Jacob Loeb began writing for newspapers in high school, first for the school's publication and then for a Vashon, Washington, community paper. He graduated college with a degree in English Literature and Television Communications. After graduating, Loeb worked in film distribution for a pioneering DVD company that supported independent filmmakers. Years later, he wrote for a weekly newsletter about technology and ran a popular computer advice column called Ask Jacob. Moving to the Montavilla neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, with his family in 2005, Loeb firmly planted roots in the community and now writes for the Montavilla News. He is a Society of Professional Journalists member and volunteers with non-profit organizations serving East Portland.
~
Recently, crews completed framing work on a four-unit development along SE Washington Street east of SE 86th Avenue. The pair of duplexes offer each home around 1220 square feet of living space spread across two levels. Over the coming weeks, work will progress to roofing and sealing up the exterior.
The two buildings have separate addresses: 8625 SE Washington Street and 8631 SE Washington Street. Ernie Jette Construction placed one duplex fronted on SE Washington Street and the other directly behind it, with backdoor access to the alleyway. The homes take up a significant portion of the property, prohibiting standard on-site parking. However, other residents with alley access on this block parallel park against the rear of the buildings. That space, coupled with the curbside parking on SE Washington Street, would allow at least one parking stall per home.
Unlike a traditional townhouse project offering similar-sized units, this configuration allows for just one common wall between each unit instead of sandwiching the middle homes between neighbors. However, it creates a situation where the backyards of the front properties merge into the front yards of the off-street homes. It is a somewhat unique configuration but similar to the neighboring development to the east that uses shared yard space.
This double duplex project repurposes a standard-width lot previously serving as yard space for 8605 SE Washington Street and creates added housing inventory along a transit corridor. Look for work to continue through the summer. Ernie Jette Construction tends to complete projects quickly, and these units could be available for purchase before the end of the year.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscribers or sponsors. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
Update: Construction is underway on five new townhouses at 750-758 NE 91st Avenue. Crews completed wall framing and recently installed the gable roof trusses, defining the structure’s shape. The project is owned by J&I Properties, a Limited Liability Company (LLC), which took ownership of the property in March. Provision Investments transferred the property into the LLC, and its president is one of the three owners of the new company. His development business, Provision Group, is managing the project. Provision has built several projects in Montavilla over the last few years, including apartment buildings and other townhouses. Expect construction to continue through the summer.
Article originally published October 14th, 2024
In September, the townhouse development planned for 716 NE 91st Avenue received approval for an Adjustment to increase the allowable building coverage on the site. Since first submitted in April, the number of residences planned for this project has reduced from six units to five townhomes. The lot features a significantly sloping grade that requires stairs for resident access and a base support structure to level the building.
This undeveloped lot remained after the previous owner created two duplexes on the southern portion of the property. Those four homes fronted on NE Irving Street completed construction in 2019. After four years of sitting vacant, Provision Group submitted building permit applications for the new homes and shared site improvements on this open land. The builder required an Adjustment to zoning codes because this property’s Residential Multi-Dwelling 1 zone only allows a maximum building footprint coverage of 50%. This 4,900-square-foot lot allows building coverage up to 2,450 square feet. However, the builder proposed a footprint of 2,792 square feet, which is 57% of the land area.
The Bureau of Development Services (BDS) approved this increased footprint because the project would meet all other zoning standards, including maximum building height and minimum building setbacks. Staff also felt that approval would encourage development fitting the scale of surrounding structures that are one and two stories. The developer could have reduced the footprint of the building and created a third floor to achieve the same living area. That would have made the massing taller than its neighbors, overwhelming the scale of other homes in the area.
The Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) initially opposed the Adjustment request out of concerns for sufficient stormwater management, but the developer submitted more documentation alleviating those arguments. The only other opposition came from residents concerned over the lack of onsite parking along a slender street. However, Portland Zoning Code no longer requires off-street parking anywhere in the city.
Building permits in Portland take months to process, pushing this project’s groundbreaking into 2024. Expect to see work begin next year after this housing infill project receives approval. The complexity of the site topography will likely extend the foundation portion of the project. Still, it should otherwise follow construction schedules similar to other developments of this size seen throughout the neighborhood.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscribers or sponsors. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
Work is underway on a new single-family residence at 817 NE 94th Avenue. The four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom home offers 1,355 square feet of living space spanning two floors. The upper level extends over the full-width front porch in an architectural nod to the Craftsman homes seen through this area. This infill development replaces a detached garage and large tree that was part of the 1927-era house at 825 NE 94th Avenue until 2023.
Rendering Courtesy DEZ Development
The main floor features a bonus room up front with a full closet, allowing it to act as an office or additional ground-level bedroom. A powered room sits under the staircase leading up to the second level. Designers placed an “L” shaped Kitchen in the center of the house with a large breakfast island separating the space from the combined great room and dining room that occupy the entire rear of the building.
Floor Plan Courtesy DEZ Development
On the second level, the main bedroom extends slightly over the front porch and has a full attached bathroom and walk-in closet. A front-facing window provides natural light into the spacious closet. Two standard-sized bedrooms at the back of the house share a full-sized bathroom. A stacked laundry closet and utility room sit at the center of the upper floor.
This housing project is another home created by DEZ Development, which is wrapping up work on Three Affordable Townhomes a few blocks away on NE 92nd Avenue. Per the current Portland building code, which prohibits attached garages on a street-facing facade less than 22 feet long, this home does not feature on-site vehicle storage. However, removing the previous curb cut and restoring the sidewalk’s edge will allow more curbside parking. People should expect to see construction continue at this site through summer.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscribers or sponsors. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
In February 2024, Arts for Learning NW relocated its downtown offices to East Portland at 8911 SE Stark Street, sharing space with another youth-supporting organization. The decades-old group began sparking schoolchildren’s artistic interest in 1958 under the name Young Audiences of Oregon as a regional chapter of a national arts-in-education organization. What started as a program exposing students to classical music expanded to encompass various art styles with diverse cultural origins. Arts for Learning NW offers educators a roster of 80 programs, including individual artists or artist ensembles. The 120 participating artists have skills in visual arts, performing arts, digital media, and culturally specific arts like Peruvian dance or West African drumming.
In 2023, after 65 years, the group changed its name to reflect a new priority, moving away from its passive roots where students were only audience members. “That’s shifted in the last 20 to 30 years to be much more about hands-on experiences for the kids, giving young people a chance to try different art forms,” explained Arts for Learning NW’s Executive Director Lauren Jost. Eighty percent of their in-school engagements are artist residencies, with the remaining twenty percent focused on performances. New programming is more accessible and engaging for the students. Residencies usually provide five sessions either on specific days spanning weeks or every day in one week.
Arts for Learning NW’s Executive Director Lauren Jost
For example, residencies could focus on digital media, with artists teaching stop-motion animation or muralists guiding student-made art installations in schools. A theater ensemble can lead improv sessions or devise scene work. Visiting artists might work with all students in a particular grade or with the classroom of a teacher who requested it for a learning module.
Funding for these programs comes from various sources, often with Arts for Learning NW working at the district level to secure partnerships. It has agreements with North Clackamas School District, Vancouver School District, and Hillsboro School District to cover program costs for its schools. That approach allows individual schools to request the services for free while the district uses Student Success Act money and other funding sources to support the program at all schools. However, district support is not always required, and the organization has decades of experience working with individual educational institutions. “Some schools use their discretionary funds they have for enrichment and engagement experiences. A lot of schools historically had paid through PTA funds because the school districts weren’t necessarily adequately funding arts experiences. That is problematic in terms of equity because students don’t get served equally, depending on socioeconomics,” said Jost.
Over the last few years, Arts for Learning NW has reworked many of its operating principles to ensure all students have access to the arts. In 2021, it reimagined its school fundraising jog-a-thon called Run for the Arts. “It’s now a dance-a-thon, and all the money gets put into the same pot,” explained Jost. The funds are divided by student, then distributed to the schools based on participation in what they feel is a more equitable fundraising model.
Arts for Learning NW partnered with the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) for 15 years to bring The Right Brain Initiative to schools and took over that program when RACC stepped away in 2020. The program has continued to grow and served 15,000 students this year, spanning the Hillsboro, Gresham-Barlow, Corbett, Oregon Trail, and Parkrose School Districts. The Right Brain Initiative uses local government and private donor partnerships to make arts education accessible to every K-8 student in the Portland Tri-County Region. The School District pays a portion of the fee, and Arts for Learning NW raises most of the remaining funds from the community through grant writing. This endeavor looks to create long-term arts integration within public education. “It includes not just a residency in the schools with an artist but also professional development with the teachers on how to integrate the arts into their everyday teaching. This is a district-wide program, so every elementary school in the district will participate at no cost directly to the schools,” said Jost. “It’s been going on for 15 years, so there are some schools where every teacher now has a decade of arts and integration professional development. It’s a really transformative program.”
The pandemic was hard on the organization, with artists unable to interact with students for two years, and some people moved on to other professions. They have since rebuilt the roster of artists and are fully back in schools. However, like many businesses, they found having large offices for the 12 admin staff was not necessary anymore. Most full-time employees now work from home some days, and the artists primarily work at the schools. That workplace shift let the organization downsize to a handful of offices in a shared building where neighbor organizations also support young people. Building partner My Voice Music (MVM) compliments the work of Arts for Learning NW through their shared belief in art’s positive role in developing healthy people. The two organizations work opposite hours, with MVM’s focus on afterschool programs and Arts for Learning NW’s daytime work in line with the school’s schedule. “We are just thrilled to be in a community rather than just a tower downtown. We love having students walking through the building and getting to meet our neighbors,” said Jost.
On May 17th, Arts for Learning NW will host its big party of the year called SH/FT. It is a fashion runway show where student teams working with professional designers create Couture Runway looks made out of up-cycled and recycled materials. They’re custom-made for local drag Queens, who will model the designs. The runway event starts at 7 p.m., and people can buy tickets online. Lauren Jost is excited about the new Montavilla location and hopes that the new office in this community will allow them to explore other program options and reach more students.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
Last week, Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) crews responded to a vehicle fire near the northern entrance to Gateway Green Park between Interstate 84 and Interstate 205. Firefighters found a stack of cars and one boat ablaze. The rocky location beside railroad tracks kept the fire mostly contained until crews extinguished it. Workers with Union Pacific previously stacked the abandoned vehicles they found along the nearby railroad tracks to form an access road barricade.
Portland Maps image with MV News illustrations
Over the last few years, people have left a half-dozen cars and at least one boat next to the Union Pacific tracks that run between I-84 and I-205. During that time, miscreants vandalized the cars and stripped them for parts, leaving mostly scrap metal hulks behind. In an April cleanup, crews working for Union Pacific moved the scrapped vehicles from their respective locations and stacked them near a gravel access road that connects to the I-205 MultiUse Path. Union Pacific representative Meg Siffring explained the stacked vehicle wall was an uncommon measure to prevent more vehicles from entering their property. “We did a large clean up in this area, removing trash and debris. While not typical procedure, what you are seeing is a temporary measure to prevent trespassing on Union Pacific property,” said Siffring.
Scrap vehicle barricade from April 15th, 2024
On Friday evening, May 10th, PF&R received reports of cars on fire between the two freeways near Gateway Green Park. The boat and most non-metal parts on the vehicles burned or melted in the fire, leaving twisted remains that still block the access road. This debris on Union Pacific property does not affect the public multiuse path and Park access. Siffring said that Union Pacific is working on a long-term plan to restrict entry to their tracks. However, this area has struggled with encampments and unauthorized vehicles for years. People have cut fences, removed concrete barricades, or otherwise bypassed past attempts to keep this area clear. People should expect to see the burnt cars cleaned up after the railroad operator installs a permanent solution.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
After finding structural issues, Providence Portland Medical Center will soon raze a three-story building at 5251 NE Glisan Street. The brick-clad building features ground-floor parking on its main level, with two floors of medical office space above. Crews recently fenced off the building before demolition, blocking the sidewalk, curbside parking, and a southbound bike lane on NE 53rd Avenue.
Providence constructed the 11,808-square-foot building in 1988 and completed the neighboring Building B in 1990. The hospital owns the entire block and has active inquiries with the City regarding a NE 52nd Avenue street vacation that would remove public right-of-way along its frontage from NE Glisan to NE Hoyt Streets. A decades-old Master Plan for the hospital campus similarly calls for the City to cede NE Hoy Street to the organization between NE 52nd to 53rd Avenues. In a 2017 Early Assistance application, Providence campus designers explored creating five stories of medical offices with three or four levels of underground parking for 500 vehicles. The expansion is attached to the Providence Professional Plaza at 5050 NE Hoyt Street, which sits west of this current worksite. However, this recent change could make way for an expanded footprint.
Although this building’s demolition would enable a full-block project, current work simply aims to remove an unfit building. “In recent building inspections, engineers noted structural issues with an exterior wall that required extensive repair. We relocated the few teams in the building to other Providence locations. After evaluating the cost and extent of the needed repair, the decision was made to demolish the building,” explained Providence Portland Medical Center representative Jean Marks.
Crews plan to demolish the building this June. As the building is dismantled, people should expect some minor disruption in the area, and pedestrians and cyclists will need to take detours around the work site. Providence has yet to finalize plans for future use of the cleared land, and that project could eventually require additional demolition to prepare the site.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
Recently, crews working with Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) replaced ten lamp posts and ornamental fixtures in Montavilla Park at 8219 NE Glisan Street. This work is part of the PP&R Light Pole Safety Project, which grew out of public objection to the program’s first iteration, which planned to remove 244 light posts in twelve parks without sufficient funds for replacement. Since May 6th, lighting installers have concentrated efforts in Mt. Tabor Park, replacing 88 old and unstable lights.
On February 22nd, 2023, PP&R began the removal of potentially dangerous light poles in City parks. Engineers determined that some older cast-concrete light poles in Portland Parks have structural anchoring issues that could pose life and safety hazards to the public. This project had limited funding, with just two parks expected to receive new lights within 16 months. Affected parks would have closed at 10:00 p.m., with Park Rangers frequently visiting at night to compensate for the dangers caused by the poorly illuminated facilities. Before citizen groups could mobilize, PP&R crews removed lights in Mount Scott Park, Sellwood Park, and Sellwood Riverfront Park. The maintenance worker’s quick action and the public’s short notice caused anger in the community.
Within weeks of announcing the Light Pole Safety Project, several community groups asked PP&R leaders and City elected officials to halt the removal and reconsider the process. Among them, Montavilla’s neighborhood coalition Southeast Uplift sent a letter signed by 23 community-based organizations. The letter requested the City find funding to restore all lighting it had or planned to remove. It also asked PP&R to postpone further light removal until they procured replacement units and engaged the community in the replacement lighting process.
At the April 5th, 2023, Portland City Council session, the Mayor and all four Commissioners approved an amended contract with McKinstry Essention for energy savings performance contracting services, including funding for new park lights. PP&R halted light pole removal and sourced replacement lighting that met the community’s requests for replacement.
Example of old fixture on the left with a new one on the right in Montavilla Park
The new lamp posts feature a similar design and use LED lights that are 66% more efficient than the nearly 100-year-old units they are replacing. Vendors fitted new fixtures with a shield to direct light towards park pathways, lessening light pollution in the night sky caused by upward illumination. Additionally, circuitry in the lights ensures limited operation from dusk to dawn, saving energy while providing nighttime safety. PP&R says they selected new light poles and fixtures to replicate the previous ones as closely as possible. The replica fixtures are objectively equivalent in design, and most parkgoers will not notice a difference other than the new poles look cleaner and more substantial. The fixture connects to the cast concrete pole with the same vertical straps cinched in place with four metal bands. The spacing of each element exactly matches the older version’s proportions. The lamp’s glass-paneled housing differs slightly from the past fixtures seen in Montavilla Park. However, not all park lamp posts are of the same vintage, and the new poles lean towards the classic design found in many older parks. In this instance, Montavilla Park’s lamp posts will better match the neighboring parks.
PP&R will continue to replace the light pole in Mt. Tabor Park through May and then work on the remaining two parks. If the project keeps on schedule, crews will install nine new poles at Lair Hill Park in June, with four units replaced at Ladd Circle Park in August. A year after community groups moved to action, residents are seeing the results of their advocacy, just in time for a season of warm summer night strolls.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
On May 8th, Verizon, Hacienda CDC, and Portland Community College (PCC) hosted an open house for the Jade District Learning Center. It is one of three new centers intended to remove barriers between low-income Portlanders and tech resources. Elected officials, corporate sponsors, and community organization leaders spoke at the late afternoon event while letting people explore the tech-focused maker space. Community access to technological resources was the common theme of the event, with each speaker reinforcing the need for initiatives that create opportunities for workforce development, digital literacy, and entrepreneurial learning. Unlike similar resources in educational settings, program operators will not restrict this center to PCC students.
Verizon Community Forward partnered with Hacienda CDC to bring this updated Learning Center to the PCC campus at 2305 SE 82nd Avenue. The work on these centers ramped up in 2022 and built on Hacienda CDC’s technical access work. People can visit the two-room center on the second floor of the Student Commons building right off SE 82nd Avenue in the former PCC STEM Center location. Visitors can access free internet, 3D printers, laser cutters, virtual reality tools, and free programming centered around STEM education.
Speakers, Michael Dembrow (Oregon State Senator), May Yadanar Linn (Colorful Myanmar), Khanh Pham (Oregon State Representative) Dr. Adrien Bennings (President PCC), and Rudy Reyes (Verizon) among other project partners.
The Jade District Learning Center has open lab days on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from noon to 4 p.m., with an additional day on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month. The center’s primary goal is to bring cutting-edge technology to historically underserved communities. However, it is open to all those looking to expand their understanding of technology and keep up with a progressively digitally dependent world.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
On April 25th, the 82nd Avenue Transit Project Steering Committee voted to approve three project components for new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service along 82nd Avenue. Transportation leaders began investigating a second TriMet Frequent Express (FX) service in June 2022. They convened a Project Steering Committee of elected officials, agency leaders, and community representatives to ensure the project meets the corridors’ needs. This new BRT project could replace the north-south segment of the 72 bus line, adding enhanced bus stations and increasing the travel speed of this highly used transit option. Last month’s vote approved BRT as the transit mode, service route, and general bus station locations for this speeder service. However, one speed-increasing tactic shown in the draft map condenses 54 stops down to 31 stations, impacting some riders who will lose their preferred boarding location. TriMet ridership data predicts this project will enhance ride efficiency for the majority of the people using this route while providing similar access to the residents who rely on it for transit.
The approved route will predominately run along 82nd Avenue, turning east towards Clackamas Town Center at the line’s southern terminus. The project team is considering two options for the north end, which will serve the Cully neighborhood near the Cully Boulevard and Killingsworth Street intersection or the Parkrose Transit Center. This selection could add two or four more stations to the 72 FX Line. Before voting, Transit Project Steering Committee member Zachary Lauritzen with Oregon Walks voiced public apprehension over losing bus stops on the 72 Line, echoing other Steering Committee members’ similar concerns expressed throughout the evaluation process. Lauritzen called for infrastructure enhancements to accompany this BRT expansion so people needing to travel longer distances to the new stations could do so over modern, accessible sidewalks. TriMet notes that they spaced draft stations roughly one-third of a mile apart and said that even if the new FX line is not approved, some 72 bus stop pruning is needed along the route to remove underutilized and redundant locations.
Infographic courtesy Oregon Metro
Portland has one other FX line along SE Division Street, intersecting the proposed BRT line at SE 82nd Avenue. The FX service primarily uses longer articulated green buses to accommodate higher ridership levels. Vehicles arrive at stations frequently and communicate with the traffic equipment to change signals in their favor, reducing overall travel time. Stations offer near bus height boarding and multi-door payment systems for faster loading of passengers. Stations often extend into the road to meet the travel lane, allowing busses to stop without needing to merge back into traffic. TriMet and Portland’s traffic engineers designate segments of the outer travel lane for dedicated Business Access and Transit (BAT) use in some areas. Some of these FX 2 features could appear on this new line. The final design will happen after the group finalizes the agreed-upon project components, collectively called the locally preferred alternative (LPA).
The 82nd Avenue Transit Project team will continue to evaluate the two northern route options over the summer while meeting with organizations to align the BRT design with community needs and priorities. As the year comes to a close, project planners will develop conceptual designs and cost estimates, leading to a funding plan that will accompany the final LPA. The 82nd Avenue BRT project would require substantial Federal funding to proceed past planning, along with support from local government. If this project precedes on schedule, construction could begin in 2027, with the 72 FX Line opening in 2030. Oregon Metro created a summary of the process up to this point and should offer more opportunities for community input later in 2024.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) plans to break ground this Fall on a new 60s Greenway exiting Mt. Tabor Park and leading south until SE Harney Street. The new route, which prioritizes pedestrians and cyclists, will feature traffic calming elements and enhanced intersection improvements at five crossings. Neighborhood greenways offer a low-stress path for people traveling outside automobiles and are a critical part of Portland’s Safe Routes to School network.
Greenway Map Courtesy PBOT
This project takes advantage of two other projects along its route to enhance safety while reducing cost. The recently completed Portland Parks & Recreation path and multiuse trail leading to Mt. Tabor Park from SE 64th Avenue and SE Division Street provides the northern segment of the Greenway. TriMet’s Powell-Division Safety and Access to Transit project offers tentative plans to improve the SE Division Street at SE 64th Avenue crossing. A temporary pedestrian refuge island and marked crosswalk at this intersection currently helps people cross this busy street until crew build the TriMet funded enhancements.
Temporary pedestrian refuge island and marked crosswalk at SE 64th and SE Division
PBOT crews will install signage and striped crossings while improving visibility by removing on-street parking near corners at SE Foster at SE 67th Avenue, SE Harold at 67th Avenue, SE Woodstock at 67th Avenue, SE Duke at 67th Avenue, and SE Flavel at SE 68th Avenue. Engineers will only recommend parking removal where stored vehicles could inhibit visibility at sidewalk corners. Along the entire Greenway, workers will install speed bumps and painted bike direction markers called sharrows.
sharrow example
The 60s Neighborhood Greenway will contribute around four miles to Portland’s more than 100 miles of low-traffic and low-speed streets where people walking, bicycling, and rolling have priority. This project delivers on a long-requested north-south connector for people living in the South Tabor, Mt. Scott-Arletta, and Foster-Powell neighborhoods. Look for work to began later this year.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
Neighborhood news site focused on buildings and changing businesses
