Green lumber or greenwashing? PortlandTribune— SEE SUSTAINABLE LIFE SECTION THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPER • WWW.PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COM • PUBLISHED THURSDAY ■ Boat project boosts talents of students often adrift in classrooms Projects take aim at traffi c jumble CRC, other transit improvements could compete for funding By JIM REDDEN The Tribune Local elected offi cials are pushing for new state trans- portation projects throughout the region to fi ght increasing congestion. They include the rebuilding of a busy freeway interchange in Inside Portland, a ■ freeway widen- See related story about the Columbia ing project in River Crossing Clackamas project on page 10. County, and yet-to-be iden- tifi ed transportation improve- ments in Washington County. Funding for these projects still has not been identifi ed. But the push for them is raising the stakes even more for supporters of the Columbia River Crossing. They hope to revive some ver- High school students learn to build boats in a new approach by nonprofi t Wind & Oar Boat School for at-risk youth. sion of the $3.5 billion project if Gov. John Kitzhaber calls the Or- egon Legislature into special ses- sion this summer. Because Washington refused to fund its share of the Inter- state 5 replace- Unsinkable ment bridge and freeway “Attention improvement to this issue project, that’s considered a is needed if long shot, at we are to best. If some preserve the SKILLS form of the CRC cannot be reliability of salvaged, a the regional number of heyenne Maldonado grew One recent morning she and her smaller proj- highway up on a tiny reservation peers were planking the 16-foot ects related to system for called Siletz, on Oregon’s wooden sailboat they’re working on, it eventually businesses, Ccentral coast. which involved carving the wood so it may be pro- She’s done her best in high school overlapped just perfectly. “I’m kind of posed. But industries in Portland but doesn’t think college a girly girl; I never worked with tools they likely will is for her. in my life,” Cheyenne says. “I thought have to com- and “I have a hard why not try?” pete for fund- residences.” time learning,” the Cheyenne is part ing with other — Clackamas 17-year-old says. “I Story by Jennifer Anderson of a unique work- Instructor Hannah Lynch, right, a boat builder, assists Savannah Weber, 17, a student projects that at Rosemary Anderson High School, as she screws in a wooden strake on a sailboat. County commission think I’d have a Photos by force development have been on letter to ODOT hard time in college program run Owen Mitchell, 17, a student at Mt. Hood Community College, helps. the drawing because I’m having Jaime Valdez through Wind & board for a a hard time in high Oar Boat School, a other industries that pay family wag- ment Inc., Jefferson High School, long time, along with the new school now.” Southeast Portland nonprofit that es,” says Andrew McGough, execu- Jason Lee School and Cascade ones that are beginning to gain Instead, Cheyenne wants to join started up two years ago. tive director of Worksystems Inc., the Heights School in Clackamas. support. the U.S. Air Force or the Marine Organizers say it’s the perfect nonprofi t sponsor of the program. “It Each of the fi ve youth programs One new proposal would re- Corps. This summer, however, she’s workforce training project. helps them understand there is a fu- start with a collaboration between build the busy Broadway/Wei- picking up a few skills that might “This will result in them returning ture out there, and it doesn’t neces- the schools, Wind & Oar and a pri- dler interchange on I-5 in North- help her in life and her next career: to school, staying in school, pursuing sarily have to be a traditional four- vate, anonymous donor who will own east Portland. Mayor Sam Adams She’s building a wooden boat. the trades in design, engineering and year route.” the boat at the end of each project, as worked with the Oregon Depart- In the past two years, Wind & Oar they set sail in the Willamette River ment of Transportation before he has offered youth build programs at next month. left offi ce to draft a plan to ease five sites including this one, at its Each program has a math curricu- the congestion and improve safe- “It’s constant problem-solving. I think it’s just good for home base at ADX design school at lum embedded in the project, along ty there. It calls for the recon- anybody, to start people using their hands and their brain.” Southeast 11th Avenue and Stark with hard and soft work skills like struction of both I-5 and city — Hannah Lynch, boat-building instructor Street. streets in the area. No budget or The others are at Self Enhance- See BOATS / Page 2 schedule has been set for it yet. See TRAFFIC / Page 11 City hopes ‘road diet’ improves livability ■ Critics By STEVE LAW shifting from two travel lanes in each Christensen, chairman of the Lents The Tribune direction to one in each direction, Neighborhood Association. That’s say plans plus a “third lane” as a refuge for the equivalent of 21 hours a year Some of Portland’s busiest turns and room for left-turn pockets. stuck in traffi c, he calculated. mean slim east-west streets are about to go “Streets that just bring people Road diets have long been prac- pickings on “road diets.” through your neighborhood don’t ticed in Europe and are more popular Starting this week, the city is re- add much value to your neighbor- in peer cities like San Francisco and for many ducing the number of traffi c lanes on hood,” says Chris Smith, a member of Seattle. The idea seems to be gaining commuters stretches of Division and Glisan the city Planning and Sustainability favor among Portland transportation streets, and is debating similar treat- Commission. “If trips are a little slow- planners, though they’re sometimes ment for Foster Road. Such road di- er, that’s a nice tradeoff.” wary of using the “road diet” term. ets can lengthen car commute times, But the idea isn’t as popular among “What we’re really doing is reorga- but the tradeoff may be fewer acci- neighbors to the east, who often nizing the fl ow of traffi c,” says Mark dents, more walkable streets and rely on those arterial streets to drive Lear, projects and funding manager commercial districts, plus room to to and from work, school and other for the Portland Bureau of Transpor- add on-street bike lanes. activities. tation. Often, Lear says, scrapping TRIBUNE PHOTO: JAIME VALDEZ Neighbors and merchants along Rush hour commuters on Foster two of the four travel lanes and add- A bicyclist carrying a speaker on his back pedals east along busy the affected parts of Division, Glisan Road are going to spend fi ve minutes Southeast Foster Road. The city might alter traffi c lanes to and Foster appear keen on the idea of more per day on the road, says Nick See ROADS / Page 4 accommodate more bike lanes. “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune ■ Copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy deliver balanced news that refl ects the BRIAN GRANT STILLcopy copy PUSHING copy copy copy AGAINST copy copy copyTOUGHEST copy copy. Search FOE word: Copy copy stories of our communities. Thank you Inside SEE SPORTS, PAGE B8 for reading our newspapers.” Read it fi rst at portlandtribune.com — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, August 15, 2013 Boats: Training includes math, work skills ■ the right size. From page 1 After just four weeks of classes, they’ve become com- communication and teamwork fortable working as a team to with their fellow peers. There’s fi gure out how to proceed, with also an environmental science minimal guidance. The 10-week component, learning where the program wraps up just after wood comes from and why cer- Labor Day. tain species work for the job at Lynch looks on, proudly. hand. “These kids have a lot going Hannah Lynch, a young boat- on,” she says. “This is a safe building instructor, was re- place for them to put their head cruited from Minnesota’s Twin down and work and feel pro- Cities to work ductive. They’re with the teens, for really open to her boat expertise “It helps them learning.” as well as her Wind & Oar background in understand founder Peter adolescent men- there is a future Crim — who also tal health. offers lessons for She teaches her out there, and adults — says the students the ba- it doesn’t summer youth sics and then lets programs are “no- them work out necessarily brainers,” but he the solution, to- have to be a really wants to get gether — whether into the schools, it means working traditional four- particularly Port- through a math year route.” land’s high problem or taking — Andrew McGough, schools. an artistic ap- Worksystems Inc. He’s beginning a proach. executive director partnership with “It’s constant Hyland Park Mid- problem-solving,” dle School in Bea- Lynch says. “I think it’s just verton, a science, technology, TRIBUNE PHOTOS: JAIME VALDEZ good for anybody, to start peo- engineering and math target Cheyenne Maldonado, 17, middle, a student at Maya Early College Academy, tightens a clamp for Owen Mitchell, 17, a student at Mt.