Our campaign (and I personally) will not always agree with everyone on everything. That would be weird and disingenuous.
I WILL go out of my way to find points of agreement, even and especially when we disagree on a given approach, so we can work together on something else. That matters to me.
I went to the Lloyd Center the other day. After talking with some folks and listening to a few hours of Lloyd Center Master Plan presentation and testimony - I better understand how folks are connected to that space, even if I don't agree with efforts to stop Lloyd's demolition and development (1/2)
Hell yeah. Concrete and asphalt can sometimes feel so permanent. It isn't! These folks are doing the WORK work.
Same! Always nice to chat with people in person. Our paths will def cross again!
I forgot the MPO part (which is rather important!!)
...deployable spikes embedded in street connected to radar that blast out for speeders. Going 16mph? POP PSHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
Totally fair, and the bigger picture is that road design has to actually match the speed limits we set, but maybe a new speed limit could make different road designs more politically feasible
I've always felt saying "it's inevitable" is just a way for people to feel less responsibility / guilt for not doing more to stop those deaths.
Well 🤓 It's the only democratically elected regional government in the country, and it does a mashup of things including manage our Urban Growth Boundary, operate venues such as the Zoo and the Convention Center, has parks and natural areas, and manages our region's waste, among other functions!
I am also blocked lol...
...and others! I love these ideas and will be championing all of them during this campaign and if elected. We need to do more to protect kids and adults on bikes and walking, and there are lots of ways to do it... so let's DO IT!
- More diverters to keep cars off greenways
- "Local Access Only" signs
- Allowing community members to use video evidence to write citations
- Ensuring maps programs do not route cars to greenways
- Lowering the "acceptable" daily car count on greenways from 2000 to 500
Parker and I rolled up (me running, her in stroller) to the Cycle Oregon Community Bike Block Party and got to chat with a bunch of former colleagues, new friends, and no-longer-strangers about how to make Portland's streets safer. I asked specifically about greenways and heard the need for...
I was being a little cheeky (I worked there a few years myself!), but literally every time a Metro staffer presents to the public they have a slide on "...so what ARE we?"
To be fair, does ANYONE know what Metro is?
...and serious injuries DOUBLE between 15 and 20mph, which is why we need a residential street 15mph across the board, not just for narrow streets (IMO)!
Maybe our new campaign slogan needs to be "Shifting Burdens Together!"
"What we can do, I guess, is hope that what comes next with that space refills the role Lloyd came to play for the people who were using it." This was the point I was making, and should definitely NOT be interpreted as being to the exclusion of other points! Maybe phased demolition can help..?
...that a social media character limit can't account for, which is why I shot some video yesterday and am editing someone that goes a little deeper into all of that. We have a bit of a busy afternoon but hopefully will be up this weekend!
Multiple conversations about in person and online (over two platforms) have compelled me to add a) I believe in the vision of Albina and Lloyd being fundamentally more connected and denser, and b) that means the current Lloyd Center structure will be lost. There is a LOT of detail in those things...
Who's "one takeaway" is this? Not mine lol
If my take that the inner Eastside including Albina and Lloyd should develop into a Eastside downtown is too simple - and yes, we should consider what is being lost, which I've articulated here and elsewhere - then I don't want to know what a complex take is! Have a good one.
More diverters, please! Cars can drive on like 98%+ of streets. If we could get that down even a few percentage points it would make an enormous difference for literally every other mode of transportation.
Your experience as a former tenant and sharing it's NOT particularly inexpensive to rent did stick and I meant to ask, how much did it cost if you don't mind my asking?
I agree with you, but what I'm trying to do is connect with the loss some folks are feeling from the Lloyd Center going away. Maybe your answer is, "their feelings aren't worth acknowledging" and that's fine. I am not saying it should be "the focus" of a redevelopment strategy there, or overall.
Feels like I am doing a bad job of this... I'm not saying "the Lloyd Center should be micro businesses," it's "I can understand why some folks will miss what is there now + it would be neat to see small physical storefronts / booths for makers and artists somewhere."
For the record, I agree with you: it's one of the most transit-rich parts of the City and the long-range vision for Lloyd and Albina should be nothing short of Downtown East, but with housing.
The second thought wasn't as "this is all it should be," it was "there might be a way to recreate part of what people will be missing from the current Lloyd somewhere else."
Fair enough on the first point, and agree on the second, though it is kind of cool and is a nice proof of concept for something else, maybe a Bryant Park-esqu series of small booths that artists and makers could rent for a month at a time. That would be dope.
While I don't think saving even a portion of it makes sense, I also understand where the pain and frustration is coming from for folks who use that space or makers / business owners who can afford a storefront there who may not be able to almost anywhere else.
