Oregonian Letter: Door open on island

You have guts: you stood up to the oregonian, walmart and morgan stanley for us here on hayden island. I simply want to say thank you on behalf of many many other islanders. Richard

Have you ever tried to walk from, say, Columbia Point, to the Jantzen Beach shopping Center? If not, let me take you on a walk.

Starting from the end of Hayden Bay Drive to Tomahawk Drive, you walk on the roadway since there are no sidewalks. Once at the firehouse there is a side walk but to get to it you must cross Tomahawk and there is no designated crosswalk. So, you are left to the not too tender mercy of the motorists coming off I-5 and driving more than the 25 MPH limit. If you follow the walkway to the Newport Bay Restaurant where it ends, you have to walk on the road way, cross a “Y” intersection, again without marked crossing lanes to the safety and security of the parking lot fronting Burlington’s ( no designated walk pathways) to the main entrance of the enclosed mall.

If you opt to walk to Jantzen Beach Mall via Tomahawk you must walk through the hotel parking lot to the roadway; there are no sidewalks here either, cross at Joe’s Bento, fighting more traffic from I-5 and no crosswalk, until the sidewalk begins.

Once at the Mall, if you want to walk from Target to Hallmark cards, you have to battle the traffic since some cars obey the pedestrian law and other do not and then you encounter another sidewalk. It becomes more complicated if your destination is Video Only or Toys-R-us. You have to walk in the open parking lot, at your own risk.

What is my point? Well, if there was any sort of a plan in place when development of this island began, there would have been, at the least, sidewalks. And, if there was any sort of a development plan existent when Jantzen Beach expanded, there would have been some pedestrian safety included in the expansion.

For the Oregonian or the developers of Jantzen Beach mall to say otherwise about our opposition to development without planning is just too disingenuous to mention.

Respectfully submitted,

Charles

Dear Mayor Potter and City City Commission Members:

I want to thank you for all of the work leading up to today's decision.

As pointed out in the proceedings, it is important for all of the stake holders to be involved in the planning process. After the vote, I spoke briefly with Mr. Abel of Stoel-Rives, and his clients from Jantzen Beach Super Center. In addition, John Teutsch and Brad Howton spoke with them at length.

Although I agree with Walter Valenta and others that this process will take more than three months, we can at least begin to work as a team and get some issues resolved and improve communication during this three months.

The HiNoon Board has a "retreat" scheduled this Saturday and we will be discussing ways to include business interests on our board. Currently our by-laws only allow "owners" and have no provision for
"designees" to be board members. This is a problem that we discussed at our general meeting last month.

This coming month, April 12, I will ask the board for a resolution to make a temporary exception to our by-laws to allow "designees" to occupy the two vacant business openings on our board. That should
allow both Jantzen Beach Super Center and Columbia Crossings to join our board. The actual language change must be voted on by the general membership, and we will do so at our next general meeting,
probably in May.

Regardless of the specifics of our process, I am asking both entities to participate in our Association, beginning at our meeting of April 12.

Our meetings are always the second Thursday of the month, at 7 PM, in the former Columbia River Yacht Club House, which is directly across
from Safeway and next to the closed Zupan's.

I would also ask any of you who would like to come and meet with our membership at a general meeting to let me know. We always extend a warm welcome to visitors.

Please let me know if you have any questions. they may also be directed to the "CC" list, which is our board.

Regards, Ed Garren, MA, MFT
Chair, HiNoon

We have been Hayden Island residents for 2 1/2 years now. We love it here and would like to see this community be given some consideration by the City Commission. As I'm sure you have heard before, it is dangerous to walk or bike on the island. A recent article in Portland Magazine comparing neighborhoods pointed up the fact that our crime rate is lousy and we have only one park. It is our understanding that Hayden Island was annexed to the City of Portland in 1986 and that no planning has been done since then. It would be wonderful to have another park and sidewalks so we can explore with our grandchildren. It would be wonderful to have an express bus line so it doesn't take an hour to get downtown. With the widening of I-5 project, now is the perfect time to take a breath. Please extend the moratorium on development on Hayden Island and let the city planners take a hard look at our community. Thank you.

Betsy and Terry Riddell

Dear City Commissioners,

I am a Hayden Island resident and am concerned about the complete absence of planning around transportation and quality of life issues here.

When you vote on RENEWAL OF THE DEVELOPMENT MORATORIUM FOR HAYDEN ISLAND, I urge you to approve the moratorium.

Thank you,

Ken Douglass

To City of Portland Elected Officials:

As a resident of Hayden Island I am deeply concerned about the plans to continue further development of Hayden Island due to the traffic and safety conditions that already exist. During certain times of the year, particularly during the Christmas season, Fourth of July, etc., the traffic is so dense that it takes up to 1/2 hour to travel 2 miles after exiting I-5 to get to Hayden Island West Moorage.

Any further development that will add additional traffic to Hayden Island is not being responsible to the residents of Hayden Island. The current congestion at certain times of the year, as well as additional congestion also makes this a greater safety issue in time of a personal or major emergency such as a fire needing more than what the Hayden Island fire station has to offer.

I encourage you to continue the development moratorium until such time as a comprehensive plan can be developed that addresses the traffic and safety concerns.

Respectfully submitted,

Ron and Karen

I was astounded to read your recent editorial regarding Hayden Island and rechecked to see if the author was attributed and who it was as the perspective was so unlike a view a Portlandier. . I challenge you to publish my email letter recently sent to the Portland City Council as a response to your editorial. That email is the text below:

______________________________________________
From: Ron Schmidt
To: 'CitywideElectedOffDistlist@ci.portland.or.us'
Subject: Hayden Island Moratorium

Thank you for your vote in extending the moratorium on Hayden Island until a comprehensive study has been conducted on the future of the largest foyer for the wonderful city of Portland, Multnomah County and the great state of Oregon. Your affirmative vote will improve the economy and liveability of our great city. Instead of being visually assaulted by Hooters signs, Walmart signs and an abandoned shopping mall (picture what would happen to the Jantzen Beach Super Center should Oregon ever pass a sales tax), people can see a sign of welcome, warmth and community to one of the greatest cities in the world.

The City of Portland annexed Hayden Island years ago after my arrival from the midwest and my purchase of my home. Not one floating homeowner nor any mobile homeowner had a say in the annexation nor did they even receive legal notification. Only real estate owners had a say or received notices. My dramatically increased taxes have paid for something but certainly not any improvement on the island and my neighborhood (I believe replacement of water lines is the only improvement made and an express statement has been made to not improve our roads because of their abysmal condition and size). While we never conducted our own "Boston Tea Party" in the North Portland Harbor, this would be a good opportunity for you to correct the taxation without representation caused by the annexation. You have no legal demand to correct this wrong but I beseech you on a moral and spiritual level to do so.

I commend Sam Adams for his concern and efforts for the Portland citizens who made Hayden Island their home and I abhor the ignorant statements made by the Oregonian (lperhaps the paper is owned by a foreign governmental retirement fund?).

Ron Schmidt

Dear Sirs:

I understand that the planning moratorium for Hayden Island is up for review currently and I would like to express my concerns please. Growth is good for our economy and keeps things fresh in neighborhoods. Hayden Island is a wonderful community that has very limited resources when it comes to access to and from the island and emergency services. We have a serious traffic issue presently that cannot support the island residents, adding more stores and residential will only compound the issue. A plan to improve and explore the options available now and for the next generation is needed badly and many parties should be involved. May I please ask that you kindly extend the moratorium and begin the planning process to properly discuss the major issues and solutions so that Hayden Island will still be desirable in the future?

Thanks so much for your consideration!

Jimme' Peters

The problem with the moratorium as it now stands on Hayden Island is that it only covers the commercial development areas. Since the stated reasons for the moratorium include transportation access and planning issues, any building moratorium should engulf the entire island, both residential and commercial. Anything less is a subjective inequity.

Dear City Council,

Hi. I moved to Hayden Island a few years ago, well aware at that time that the island housed a major mall, as it has for decades.

But now that I am living here, I want you to squelch all further development, and help me convert this into a charming upper middle class neighborhood.

After all, when I moved here, I was completely ignorant about the kind of community I was moving to, so please fix this for me!

As to where commercial development ought to occur in Portland, the answer is easy: Vancouver!

I wish someone would just man up and tell the public whats really going on, mall expansion or not big corporate money and special interests pulling there normal crud. Put a stop to the maddness dont let anybody rich or poor do anything till bridge issue, freeway access, major improvements needed for years, planned for saftey and traffic issues eased on I-5 north and south, and island traffic flow studies done. Let people who will be lossing jobs caused by development get a decent notice.