to School ride with state Rep. Lew Frederick in 2010.
(Photo J.Maus/BikePortland)
Saying that a window of opportunity is opening for the Oregon Department of Transportation to make Portland’s 82nd Avenue a better place, State Sen. Michael Dembrow is urging people to attend two events this summer.
“I’ve been working on various issues related to 82nd since I was first elected, and now a path to addressing these issues in a more comprehensive way is opening up.,” Dembrow wrote in an email this week. “Neighborhood leaders have convened a group to bring together businesses and community leaders, neighbors and neighborhood associations to create a unified voice for change along 82nd Ave. The 82nd Ave. Improvement Coalition has been meeting regularly since the beginning of this year, and I’ve been able to attend several of their meetings. Things are now really picking up steam.”
Dembrow invites interested residents to attend the 82nd Avenue Improvement Coalition’s next meeting on Monday, June 23rd, at 7 p.m. at the Central Northeast Neighbors office, 4415 NE 87th Ave. It’ll include a 45-minute “community values workshop.”
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“ODOT has identified some money to conduct a study of potential options for improving 82nd Ave., but they need broad community participation in order to make this process a success,” Dembrow writes. “While the planning process won’t begin in earnest until early 2015, ODOT will be collecting feedback starting now to help guide and inform the scope of the planning. It’s really important that neighbors weigh in.”
The second event Dembrow mentions in his email is his own sixth annual “town hall on two wheels,” which this year will be Saturday, July 26 at 10 a.m. at the Lumberyard Indoor Bike Park, 2700 NE 82nd Ave.
“This year’s ride will feature a number of stops focusing on 82nd Ave., and it will be a unique way for us to look at the corridor, since most of us usually experience 82nd Ave. at 35 mph in our car,” Dembrow writes. “(Don’t worry, we won’t be biking on 82nd itself.)”