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PARENT GROUP AMPS PRESSURE FOR SEISMIC UPGRADES: Advocates for Safe Structures PPS, the parent group pushing for seismic improvements across Portland Public Schools’ portfolio, say the district missed a key Sept. 1 deadline to prioritize schools for retrofits. In May, the Portland School Board passed a resolution that set aside key funds for seismic work in the district’s $1.83 billion school bond, part of a last-minute push to help pass the bond. That resolution charged the superintendent to develop a plan by Sept. 1 that would “outline a multiyear schedule or sequence for retrofitting the identified high-risk buildings,” including cost estimates and how the district planned to fund it. That date came and went. District spokeswoman Valerie Feder says it became apparent that the seismic prioritization work couldn’t be done in isolation. “The Sept. 1 date was an internal target,” she says. “It must be aligned with broader districtwide conversations about enrollment, boundaries, and long-term facilities planning.” Former School Board member Julia Brim-Edwards, one of the co-authors of the May resolution, says Feder’s assertion is incorrect. “The September date was not an internal target. It was set in coordination with senior district staff,” she says. “The bond measure passed in May; work could have been underway on building the seismic plan structure and also the structure of the consolidation work.” District officials have so far presented School Board members with strategies for prioritizing seismic retrofits, whether campus by campus, by addressing highest-risk portions of buildings first, or by taking a hybrid approach. Per Olstad, a leader of Safe Structures, says those questions aren’t relevant without a districtwide plan. “Part of what rallied support for the bond was the idea that even if funding weren’t going to a particular school, at least the community around that school would know what was going to happen,” he says. “Until the board and PPS management commit to actually getting that plan together, the question of option A, B or C is sort of moot.”
CHURCH AND NEIGHBORHOOD FIGHT OVER MAPLE TREES: For the past two weeks, a church and a group of neighbors in the wealthy Southeast Portland enclave of Eastmoreland have fought over the future of eight mature maple trees. Holy Family Catholic Church told neighbors in early September that it would cut down all eight maples along Flavel Street to make way for new development. (It had received city approval.) Neighbors fought back, arguing that the church had misled them for over a year by saying the trees wouldn’t be chopped down. On Sept. 15, neighbors parked cars under the maples so arborists couldn’t cut down the trees scheduled for removal that day. Holy Family has since cut down three trees. Sean Hennessy is one of the neighbors that fought the removal. “The church has failed to live up to the promises they’ve made to the neighborhood throughout the process,” Hennessy says. “The trees provide shade, they’re beautiful, they affect property values. They provide environmental resilience.” The city says the maples have buckled the sidewalk and, as part of Holy Family’s development permit, the city required the church to make sidewalk repairs. Those repairs necessitate the removal of the maples, says David Mastroieni, the church’s project manager. “Sidewalk replacement was required by the city, which impacts cutting away root systems and eventually damaging the trees,” Mastroieni tells WW. Urban Forestry has no say in the fate of the trees, as Norway maples are considered a nuisance. But Hennessy and other neighbors aren’t pleased. “While technically compliant according to their legal gymnastics,” he says, “it certainly doesn’t seem sensible or aligned with Urban Forestry’s stated goals for tree preservation and urban canopy targets.”
GORDON’S FIREPLACE WRECK BACK ON AUCTION BLOCK: Gordon’s Fireplace Building, the graffiti-covered ruin perched above Interstate 84 at 33rd Avenue, is set to be sold at a three-day auction starting Oct. 14, according to an offering document from SVN Imbrie Realty and Ten-X first reported on wweek.com. The building was set to go to auction in January, but Robert Boyce, the Seattle-based investor who financed the property before foreclosure, fought the auction in Multnomah County Circuit Court, arguing that the property should be listed by a commercial broker for nine months to seek a higher price. Aircraft Factory LLC, backed by Boyce’s Interurban Development, paid $2.7 million for the property in December 2017, 18 months after Gordon’s Fireplace Shop closed. Starting bid for the building is $225,000, the offering document says. “The location is highly visible from Interstate 84, providing excellent exposure and easy access to major Portland metro thoroughfares, including just a 15-minute drive to Portland International Airport and Downtown Portland.” That high visibility has made the building one of the most maligned in Portland, especially among residents of the Grant Park neighborhood, who write in to WW regularly to inquire about its ownership and fate.
PARKS LEVY CAMPAIGN COLLECTS EARLY CASH: The campaign set up to support a renewal of the Portland Parks Levy on the November ballot is getting early contributions from current and former elected officials, public employee unions, and the city’s chamber of commerce, all of whom are eager to pass the levy to sustain current parks operations. So far, the independent expenditure campaign Portlanders for Parks has raked in $53,580. Top contributors include SEIU Local 49 with a $10,000 gift, AFSCME Council 75 with a $20,000 contribution, and LiUNA Local 483 with a $7,000 check. Former Mayor Ted Wheeler contributed $1,000. Current city councilors Olivia Clark and Steve Novick each contributed $500. But perhaps the most politically significant contribution came from the Portland Metro Chamber, which had threatened to oppose the five-year levy if the Portland City Council approved a tax rate that the chamber deemed too high. It contributed $2,500. The measure on the fall ballot will ask voters to approve a levy of $1.40 per $1,000 assessed property value, nearly doubling the current Parks Levy of 80 cents per $1,000.
