Last Thursday, March 4, Southeast Uplift staff headed out to the Montavilla neighborhood for their biweekly lunch tour.  The tour began with a drive through the neighborhood to discuss its history. As we learned from the neighborhood association’s website, www.montavilla.info, the neighborhood began in 1889, as an unnamed tract of land located in East Portland known for being a rural farming community. The original name, Mt. Tabor Villa Addition, was a cumbersome name to repeat and Montavilla became the accepted popular substitution.

In addition to large farm sites, a small business district developed near the landmark survey marker P.5 or mile post 5 - located five miles outside of the city center near the intersection of SE 78th Avenue and Stark Street. The marker had been erected in 1854 on Baseline Road (Stark St) where it served as a mileage post for visitors coming in and out of Portland.

By 1890, Montavilla had grown enough that it had three grocery stores, a couple of meat markets, a livery stable, a privately owned bank and two blacksmith shops.   The strong business community continues to thrive today, with a great mix of novelty shops, restaurants, bars and even pie shops popping up!

Our first stop was at the new fence or “safety sculpture” on NE 82nd Ave between Jonesmore and Wasco Streets, near the MAX light rail station. The intent of the fence is to encourage the 10,000 daily users of bus and MAX to make connections at the Jonesmore crossing, rather than jaywalking and crossing mid-block.

Several entities including the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), TriMet, the Portland Police Bureau and the Madison South Neighborhood Association have been in favor of the fence throughout the process, while the Montavilla Neighborhood Association and some transit advocates have been strongly opposed, reasoning that it impedes pedestrian movement for the convenience of motorists.  These groups would have rather that funds be directed to attack the root of the problem by making the crossing more convenient.

Due to the mixed views from the community, Mayor Adams directed staff from PBOT to look into alternatives.  Staff looked at installing a new traffic signal on the south end of the platform, having the buses stop closer to Jonesmore, moving the crosswalk farther south and extending an existing median island through Jonesmore. In all cases, staff concluded that the shape of the bus pullout would not allow buses to stop very close to the intersection, so many riders would continue to try to jaywalk and the problem would continue.

The end result is a 220-foot long and 8-foot tall cement wall.  Though initial estimates placed the price of the fence at $80,000, the final price tag, split between TriMet, the City of Portland and the Oregon Department of Transportation, was $382,000. That's $130,000 more than the standard cost of installing a crosswalk and stoplight at the site, which is what many neighbors wanted to being with.

Next, we visited Vestal School at 161 N. 82nd Avenue to check out the recent depave project. 
Community volunteers worked together to remove approximately 15,000 square feet of asphalt for community garden space!  It was a very inspirational project for staff, since we hope to undertake a small depave project outside of our building.

After that, we stopped for lunch at Yahala’s, SE 80th & Stark.  We were happy to be joined by Lew School, Land Use Chair for the Neighborhood Association.  As always, the food was delicious.  We enjoyed hummus and pita, falafel sandwiches and even an enormous spinach calzone.  For anyone who has never been, we highly recommend that visit this neighborhood favorite!

Join us for our next BLT on Thursday, March 18, when we visit the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood and enjoy lunch at the Arleta Library Cafe!