Cavalier encore Concordia prepares to defend NAIA title — SEE SPORTS, B1 EDITION GREATER PORTLAND PortlandTUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2014 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPERTribune • PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COM • PUBLISHED TUESDAY AND THURSDAY Waste not: River beer has folks NEXT STOP: hopped up Judges to mull entries REPAIR STATION made from former sewage ef uent ■ TriMet rides a big wave By KENDRA HOGUE of construction to bring Pamplin Media Group Portland-area beer drink- rail line up to date ers rarely bat an eye at the unorthodox fl avors dreamed up by local home brewers. Chocolate Stout? Order up. Fruit beer? A whole festival is devoted to them. There’s even coffee beer and Voodoo Doughnut beer. The Oregon Brew Crew, the state’s oldest and largest home- brewing club with 250 mem- bers, thought their brewers had seen and “We are sipped it all. Then in July, geeked-out the club was at the approached by Mark Poling of chance to Hillsboro- make beer based Clean from Water Servic- TRIBUNE PHOTOS: JAIME VALDEZ es and asked something Repair work has already started at TriMet’s Sunset Transit Center. The MAX platform will be closed for almost two weeks but the parking garage will stay open. whether mem- no one else bers would make beer out has.” By JIM REDDEN will require the closure of the below- of Tualatin — Jason Barker, The Tribune grade Sunset Transit Center station River water — Hillsboro platform for 16 days. The parking garage specifically, home brewer riMet offi cials were recently will remain open, but those who park water just shocked when a long-planned there will need to take shuttle buses to downstream from a giant sew- MAX repair project backed up and from the nearest MAX stations to age treatment plant. Ttrain traffi c throughout the ride the train. Yep. Former-sewage beer. entire system in a few short hours. After that, TriMet has 19 major MAX Clean Water Services, a Offi cials knew replacing in-ground repair projects scheduled through 2019. semi-governmental utility that switching mechanisms in the Lloyd Dis- They include eight switch replacement handles wastewater, stormwa- trict would disrupt traffi c and had ar- projects, totally nearly $9.5 million. Also ter and other water-manage- ranged for shuttle buses to ferry passen- included are 11 track maintenance and ment services for all Washing- gers between the stations closed by the replacement projects, plus yearly rail ton County cities, proposed a project. But when MAX trains almost grinding at various locations, priced at beer competition in order to immediately backed up into Clackamas more than $4 million. Many of them will demonstrate the purity of its and Washington counties, TriMet apolo- disrupt train service in certain locations processed water. gized to riders, suspended some more — or throughout the system if things More marketably dubbed service and scrambled to get additional don’t go well. “Pure Water Brew” by Carollo shuttle buses on the road. “I’m feeling confi dent we can handle Engineers — a California-based The delays and confusion eased by the the disruptions better from the start go- environmental-engineering next day, but did not completely go away ing forward,” says Nelson. fi rm and the contest sponsor — until the project was completed and full Union offi cials have criticized TriMet for building a new MAX line while delaying repair The projects are included in the $31.8 the 16 beer styles will be tasted service was resumed on Aug. 18. Al- projects on the existing lines. TriMet pulled a MAX train over the Tilikum Crossing last million TriMet plans to spend maintain- Saturday, Sept. 6, by a panel of though the offi cials are still reviewing week in a test. ing, repairing and replacing tracks and judges that includes Verboort what happened, they have fi gured out a related equipment during the next fi ve resident Andy Duyck, who also few mistakes, including having too many trains on tracks. Reducing the number because TriMet has a lot of big repair years. The total budget for such work chairs the Washington County trains operating on the east side when of trains actually provided better service projects scheduled during the next few through the 2019 fi scal year is more than the project started. for our riders,” says TriMet Interim Dep- years — some of which were delayed to $503 million, including vehicles, facilities See BEER / Page 6 “We tried to do too much by keeping uty General Manager Bob Nelson. save money during the Great Recession. all the lines open and had too many Figuring out all the answers is critical The next one begins Tuesday, Sept. 2. It See TRIMET / Page 2 Hales hands demolition fi x to Fritz says Commis- Haynes, comes after Hales told slow the demolition and re- the demolition and replacement Neighbors upset by sioner Aman- the Portland Tribune that his placement of single-family of existing homes that is de- in ll projects gird for da Fritz is staff was working on the issue homes with one or more larger stroying the character of neigh- taking the and that he would be making a houses across the city. It is open borhoods across the city,” says tussle on city proposal lead on the proposal to preserve historic to the public and set for 7 p.m. Al Ellis, former president of the home demoli- homes in “weeks, not months.” on Sept. 9 at the Grant Park Beaumont-Wilshire Neighbor- By JIM REDDEN tion issue. The reversal also comes as Church, 2728 N.E. 34th Ave. hood Association, which is help- The Tribune The switch, neighborhood representatives “We hope that neighborhood ing to organize the meeting. relayed by have scheduled a meeting to representatives can come to- Hales made his comments to Mayor Charlie Hales has Hales’ spokes- HALES discuss presenting their own gether and make a proposal to COURTESY OF CLEAN WATER SERVICES reversed course and now man Dana proposal to the City Council to the City Council that will slow See DEMOLITION / Page 2 Adrienne Menniti of Clean Water Services operates a high-purity water system at the Forest Grove treatment facility. Is that a fee or ‘rent’? Sewer line ght roils paigns to sway public opinion County lawsuit on Oregon City fee over an obscure and complex issue that could have long-last- may have statewide impact ing impacts in the relationship between county and city gov- By SHASTA KEARNS MOORE Or it might be won in the ernments across Oregon. TRIBUNE PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE The Tribune court of public opinion. Here’s the issue: Oregon City Clackamas County’s Ryan Johnson and Michael Trent talk as fi ltered Tri-City Service District and voted last November to charge water rumbles underneath at the Tri-City Water Pollution Control Plant The battle over a new com- Oregon City are each spending Tri-City — along with two in Oregon City. Clackamas County is taking legal action to stop an pulsory fee may be won in a thousands of dollars and count- Oregon City “fee” for the service district’s sewer lines. circuit court hearing Sept. 11. less staff hours on their cam- See SEWER / Page 7 “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune RENAISSANCE FAIR deliver balanced news that re ects the stories of our communities. Thank you RETURNS TO HILLSBORO forfor readingreading ourour newspapers.newspapers.” Inside — SEE LIFE, PAGE B10 — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Tuesday, September 2, 2014 TriMet: Delayed repairs at heart of work ■ From page 1 In fact, TriMet did not appear to prioritize maintenance until November 2013, when General and technology systems. Manager Neil McFarlane creat- ed a new Maintenance Division Safety checks for both buses and trains, mov- Two outside evaluations in ing all maintenance responsi- the past two years have con- bilities out of the agency’s Op- cluded that deferring the repair erations Division. At the time, and replacement projects has McFarlane insisted the reorga- not yet created safety problems nization was not in response to for MAX riders. The first was the criticism or a growing cri- released by the Oregon Depart- sis. Instead, he said it was a rec- ment of Transportation in ognition of the fact that system March 2013 after the union that was both growing and aging at represents most TriMet em- the same time. ployees, Amalgamated Transit Union 757, publicly said the Critical link light-rail line was unsafe. The TriMet’s budget calls for second was done by LTK Engi- spending around $160 million a neering Services, one of the na- year on maintenance, repair tion’s leading rail consulting and replacement projects on firms, in preparation for the the MAX system during the current budget. next five years. Work will in- But there’s no doubt that de- clude replacing 21 in-ground laying the projects have caused switches, some of which have some reliability problems. Aging malfunctioned in recent years. in-ground switches and signals They included switches at both have been especially trouble- ends of the Steel Bridge, the some, breaking down and creat- critical link between the east ing repeated delays throughout and west sides of the MAX the MAX system in recent years. system. TriMet is not the only agency As TriMet prepared its bud- that deferred such projects dur- TRIBUNE PHOTO: JAIME VALDEZ get, the agency commissioned ing the Great Recession, howev- Failing tiles on the Sunset Transit Center MAX platform will be removed and replaced with concrete during the repair project.