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Mt. Hood Jazz Fest cranks up the groove Local bands, big names add funk and soul to day of music — SEE LIFE,E, BB11 PortlandTribune THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2013 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPER • WWW.PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COMOM • PUBLISHED THURSDAY Apartment market is hot hot hot Construction strong, apartment buildings are under as recently completed,” Barry construction throughout the says. but some worry about region. Dozens more are in the Activity is so strong, in fact, planning stage. that TMT Development is hop- local overbuilding In fact, 136 apartment proj- ing to restart its stalled down- TRIBUNE PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE ects were either recently com- town Park Avenue West proj- Grant High senior Andrew By JIM REDDEN pleted, under construction or ect by adding 15 floors of Davidson just began his one-year The Tribune proposed to be built in the re- apartments above 13 fl oors of term as the Portland School gion, according to a survey offi ce space. Board’s student representative. Are Portland-area apart- conducted by Patrick Barry, an But Barry believes there’s ment buildings the next real appraiser assistant with Mark no reason to worry the market estate bubble? D. Barry & Associates. is getting oversaturated. De- The local apartment market “There are twice as many spite the flurry of activity, Student is suddenly so hot that some units under construction as apartment construction in the real estate experts wonder if it there are units that have re- region is actually below his- TRIBUNE PHOTO: JAIME VALDEZ These apartment buildings in St. Johns are among dozens of similar is being overbuilt. Permits cently been completed. In addi- toric levels. In fact, much of it were issued for 3,333 apart- tion, there are almost three projects either recently completed, under construction or planned in rep gets the Portland area. ment units last year. Dozens of times as many units proposed See APARTMENTS / Page 9 his to-do list ready 3, 2, 1 ... STOP WALKING Grant High senior will air teens’ issues ■ Countdown before school board clocks changing By JENNIFER ANDERSON The Tribune way Portland His fi rst two years of high walks, drives school, Andrew Davidson says he was bored. my, who lives in Sher- He took a full schedule of wood but works in classes and was active in band, downtown Portland, but felt burned out without be- Ahas a rule. If she arrives ing engaged in anything that at an intersection and the pedes- intellectually stimulated him. trian timer has counted down to Instead of dropping out, he four or less, she dropped in — stays put and waits on a Portland STORY BY for the next walk- “It’s School Board PETER ing phase. Five or meeting. “I more, she crosses. defi nitely tried to decide KORN “I like it,” Amy different who was the says of the count- from sitting mastermind down signal at behind all Southwest 10th Avenue and in the these decisions Burnside Street, right in front of audience.” being made,” Powell’s City of Books. the 17-year-old Randy Wagoner, a tourist from — Andrew says. Cherryvale, Kan., favors count- Davidson, Grant It was a life- down pedestrian signals as well, High student rep changing though for a dif- event. The in- TRIBUNE PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE ferent reason. Traffi c Trivia coming senior Peter Koonce is in charge of traffi c signals for the city of Portland, where all pedestrian signals will have countdowns by the end As he waits to ■ at Grant High School is now of 2014. cross Burnside The particular part of the seven-member vol- on his way to color for pedes- unteer Portland School Board, Powell’s, Wagon- trian “Don’t Walk” lights is helping to create and oversee Match the countries to the crosswalk signals (see p. 2 for list of countries) er explains that known world- policies, budgets and priorities the countdown wide as for the school district he grew tells him how “Portland up in. fast he has to Orange.” “It’s defi nitely different from walk, or maybe Portland traffi c sitting in the audience,” David- even run. offi cials say they son says. “I always push have no idea In his fi rst month, Davidson it,” he says. “If how the name became has hit the ground running, tak- there’s less time matched with ing in updates on the $482 mil- I hustle.” the color. lion school modernization work A B C Portland pe- and other items of business at destrians used the fi rst board meeting of the to see only Walk or Don’t Walk, year on July 17. or a walking or standing fi gure He’s also just one of two telling them what to do. But in board members who’ve chosen 2002 Portlanders started getting to sit in on the bargaining ses- what traffi c professionals call sions between district leaders countdown signal timers. About and the Portland teachers’ 870 of the city’s 1,080 traffi c sig- union. “The negotiations have D E F nals feature the countdown. been telling,” Davidson says. ® PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY AMPELMANN.DE Walk/Don’t Walk signals can be an expression of a country’s values. Can you match the pedestrian signals with their countries? See COUNTDOWN / Page 2 See SCHOOL / Page 5 Project gives ‘green’ a chance in Gateway Backers tap off-road Community leaders have city says it lacks money to de- latched onto the idea of building velop such a park, that isn’t bikers, online funds a world-class off-road bicycling stopping The Friends of Gate- center north of the Gateway way Green and other support- to create 38-acre park transit center along Interstate ers. 205. They hope it could bring Beginning this week, a Port- By STEVE LAW half a million visi- land State Univer- The Tribune tors a year, and a sity entity called new public image TribTown Oregon’s Kitchen East Portland neighbor- for the Gateway ar- Table launched an hood leaders are turning to ea and perhaps all EAST PORTLAND online survey to an unconventional constitu- of East Portland. quiz residents ency — off-road bicycling en- The Oregon Department of about what they’d like to see in thusiasts — and an uncon- Transportation will soon hand the park. The list of possible ventional funding source — over a 24-acre parcel of surplus features is weighted toward off- TRIBUNE PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE crowdfunding via the Inter- land to the Portland parks bu- road bicycling, including a sin- East Portland parks advocate Linda Robinson, sitting down due to hip issues, has worked for years to create net — to promote revitaliza- reau for a future park dubbed a large park and off-road bicycling complex on this unused land near the Gateway Transit Center. tion of the Gateway area. Gateway Green. Though the See GATEWAY / Page 8 “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune True-crime author ■ True crime author Ann Rule is suing Eagle Creek resident Rick Swart and the Seattle Weekly deliver balanced news that refl ects the sues Eagle Creek newspaper for defamation in connection with a book about Liysa Northon, who spent 12 years in stories of our communities. Thank you Online prison for shooting her husband. Swart is married to Northon, the subject of Rule’s book, “Heart for reading our newspapers.” resident Full of Lies.” Search: Ann Rule. — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, August 1, 2013 era at Southeast 39th Avenue Coundtown: and Lincoln Street. Bike riders had requested a change there because small children on bikes heading east on Lincoln were having a hard time get- ting all the way across by ze- Timers keep ro. A regular video camera had difficulty detecting the tykes and their bikes, but the thermal imaging camera can pedestrians safer differentiate between bikes and cars and hold the light when necessary. ■ when they decide to speed up. However, there may be an ad- From page 1 Mike, about to cross Burnside vantage to drivers stopped at on his way to Powell’s on this red lights peeking at pedestrian Sometime next year, the tran- Monday morning, admits that’s countdowns, says David Hur- sition will be complete and all exactly what he does when he’s witz, an engineering professor pedestrians will be confronting driving. who studies traffic signals at the countdown, except for jay- “It tells me whether I can gun Oregon State University. Hur- walkers. The countdowns are it or not,” says Mike, visiting witz is studying effi ciency rath- supposed to keep pedestrians Portland from Roseville, Calif. er than safety. safer. And they do, according to Specifically, he’s looked at a slew of studies. Whether they All signals aren’t same left-turn signals, and the lost keep drivers safer is a matter of Eric Bradley, on the other startup time that occurs when which study you believe. hand, fi nds the countdown tim- a red traffi c light turns green. San Francisco engineers ers confusing. The downtown Ideally, all the cars are ready found the number of pedestri- Street Roots vendor fi nds cross- to hit the gas and move into ans still crossing when their ing Burnside in front of Powell’s the intersection. But people traffic light turned red de- particularly diffi cult, with 10th get distracted, or their reac- creased to 9 percent from 14 Avenue drivers trying to make tion times are slow. So one or percent once countdowns were left turns around pedestrians.

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