Northwest District Association Newsletter
June 2012 Edition
At a special board meeting on June 5, the NWDA Board voted to appeal a Historic Landmarks Commission ruling that would allow the removal of four 125-year old American elm trees for a development at NW 19th and Johnson in the Alphabet Historic District. The meeting and decision to appeal were the culmination of months of passionate debate about how to protect beautiful old trees and encourage responsible development. The appeal is scheduled for Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at 2:00 pm in the City Council Chambers. In the meantime, NWDA and the project developer will continue to seek a win-win agreement that will protect the elms and support the project.
Do you care about neighborhood trees? If so, please volunteer to protect them by participating in this summer's NWDA Street Tree Inventory. For more information, visit http://www.northwestdistrictassociation.org/?p=4101
The next NWDA Board meeting is on Monday, June 18, 6:00 to 7:45 pm in the Legacy Good Samaritan Building #2, second floor conference room. The majority of the meeting will be dedicated to discussing Con-way's Masterplan application for the Slabtown area of the neighborhood. Members of the Planning and Transportation Committees have met with Con-way for over a year to develop a mutually supported plan. Several sticking points remain, including the open space plan, traffic mitigation efforts for 23rd & Vaughn, design standards and guidelines, and parking.
The masterplan application can be downloaded here: http://www.northwestdistrictassociation.org/?p=4116 (27MB pdf file)
Happy Summer!
Ron Walters
NWDA President
Safety & Livability Committee
Do you care about neighborhood street trees?
Are you concerned about the possible removal of four 100-year elm trees to make way for a new housing complex?
You should be. You should be concerned about the entire Northwest District neighborhood tree canopy. We have many old trees of the same species.
What would happen if dutch elm disease hit our neighborhood? How many trees would we loose? What would the Alphabet District look like? How much would it cost to inoculate all street elms? What would happen if bacterial canker infected the cherry trees? Are there opportunities to plant more trees? Do we have possible heritage tree candidates? What if our horse chestnuts developed bleeding canker?
What would happen if dutch elm disease hit our neighborhood? How many trees would we loose? What would the Alphabet District look like? How much would it cost to inoculate all street elms? What would happen if bacterial canker infected the cherry trees? Are there opportunities to plant more trees? Do we have possible heritage tree candidates? What if our horse chestnuts developed bleeding canker?
A comprehensive street tree plan is absolutely necessary to answer these questions, protect our canopy, and plan for the future.
The first step in a comprehensive plan is to conduct a street tree inventory. The City's Urban Forestry Group has offered to help the NWDA conduct a street tree inventory this summer. But, it won't happen without volunteers.
VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED, PLEASE SIGN UP NOW
http://www.northwestdistrictassociation.org/?p=4101
Concordia, Kenton, Overlook, Sellwood-Moreland, and St. Johns are already well on their way to protecting their trees. Download their survey results at this link: http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/index.cfm?c=53181 . Please donate your time to this effort. Don't let our neighborhood fall behind.
For more information about the NWDA Safety and Livability Committee, please visit http://www.northwestdistrictassociation.org/?cat=56
Transportation Committee
The transportation mitigation package for the NW 23rd / Vaughn intersection that includes a free right turn onto the ramp and a free u-turn off of the ramp that has emerged from the Conway Master Plan development process has met with some concerns from ODOT, which the committee is assessing, pending further conversations with the Conway Master Plan team. Transportation and Planning Committee comments are being prepared for presentation to the Board for review.
The committee otherwise is turning its attention to the fourth of the four 2012 NWDA transportation priorities. That priority would address safe pedestrian crossings at NW 23rd Place and Thurman Street. The first step in that regard will be to set up a meeting of adjacent businesses to assess the interest and concerns with how this might be done.
The NWDA Transportation Committee normally meets the first Wednesday of each month at 6 pm at Good Samaritan Hospital; however, check the NWDA website for the July meeting date, due to the holiday. Check the NWDA website for the meeting room. Everyone is welcome. Let us know your Northwest District transportation concerns and your ideas for improving how we get around in our community!
For more information about the NWDA Transportation Committee, please visit http://www.northwestdistrictassociation.org/?cat=4
Air Quality Committee
The NWDA Air Quality Committee will meet this month on June 18th at 7:00 p.m. at the Legacy Good Sam Wilcox building across from the Cancer Center in basement room B. All Welcome. Come and help us plan for the coming hot, smelly months. And please register your odor complaints at www.portlandair.org
Sharon Genasci, Chair, NWDA AQ Committee
For more information about the NWDA Transportation Committee, please visit http://www.northwestdistrictassociation.org/?cat=5
Upcoming Events
Family Music Circle at Friendly House
Friday, June 15, 5:30-6:30 pm, 1737 NW 26th @ NW Thurman St. Sing-along to some of your favorite songs with Ted Kaye,music circle leader extraordinaire.
Neighborhood Cleanup - Join Us!
Saturday, June 16, 9-10:30 am, Elephants Deli, 115 NW 22nd Ave., Litter clean up and graffiti removal.
NWDA Board Meeting Monday, June 18, 6-7:45 pm, Legacy Good Samaritan, Building #2 Conference Room, 2nd Floor, 1040 NW 22nd Ave.
Public Forum: The Citizens' United Decision - Corporations as People and Money as Speech - the Situation, Options, and Efforts being Made
Thursday, June 21, 7-9 pm, Friendly House 1737 NW 26th @ NW Thurman St.
The presenter will be Janice Thompson, Director of Common Cause Oregon.
Discussion and questions to follow. Hot drinks and cookies.
NW Portland Pedalpalooza Bike Ride 3:15pm - 5:15pm, Satuday, June 23, starts at the NW Cultural Center, 1819 NW Everett Street. Explores historic sites through Old Town and NW Portland. http://www.shift2bikes.org/cal/viewpp2012.php#23-2956
Leif Erikson Trail ClosureThe trail will be closed from the NW Thurman Gate to NW Germantown Road from June 8 through late July while culverts are repaired Evenings and weekends, the trail will be open, but the road surface at the culverts will likely be disturbed.
For a complete, up-to-date list of NWDA events, please visit the events calendar on our website.
