On a chilly, drizzly February evening, the snowfall ended and civic-minded residents braved the elements to attend BWNA’s first general membership meeting of the new year featuring guest speaker State Representative Barbara Smith Warner, whose District 45 includes Beaumont-Wilshire. Fielding questions on a variety of topics, the three-term legislator responded mostly to concerns from neighbors over proposed legislation that would eliminate single-family dwelling zoning in cities of 10,000 or more and require rezoning to high density for the purpose of encouraging construction of duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and cottage clusters. Following the session with Representative Smith Warner, discussion shifted to an Office of Community & Civic Life code change initiative that could conceivably result in the demise of Portland’s neighborhood association system as we know it. BWNA President Tim Hemstreet, however, assured attendees that this year’s Taste of Beaumont would take place as planned in the Beaumont Middle School cafeteria—albeit on an earlier date in April, on a different day of the week, and with an improved format. (See page 3 for details)
The density-expansion bill in question, HB2001, is especially concerning to residential neighborhoods like Beaumont-Wilshire that are densely populated with older, relatively affordable homes (compared with newly built million-dollar-plus homes) and a scarcity of open lots to accommodate new construction, leaving existing viable homes vulnerable to demolition. Representative Smith Warner responded that expanded density zoning is needed to provide housing to absorb projected increases in population, but attendees expressed both skepticism about the bill’s one-size-fits-all approach and worry about the unintended consequence of decreasing the of affordable homes in demand by thousands of entry-level buyers for whom apartment or condo living is no longer the preferred option. Other issues discussed included Medicaid, education, PERS, air pollution, and homelessness. Regarding the latter, Representative Smith Warner maintained that the homeless problem is best dealt with on the local level, and thus there is no state funding. (See Susan Trabucco’s article on page 10 about CNN’s local helping-hand program.)
A speaker from Commissioner Eudaly’s staff was scheduled to speak about the Office of Community & Civic Life Code Change Committee, but she was not able to attend due to illness. Nonetheless, discussion ensued on a city initiative to “update” City Code 3.96, which provides legal status and standards for Portland’s system of neighborhood associations and district coalitions. Rising from the audience to address the issue was Central Northeast Neighbors (CNN) Coalition Director Alison Stoll, a past BWNA president, noting that Eudaly’s committee was exploring all options, including total replacement of the current system. CNN and BWNA plan to draft resolutions speaking to the merits of preserving a system that serves us well.
This year’s Taste of Beaumont is on Tuesday, April 2 (not on the second Monday), starting at 6:30 p.m., in the Beaumont Middle School cafeteria. See President’s Message on page 3 for details.