What I find interesting is there are no avenues of genuine public input available for the Portland Plan / Periodic Review when it comes to commenting on or influencing transportation and the zoning redo as a part of our new Comprehensive Plan. These are the two keys to future density.

What Planners have done in recent years is zoning by light rail or "mass" transportation so that areas within a certain distance of that corridor or bus or rail can be built up with higher density. No public input required.

The whole of the Periodic Review is another sham. Soon Council will be asked to vote on one plan presented to them by Planning, which is comprised of many parts taking place over these past couple years.

From the start Planners have precluded representative citizen participation in developing the phase one and two stages which would have allow constructing a means to have real and representative public input as required in Goal 1 of OAR 660.

Beginning in 2008/9 the City violated the ORS statute and OAR rules in attempting to comply with the requirements of the ORS 197 statutes, which led to citizen complaints to the DLCD and LCDC. These were followed by the LCDC and Director violating the state land use rules further in decision making to "cooperate" with Portland, so they could proceed.

When the director violated those rules, complaints to Justices and the AG were referred back to that director for resolution since he was appointed. The AG and Justice have no jurisdiction over appointed positions. So you complain to the director about the director. Wonder how that will come out?

It doesn't matter what the rules are, Sam and his Planners do as they please in spite of any rules. AND if they did not like the rules they simply changed them to suit their needs after the fact and retroactively.

Been this way for a decade and they about to lock things down for another 20 years without allowing the public representative input as required.

You'd think someone over there would know how to spell "entrepreneur", what with all of the former newspaper people who now work with the city.

Mark, your attitudes are understandable. What you need to understand is that these planners are always open to public input. I believe they prefer $20s and $100s with that input, so get with the program.

I'm tired of commenting about documents like this, but I must ask, when did the Lair Hill Historical District get changed to the South Portland Historical District? (page 4)

It didn't. That demonstrates the incompetence of it all.

"Vibrant" is the chum used to attracts developers and campaign donors.

“Set the agenda and you control the outcome.”
-- Wayne Morse

"How many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, are we spending to churn out this dreck?"

I'd take the over on $1M - You forget all the kids building a better future with "policy" in their job title.

What nauseating make work for the planners.

Nothing in that will ever be used for anything but to make more of of the same.

Notice how they ask all of those ridiculous probing questions?

Those are meant to spur more make work answering them.

It's an endless less stream of BS.

There are a lot bright people on this blog. HOW, bright people do we get these bureaucrats attention to remind them "They work for us."
It does no good to just complain.
Their pipe and smoke and phone's must be taken away. We voted down light rail 3 times?
How are you going to sell your house OR pay rent when you can't afford water sewer rates or property taxes alone?
These clowns are not good for our children's chances of staying in this town.

Fancypants, I'm not sure. I suspect that nothing short of a baseball bat to kneecaps in the middle of the night will make much of an impression. I don't even advocate that, because it's absolutely amazing how effective an incompetent police force can be when the people okaying their pay raises start getting beaten like redheaded stepchildren in the middle of the night.

Not to stick up for Adams, but this craziness way predates him and his little term as mayor. It's another thing we can thank Goldschmidt for.

Re: Lee / South Portland Historic District

Lee, you made me curious, so I just looked this up on Portland Maps... it's now listed as South Portland Historic District!

Funny, as the Historic District (toothless as it is) is only in Lair Hill! (Not Corbett-Terwilliger-Lair Hill which got renamed South Portland).

I sure don't recall getting notice of the name change. Nice. (And still incompetent!)

Those black marking pens used to outline the various areas on the maps must cost a bundle!
ALL those responsible need to be fired, now. But it won't happen.
Too bad, Portland used to be a nice quaint little town. Now it is just a mess.

Absurd, concerning Lair Hill Historical District.

Planner's printed documents for the District is titled Lair Hill, it's been called that for over 35 years. The name itself is historical, then they call it a nondescript, meaningless "South Portland"! While all the other 13 historical districts have kept their historical names.

What is going on? How is this done? Time for a shakeup, Mr. Hales. Former Commissioner Mike Lindberg needs to call Hales up and set him straight.

On second thought, so what if Planners just arbitrarily change a name? It just takes us (me) away from the real issues in this city. It's like talking about a mere 2.4% reduction in the US Gov spending budget GROWTH and calling it "CUTS", while our US debt has grown to $17 Trillion. That's the real issue. That's obscuring centrifuging.

Giving things new names helps establish new identities and is just one of the necessary steps needed to successfully implement behavior modification and "reprogram" Portland.

Q: Lair Hill into "South Portland"?

A: Dilution is the solution to political opposition.

Fancypants-

The real answer to your question is to vote out of office and defeat whoever the Commissioner in charge BDS turn ou to be. Zendher's bunch in Planning are insulated and protected by their 5 political masers.

Start tossing out hhe political masters and the drones eventually get the message.

It'll only take 20 years and a couple of muni bankruptcies....this is Porland, and sadly we ge exactly the government for which we vote.

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
jane jacobs, urban activist, 1961

I suspect Ms. Jacobs is having a good laugh.

"South Portland" is a historical name with two referents, neither of which corresponds to the current plannerspeak.
The neighborhood that was historically known as South Portland doesn't exist any more: it was a vibrant (sorry, Jack) mix of Italian and Jewish immigrants from Market Street south to Arthur Street. It was mostly leveled for urban renewal and Interstate 405 in the 1960s.
There is also an old subdivision called "Southern Portland," on the west side of the river from Willamette Park north to Pendleton Street.

"You'd think someone over there would know how to spell "entrepreneur", what with all of the former newspaper people who now work with the city."

You might want to re-gauge your expectations. New overhead traffic sign at 4th & Montgomery (I think) advises drivers to "Yeild (sic) to Pedestrians".

Across most government entities in Oregon, the green shiny progressive patina is wearing thin, and the decay of infrastructure neglect and deferred maintenance is beginning to show. I rode the #12 bus in from SW Portland: creaking, dirty, and very old. I asked the driver if she knew when it was built and she said 1999. That's ancient in commercial vehicle years. Rutted asphalt with failing patches are everywhere. Much of SW Portland has no sidewalks and unimproved roads litter the neighborhoods.

But we have a shiny new jail called Wapato. And trains and trolleys galore. And the CEO of the Streetcar USA monopoly just sent to work for the Obama Administration as Deputy Undersecretary of Manufacturing, so she must be doing something right.