Have advice on local parking?
Pick a color, but don't expect much from PBOT
The Northwest Parking Stakeholders Advisory Committee was created by the Portland City Council to guide the spending of transportation projects in the Northwest District.
Neighborhood representatives were to have a central role because the revenues in play would be derived from local parking meters, meters that were introduced as part of a compromise with the Northwest District Association and Northwest Business Association in 2013. The city could collect parking fees if at least half of the net revenues were devoted to transportation improvements in Zone M, encompassing a majority of the district.
Advice initially meant the Portland Bureau of Transportation would spend the local share according to the wishes of the broadly representative advisory body, though legally the bureau itself made final decisions.
Advice now means committee members place colored dots on a board to show their preferences, and PBOT staff calls the shots no matter where the dots are posted. At one exercise last year, only four SAC members were present to post their dots. Three were opposed to the direction PBOT picked, and that was that. No discussion, explanation or attempt to persuade. Advice received and ignored. Move on.
Jeanne Harrison, a former transportation planner with the city who now serves on the SAC, is disappointed with the descent of the process.
“We don’t vote on anything, we just use dots to set priorities,” Harrison said. “It’s never clear what we’ve done. We’re not really accomplishing much from the perspective of representing the neighborhood.”
Todd Zarnitz, president of NWDA and a SAC member, said the current process of collecting input has reduced contention but is “also watered down.”
As for the local projects improving streets and sidewalks, they also seem to be watered down. Millions have been spent on collecting and studying data for more than a decade, but there is not much to show for it. Neighborhood representatives have for years sought pedestrian-scale lighting at intersections to improve safety. Last month, PBOT decided to go with tall “cobra head” street lights instead.
Some concerns
1 Feels like we are losing street parking.
2 Congestion on NW Everett and NW 16th because of rarely used bike lanes
3 Intersection of NW 25th and NW Westover—white posts interfere with turning the corner and if cement is going in should not extend too far into the streets. Dangerous making that turn.