Portland, Ore. -- The City of Portland today announced the launch of CivicApps for
 Greater Portland, an open source design contest to showcase regional open data and promote collaboration between citizens and government to create applications, or “apps”, that address civic issues and benefit the greater Portland community. The CivicApps event includes two separate phases: Idea Gathering and more...

An August groundbreaking is tentatively set for the construction of a new Central City Concern medical facility at 707 West Burnside. The building will help expand the capacity of the organization’s primary care operation, while also providing a permanent home for the integrated behavioral health services it offers. Central City Concern is a not for profit agency founded in 1979 that serves single adults and families in more...

Over 70 East Portland residents recently packed into the cafeteria at Ron Russell Middle School, located just south of Powell Boulevard on Southeast 112th Avenue, to provide input on the efforts of the Portland Bureau of Planning & Sustainability to explore viable and sustainable ways to improve the Southeast 122nd Avenue corridor. The corridor consists of the land within a quarter mile east and west of Southeast 122nd Avenue more...

Plans for the Waud Bluff trail—a quarter mile paved path and pedestrian bridge that will connect N. Willamette Boulevard by University of Portland to North Basin Avenue on Swan Island—have now gone through the City’s pre-application conference, moving the project one step closer to realization. The Waud Bluff trail originally received $1.2 million in 2004 from the Oregon Department of Transportation through a more...

The Portland City Council approved a tentative demolition permit for Chinatown’s historic Kiernan Building—better known by some as the now-defunct Gail’s Dirty Duck Tavern—at a February 3 council meeting. Commissioner Fritz was the lone dissenting vote. The vote was part of the City’s Type IV Land Use Procedure, a quasi-judicial procedure adopted in 2004 as part of the Historic Resources Code more...

The Portland Development Commission has officially kicked off its new economic development program, Portland Main Street®. The program, charged with promoting neighborhood commercial district revitalization, is based on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street® approach that has been implemented in 2,800 communities within 45 different states. PDC will be holding application workshops for more...

A January 19 public forum pushed two highly anticipated, and long awaited, River District development projects one step closer to completion.  Both the Fields Neighborhood Park and the Centennial Mills redevelopment projects, as well as the pedestrian bridge planned to connect the two sites, were discussed when around 200 concerned citizens and interested individuals packed into the Heritage Room at the BridgePort Brewpub, more...

The sustainable mixed-use Ecoflats apartment project planned at 3935 N. Williams received funding on December 23rd, 2009. The demolition permit has been issued, and demolition will begin in a week or so. After the existing building is demolished and the remains are sorted and removed (as much as possible will be recycled), soil testing will be conducted. Developer Jean-Pierre Veillet expects that the building permit will be more...

I wonder, sometimes, about the people who look at certain spots around town—at best weathered by the years and at worst ravaged by neglect—and say, "I think I'll set up shop here." In my estimation, it takes vision and no small amount of courage. I headed out to such a pocket of pioneers near me to find out what motivates them, and to catch a glimpse of their vision for the area. The Woodlawn Triangle more...

Many of us have seen St. Andrew Church on Northeast Alberta Street at 8th—its tall spires and ornate door details announce a welcoming call to all in the neighborhood and beyond. Its mission is to serve as a "visible presence of Christ in our culturally and racially diverse neighborhood"; how the parishioners actually accomplish this is through serious and committed work "with the poor, the powerless, and the more...