The Burnside Blog
Is PDC caving to Old Town's 30 residents?
Here’s some good old -fashioned PDX irony. Angry neighbors in Old Town (all 30 of them) are complaining that a proposed homeless center that’s been spearheaded by out-going City Commissioner Erik Sten ought to be built somewhere other than its proposed site: Block 25, a full block between NW Glisan, Flanders, Third and Fourth. Neighbors, “according to Tyler Graf’s article this morning in the Daily Journal of Commerce, feel the site would be better served by private development, than a city-sponsored homeless access center. While the argument for private development over public is usually built on solid reasoning, it’s perhaps a little far-fetched in this case. A true market-rate development hasn’t occurred in Old Town’s northern end in decades.
Why?
Old Town not only the epicenter of homelessness in Portland, it’s also where the majority of organizations that serve the homeless community are headquartered. Because the resources are currently inadequate, improving them to serve a homeless population that already lives there could be the magic formula for the dilapidated hood. Cleaning up the streets will likely spark private development North Old Town, not derail it. After all, you can’t derail something that doesn’t exist.
Graf reports that the PDC appears to be caving to pressure from Old Town residents who prefer another site: the so-called U Block, which neighbors envision as better suited for the access center. There are murmurs, however, that the U-Block site, which is directly adjacent to the train and bus stations, is the preferred site for an underground Target store topped by several floors of housing, courtesy of Portland Developer Homer Williams. Does that mean a Target store could be built on Block 25 instead?
More importantly, is the neighborhood on the right side of this debate?
By MIke Thelin on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 07:45PM PST
Welcome to the board Skinny City Girl. I’d love to see at Target downtown, but I agree that’s it’s probably a long shot.
By rhome on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 08:34AM PST
Two comments: (1) What’s to say that Homer Williams can’t partner with Transitions Projects, Inc. and the city to put a Target store in the basement of a homeless shelter on U-Block. (2) I’ve heard that Block 25 has some sort of encumberance (e.g. required parking) that makes it ill-suited to development—Mike, perhaps you can check further on this.
By Mike Thelin on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 09:10AM PST
Hi Rhome. That’s a good question. I suppose nothing prevents a public-private partnership. Second, I believe what you’re talking about is the city’s obligation to NW Natural to replace the parking spots (125 I believe) lost when NW Natural donated the block that would become the Chinese Garden. Sten has proposed putting the spaces under Block 25.
By Skinny City Girl on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 01:37PM PST
Who’s murmurs are these? What kind of retailer would go underground (except for Office Depot, which definitely has a story behind it). I don’t know of any retailers with anything close to an underground prototype, let alone urban and underground. Parking would kill it.
We should all be shopping at Ace hardware, anyway.
Nice blog, by the way.
By pdxalicious on Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 09:53AM PST
“We should all be shopping at Ace hardware, anyway.”
Um…we should have a choice in where we want to shop skinny city girl. Target is a much more progressive company than Ace could ever be. For example, the parent company for the Pearl Ace hardware (Ace hardware based in Illinois-not local) is notoriously anti-gay while Target (based in Minnesota-also not local) has been very supportive of gay rights and offers benefits to domestic partners.
Opening a Target in the downtown area would benefit the local economy more than shopping in “locally” owned Ace hardware since it would be employing a lot more people who live, dine, shop and pay taxes in Portland/Multnomah county than the Pearl Ace could. Plus…where could you buy affordable goods in downtown Portland for people who make less than 25K a year-pillow cases at French Quarter? I don’t think so-totally unaffordable for the average Portlander.
Another aspect of locating a Target downtown is not having to travel 15 miles round trip in our cars or in diesel buses to get to the nearest Target—translating to less cars on the road, less pollution and exhaust in the air, and less use of petroleum/oil.
By R on Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 10:19AM PST
With U Block adjacent to PNCA’s proposed campus, I would expect PNCA’s board could negotiate some win-win concessions from the City and PDC. Perhaps some artists studios might be an experiment in diversity and socialization in the center. Time will tell if the Old Town Lofts residents have alienated Council irretrievably, impacting future PDC funding.
By Mike Thelin on Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 10:54AM PST
I completely agree with pdxalicious. I live downtown, but can’t afford to shop there. When I need towels and sheets, I go to Target or Ikea. The boutique store market and Target’s market are hardly the same. Retail, like housing, should reflect a diversity of incomes in the downtown core. Otherwise, people are just going to drive to the burbs.
R: I would ask the Old Town Lofts residents what they’d rather look at: A new building designed by Holst…or the surface parking lot that’s on Block 25 right now. Seems like a simple choice.
By Skinny City Girl on Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 01:14PM PST
I guess poking fun sarcastically at our collective “localism” doesn’t quite translate. oh well.
pdxalicious, Ace Hardware is a cooperative (not a franchise) with independent owners. So it actually is local and there is a big difference in where the money ultimately goes. And believe me that anyone who works at Target will not be able to afford to live anywhere near downtown.
Target and Ikea give you the impression their products are more affordable. But in reality, they simply offer a wide range of low to medium quality products and a corresponding low to medium range of prices. You probably won’t find a $10 crappy toaster or a particle board desk at Ace Hardware. But you’ll pay the same price for comparable products. And you can avoid the stress attack of having to choose between 15 toasters. :)
Anyway, why would Target move downtown when they know City dwellers will come to them?
By pdxalicious on Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 10:52PM PST
Skinny City Girl- Like I said before, it’s about choice and access. Some people who live downtown (like myself) want a greater choice of goods and services than Ace hardware has or could ever have. Some of us don’t think the quality of the products at Target are bad at all in fact I just not into spending 100 dollars on a towel to wipe my ass with, when i could buy a towel that does the trick for 5 bucks – and will probably last just as long. Co-op or not the anti-progressive conservative neanderthals who rn the corporate end of Ace hardware are repulsive to me, and I won’t support any arm of their company no matter how far removed in structure or ownership. Target is not “moving” downtown to bring people from the burb’s into Portland. They’re opening a store in the city because they are a business and will make loads of money. The people that target may employ at a store downtown may not live downtown, (and that was not my point) but they may still live in the state of Oregon or the metro area and will defnitely add to the overall health of the Oregon economy. The services that will cater to target and smaller businesses/restaurants that will open around a target store will also create jobs and add to Oregon’s economy. With an expected 6 figure increase in population over the next few years to the Portland metro area, it is myopic to think that an exclusively local owned and operated economy will be sustainable in the long run – a balanced mix of local and larger national chains downtown will work well.
By Skinny City Girl on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 08:57AM PST
Point taken! sheesh.
By Monforts on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 02:52PM PST
Doreen Binder from TPI is an amazing person and the real expert here- I would listen to her before anyone else in finding the appropriate site. If she believes that Block U is as good as Block 25, then so be it. If that has the added advantage of placating the landed gentry, then even better.
However, without the convenient Block U lifeline, it was pretty sad to hear about the debate over Block 25. On one hand, we have one of the most progressive and humane projects to be envisioned in years, and on the other, we have a small group of residents who prefer it somewhere not next to them. The criticisms against the project (“it will bring more homeless to the area,” “the block would be better suited with more economic activity”) are dubious and myopic at best. And it’s questionable whether moving the site to Block 25 really addresses either issue. Maybe it paves the way for another modern furniture store closer to the complainers.
By Monforts on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 02:58PM PST
...sorry, I meant ”...moving the site to Block U…”
By Skinny City Girl on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 04:42PM PST
Underground Target? Yeah, right.