Foster-Powell. A neighborhood blog.

We’re now a week into March, with Spring lurking not too far away.  It hasn’t changed the weather too much, though the rain feels a bit warmer.  That’s something, right?

Here are your weekend tidbits…

- As you’ve heard, Red Castle was burgled last weekend.  If you’re in the gaming community, they’ve assembled a list (and it’s big) of what items were stolen.  Keep an eye out.  We’ve listed all the stolen merchandise in the comments section of our original post earlier this week.

- Also from earlier this week, it looks like the former Fred Meyer Red Tag store will soon become a Harbor Freight.

- More good press for the Portland Mercado.  Portland Monthly again includes a blurb about the soon-to-be-transformation at 72nd and Foster.  My favorite part:
        “You wouldn’t look twice at SE 72nd Avenue and Foster Road: an abandoned auto wholesaler, paint peeling, lot overtaken by encroaching weeds. Starting in April, this sad spot could become…”
Sadly, you could probably pick a few spots on Foster and fill in the blank.  In this case, it’ll “become a beacon for Latino Portland.”  Can’t wait.

- Your Foster-Powell Neighborhood Association meets this Monday at Bar Carlo, from 6:30 – 8 p.m.  Among other things, they’ll be talking about a planned development at 65th and Holgate, as well as the Powell-Division Transit and Development Project (as presented by Metro Councilor, Bob Stacey).  Oh, and check out the NA’s improved website.

- The folks running the Bob White Theatre have made public their events calendar.  This should help you better sort through the variety of shows that are taking place there.

- Mark your calendars:  Plant Sale and Fundraiser for the Foster-Powell Community Garden, April 12, from 2 – 4 p.m.

- Music for the weekend:
Friday- Mikael Pederson at Torta; Cronin Tierny at Starday
Saturday- Cole Carr at Torta; Ashby Scaggs at Gemini

Have a good weekend, all.  Be cool, be safe.

Woodstock has been like a black hole lately, sucking up any Portland-buzzy business that’s within its gravitational pull.

New Seasons.  Grand Central.  And now Dick’s Kitchen.  Oh, and they almost got Green Zebra just for good measure.

They’re now the near-Clackamas version of Hawthorne.

Fear not, though, Foster…there’s progress here, too.  It just comes at a slower pace and with a decidedly different vibe.

Look no further than the future Portland Mercado.  Or SE Works, where they’ll soon be expanding their WorkSource center at 79th and Foster, bringing more services to teens and young adults.  A performance venue that now brings concerts to Foster regularly.  A tattoo studio that spruced up its ground-floor storefront.  A nighttime bar and music scene that could rival any other in Portland.  A new collective of artists, designers and furniture-makers at Foster Row.  A budding taqueria and bottle shop.  And yoga, for chrissake.

See, not all’s bad in Foster Land.  Our growth just looks a little different.  And maybe it’s better that way.

Remember when Foster was going to get all snazzed up?

We were all the buzz.  Our deadly thoroughfare was in the city’s cross-hairs.  And the planners saw room for adding livability features, too, such as bike infrastructure and trees.

We were the talk of the town—a major city thoroughfare cutting diagonally through a wide swath of Southeast (and part of East) Portland, ripe for transforming the way the city plans for safe and sustainable streets.

And then that talk stopped.

The last Stakeholder Advisory Committee meeting was in December, simply serving as a follow up to the December 5th open house in which the city presented the proposed plan to the public.  A survey was conducted at that open house, and the results showed overwhelming support for the proposal.  The follow-up SAC meeting a few weeks later marked 15 months since the committee met for the first time in September, 2012.

2012!

At that first meeting, the agenda gave the following timeline for the process:
“The planning process is expected to last approximately 10‐12 months. At the end of the process a Draft Plan will be developed for adoption by City Council in 2013.”

2013!

In theory, a 2013 adoption by City Council would have put construction’s start in the summer of 2014.

Well, it is 2014.  And summer is just a few months away.  City Council has yet to be presented with a formal plan, let alone adopt it.

If we use the timeline above as a guide, the design phase would take place from Fall through Spring of the following year.  Call it a six-month phase.  Construction could then (theoretically) take place a couple months after that, which would span several months into the following year.

Since there’s yet to be word of a presentation to City Council, we can assume we’re 6, 7, or maybe 8 months away from allowing proper design time for construction.  And that’s a minimum…if (and only if) City Council sees the plan in the next month or two.  Oh, and then they have to adopt it.

Preliminary engineering would then commence.

So when will that be?

As we approach Spring, we’re within a few months of being a year beyond the originally stated timeframe.  At that pace, 2016 could be the earliest we see the project completed.  ”Could” is the operative word.

Now we have to hope Foster Road remains a priority for the city, and that the already allocated funds will be put to use in our neighborhood.  The next step still is getting City Council approval…when that will be is still unknown.

Hopefully good news is on the horizon…