Events near Sumner neighborhood: March 2012

01. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: airport, health, noise, parks, planning, safety, transportation

Here are a few events that are nearby, and that might be of interest to you — the civic-minded denizens of Sumner neighborhood in NE Portland:

  • Wednesday, March 7: Cully Main Street open house: 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. at Rigler Elementary School, 5401 NE Prescott St. As goes Cully, so goes Sumner? Review new zoning proposals for the Cully Boulevard main street area, as well as ideas for improving the local street system for the Cully neighborhood. The improvements are partially related to the neighborhood prosperity initiative from the Portland Development Commission (PDC). More info about the open house.
  • Thursday, March 8: Citizens Noise Advisory Committee Meeting: 6 – 8 p.m. at Port of Portland Headquarters, 7200 N.E. Airport Way, in the Anchor Room (1st floor). Not sure if they validate parking.
  • Tuesday, March 13: Sixth Transportation Safety Summit: Hosted by Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) at Jefferson High School, 5210 N Kerby Ave, 5:30 – 9 p.m. Learn about transportation safety efforts around Portland. The event is free. You can RSVP online.
  • Wednesday, March 21: Community Budget Forum: Hosted by the city at Cleveland High School Cafeteria, 3400 SE 26th, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. For more info, see the city budget community involvement.

Sandy Blvd sidewalk project: Signal upgrade at NE 87th and south side coming first

29. February 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: maps, planning, safety, san, transportation

The sidewalk infill project for Sandy Blvd — from NE 85th to the I-205 overpass — will begin with improvements to the south side of Sandy Blvd and an upgrade of the fire station signal at NE 87th Avenue into a pedestrian sidewalk.

Sarah Figliozzi of the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) told the Sumner Association of Neighbors (SAN) general meeting on Feb 21 that no dates have yet been slated for the project, though they expect to complete the whole project this calendar year. Sarah said PBOT would hold an open house for this and other nearby projects in March or April. PBOT expects to have firmer dates plotted by then.

The north side of Sandy requires more design and engineering work, and so that part of the project will be done after the south Sandy sidewalk is complete.

The three photos below show the map Sarah presented at the meeting on Feb 21. The pink segments show where PBOT expects to fill sidewalk gaps. Click a photo to see a larger version.

Sandy Blvd, NE 85th to NE 87th

Sandy Blvd, NE 85th to NE 87th

Sandy Blvd, NE 87th to NE Prescott

Sandy Blvd, NE 87th to NE Prescott

Sandy Blvd, NE Prescott to NE 92nd

Sandy Blvd, NE Prescott to NE 92nd

The signal on Sandy Blvd at NE 87th is currently only for use by emergency vehicles entering Sandy from NE 87th. No details were avaiable yet about the upgrade for pedestrian crossing.

Sandy Blvd: Updates on other crossings

We have two more updates:

  • Crosswalk at NE 91st: Thank you to everyone who provided comments to PBOT back around Halloween time for the East Portland in Motion project! The crosswalk included in that plan was moved from NE 87th to NE 91st based on your comments.
    According to Ellen Vanderslice, PBOT project manager for EPIM, they have a tentative date to present the EPIM project to the city council on April 19. The September 2011 draft EPIM Action Plan shows the crosswalk slated for 2012-2013, whereas Sandy Blvd Crash Corridor improvements for 2013-2014. Given the budget cuts proposed for PBOT, the later date seems more likely.
  • Signal upgrade at NE Prescott: Central Northeast Neighbors (CNN) land use and transportation intern Chase Ballew reports that the changes at NE Sandy & Prescott is separate from signal updates underway at 52nd & 72nd. The new left turn signals (onto Sandy from Prescott) was a request by TriMet to reduce delay for the Prescott buses. No word yet on when the left-turn signals will be unveiled or how much it cost.

SAN winter 2012 newsletter is now available; neighborhood meeting is tomorrow evening

20. February 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: gardening, helensview, newsletter, san, transportation, wts

The newsletter for winter 2012 (1.7 MB PDF) for Sumner Association of Neighbors (SAN) in NE Portland, Oregon is now available online!

newsletter thumbnail Hopefully, this issue has already been delivered to your home. It includes a lot of stuff you might’ve already seen here on this website.

On a related note: Tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb 21 is our next neighborhood meeting at 7PM with two guest speakers:

#1: State Rep and Portland mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith
#2: Sarah Figliozzi of PBOT, who will talk about the upcoming Sandy Blvd sidewalk project.

We’ll also have updates on WTS, the community garden, and other stuff.

Social time with light refreshments at 6:30 PM. Meeting is at the usual location: CNN conference room, 4415 NE 87th (aka side door of Fire Station #12, just north off Sandy Blvd).

Septic pumper WTS stopped receiving septage in early December; now taking only landfill runoff

10. February 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: health, land use, noise, odor, san, wts

Under a deadline to file for a conditional use permit or face daily fines, Water Truck Service (WTS) decided to pull the plug. On Nov 30, WTS notified the city and SAN that they would stop trucking and disposing septage — human waste from septic tanks — at their site at NE 89th and Killingsworth on Dec 2.

Instead, WTS said they would limit their activity to processing ‘leachate,’ which is runoff from landfills. Activity has ramped down sharply, but even so some nearby residents have reported noise and garbage odors since Dec 2 when WTS is active.

WTS wide shot
Caption: A short truck backed into a pumping bay at WTS, as viewed from NE 89th in June 2011

On Feb 1, new WTS site manager Jamie Hartley, called to request that his number be shared with all our neighbors, so everyone can contact him with concerns, questions and complaints. His number will be included in winter 2012 newsletter coming out in the next week or two.

WTS is based in Sherwood. They opened here in spring 2010. Noise and chronic odor issues — nuisances under city code — were noted by neighbors from early on. Two residents asked SAN for help at our June 2011 meeting. WTS was fined on Aug 27 for violation of land use laws, and completed a conference with the city on Oct 20 in preparation for the required conditional use permit. The tough compliance requirements for the permit — including traffic, setbacks, noise, odor and enclosed space for loading and unloading waste — led to the decision by WTS on Nov 30 to stop pumping septage in Sumner.

Despite these big positive steps, homework remains to see if leachate is also considered ‘waste-related’ under the city zoning code. Any waste-related use at the site requires the same conditional use permit.

For more background, see:

For a video report by local TV reporter Ed Teachout on KGW, see their report.

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