SW Trails PDX
Monthly Meeting Minutes
October 30, 2014
The Watershed Building in Hillsdale
6388 SW Capitol Hwy
Portland OR 97239
DRAFT
Attendance: Don Baack, Lee Buhler, Glenn Bridger, Virginia Hendrickson, Patty Barker, Sharon Fekety, Hans Steuch, Arnie Pantich, Chris Mays, Dianne Mays, Don McClay, Dennis Brown, Sandra Brown, Barbara Stedman, Doug Rogers, Tom Mills, Glenn Bridger, Rick Kappler, Barbara Bowers, Michael Kisor
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm
Glenn announced that Don won the Spirit of Portland award.
The agenda was approved. The September 2014 minutes were approved.
TriMet Bus Enhancement Plan:
Tom Mills who is a senior planner with TriMet introduced himself. He said he was pleased that the TriMet labor contract was approved. He said this is very good because it keeps costs in-line with revenue. He talked about the Southwest Service Plan. He said they cannot implement the plan all at once. However, they want to do a few things from it every year for the next few years. He said job growth in the Portland area is increasing and therefore they expect increased revenue at TriMet. He said they have been working on this plan and getting public input for some time. He said they are also collecting data on where people live and want to go. They are also talking with suburban cities. They are also looking at areas that might have future growth. He handed out material on the plan. He said they are in the process of getting public feedback on the plan. They hope to revise the plan based on public feedback and introduce another draft in early 2015. He said they have better data today on where people live and want to go. He went over all the community meetings on the Plan they have had. He said they tried to reach out to other people who might not come to a public meeting such as people who do not speak English. He said they got good feedback on where people would like bus service. They also conducted a survey. They got over 1800 responses. He said one thing they have found is that new job centers have arisen. He said it used to be mostly in downtown Portland.
He said they cannot afford to do all of the plan at this point but expect to be able to afford more in the future. He said one of the top priorities was to restore frequent service lines. He said they have done that in southwest Portland to a great degree. He said a lot of the plan depends on the Southwest Corridor Plan. Therefore, there will be changes to the Enhancement Plan. He described the map included in the plan documentation. There was a general map and a more detailed map. The detailed map had current service and future proposals. The said they would like to increase frequent service on the Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy, Macadam and to PCC. He said a proposal was to increase the service to Maplewood. However, the line will go to other places such as Washington Square to get more ridership on the line. Don pointed out that is is hard to walk down Shaddock Road. Tom said they would like to add a few stops for the line 92 which is currently an express. He said large concentrations of people who live in Tigard work along the I-5 corridor. Barbara S. pointed out that there were changes in the west hill lines and Tom described those. He said there will be a bus from Collins View to OHSU. Rick suggested a median on Scholls Ferry going up the hill. Don said Multnomah County has a plan to change that area. Tom said the draft has the line 43 going across the Sellwood Bridge and then up Taylor’s Ferry rather than down Corbett. He said some people are not happy with that.
Patty thanked TriMet for listening as they will have a bus from Arnold Creek that goes to Wilson High. She asked when it might start. Tom said they are not sure yet. He said they might be able to do it quickly. Michael asked about line 45 and where it would terminate. Tom said it would go to the Beaverton Transit center. Michael suggested a line to connect the Beaverton transit center to the Barbur transit center. Tom said they want to be sure what the Southwest Corridor comes up with first. Arnie said line number 1 (Vermont) does not have enough capacity for all the students that ride it. Tom said they put out extra buses during the school year. He said it is hard because the students all want to take the first bus. Arnie suggested staging buses at the time that students get out. Don said the plan has good improvements. He said it might be good to have a line from Lewis and Clark to Lake Oswego. Dennis asked how helpful the Lewis and Clark shuttle buses were. Tom said they had a line but it did not get much ridership. He said Lewis and Clark would like TriMet to provide that service. He said the plan has aspects that should help a little.
Hikes: Sharon said the October hike went well. It was a preview of the new Iowa trail. The trail is still not open as ODOT is planning to do more work above. Sharon said Mark will lead the November hike and it will be a tour of some of the little, free libraries in southwest.
Membership: Barbara said we have six new members. There are 62 members total, 8 sponsors and 14 donations. Don said he got a sponsorship from Umpqua Bank.
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PBOT Planning Staffing:
Glenn talked about the meeting with Art Pearce of PBOT. Art has been promoted to a management level. Glenn said we emphasized that not all the projects we want are on the plan. It is also hard to get city bureaus to coordinate projects. He said he hoped they would include trail projects on City maps. He said the suggestion was made that the bureaus meet every six months to coordinate. He said sometimes streets are torn up and put back exactly they way they were when it would have been inexpensive to do a bike lane. He said we are also working on an agreement to have SW Trails work with PBOT. He said it is important to quantify the work SW Trails does. Patty said we also talked about ADA and how difficult it can be to work with that. Don said streets can be built on steep slopes without an ADA improvement but pedestrian walkways cannot. He said it was important to work with people with disabilities to get their feedback on what works best for them. He said this was made very clear in implementing extended shoulders. Patty said we also talked about replacing signs. Glenn said there is a problem with labor unions in that they may not like it if volunteers make the signs. Don said we also discussed how we can help other areas of the city in developing groups such as SW Trails. Patty suggested coordinating with the neighborhood coalitions. Don said Eastside in Motion has approached him about help in forming a similar group. Don said there was also a discussion on standards for trails on public right-of-way.
Don said there will be someone from PBOT to discuss the trails policy at the November SW Trails meeting. He said a state law removed liability from adjacent property owners.
Misc.:
Dianne said we have over 1300 people on the SW Trails email list.
Don talked about the property on 25th and the connection through the Raz property north of Nevada Ct. The original proposal was to vacate 25th. The Fire Bureau said there had to be a fire truck turn-around at the end. Don said there should be an easement for a trail on the BES property. He said this connection would be convenient for many people Arnie asked if work had started and Don said not yet. Glenn said PBOT and BES are talking about connections in the entire area. He said connectivity is very important. He said it is very important that this issue is addressed now. Don said he is pretty sure that they have dropped the idea of vacation. He said BES may also buy some property in the area.
Glenn talked about connectivity from Marquam Hill to Barbur. He said there are several ideas with varying costs. He said they are looking at combinations of sidewalks and elevators or escalators. He said a big question is the usage. He said many community people would like to see a tunnel. He said the VA may have to put money into the VA hospital as it is not earthquake resistant. Don said it is important for SW Trails be kept in the loop as there is a trail on Whitaker that should also be improved.
Don said there is a walkway between Bertha and the Beaverton-Hillsdale highway is very important. He said there was pressure from our senator and representative and PBOT is finally looking into it. However, it was not included in the budget. We are trying to put more pressure on the issue. Don requested that SW Trails be contracted by the City to do the trail, with PBOT DOING THE PERMITS. He REQUESTED $10,000. Glenn said students and parents are supporting the trail as well.
Don said there was a work party on October 10th to work on a trial from Woods Street and Terwilliger. Don said we would like to finish the trail. The upper end of the trail is very steep. He suggested a letter to Parks suggesting that SW Trails finish the trail. Rick pointed out that it is a popular trail. Don said there were stairs there in the 1950s and they were taken out.
Don said the sidewalk projects on Multnomah, Vermont and Terwilliger are almost done.
Don said BES may have secured money to work on the culvert on Boones Ferry.
Hans said the Coronado trail is still there an in use. However, a tree has fallen over it. He said SW Trails has written a letter to the city offering to help build the trail.
Don said someone FROM FAR NE PORTLAND called him and said Parks asked her to lead the Senior Strolls walks in southwest and Don gave her suggestions for the route.
Hans said he is excited that there is money appropriated for the Red Electric Trail. He would like to see the work started. Roger said it would be good to get a coordinating group from the city bureaus to talk about progress on the trail.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:48 pm
Respectfully submitted
Lee Buhler
SW Trails on Facebook
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