Want a MAX station at Holgate? Speak Now.

More than 100 Brooklyn residents and property owners, Metro Councilor Robert Liberty, and numerous past planning efforts have supported having a light rail station in this area.  Yet, TriMet planners are still considering removing this station from current plans.  This would leave only one station to serve all of Brooklyn and the northern part of the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhoods.

This topic will be discussed at two upcoming community meetings.  The first will be at the Portland to Milwaukie Light Rail Citizen Advisory Committee meeting.   This will be held tonight, Thursday April 16th at 6:00 PM at the TriMet training center located behind the Semaphore Resturant at the corner of SE 17th and Holgate.

A more in-depth discussion on the future of SE 17th Avenue will take place on Wednesday, April 22nd at the Winterhaven School Gymnasium (3830 SE 14th AVE) from 6:00 to 7:30 PM.

Having only one light rail station will be bad for the neighborhood and bad for public tranportation.    Light rail will completely replace bus service along the nearby portion of McLoughlin Boulevard, and some residents will be forced to cross both McLoughlin and Holgate and walk over half a mile to access rail service.   Holgate is an area ripe for redevelopment, but this is less likely to happen if transit service in the area becomes tougher to access.

The only property owner along SE 17th that has expressed concern about a station at Holgate is TriMet itself.  One option that they are pushing would eliminate the stations at both Holgate and Rhine, and include a new station near their offices at SE Center Street.  This may make things convenient for them, but it would also put a lot of parking and bus traffiic into the nearby residential areas along SE 16th and 15th Avenues.