September general meeting recap

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the BAC’s September general meeting. If you missed it, here’s a recap and links for the topics that were discussed.

Land use & transportation

The BAC’s Land Use & Transportation Committee provided updates on several initiatives:

• The City’s River Plan/South Reach project outlines the City’s 20-year plan for the Willamette River in our neighborhood. The project has now been referred from the Planning and Sustainability Commission to City Council. The Council hearing date isn’t set yet, but we expect it sometime this fall. When that happens, we encourage everyone to submit testimony on this project if you’d like to see more commitment from the City to re-establish river access for our neighborhood. Read more at the City’s River Plan / South Reach project page, and our Re-establishing neighborhood river access action plan.
• A few neighborhood developments are progressing, despite the slowdown this year due to COVID. The Brooklyn Point development (formerly “Dean River”) at 17th & Pershing is nearly completion and expects to open to tenants this fall. Additionally, a development on the former U.S. Bank site (3230 SE Milwaukie Ave) has been announced and is in the early stages of design. The developers hosted a meeting on September 10th meeting to outline the project.
• We’re also following a number of City and regional projects in progress: the Historic Resources Code Project; jurisdictional transfers for state highways (such as Powell Blvd); and the ADA transition plan.

Equity & social justice

The BAC’s Equity & Social Justice Committee also provided several updates:

• The main topic was City of Portland Measure 26-217, which would establish a new police oversight board. Darren from Real Police Accountability presented information and answered questions about the initiative. The City Auditor’s office (who oversees the current oversight board, the Independent Police Review) wasn’t able to attend, but shared links to resources from their office related to the measure: Resources to evaluate police oversight changes, Auditor Hull Caballero’s testimony.
• The ESJ Committee helped organize a yard sale on August 30th. Proceeds benefited local BIPOC organizations.
• Committee meetings are held every other week. Check the calendar for details, or follow the BAC on Instagram.

Other updates

Other topics discussed included

• Lighting in the neighborhood and in our parks — or rather, the lack thereof. If there are locations in the neighborhood where lights are lacking that you’d like to see prioritized, let us know.
• The possibility of a community bulletin board for flyers and notices. This has come up off & on over the years, and from the response, there’s still interest in it.