Lincoln High condo tower a few years away
The Portland school board voted tonight to start campaigning for more tax money for new facilities, but with no serious push until next year at the earliest. At least that's the way the official press release on tonight's meeting reads:
The decision followed a report from Director David Wynde, the school board’s point person on facilities, who recommended that the complex funding and long-term implications of a facilities overhaul required the completion of the high school plan and other analysis, before a major bond should be placed before voters."Opportunities for financing, sustainability and partnerships" -- keep that phrase on file. It's the code for selling Lincoln High School to the condo weasels for yet another awful tower.In his report, Director Wynde argued that the current election law’s requirement for a double-majority to approve funding measures places an "arbitrary" and premature timeline on the district’s facilities planning effort.
"We’ve made progress towards a long-term plan for facilities, but there is more work to be done," said Director David Wynde, the board’s lead on the issue. "This is not the right time to ask for voter approval of a funding plan. While we have detailed information on the state of our buildings, we are still in conversations about our programs, particularly our high school system, and are exploring opportunities for financing, sustainability and partnerships."
The School Board called upon Superintendent Carole Smith to return in June with options for financing and managing a stepped up program of repairs and improvements to school buildings. "We must increase investment in our school buildings," Wynde said. "The status quo is unacceptable, and it is important to maintain the momentum."
Portland Public Schools is already implementing changes to the way repairs and daily maintenance tasks are prioritized and addressed.
| Posted at 9:09 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (5)
Expect a lot more of it in the near future. I've seen a lot of this sort of garbage in other cities, where the school district is promised a huge amount of money for surrendering a school, the developers come in and start demolishing the building, and then the developers throw tantrums and storm out when they find that the city isn't going to pay them for the privilege of building a new condo tower, office tower, or other get-rich-quick scheme. If you're lucky, Lincoln High will remain standing for a while; if not, it'll be razed and the city left stuck with the cost of stabilizing the big muddy hole left behind.
Now, if the condo weasels wanted to do some actual good, they'd take out the block on SW 16th right next to Lincoln and build something on that. I used to live in the apartments right next to Lincoln on SW 16th, and if the weasels nuked that site from orbit, nothing of value would be lost.
Posted by Sid | May 23, 2008 7:09 AM
Gee - it looks like any Bond Measures on the fall ballot will have a difficult time getting any support. Who would have thought?
Posted by Dave A. | May 23, 2008 9:13 AM
Would this be the right time to point out that the condo market, to use a technical real estate term, sucks right now?
Posted by Dave J. | May 23, 2008 9:17 AM
PPS should never sell the Lincoln property or move the high school. There are other possiblities.
PPS could sell Blanchard and other properties, and use the proceeds to build a tower for PPS administration on the Lincoln HS site. The administration building could be designed with multi-purpose rooms on the lower floors capable of being used as classrooms for Lincoln (instead of the portable classrooms now being used) when needed. The administration building could also provide parking for PPS administrators and staff and Lincoln faculty and staff, freeing up some of the surface lot parking in the vicinity for students and visitors, or for other uses.
Another possibility, if it's not too late, is for PPS to sell properties and acquire the site at the corner of 18th and Salmon, which I believe Tri-Met sold to developers for $1, and build a new adminstration tower there. (Yes, I am aware that there is or was litigation about this property, so don't jump all over me for the suggestion.) Or there is the block Sid mentioned above.
Posted by Grumpy | May 23, 2008 10:11 AM
I'm expecting the present city council to declare Lincoln High area another satellite urban renewal area and give Homer the keys.
And if they don't, future Mayor Adams and Commissioner Fish already have declared that CoP is now the new school board for PPS-they'll just do it.
Posted by lw | May 23, 2008 10:16 AM