Attention, car parking policy aficionados. There are two opportunities for you to speak out about parking plans in Portland’s Boise and Central Eastside neighborhoods right now.
First, if you’re looking for something that involves some time commitment (and you live, work or frequently visit the Boise neighborhood): the Portland Bureau of Transportation is working on a “comprehensive parking management plan” for the Boise neighborhood and is seeking 11-15 volunteers for an advisory committee to oversee the plan. PBOT states this plan could “include a new kind of parking permit program, with new tools and techniques to try out and potentially parking meters.”
“Members will help advise on every aspect of the plan, including the process for outreach, planning, and decision-making; the boundaries of the study area; the boundaries, hours, and rules of a possible permit program; as well as ways to make any changes to parking more equitable and sustainable,” PBOT states in the application. “Members do not need parking expertise but should be familiar with their local area parking patterns and issues.”
PBOT is looking for a diversity of perspectives and interests on the committee, including from people who live and work in the Boise area and Black residents who were displaced from north and northeast Portland who frequently visit the Boise and Albina neighborhoods. Members will be expected to attend 10-15 two-hour meetings between April 2023 and June 2024. The meetings will be held virtually or in a hybrid in-person/virtual format. Applications are due February 28th, and you can apply here.
For something involving much less time commitment: the Central Eastside Industrial Council (CEIC) is asking people to fill out an online survey about their thoughts on transportation and parking options in and around the Central Eastside. This is part of the CEIC’s ongoing Parking Master Plan efforts.
“Do you regularly walk, bike, drive, ride, or roll into the Central Eastside? Do you have thoughts about how the CEIC, the City of Portland, and other organizations can shape the future of our District?” the survey asks. “As part of our ongoing effort to leverage the transportation and parking systems within the Central Eastside that supports employment, tourism, and business growth, we seek your input on how employees, residents, and visitors access the district.”
The CEIC survey includes several questions about where respondents live and work and their experience with parking and transportation in the Central Eastside. If you take the survey, you’ll have a chance to win a gift bag with products from Central Eastside businesses. You can find the survey here.
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“Do you have thoughts about how the CEIC, the City of Portland, and other organizations can shape the future of our District?”
Yes, I have thoughts about everything thanks for asking CEIC. As someone who walks around the Central Eastside (for fun) a lot, if they do this survey and decide not to put sidewalks on SE 2nd and SE 3rd I’ll be extremely frustrated.
Yes, it’s an industrial area. But I like walking in older industrial areas (cool stuff to see!), and sharing the road with semis is uh not good as a pedestrian! The Central Eastside must be the closest in area where there are missing sidewalks still – this has to be their top priority.
There aren’t sidewalks on SW Broadway just a block or so from the 405 freeway. There are also missing sidewalks in neighborhoods surrounding the 405 and I-5 freeways in South and Southwest Portland.
Nearly all of East Portland does not have sidewalks. I think those left behind residents should get them before inner SE where there is still a lot of warehouse activity.
That’s funny–I love walking with my dog in industrial areas, especially the Central Eastside, and SE 2nd may be my favorite street in the city to walk on. And I think it would be sanitized and destroyed as a pedestrian street if sidewalks were added. I do acknowledge I’m usually there on weekends when vehicle activity is entirely different than weekdays.
Also, with all the loading bays and truck maneuvering needs, I think adding sidewalks would be incredibly expensive, and result in not-very-usable ones. If people who live and work there want them, they should be listened to, but otherwise I’d rather see the money spend in places like East Portland or SW where people really want and need them.
I had a studio for a few years in Towne Storage, I love that part of town. It’s a lot like Long Island City in Queens—light industry, also on the east side of a river from the city.
No thanks. I’ve served on so-called “advisory” committees before, and I can tell you they do not “oversee” anything. In fact, every volunteer assignment for any public entity should come with the following warning:
Okay – if you find that warning to be hyperbolic, you’ve never served on an advisory committee. Good luck to the committee and may you find the strength to overcome your frustration.
Those committees are two-edged swords. If you act like a dumb sheep or a warm body on them to pad your resume, that is attend them but say nothing important ever, as most participants in fact do, then your warning holds true. But some of us over the years have learned to manipulate these committees or commissions, and the staff involved, for our own or our community’s interest – it’s a form of government-sanctioned grass-roots lobbying that is a godsend for those of us otherwise without money or influence – it depends on how you play the game.
My worst advisory committee experience (with Parks) was somewhat better than that. My best ones (PBOT, BDS and Water Bureau) were incredibly better. Those committees were treated well and we had huge impacts on the projects.
I hope the survey is actually used in the future plans. Thanks for sharing the information with us.