Neighborhood Notes

Earlier today Nancy posted about how many families live in the River District, that the number is growing, and that they tend to move out before their children are 4–presumably because of the lack of family services in the district. Now the city attorney is raising red flags about Erik Sten's proposal to create a satellite URA, specifically to build a school. Is it legal for the City Council to change the "rules" of the URA game? Somehow I doubt that.

More importantly, if we have a substantial and growing number of families who already live in the River District URA why does the City Council believe it is necessary to change the rules to build a school elsewhere? The need already exists within the URA. Shouldn't the needs of the legal URA be met before the City goes down a questionable path that is likely to be undone after years of legal challenges? Think of how much time and money would be wasted.

The idea of a satellite district opens a huge can of worms. If it happens then other areas will say "why not us". How does the City Council intend to differentiate who becomes a satellite and who doesn't?

These questions don't seem to concern Mr. Sten, he will be out of office before any of this happens.

From the Portland Tribune:

Damn the torpedoes — full speed ahead.

City Commissioner Erik Sten will continue pushing his idea to help build a new school on Portland’s hardscrabble outer east side using urban renewal funds from the Pearl District — despite a memo from the city attorney’s office that raises questions about the legality of such a transfer.

“We’re just going to go for it,” he says. “This is a chance to solve a seemingly intractable problem.”

Stripped to its essentials, Sten’s plan is to siphon off $19 million of property tax revenue generated by the gleaming towers of the Pearl District and use it to help finance a new elementary school and community center in the working-class David Douglas School District, which owns a building site in outer Southeast Portland but has no money for construction.

To accomplish this, Sten wants to redraw the boundaries of the River District Urban Renewal Area, which encompasses the Pearl, adding a 15-acre “satellite district” in deep Southeast Portland between Powell Butte and Happy Valley, unconnected from its parent district by so much as a cartographer’s cherry stem.

The idea might not survive a court challenge, however, according to a legal analysis by City Attorney Linda Meng. Concerns raised by Meng in a Feb. 14 memo include:

Read the full story here...