[Ed. note – one of the reasons I was inspired to volunteer to manage the CNA web presence was all of the great information on local development issues provided by the Concordia News. Our Land Use, Livability & Transportation Committees don’t just keep us abreast of what’s happening, however – they are working actively to make a difference, and their efforts always impress me. Here’s the first in a series of updates on their excellent work.]
Land Use, Livability, Transportation and Green Team Meet
There was no summer vacation for the CNA’s Land Use, Livability, and Transportation committees as they met with a full agenda on the first Thursday of August. That’s business as usual for the combined groups. They are now joined by a new sub-committee working on grassroots environmental issues called the Green Team. That group meets at the same time and usually finds their own space in McMenamins. Be sure to attend the next general meeting on residential recycling. Thanks goes to Gayle Booher, a past CNA chair, for getting this effort off the ground.
New residential and business construction continues in the neighborhood. This includes Lolo restaurant at 30th and Alberta and the Momizza Pizza in the Ainsworth Market complex at 30th and Ainsworth, both now open. A second, much larger restaurant will open at the latter site sometime in late fall. Good Neighbor Agreements will be developed with all 3 facilities addressing neighborhood concerns including hours of operation, parking and garbage disposal.
Although remodeling hasn’t started yet, the Berlitz Language School is scheduled to open by the first of September in the former Ainsworth Drugstore. The “Quick Mart” addition to Tuan’s 76 station seems to be stalled right now with some foundation work started.
Concordia University announced that it would start building its new library in March of 2008. Since it will be located on the athletic fields in the middle of the campus, the impact on the neighborhood will hopefully be minimal. A Construction GNA will be negotiated with CNA and the neighbors and the college, covering such issues as parking for workers, student parking that will be dislocated, storage of materials and security of the site, construction hours, etc. A committee established several years ago will be resurrected for this GNA.
An appeal was made for more volunteer street patrollers for the August and September Last Thursday on Alberta events. Even though Concordia has 10,000 residents, we’ve had only 2 volunteers come forth all summer. Concordia neighborhood is responsible for Alberta between 22nd and 33rd, a scene of recent crowd situations.
Portland City Council, through Erik Sten’s auspices, and Portland Public Schools will be allocating 1.6 million to Cully and Concordia to keep families with school-age children in our neighborhoods. The idea is to retain and increase school populations in our neighborhood schools (Faubion, Rigler and Vernon ). They feel that families are being priced out of the neighborhoods and are looking for ways to keep them here or to attract new ones.
Two-thirds of Portland residents say that they would bike more (and walk more, as well) if they had safer routes through the neighborhoods. The BTA (bicycle Transportation Alliance) has been working with the City of Portland and bicyclists to create quiet, safe routes or “bicycle boulevards”. Many of them are scheduled for the Concordia neighborhood. Come to our October general meeting to find out more and to discuss interaction among bikers, pedestrians, and car drivers.
Our next committee meeting will be September 6, Thursday, at 7:15 . Please join us.