Bus Line 15 Update
Update On Line 15: NW Thurman Street Service
TriMet held a neighborhood meeting on Thursday, August 26th from 5 – 7 pm at the Friendly House. The meeting was very well attended, with 100 +/- neighbors in the room. It was also well covered by TriMet with the Service Planning, Operations, Marketing, Transit Police and Executive departments represented. While the meeting was intended to be in an “open house” format, neighborhs shifted the format to a more conversation/presentation style.
The meeting opened with neighbor Steve McCarthy providing some history and context both for neighborhood activism and the provision of Line 15 service on NW Thurman Street, starting long ago with streetcar service. TriMet General Manager, Neil McFarlane, then addressed the group, making the following points:
1. Without excuse, TriMet deeply regrets how the cessation of Line 15 service on NW Thurman Street was handled without public process or even advance notification.
2. TriMet will provide a spotter to allow the buses to safely make the turnaround that was deemed unsafe and illegal as of Monday, August 30th, but on a reduced schedule that should accommodate most service users. This will include 7 am to 7 pm service on weekdays, a reduced 10 am to 6 pm Saturday schedule and no Thurman service on Sundays – until a more permanent and less labor intensive solution can be installed. All service not on Thurman Street will continue to operate to Montgomery Park.
3. TriMet met at the intersection of NW Gordon and Thurman with City traffic engineers, TriMet’s training staff and City police to consider the options. TriMet hopes that a bus-activated warning sign with flasher lights can be placed on each side of the intersection to warn oncoming cars and cyclists of the bus turning movement in-progress. That would take a couple of months to install (technical details still need to be developed).
4. A middle phase (which was not entirely clear) will include signage without the flasher lights that will take longer to install. That second phase could be in place in a few weeks and would allow the full schedule on Thurman Street to be reinstated.
There was apparent overwhelming support for reinstatement of the service in full, though one or two neighbors called for a review of the ridership and commensurate reductions in service on NW Thurman during off hours. Other neighbors noted that the full schedule is needed to provide riders with sufficient schedule options.
The needs of Lincoln High School Students was discussed, including a bus ahead of 7 am for the interim service schedule.
Neil noted that TriMet staff had considered other options, including rerouting the service at the bottom of the hill, but that those would not be presented, given the overwhelming support and need to restore the service for the full extent of the route.
Please visit http://www.trimet.org/alerts/15-belmont-changesrev.htm for more and official information from TriMet. TriMet did ask to work with a neighborhood committee as the details of a solution are worked out. The NWDA Transportation Committee will consider at its September 1st meeting if and how that committee will be a part of that process. The neighborhood is invited to attend that meeting at:
The NW Cultural Center
Lower Level Reception Room
Wednesday, September 1st, 6 pm
(this topic is allocated 30 minutes, roughly 45 minutes into the agenda)
The meeting last Thursday was very constructive. The neighborhood appreciates TriMet’s thoughtful response and Neil McFarlane’s willingness to put himself “on the spot” in front of a very engaged community. Thanks also to neighbors who came to the meeting ready to listen and contribute. More work lies ahead……
- Phil Selinger, NWDA Transportation Committee Co-Chair
Trans. Minutes – August 4, 2010
NWDA Transportation Committee
August 4, 2010
Good Samaritan Hospital, Building #2, 2nd floor Conference Room
1040 NE 22nd Avenue
Committee Members Attending
Phil Selinger, Chair
Greg Aldrich
Juliet Hyams
Jeanne Harrison
Sharon Kelly
Dustin Posner
Members Absent
Charlie Grist
Guests
Karl Doppelfeld, Resident
Ron Walters, President, NWDA
Pete Colt, Resident
Mark Schmidtman, Umpqua Bank
Alan Clausen, NW Examiner
Don Genasci, Slabtown
Introductions at 6:00 p.m.
Announcements and committee business
• Karl will be eligible to join the committee at the next meeting. Later in the meeting, a vote was taken with Sharon making a motion and Greg seconding it to have Karl on the committee. The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion.
• Sunday Parkways in NW will be September 26 from 10 am to 3 pm. NWDA will have a booth, probably in Wallace Park. Phil passed out a handout with potential activities and display materials.
• Phil noted that a second neighborhood clean-up is starting at the south end of the neighborhood with the sponsorship of Umpqua Bank.
• Greg attended the Pearl District Pettygrove Greenstreet workshop. He noted that their vision is not the same as ours and they are not interested in our concerns. Pete noted that he wanted Johnson to be a green street. [Note: Steve Pinger also attended the Pettygrove Greenstreet workshop and asked that the block from 16th to 17th be included in the Pearl Pettygrove plan to allow for a good transition into NWDA.] Ron noted that the Mayor said we wouldn’t be getting any help on Pettygrove for at least six months. Ron thinks we should tie the green street into the Slabtown project to get it going and include additional green streets. Karl noted that the UAR has a “green” grant. Jeanne added that the NW 26th and Pettygrove green street facility is under construction. The Pearl District Circulation & Access Committee will not meet until September.
• Dustin reported that the Cornell Road Task Force project (Washington Co. to Lovejoy) was progressing with lots of meetings with city commissioners and their staff and continuing contact with Stuart Gwin (PBOT) on the MTIP process. The committee will continue to look for additional funding sources, but they believe it should be “city-driven.”
• Juliet reported that the Parking committee had its first meeting and said that there was an economic study by consultant, Eric Hovee. She said NWDA members will be reviewing the neighborhood’s positions. A new issue is that the proposed URA includes the MLC parking lot. The Mayor said it is included because of the potential for a parking structure there. Juliet said she gave the Mayor some background information and Ron said the Mayor wants to not pick out single sites or issues to focus on. Sharon said we should be encouraging a holistic approach.
Transportation Committee Work Plan
Phil handed out a draft work plan for 2010-2011. Pete asked that couplets be listed as a work plan item (already included under 3b and 4d). Sharon asked that we add “process” after Slabtown under 3c. Members asked that 3f be modified to something like “Pursue appropriate traffic calming and pedestrian safety improvements on any street in NWDA that would benefit from changes, for example, NW Thurman.” It was suggested that street lighting be added to 1e. In response to a question, Ron noted that the NW Remand process still needs Metro’s approval and that process has slowed down a little.
Phil asked that additional comments come to him by Sunday. He will then circulate it to the committee and finalize it for future Board approval. Greg suggested that we do a field trip to some of the streets in the work plan.
Slabtown Presentation
Don Genasi and Ron Walters said that the recent work was a consolidation of the U of O students from the last two terms and feedback from the four workshops. A future piece of the work will be a set of design standards. The powerpoint presentation showed the key elements of the proposed Urban Design Concept – more public space, a network of green streets and access to the river. The proposal includes three new parks and three pubic squares. Changes to Thurman would create a through street and connections to the river. Right-of-way would be used to create linear green spaces. NW 21st would be strengthened and have wider sidewalks. NW 18th and 19th would be decoupled with 19th being a two-way commercial street and 18th a green street. Allowed densities would rise slightly above the adopted neighborhood plan. No specific designs are being proposed but the basic site size would be 100’ X 100’ to keep the scale small. Higher heights would be allowed near the freeway.
Phil suggested that on-street parking should be kept away from street corners to allow for curb extensions on all corners. Dustin suggested mid-block crossings where there are long blocks.
The Urban Design Concept shows a traffic circle at NW 23rd and Vaughn as a placeholder to indicate a future need for a long-term solution at the intersection. NW 20th would continue as a through street under the freeway, improving connectivity. The curb-to-curb cross-section is shown as 30’, which may not be acceptable to PBOT. Phil asked if some of the streets could be shown as “festival” streets and Don said that could be a possibility, for instance, next to parks and open space. Streetcar alignments are probably premature because they are 10-15 years off, but new lines could be phased to serve new development, get to the river and serve Montgomery Park. Phil said streetcar lines should be thought of in context with bus service and designate transit streets rather than for a specific mode.
Underground (paid) parking would be distributed throughout the area and be shared. NW Naito would be redesigned to be a “normal” commercial street. Heights of buildings would vary from 4-5, 6-8 and 8-10 stories depending on the area. Jeanne noted that the plan should pay more attention to pedestrian circulation and to bicycle circulation and parking.
Next meeting. There was general support for having a walking tour of the south part of the neighborhood before the next meeting starts and try to meet in that part of the neighborhood.
The meeting was adjourned.
Bus #15 – TriMet Letter
For community members concerned about the loss of #15 bus service on NW Thurman, please read the attached letter from Neil McFarlane, TriMet General Manager, describing measures that are being taken to restore partial service.
TriMet Letter – 15 Line – August 25, 2010
TriMet Meeting – Thur, Aug. 26
On Friday, August 13, TriMet discontinued Line 15 bus service from NW 23rd Avenue along NW Thurman to the intersection of NW Thurman and Gordon. TriMet will hold a meeting this Thursday, August 26, 2010, from 5 to 7 pm at Friendly House (1737 NW 26th Avenue) to provide information to riders and community members about the sudden decision and to discuss options for alternatives that would mitigate the loss of service.
This is a TriMet meeting, not an NWDA meeting, but members of the NWDA Transportation will attend the meeting to participate as appropriate. The next meeting of the NWDA Transportation Committee will be held Wednesday, September 1, from 6 to 8 pm at the NW Neighborhood Cultural Center – Room TBD.
Quoting from TriMet’s website:
TriMet recently discontinued Line 15 bus service from NW 23rd Avenue along NW Thurman to the intersection of NW Thurman and Gordon. This abrupt change was made in response to the agency’s comprehensive safety review. On Friday, August 13, TriMet was informed by the Transit Police Division that by making operators reverse the bus in the intersection of N.W. Gordon and N.W. Thurman, we were requiring them to make a maneuver that is unsafe and illegal. Once this became clear, TriMet determined that the appropriate decision was to adjust the route to eliminate the illegal movement.
TriMet deeply regrets the lack of notice given to the riders of the Line 15 when the service on Thurman was discontinued. Due to the heightened sensitivity about safety, our staff took immediate action to correct an unsafe situation. Our normal procedures call for public notice. In this case normal procedures were not followed and for this we are very sorry.
TriMet is exploring options for alternatives that would mitigate the loss of service. This includes a review of the Thurman/Gordon intersection with the City of Portland traffic engineer and the Transit Police Division to see if there are safety mitigations which would allow the route to return. As an alternative, TriMet has mapped out other routing possibilities for this portion of Line 15.
TriMet will host an Open House on Thursday, August 26th at Friendly House to talk to riders and neighbors about alternatives. Friendly House in located at 1737 NW 26th Avenue (corner of NW 26th & Thurman). The Open House will provide an opportunity to get information about why this decision was made and to provide feedback on the options being considered.
NW Wilson Sewer Rehab
Residents between NW 28th Place and NW 33rd Avenue and NW Upshur and NW St. Helens Road should be aware that the NW Wilson Sewer Rehabilitation project is scheduled to begin late this summer. Construction will not occur at all locations at all times but there will be significant impacts to the surrounding community.
There will be some 24-hour construction on weekends at the NW Nicolai and NW 29th intersection. Parking will be prohibited in some work zones during work hours. Some streets will close to through traffic during work hours. Residents may experience delays getting to their home or business. Equipment and material will be secured on the street after work hours.
If you have questions or concerns project, please visit www.portlandonline.com or contact Joe Annett with Environmental Services at 503-823-2934 or joseph.annett@portlandoregon.gov.
Trans Comm Agenda – 8/4/10
The next meeting of the NWDA Transportation Committee will be Wednesday, August 4, 6:00 pm, at the Good Samaritan Hospital, Building #2, 2nd Floor Conf Room, 1040 NW 22nd Ave. You may download the meeting agenda from the link below:
NWDA Transportation Committee August agenda
Trans. Minutes – July 7, 2010
Northwest District Transportation Committee
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Good Samaritan Hospital, Building #2, 2nd floor Conference Room, 1040 NW 22nd Ave
Members attending: Phil Selinger, Greg Aldrich, Dustin Posner, Sharon Kelly, Jeanne Harrison
Guests: Ron Walters, Allan Clausen, Karl Doppelfeld, Pete Colt, Mark Sieber
Call to order – 6:04 p.m.
Committee Membership
After introductions, Phil told the committee that Devin Liebermann resigned from the Committee because of time conflicts. Bud Clark is moving out of the neighborhood so he has also resigned, and Kim Carlson has also resigned. Karl Doppelfeld, a newly-elected member of the NWDA Board is interested in joining the committee (he will be eligible after the next meeting he attends). Tony Cadena another new board member is also interested in joining and will need to attend three meetings to be eligible.
Future Agendas and Communication
Mark Sieber will post agendas for future meetings to the list serve. Pete Colt asked that the agendas be divided into four sections, to more equitably address transportation issues throughout the neighborhood. The group discussed pros and cons of that approach. Ron Walters says that different address lists can be set up to communicate with a broader audience or just with the committee. He also wants to have a regular email newsletter.
Updates
Sunday Parkways:
September 26 will be the date of the Sunday Parkway event scheduled for NW and a small part of downtown. Rich Cassidy (PBOT staff) attended last month and asked about parking options. Con-way will be allowing their parking lot on 23rd to be used. NWDA filed an application for a booth. Phil asked about what the booth should include as the City wants interactive booth activities. Suggestions from the group included Slabtown displays, 3-dimensional puzzle of the neighborhood to solve, and collecting contact info. Karl, Phil and Ron will come up with a proposal.
Sunday Parkways – Proposed Workplan
Pettygrove Greenstreet:
Jeanne noted that Mauricio LeClerc has postponed the mini-workshop on the Pettygrove Greenstreet but it should be in July. She asked him to notify Steve Pinger, Phil, and John Bradley of the workshop details. Ron said that he wants to wrap the neighborhood’s ideas for the greenstreet into the Slabtown concept to get it in front of City Council.
Pearl Access and Circulation Plan:
Phil noted that this planning effort held its first workshop last month to present existing conditions and modeling results. Jeanne noted that the City and Pearl Access and Circulation committee are starting to come up with a list of possible circulation and access changes for further consideration.
Cornell Coalition:
Dustin reported that once the MTIP (Metro) project process has been completed, Stuart Gwin (PBOT) will help them with an application. Coalition members met with Randy Leonard and Dan Saltzman and will meet with Amanda Fritz next week. They have had a discussion with Mark Lear (PBOT) about fire emergency vehicle-friendly traffic calming devices. PBOT wants to do two demonstration projects.
Parking Task Force:
Ron noted that the Task Force is progressing slowly. Ron said that a Con-way rep has been added as well as Tony (last name) and two business owners.
Portland Plan:
Phil has been tracking the Portland Plan.
Slabtown:
The next workshop will be July 28 at the Coho Theater. Information is on the NWDA website.
Trash Truck Crash:
Phil asked if the committee wanted to do anything to make sure that the two street trees are replaced that were destroyed by the truck crash. Phil will check with Urban Outfitters to see if they plan to replace them.
Burnside/Couch Project
Phil noted that Bill Hoffman (PBOT) was supposed to come to this meeting but declined because of a request from the Mayor to relook at the Enhanced Burnside proposal. It was looked at before and wasn’t pursued because of unacceptable traffic congestion. Bill will come to the September or October meeting. He feels that upper Burnside should be part of the overall project rather than postponed. Greg Aldrich passed out a list of improvements to Burnside that he thinks will help make it a better street. The list includes reducing the speed limit, adding marked crosswalks, changing signal timing, removing sidewalk obstructions, repaving the outside travel lanes, and requiring wider sidewalks from new development. The ensuing discussion talked about traffic calming without pushing traffic onto other neighborhood streets and making the odd intersections more ‘normal’. Other ideas were to leave Couch as it is and putting a reversible lane on Burnside. Dustin made a motion to write a letter that voiced our desire to keep the Committee involved in the process, and to keep upper Burnside linked to the Burnside/Couch project. Sharon seconded the motion and the committee unanimously supported it. Phil will draft a letter and circulate it to the Committee. Ron noted that the Board could consider the issue and letter at its next meeting. Further discussion included the operation of couplets and, it was suggested that people pay attention to how the eastside Burnside/Couch couplet operates once it is completed.
Download Couplet Letter
Transportation Committee Work Plan
The group discussed the current work plan and made some suggestions for changes. Sharon suggested something that was less of a wish list would be more like a real work plan. Pete asked that the 18th/19th couplet be added to the list of priorities. The group generally agreed that a work plan should focus on what the Committee wants to advocate for and to prioritize efforts. Phil will draft an update for discussion by the committee and try to better link the work plan with the adopted NWDP. The work plan should give direction to the committee and let the Board know what we are working on. The need for better communication was discussed.
Miscellaneous
A resident on NW Wilson asked Phil whether the Committee could support his desire to get a sidewalk installed between NW 29th and 30th adjacent to a vacant lot. While the Committee was supportive, it agreed that there wasn’t much that it could do to help.
Phil said he was willing to contact the postmaster about the problematic drop-off configuration at the 97210 post-office and see if it could be reconfigured to avoid the conflicts that occur now.
The meeting adjourned around 7:32 p.m.
Walkability in NW
Here is an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal titled “A Walker’s Guide to Home Buying: Traffic jams and aging boomers spur a focus on walking distance.”
It discusses walkability and WalkScores, including mention of NW Portland.
WSJ Walker’s Guide to Home Buying – July 2, 2010
Trans Comm Agenda – 7/7/10
The next meeting of the NWDA Transportation Committee will be Wednesday, July 7, 6:00 pm, at the Good Samaritan Hospital, Building #2, 2nd Floor Conf Room, 1040 NW 22nd Ave. You may download the meeting agenda from the link below:
NWDA Transportation Committee July agenda
Trans. Minutes – June 2, 2010
NWDA Transportation Committee
June 2, 2010
Good Samaritan Hospital, Building #2, 2nd floor Conference Room
1040 NE 22nd Avenue
Committee Members Attending:
Phil Selinger, Chair
Greg Aldrich
Juliet Hyams
Jeanne Harrison
Sharon Kelly
Dustin Posner
Members Absent
Kim Carlson
Charlie Grist
Scott Seibert, excused
Devin Liebmann, excused
Guests
Rich Cassidy, City of Portland, Bureau of Transportation
Karl Doppelfeld, Resident
John Bradley, NWDA Planning Committee
Jill Long, Con-way
Pete Colt, Resident
Stan Penkin, Resident/Better Burnside Alliance
Jackie Gordon, Better Burnside Alliance
Mark Sieber, NWNW
Mark Schmidtman, Umpqua Bank
Alan Clausen, NW Examiner
Ron Walters – NWDA Board
After introductions at 6:00 p.m., Phil Selinger noted a change in the agenda to allow Rich Cassidy to present material about Sunday Parkways. He noted that the May minutes will be reviewed next month.
Sunday Parkways
Rich Cassidy explained the purpose and history of Sunday Parkways and announced that the fifth event this year would be in Northwest on September 26 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. One portion of the route, on Stark and Couch will not open until 11 a.m. because of another event. The Pearl Business Association will be actively involved particularly on NW 13th which will include an artwalk on stubs of Davis and Flanders. There will be numerous activities in Couch and Wallace Park with the focus being on Wallace Park which offers more room for activities. Rich explained that there will be several mailings to residents to let them know about the event. There will be approximately 300 volunteers plus police at intersections to allow vehicles through as needed. The Committee noted that there may be concerns about the removal of on-street parking during the event. Parking patterns are not the same on Sunday as during weekday street-sweeping. Rich will coordinate with Juliet Hyams to try to find alternative locations where residents can park during the event, such as the synagogue, Good Sam, Con-way, etc. The Committee expressed preliminary interest in having a booth at the event. Rich can be contacted at Rich.Cassiday@portland.or.gov with questions, to volunteer, or if NWDA wishes to have a booth at the event.
Updates
NW 23rd: Phil Selinger provided update on the NW 23 reconstruction noting it was done two weeks ahead of schedule. The group asked him to send Jean Senechal Biggs a thank you.
Slabtown
Greg Aldrich noted that the Slabtown Committee will be meeting twice a month during the summer with one of the students who had worked on the project to meld the three concepts into one and then bring back the result to the neighborhood at the end of summer. The next phase will start in September. Student presentations will be displayed on June 3 from 6 – 9 p.m. at 411 Park Avenue on the 4th floor. The next Slabtown meeting is from 5:30 – 7 p.m. next Monday in the Legacy Northrup conference room and then the second and fourth Mondays except for the next one, which will be on the 28th.
Pettygrove Greenstreet
Jeanne noted that Mauricio LeClerc of the Portland Bureau of Transportation, manager of the Pearl District Access and Circulation Plan does not have any way of incorporating the Pettygrove Greenstreet in our neighborhood into his project. John Bradley will mention the City’s commitment and lack of action on the Greenstreet in his testimony on the remand since the greenstreet was part of the resolution that was passed earlier. Phil noted that the 26th/Pettygrove greenstreet design probably is not possible to change at that this date, but noted that we do not want it to set a precedent for the overall greenstreet design. Phil will try to find out more about what coordination is happening between BES and PBOT.
Collision Rebuilders expansion
John Bradley noted that the Bureau of Development Services approved that design for Collision Rebuilders to expand northward, but PBOT nixed the new curb cut.
Cornell Coalition
Dustin Posner said the City installed radar monitoring at the Audubon site, but took down the 20 mph signs and added a 35 mph sign at the speed bumps. The city has been told about this problem and it should be corrected.
NW Remand Follow-up
The hearing on the remand will be June 10 at 2 p.m. at City Council. John explained the extent of the remand rezonings and traffic issues and noted that there is a revised report. The group discussed the assumptions behind the traffic analysis and whether the proposed mitigation at 23rd/Vaughn will come soon enough and be effective. In particular, Ron Walters expressed concern over the population and employment projections that were used as input to the transportation analysis. He noted that the projections appear to be too low to be credible. John will be preparing testimony for the hearing.
Burnside-Couch Couplet
A handout was provided summarizing the status of this project and the concerns expressed by the Better Burnside Alliance and neighbor, Pete Colt. Maps were also available for reference. Phil noted that he went to the Chinatown-Old Town meeting last night to hear a Burnside-Couch couplet presentation by PBOT. Phil noted that the Eastside couplet project is well into construction and even operation and that the City is interested in an interim implementation on the west side of the river. Ralph Swanson is the PBOT manager for the project, which has been scaled back into a phase one project from 2nd to 15th, but without the streetcar. This phase will cost $16 million plus another $1.2 million for the Phase 2 Streetcar Alternatives Analysis and will include no major construction (so as not to “throw away” any improvements in the future phases), but will paint curb extensions and add planters to widen sidewalks and separate pedestrians and cars. Head-in parking (170 spaces) would be added to the lower blocks, north of the median. Phase 2 would install the streetcar, but is not likely to be implemented for 8-10 years given funding expectations. Karl Dopplefeld and Pete Colt spoke about the dangerous intersection 16th and Burnside. Phil noted that Bill Hoffman from PBOT will come to next month’s meeting to talk more about the project from 15th west. Jackie Gordon and Stan Penkin of the Better Burnside Alliance presented their group’s perspective on the project and noted that traffic will quadruple on Couch. Jackie noted that Phase 1 doesn’t deliver much in the way of pedestrian improvements and noted that other studies have described other ways of fixing Burnside, including a plan called WBEEP that was done by consultants for the City in conjunction with the Brewery Blocks project, but hasn’t yet been presented to City Council. These guests provided handouts describing and supporting their positions. Phil asked the Committee how it wanted to weigh in on this. Greg said he does not support the couplet, but does think improvements are needed. Phil noted that PBOT staff say new signals would slow traffic to between 12 and 15 mph, consistent with other streets in the downtown grid. Ron Walters said he thought the project impacts our neighborhood and that we should take a position. Mark Sieber noted that the neighborhood’s previous position was to support the changes primarily as it related to west of 16th because it would have resulted in some pedestrian improvements and slower traffic. He noted that since then, our part of the project has been chopped off and there is no guarantee that our part of Burnside Street would benefit. Phil noted that the streetcar using the couplet could end up turning north, using 18th and 19th and Pete noted that was not consistent with the neighborhood’s recommendations on the Streetcar Master Plan and that he opposed that. Dustin noted that the streetcar could go north on several streets and that a preferred route had not yet been chosen. Mark said he wasn’t sure that the City realized that there may be less support for the Phase 1 project than the project as a whole. Ron noted that urban renewal boundaries will impact where the streetcar will go. Dustin wants us to have more information about the alternative (WBEEP) plan and isn’t committed either way at this point, but does believe that Phase 2 will happen. Jeanne noted that she has concerns about elements of Phase 1.
Phil adjourned the meeting at 7:50 p.m. and noted that we will hear more next month about the Burnside/Couch project.
