Urban Renewal Meetings

This Saturday, March 20th, 10:30-11am, NE Coalition of Neighborhoods office:

Urban Renewal Area (URA) Strategy Session and Recommendations Workgroup: At this Workgroup, staff at the NE Coalition will be presenting recommendations from community input from the series of URA forums that have occurred. Then Neighborhood Leaders will be deciding on specific recommendations and input to give to the Portland Development Commission. As you know, this is a big issue in our neighborhoods and we want to get our neighborhoods on the same page sooner rather than later.

Saturday, April 3rd, 10am-1pm, Curious Comedy Venue at 5225 NE MLK (in Vanport Square):

Portland Plan Retreat: The Portland Plan is the City’s update to the 30 year plan. Many people throughout the 12 Neighborhoods in the NE Coalition area have requested that the NE Coalition coordinate a retreat for Neighborhood Board Members to come together, identify specific neighborhood issues to advocate for in the Portland Plan, and strategize about how we will advocate for our issues. This is a unique opportunity for us to come together across neighborhood boundaries, share our needs and talk about how to move forward together.

N/NE Neighborhoods Portland Plan Retreat

Saturday, April 3rd
10:00 – 1:00 pm
NE Coalition Office
Light refreshments provided
A special interactive workshop for all people who live and work in the NE Coalition Neighborhoods!

Why come to this workshop?
* To learn where we are now, based on the Portland Plan facts and survey results
* To discuss where we want to go – the Portland Plan will affect our day-to-day lives in the next 25 years.
* To help shape what our streets, business districts and NE Coalition neighborhoods will look like in the future
* To look more closely at arts and culture, economic development, food systems, historic resources, housing, human health and safety, public schools, urban form and more in the NE Coalition neighborhoods

RSVP to Lauren McCartney at 503-823-4135 and lauren@necoalition.org

Final Urban Renewal Series Event March 11th

Summary of Community Recommendations
Thursday, March 11th 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Billy Webb Elks Lodge, 6 North Tillamook St.
Snacks and drinks will be provided

Over 150 people attended the first three URA community Forums, sharing their thoughts and ideas for the future of inner North/Northeast Urban Renewal Areas. Please join us for this final forum. Come hear the draft priorities and recommendations that have been generated in the series. Provide feedback on these recommendations and help strategize future action steps for achieving community benefits from the Urban Renewal Areas. Community feedback generated during the series will be presented to the Portland Development Commission at the March 24th meeting (Billy Webb Elks Lodge, 6:30 – 8:30 pm) of the PDC’s North/Northeast Economic Development Initiative Community Advisory Committee.
Learn more »

RSVPs are encouraged. Contact Shoshana Cohen at forums@necoalition.org or 503-823-4575 ext. 5.

Urban Renewal Area Online Survey!
Please take our short survey and share with us your neighborhood development priorities and knowlege about inner North/Northeast Urban Renewal Areas.
To take the survey, click here.

The responses will be compiled by PSU students and NECN staff and then made available to the Portland Development Commission, the North/Northeast Economic Development Initiative Community Advisory Committee and other city officials. All responses will be kept confidential and are in no way traceable to individual respondents.

Five Coliseum Concepts Presented Tonight at PDC

Five of the teams that submitted concepts for the redevelopment of the Memorial Coliseum have been invited by the Rose Quarter Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) to present their project visions at the Tuesday, Feb. 23 SAC meeting. That meeting is scheduled from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and will be held at the Portland Development Commission, 222 NW 5th Avenue.

Each team will be given approximately 10 minutes to present their plan for the redevelopment or adaptive reuse of the Memorial Coliseum. Following the fifth presentation, the SAC will lead a 30 minute question and answer session with team representatives. Two additional teams that submitted full concepts have been invited to participate in the question and answer session.

“Through the online submission process, online evaluations, presentations and Q&A session, the SAC has received a considerable amount of information on the proposals,” said Mayor Sam Adams, SAC chair. “Following the presentations, I expect that the Committee will be able to make a well informed recommendation as to which teams will be asked to progress to the next stage of this process.” The SAC will make a recommendation to Portland City Council in March. Council will then request full proposals from the selected teams.

The five teams presenting Tuesday night are: Community Crossroads; Memorial Athletic & Recreation Center (MARC); Portland Action Sports Complex; the Trailblazers and Winterhawks Concept; and Veterans Memorial Arts and Athletic Center (VMAAC). The two teams that have been invited to participate in the question and answer session are OregonXperience and Jewel in a Box.

To review each of the concept summaries and for more information on the Memorial Coliseum process, please visit: www.rosequarterdevelopment.org

Miracles Club Good Neighbor Agreement in Arbitration

The Miracles Club, a social club for people in recovery from drug addiction on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. is due to see ground broken on its new facility on the east side of the boulevard soon. In connection with the move, a Good Neighbor Agreement between the club, the immediate neighbors and King Neighborhood Association was in the works for many months. After negotiations broke down between the immediate neighbors, Miracles, and city planning officials last winter, the process was sent to mediation. So far, one meeting has been held between mediators, an immediate neighbor, members of Miracles, NECN, and KNA. A court ruling last year prohibited the blocking of all traffic from the site to Grand Avenue. The working group hopes to identify the remaining negotiable issues and prioritize them so that negotiations can proceed constructively.