It looks like Pearl District residents will be hosting one of the City’s new Portland Loos at Jamison Square. Last Thursday, Pearl District Neighborhood Association (PDNA) board members voted in favor of installing the newly designed public restroom on Northwest 11th Avenue between Kearney and Johnson. It was a clear victory for the loo, considering the 10 to 2 vote. Three board members abstained from voting.
But several of the approximately 20 Pearl District residents who attended the board meeting didn’t look favorably on the passing of the motion. A disgruntled group gathered on the sidewalk following the board’s vote.
“It’s a travesty,” said Burlington Tower resident Andree Davis. “They [PDNA board] went back to their first solution. They didn’t listen to the residents.”
“It’s very disappointing,” added Sandy Ammerman, a Tanner Place Condominiums resident and longtime outspoken objector of the Portland Loo in Jamison Square.
Their concerns about the installation of a 24-hour public restroom facility ranged from safety for women and children to a decrease in residential property values surrounding the park.
Proposed location of the loo in Jamison Square.
“We’re trying to solve a problem for families during the day. But the 24-hour thing, all year round? I don’t get that at all. Who does that serve? That isn’t accommodating the families,” said Peggy Roast, whose condominium overlooks Jamison Square.
“I walk home from Jimmy Mak’s and other restaurants at night,” said Davis. “But you can be sure I won’t be doing that if there’s a loo.”
Pearl District Residents Versus Portland Loo
Although the PDNA board discussion and proceeding vote went relatively quickly, getting to that point has been anything but expeditious. The issue over installing a loo in Jamison Square has been stirring debate since February of 2008. Commissioner Randy Leonard, while touring the Pearl District to learn about issues for families, heard complaints from residents and business owners that visitors to the urban park didn’t have access to public toilets. Their option was to use the restrooms in businesses, or relieve themselves en plein air.
Leonard’s response was swift, in fact too swift for many Pearl District residents. When a story in the Oregonian named Jamison Square as a possible site for a new Portland Loo, the City’s answer to public restrooms, residents jumped into action. That was the first they’d heard of the Commissioner’s plan for Jamison Square.
Sandra Ammerman
Opportunity for Community Input
On July 6, 2010, the PDNA Planning and Transportation Committee, lead by Chair Patricia Gardner, held a meeting at the offices of PREM Group to hear alternatives to the proposed Jamison loo by Pearl District residents. The newly designed loo, which balances privacy with visibility, was planned for the Southwest corner of Northwest 11th Avenue and Northwest Johnson Street, in a parking space currently leased by Zipcar, and directly across the street from Tanner Place Condominiums. Due to difficulty connecting to a sewer line, the City changed the location to just up Northwest 11th Avenue, across from the Wells Fargo Bank branch.
Like the Portland Loo in Old Town – the first one to be installed - the structure would likely be maintained by Downtown Clean and Safe and is solar powered. It would also be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This was a non-negotiable component to the loo and Leonard wasn’t willing to budge. His philosophy is that access to toilets is a basic human right.
“We have an issue with people who don’t have options for using a bathroom in Downtown. That includes Northwest,” says Ty Kotatch, Commissioner Leonard’s Chief of Staff. “Using a bathroom is a 24-hour issue.”
Residents packed the PREM Group lobby, spilling into doorways and empty workspaces. Gardner called on residents who had well-developed ideas and those who had been stewing over the loo for a year and wanted a chance to express their concerns about its place in Jamison Square. Most who spoke up expressed trepidation over the facility’s 24-hour access.
The crowded July 6 PDNA Planning Committee meeting.
“You’ve had six months to form ideas,” said Gardner. “Here’s your chance to come up with a solution.”
In fact, Pearl District residents had more than six months to come up with solutions to the loo plan. Following the PDNA Planning Committee’s vote on September 1, 2009, to recommend the City’s proposal to install a Portland Loo at the corner of Northwest Johnson and 11th Avenue, the committee gave residents the opportunity to express their concerns before the proposal went to the PDNA board.
In December, Ammerman spoke before the city council about residents’ concerns over the pending Jamison loo. Commissioner Leonard told her to return to the PDNA and come to a consensus on the facility’s location.
According to Gardner, upon meeting with the PDNA board on December 10, 2009, Ammerman and Sheila McMahon were given a list of criteria to guide the conception of options to the Northwest 11th Avenue proposal. The alternatives had to be functionally and financially viable (for example, water and sewer in close proximity, property owners willing to give up space, a plan for financing), meet River District design standards, and ultimately, solve the restroom problem at Jamison Square. The board wouldn’t consider any ideas that didn’t meet the criteria.
A handful of residents at the PDNA planning meeting wanted to know why the restroom couldn’t be a seasonal structure to accommodate the influx of summer crowds. Others were concerned about safety at night. A few expressed their dissatisfaction with the aesthetics and concern that the spirit of the neighborhood would be compromised by the presence of a restroom facility.
Patricia Gardner
Within an hour and a half, Gardner had written 11 potential alternatives on a large tablet, including the option to not do anything at all. Some ideas had been researched and developed in advance of the meeting but most seemed conceived on the spot.
Following is the complete list of alternatives put forth by Pearl District residents:
1. Site the loo on Northwest 13th Avenue
2. Install seasonal porta-potties
3. Open a permanent bathroom at Park Place Condominiums, paid for by the City
4. Build a restroom at the Ecotrust building, under the outdoor stairwell
5. Install the loo in the third parking space on Northwest 11th between Kearney and Johnson
6. Existing option: Zipcar space on the southwest corner of Northwest 11th and Johnson
7. Locate the loo on Kearney at Northwest 9th Avenue
8. Locate the loo at the swale at the Ecotrust building
9. No bathroom at all
10. City should open Bureau of Sustainable Design's bathroom at Ecotrust building
11. Locate the loo behind Banner Bank in the Burlington Tower courtyard
The PDNA Board Vote
By the time the 11 alternatives were presented at the PDNA meeting on July 6, Gardner had vetted the options and determined which ones were truly viable. Most did not meet the criteria defined by the PDNA board in January and were not possible because water or sewer lines didn’t exist below the site, funds were not available, or private properties weren’t interested in leasing space for public restrooms.
What remained was the option to place the loo in a Northwest 11th Avenue parking space, between Johnson and Kearney.
A few residents spoke up against the loo’s 24-hour access and their concerns about the potential for illicit activities in and around the facility.
Gardner was prepared. Two police officers who regularly patrol the area around the Portland Loo in Old Town sat nearby, waiting to respond to their questions.
“The other day we found needles, a crack pipe, and other debris,” said one of the officers. “Today it was clean except for a Slurpee. Granted, that area [of Old Town] is shitty. It’s central for bad stuff. Is that associated with the loo? Not necessarily.”
But some weren’t convinced. “Build it and they will come,” said one resident.
On the subject of maintenance and security, Bryce Stephens of Multi Services, says that a night time security person would include the loo on his nightly rounds, unless the City objects. Multi Services is the property manager for Tanner Place, Riverstone, and Park Place, three of the buildings on the park. “The security guard will pass the loo every hour or so,” says Stephens.
This photo illustration demonstrates how the loo would appear after installation.
David August, former PDNA board president stood up in response. “We [PDNA board] have a great track record for resolving issues. To speculate that something bad will happen doesn’t have credibility,” he said. “ I think the board just has to pull the trigger and to vote it up or down. But the fear is premature.”
“I think it's naive of the former board member who spoke tonight to say wait until it happens,” said Ammerman after leaving the board meeting. “Would he want his young daughter locked in a loo on a hot day? We’re supposed to wait for a missing child? We’re supposed to wait until someone is mugged or raped?”
There are still a lot of infrastructure hurdles to clear before the space on Northwest 11th Avenue will be ready for installation of a Portland Loo. That leaves a lot of time for Pearl District residents to regroup and strategize.
“This isn’t over, ” said Ammerman.
Minutes from the July 6 Planning Committee meeting will be made available on July 20. Minutes from the PDNA Board meeting will be available after the next meeting on August 12.
