Informational Meeting

Wednesday, July 1st, 7pm, Gilbert Hts Elem. School, 12839 SE Holgate Blvd

Neighborhood Walks

Walk #1: July 20, 6pm-9pm, SE 122nd from Division to Holgate, meet at Pizza Baron, 2604 SE 122nd Ave.

Walk #2: July 22, 6pm-9pm, SE 122nd from Holgate to Foster, meet at Leander Ct, 4620 SE 122nd Ave.

Join a Neighborhood Walk Flyer

On Thursday June 18th, the URAC will be discussing the possibility of the Beavers eventually playing ball in Lents Park. To do this would require replacing the current Walker Stadium with a larger facility that would be able to accommodate thousands of fans. Proponents say that bringing the Beavers to Lents would create jobs, inspire new investments and would breathe new life into a struggling urban renewal area. Opponents say it will eat up vital parkland, destroy property values and attract crime- among other things.

Listening to the arguments, one would think that Armageddon was right around the corner! Either we will be saved- or we will be destroyed!! Unfortunately, there are still more questions than answers. Regardless of whether you are for or against the ballpark plans, now is the time to have your questions (hopefully) answered. Beginning at 4 PM, there will be an informational open house at the Mt Scott Community Center. Following the open house the URAC will meet do discuss variations of the plan including several funding scenarios. Please try to make it by the open house and if you are able- the public is welcome to attend the URAC meeting as well.

Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area Open House
Thursday, June 18, 2009
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Mt. Scott Community Center
5530 SE 72nd Ave.

Description: Informational open house regarding spending urban renewal funds into the proposal to build a Triple A Baseball stadium in Lents Park.

Transit Stop: Bus Stop 2554, Bus #10
Category: General Public Event/Fairs
Category: Southeast
Category: Lents
Contact: Kevin Cronin
503-823-3305

See the announcement below:

Lents bikeride, 10:00 am at Kelly Elementary, Sunday June 14th. This will be a Portland Bureau of Transportation guided bike ride in and around Lents, Foster Powell and Mt. Scott Arleta Neighborhoods touring some of the current and potential future transportation improvements for bicyclists in SE Portland (SE Portland beyond SE 82nd). It will be a fun and informative ride.

Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) will lead a kids safety class and ride for youth 8-12 years old. The ride ends at the opening day at the Lents International Farmers Market! Enter to win a raffle for a $25 coupon at the farmers market.

I know it’s hard to read- I’ll add details later! Save some room on your calendar on Saturday, June 20th!

The following post is from Commissioner Randy Leonard. The original post can be seen on his blog.

Below is a rendering of Lents park as it would look if the Lents Stadium proposal is approved. Contrary to much speculation and misinformation, here are some quick facts about the proposed siting:

By Kristina Lake, June 4, 2009

“First, seek to understand” is a tenet of all good negotiators, whether in politics, business, personal, or family relations. A good debate team knows they must get their facts straight, or else become gleefully ridiculed and discounted by the other side in very public way. If you don’t know the scope or the details of what it is you are vocally opposing, I believe a real disservice is done to the opposition’s cause.

I’ve been involved in the Beaver’s stadium debate heavily for the past month, researching economic studies of both major and minor league stadiums, monitoring the blogs, seeking out alternative locations to Lents Park, gathering information from the development team and neighborhood “representatives” (they know what I mean by this) about the scope and details of existing and negotiated plans. I put the following Fact Sheet together to help the new Friends of Lents Park group get a true grip of what it is they are fighting.

Through much research and debate, I’ve come to the conclusion that Lents Park is not the right location for the Portland Beavers. I believe that $42.3M is too much to ask of public monies. And I believe this case can be fought and won based on straight facts alone.

• 6,500 to 9,000 seat, AAA stadium with total proposed footprint, including parking and an office complex, of approximately 12 acres out of the 38-acre park.
• A large semi-circular grass berm would be built as the border to the outfield where people can be seated, which is along the eastern edge of the proposed ballpark facilities, facing 92nd Avenue. Neighbors’ views from across 92nd would changed from the current park view to a view of the berm.
• Minimum of 1500 parking spaces on-site or immediately adjacent; 280 spaces are planned for a parking lot inside the park. Remainder of the parking is currently being negotiated at Marshall High School, at Tri-Met Park & Ride Lot, ODOT surplus land and a few other locations. Parking adjacent to the perimeter of the park would be made available for stadium attendees with parking meters installed. Residential permit parking is proposed as one solution for the neighborhood surrounding the park, but the City indicates the costs and responsibility of implementing such a plan would be the responsibility of neighbors.
• The existing football field at the corner of 92nd & Holgate would be replaced by offices and an entry plaza. The Gazebo would be relocated to just south of the parking lot on the eastern portion of the park. The ½ mile running/walking trail appears to be impacted by the proposed parking lot. It is unknown how the soccer fields would be impacted based on a reduced parking lot plan.
• Based on current plans, the Lents Little League facilities would not be impacted by the current plans, nor would the basketball court, tennis court, dog park, children’s playground, community garden, or picnic areas.
• The stadium proposal would require the need for traffic management, signalization and other changes based on a plan which would be developed with the neighborhood and Portland Bureau of Transportation. The additional costs of such alterations would be in addition to total project costs, and it unknown how these costs would be paid for. Access to the park would be from 92nd Avenue. Emergency access is being proposed for 88th Avenue. Tri-Met has agreed to provide increased capacity and frequency during events just as they do at PGE Park.
• The Beaver’s Stadium would be used 250 days a year, from 72 Triple A ballgames to soccer, football, Girl Scout Jamborees, high school/college/adult baseball to community concerts.
• Stadium developers state roughly 30-40 mature trees will be lost, some replaced with new trees, and that no heritage trees are expected to be lost. Parks board members estimate that 177 mature trees would be lost.
• Lents Park is zoned Open Space, which strictly prohibits Major Event Entertainment. All of the land area surrounding Lents Park is zoned residentially, which strictly prohibits Major Event Entertainment. The Beaver’s stadium project qualifies under the Major Event Entertainment definition. The approximate 12 acres of lands requested for the Beavers’ stadium would require a zone change to a commercial designation.
• In March 1997, City Council passed The Non-Park Use of Park Property Ordinance which sought to “provide the greatest degree of protection to the City’s parkland and its recreational users” by putting the burden of proof on those requesting non-parks uses to show the need for those uses. A new stadium for the Beavers cannot be considered a “need”, but in instead a “want”.
• The Portland Beavers baseball team would anchor the stadium, its workforce located there (103 employees) and Merritt Paulson would guarantee a 25-year lease which, in combination with revenues from a ticket tax and tax increment revenues would build and maintain the facility. Stadium construction would last about 18 months and require 250-300 workers.
• The estimated cost of the stadium is $50 million, with Paulson responsible for cost overages. The Lents Stadium would be paid for, in part, by $42.3 million in tax increment funds over a 2-3 year period. Another $5M is being proposed from the state’s general fund, which is already making deep cuts to budgets for schools and social services due to lack of funding.
• Lents Urban Renewal Area has total debt capacity of $120 million. The PDC states that the proposal “would reduce the financial capacity to fund projects which were identified as priorities for the community by the URAC during the 2009-10 budget process” and it “would consume enough financial capacity (maximum indebtedness) that potential projects beyond the five year forecast (post 2013-14) would be reduced which could hinder the URAC’s ability to accomplish the goals established in the 1998 URA Plan and reiterated in the 2008 Plan Amendment.”
• In 2005, the Lents Urban Renewal Area dedicated $911,000 in funding to a joint project to relocate the Lents Little League and to improve Walker Stadium.

I was invited to take a tour of Northwest art today at the Portland Art Museum where my friend is volunteering as a “docent.” She invited me because one of the pieces being displayed was painted by an artist from Lents!

To save me the time of writing about her- I’ll just direct you to the link that I found on Portland Online that tells her story.

This website actually is selling “restrikes” of some of her early WPAish work!

Interesting, eh?!!

Jeff

Tomorrow- Friday, May 29th!!

What? Residents gathering in the town center to TALK AND HANG OUT!!!

Why? Because if we spend more time in the town center- eventually it will
translate into more reasons to spend more time in the town center!! Tired of
empty storefronts and an empty crossroads plaza? Lets start by filling up the
plaza- then we’ll work on the businesses!!

Who? You and me. Lents residents. Maybe even some other people!! We’ve
actually drawn people from all corners of Portland!!

When? At about 6:30! Eat dinner before or dine at El Pato Feliz- run by a
couple of the nicest people on the planet!! You can also eat at the Ararat!!
Maybe we’ll barbecue again! You know what sounds good to me? A seven foot
long sandwich with EVERYTHING on it!! Well- maybe we can do that NEXT week!

How? By what ever means necessary.

See you there!

Jeff

Thank you, Don, for including me in your response to Commissioner Fish.

I do need to take exception to a couple of points, however, in both Commissioner Fish’s email and your response.

While you write that you believe in “planning and community process”, you may not be aware that the proposal to locate AAA baseball in Lents was part of the work product considered by a citizen task force that began meeting last fall that concluded its work this past March.

Representatives from the entire community, including the Lents neighborhood, were on the task force including the Chair of the Parks Board, Keith Thomajan, and Mike Houck, a member of the Parks Board and protector and advocate of open spaces.

The task force did recommend the siting of the AAA stadium at either the Rose Quarter or Lents Park, based on certain conditions being met. At Lents the recommendation specifically called for replacing any park land displaced by the AAA stadium, a condition that both Mayor Adams and I support.

The task force voted unanimously for the recommendations including the Lents neighborhood representative along with Keith Thomajan and Mike Houck.

Additionally, the Lents Urban Renewal Advisory Committee, made up of residents and business owners in Lents, has had numerous discussions and meetings regarding siting a AAA stadium in Lents Park.

I am disappointed that Commissioner Fish continues to incorrectly suggest that up to “16” acres is proposed for building a AAA stadium in Lents Park. In fact, there is currently a stadium in Lents Park that is the foot print for the proposed stadium. Additionally, if built, the new stadium would not be for “private use” but would, rather, be a publicly owned facility that the Beavers would play in and would host events for the Lents community and all other Portland neighborhoods year around.

I have approached this issue with the best interests of our entire community as my only goal. I have not tried to exploit our citizen’s fears but have attempted to appeal to their aspirations in proposing that Lents be the site of a new AAA stadium.

Although I have learned that it is much easier and less risky to be against something in politics rather than for something, I hope you would encourage the debate on both sides to be fair and factual as the discussion continues. In my view, having a debate that does not rely on misleading information or hyperbole but rather sticks to the facts is the true test of our faith in Portlander’s judgment.

Thank you for your consistent advocacy for our neighborhoods, Don.

Randy

Commissioner Fish,

I strongly agree with you. I am very unhappy with the fast tracking, behind the scenes deal making that this proposal is generating. I believe in PLANNING and community process. Portland has many important needs for Portland and it is wrong for a out of town, fly by night entrepreneur to arrive with a fast deal that will be put ahead of so many other more important goals and projects.

Thank you for the message below. It shows you are working in the interest of the majority of Portland’s citizens.

Best wishes,

Don MacGillivray

May 26, 2009

Thanks for your email.

Earlier this year, the Portland City Council voted on a stadium deal that would
renovate PGE Park for Major League Soccer and build a new baseball stadium for
the Portland Beavers. As you may know, I voted against the proposal (which
passed 3-2).

Although I am a big soccer fan, I concluded that the proposal was the wrong deal
for Portland. It requires too much public subsidy for too little economic
benefit – at a time when we face the worst recession in my lifetime.

My core priorities during these tough times include public safety, family-wage
jobs, education, parks, and affordable housing. Stadium deals are “wants” not
“needs.”

The process of identifying a site for a baseball stadium is now underway. With
the Rose Quarter/Memorial Coliseum proposal off the table, the focus is on
Lents.

While no formal proposal has been made public, options on the table include
siting a stadium and related parking in Lents Park, and financing the stadium
with urban renewal dollars dedicated for housing.

Here are the principles which will guide my deliberations going forward:

(1) I strongly support significant City investments in family-wage jobs,
infrastructure and housing in Lents.

(2) I am skeptical of claims that a minor league stadium will jump-start
economic development in the Lents community. The experience in many other cities
is otherwise.

(3) I do not believe that any stadium deal should come at the expense of
promised investments in housing, infrastructure and small business development.

(4) In particular, I am opposed to using dedicated affordable housing funds to
pay for a stadium deal. This is the wrong time to reduce critical investments in
foreclosure prevention, down payment assistance, home repair, housing renovation
and other safety net housing programs.

(5) I am generally opposed to using public parks for private ventures, absent a
compelling public benefit.

Lents Park, a thirty-eight acre community treasure, is a vital public space for
community gatherings, youth sports, relaxation, and much more. The public
benefit must be very compelling before we remove up to 16 acres for private use.

(6) I can’t think of any justification for locating hundreds of parking spaces
in Lents Park. And I am concerned about the potential removal of dozens of
mature trees from the park.

Even if the case could be made for siting a baseball stadium in Lents Park, any
lost parkland must be replaced in the neighborhood. And the full cost of a
replacement park must be part of any proposal.

Thanks again for contacting me with your thoughts on this issue.

Sincerely,

Nick Fish
Commissioner