Buckman is blowing it
The apartment bunker weasels are licking their chops over the Buckman neighborhood of southeast Portland. Trashed by Joe Weston in the '70s, the livability of this area is about to take another series of hits, as Belmont and Morrison Streets are about to be lined with multi-story barracks for the "work force." People who live in nice little two-bedroom houses in the vicinity can expect to have their parking spaces, as well as their light and air, badly Blumenauered. And they won't even get a streetcar to show for it.
A group of Buckmanites was talking about getting the neighborhood declared a historic district, which might have slowed down the onslaught considerably. But they're getting pushback from some homeowners who get the correct sense that historic district designation is going to restrict their ability to remodel their homes any old way they want.
So now the plan is to delay the historic district nomination while they try to convince the city to ease up on the design restrictions that come with historic status. Good luck with that, peeps. Even if you can persuade City Hall to forgo some of the red tape, by the time you get the rules changed you may not have a neighborhood left to preserve. The apartment boys couldn't be happier with the latest news.
| Posted at 11:41 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (14)
Maybe they can incorporate as their own city like Maywood Park did?
Posted by Robert | February 15, 2012 12:23 PM
That neighborhood has been a magnet for leftist progressives, hippies, and bicycle cultists for at least a couple of decades. Once they've served their purpose as agents of destabilization, I doubt many will be able to afford to or want to continue living in what's coming their way. My guess is SE Division is the next target or soon. Portland is simply too valuable a real estate parcel to waste on any but the affluent.
For 10 years memos were leaked out of CoP, PDC, and Metro, but those holes appear to have been stopped up and the pace of reengineering has dramatically sped up while people are struggling to hang on and survive.
Portlanders are being played like a fiddle by Wall Street banks and developers and don't even know it.
Posted by Mr. Grumpy | February 15, 2012 12:40 PM
Portlanders are being played like a fiddle by Wall Street banks and developers and don't even know it.
About 10 years ago as I was walking in my neighborhood, a resident came up to me then and asked "There is something wrong in Portland, isn't there?" "We don't know what to do, they say it is not good to move and leave family and friends at our age..."
My point being, that I think people sense something is wrong, but don't have the pieces of the puzzle to see the whole picture. Why would they with the media keeping many in the dark?
Posted by clinamen | February 15, 2012 12:55 PM
In the early 1970s I went to Buckman School, swam on the swim team (yes, we practiced at Buckman Pool), and lived across Stark from school I remember they gave away free lunches at Colonel Summers Park in the summer. The school was not doing a great job academically--in my 8th grade class they were using the textbooks I'd used in 5th grade in Beaverton.
It was a high crime area even back then. But the bus that went down Stark continued into the NW industrial district, where my mother worked.
Posted by Kai Jones | February 15, 2012 3:06 PM
At some point, one has to ask, "How many Subway shops can a city possibly assimilate?"
Posted by NW Portlander | February 15, 2012 4:24 PM
He "trashed" the area by providing affordable housing so that people who don't make 200k+ a year can live in a convenient neighborhood?
Sure it doesn't look as nice as rows of large houses, but it's a good thing to provide diverse economic opportunities in close-in neighborhoods.
Of course, then it wouldn't look like the swank Alameda neighborhood you live in...no poor people allowed!
Posted by Joe | February 15, 2012 4:53 PM
Please name any of these economic opportunities that come with building the eco pod complexes Joe.
And - developer and contractor-union jobs don't count.
Posted by Leaving | February 15, 2012 5:16 PM
Joe,
FWIW, I never came close to making even $100k a year - and I have a house (with a yard, even) in the SW Hills. Priorities, kid.
Posted by Max | February 15, 2012 6:23 PM
"Joe," champion of the poor, posts from:
NetRange: 137.53.0.0 - 137.53.255.255
CIDR: 137.53.0.0/16
OriginAS:
NetName: OHSU
NetHandle: NET-137-53-0-0-1
Parent: NET-137-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Assignment
RegDate: 1989-11-02
Updated: 2006-05-17
Ref: http://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-137-53-0-0-1
OrgName: Oregon Health & Science University
OrgId: OHSU
Address: 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road
Address: Information Technogolgy Group - NETI - Mail Code: ITG5
City: Portland
StateProv: OR
PostalCode: 97201
Country: US
RegDate: 1989-11-02
Updated: 2011-09-24
Ref: http://whois.arin.net/rest/org/OHSU
And to respond to "Joe," I owned a home for a couple of years next door to a Weston Special in Buckman. We moved rather than continue to deal with the wife-beating member of the "work force" in the apartment next to our house, the midnight drunken screamer upstairs from him, and all the other local color that Joe's motel-looking auto court provided.
The site of this bunker had formerly been occupied by a modest but beautiful single-family home from around 1910. Joe ripped it down to build crap. His mark is all over Buckman and Sunnyside. Greed over history, greed over character.
At least he provides parking.
Posted by Jack Bog | February 15, 2012 7:12 PM
When will those suckling at the teat of the planner/government class ever learn that to post on this blog (using government provided resources not purchased to troll blogs which are the only source of common sense media) is to be exposed to the world by a simple search? i love it when the shills are exposed. All they do when they post is to underscore what is wrong in the groupthink that dominates the regional governing class.
Sorry for the threadjack.
My wife lived in one of those non-moving, yellow trailer parks. We couldn't get her out of there fast enough. Cost me my bachelorhood. Almost.
My apologies in advance to trailer parks for the comparison.
Posted by roy | February 15, 2012 9:17 PM
Leaving--sorry I should have said opportunities for people of diverse economic backgrounds to live there...didn't mean that it created economic activity.
Max--When did you buy that house? Houses in the buckman neighborhood start in the 350s...I'm in my twenties and I feel like I could never afford that, which makes me sad.
Jack--I can't believe you posted my private information like that. Just so way out of line. For your information, I'm a student at OHSU, not some PR flack...and this has NOTHING to do with OHSU. In fact, I lived in one of those apartment buildings and it was amazing to pay $450 a month in rent and be close enough to have convenient access to school. That opportunity would definitely not be available if some of the older, more expensive houses were not replaced by affordable apartments. Sorry it ruined your view. Also, saying all people with low incomes beat their wives is completely prejudiced and not true at all.
Posted by Joe | February 16, 2012 1:21 PM
Joe wrote: "I lived in one of those apartment buildings and it was amazing to pay $450 a month in rent . . ."
How long ago was that? I'm sure that today's "affordable" apartments are at least double that, depending upon their size.
Posted by NW Portlander | February 16, 2012 4:56 PM
Joe:
I bought the place 15 years ago; the mortgage has just a few more months to go, but it's essentially mine. It has a nice view of the Coast range, a small yard, and carpeting that I desperately need to look into replacing.
I never made more than $75k in a year. But I don't hang at Starbucks. I don't buy iPads. I build my own computer systems, and have for years. In short, if I need to learn something to save money, I do: systems I built a decade ago that compared to systems running $2000 or more, I built for $400. I learned and applied the knowledge, and saved money.
It's why at 59 I was able to retire with a large-ish amount of cash in my various accounts and able to provide for my family.
As I said earlier: priorities, kid.
Posted by Max | February 16, 2012 9:50 PM
NW Portlander:
Very recently...I moved out of there in November. 850 for a 2-bd apartment is a pretty good deal for being on a teen street. If you look at renting a house in the neighborhood you are paying at least $600 a person.
Posted by Joe | February 17, 2012 10:02 AM