(View looking north on Williams just before N Failing.)
(Photos © J. Maus)
The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has released details on its North Williams Community Forum. The event is part of PBOT’s extended public process for the Williams Ave Traffic Safety Operations Project following concerns raised back in June by some in the community that the city had failed to adequately consider the area’s long history of racial discrimination and impacts of gentrification.
The Community Forum is scheduled for November 28th at Immaculate Heart Church (2926 N. Williams).
The City is billing the event as an open forum where City officials and representatives from various agencies, “will come together to hear your desires for North Williams Avenue and the neighborhoods around it.”
Debora Leopold Hutchins will give
a presentation at the event.
Confirmed to speak at the event is Portland Mayor Sam Adams. PBOT Director Tom Miller, Director of the Bureau of Planning & Sustainability Susan Anderson, and Director of the Portland Development Commission Patrick Quinton will be in attendance but are not planning to speak.
In addition to City officials, several community leaders will give presentations:
- Cathy Galbraith, Architectural Heritage Foundation
- Gahlena Easterly, Longtime Albina resident and community investigator
- Debora Leopold Hutchins, Sistas Weekend Cyclers and Advisory Committee Chair
- Mychal Tetteh, Village Market and Major Taylor Cycling Club
- Steve Bozzone, Willamette Pedestrian Coalition
This Community Forum comes just a few weeks after the “Race Talks” event at McMenamins Kennedy School. That event (held on November 8th) had an overflow crowd and featured speakers as well as a historical look at the Vancouver/Williams corridor.
At the Race Talks event PBOT project manager Ellen Vanderslice told the crowd that the City must decide what to do on Williams by March of next year or the money allocated for the project might no longer be available.
— For more information on this project, see our past coverage and visit the City’s official project page.