Publicity about concerns with the three public stairways in Beaumont-Wilshire has prompted the city and SOLVE to offer help that could include grants to make improvements.
Dave Whitaker, a city employee and neighborhood resident, read about problems with overgrown vegetation, graffiti and litter at the stairways leading up to NE Alameda Street at 38th Avenue, 42nd Avenue and near the intersection of Stanton and Wistaria Drive. He organized city employees from the Bureau of Environmental Services and SOLVE, the nonprofit that restores natural areas, to see what could be done.
Officials from the two agencies met with neighborhood representatives in March at the two stairwells that lead up from Wistaria Drive. The city and SOLVE would like to see the removal of invasive species such as ivy, bamboo and laurel, and replace them with native evergreen covers: salal, sword fern and Oregon grape. That would improve the “ecological function” of the area and prevent weeds from spreading, city staff said. It would also make it easier to see the stairs from the street level and reduce potential criminal activity. That would have to be balanced against a possible loss of privacy for the adjacent residents’ backyards.
The neighborhood association plans to contact neighbors to let them know that the city and SOLVE might be able to find grants from their own agencies and the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District to help pay for the improvements. SOLVE could provide a work party to help with some of the vegetation removal, said Quintin Bauer, program coordinator. The ivy could be removed by volunteers, but the laurel and bamboo would require contractors, city staff said.
In addition, the city wants to remind residents that city code requires them to maintain the landscaping along the stairs, not just on their side, but on the public right-of-way side as well.
Boy Scout Troop 107 will be out on May 21st to pick up litter, sweep and do some light vegetation trimming. They plan to do a second clean-up in late summer or early fall.
The Portland Police have also said they will pay more attention to security issues in the stairways, especially as the weather begins to get warmer. Neighbors have complained about public drinking and pot smoking by teenagers in the stairways.