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Portland city councilors representing District 3 are fed up with the frequently broken elevators at the Bob Stacey Crossing, which are supposed to allow cyclists and people with mobility issues to reach the pedestrian bridge—which crosses over train tracks—without having to climb a steep flight of stairs.
The elevators have been out of service off and on for years due to various damage, including smashed glass. Without the elevators, cyclists and mobility-challenged people have to travel 13 blocks when a train is present, and six blocks when no train is running, to cross the tracks.
While the Portland Bureau of Transportation has made fixes here and there, repeated vandalism and a lack of funding to install shatterproof glass has hobbled the bureau’s plans to keep the elevators in service.
Now, City Councilors Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo and Steve Novick —all of whom represent District 3 on the Portland City Council—are fronting the money for the elevator repairs from their council budgets.
Novick is putting up $110,000 from his office budget toward the effort, and councilors Koyama Lane and Morillo are contributing $20,000 each. The $150,000 will pay for the installation of shatter-proof glass at both of the elevators.
Novick, who championed the idea, said he thinks councilors’ budgets are too fat—and that “as long as I have the money, I’m going to put it to good use.”
Morillo said in a statement that accessibility cannot be an afterthought but “something we have to dedicate ourselves to.” Koyama Lane said the elevators are a “necessity for the ADA community, parents with strollers, [and] cyclists.”
