believed that citizens should been—and still could be—were we ing our housing malady. far behind. limit their political engagement to consider a path less traveled? n That’s how I feel after reading the Condon says urban land values— to voting while otherwise leaving recently released “Sick City” by their representatives space to exer- which flow primarily from gov- Condon’s book is available for free Patrick Condon, a professor at the cise their judgment on matters com- ernment-provided public services through: University of British Columbia’s ing up between elections.