August 12, 2003
The Gulf Of Tonkin
Today's Portland Tribune examines the split between the City and Ron Tonkin Dealerships over the "area around 122nd Avenue and East Burnside Street, where the Tonkins have done business since 1964" -- a split which might lead to the autodealer to turn its back on Portland:
The Tonkin family's two-year battle with city planners began with a simple redevelopment project at its Honda dealership on Southeast 122nd Avenue. It has since grown into a larger argument over the future of east Portland, a relatively recently annexed swath of the city that was designed with automobiles in mind.
...
City planners say they don't want to run the auto dealerships out of town, but they do want to encourage a new type of development in east Portland, especially around the MAX line, which parallels East Burnside Street. Since light rail was built through the area in 1986, planners have been trying to squeeze more homes into the areas near the stations and make nearby business districts more pedestrian-friendly and urban.
The planning bureau's critics, most notably city Commissioner Randy Leonard, say that while the plans to turn 122nd into a pedestrian mall may be well-intentioned, they are unrealistic and elitist.
Leonard, quoted by the paper as calling the City's attitude "anticar" and "elitist," wants to see changes to the zoning law in question. But as the Tribune points out, the area's neighborhood association is opposed to such code changes.
Which raises a thorny question: Who actually represents and reflects the nature of the neighborhood?
Commissioner Leonard sees holding onto the Tonkin business as in the best interests of the neighborhood and the City, while the neighborhood association seems to hold the opposite opinion. On the one hand, Leonard, as the only Council member from east of 82nd Avenue, wants to represent an aspect of Portland not much seen or heard from in citywide discussions of public policy. On the other hand, the neighborhood association is, at least in theory, the official voice of the neighborhood.
So who do we listen to?
If I knew, I'd say so. Especially because I don't have an immediate opinion on the zoning code question, since I (like, I suspect, many Portlanders west of 82nd Avenue) don't know enough to have an informed opinion. At the same time, I won't pretend to be altogether pleased at the prospect of the City taking yet another economic hit through Tonkin expanding to areas other than Portland because of this dispute.
But it would help if I knew who truly speaks for the interests of the neighborhood in question, both in and of themselves and as they mesh or conflict with what's good for the City as a whole.
Comments (4)
jack bog on 12 Aug 2003
122nd is a high-speed highway. Always has been. If you can't have big car dealerships there, then you can't have them anywhere.
Of course, the neighbors would like a pedestrian-friendly street. But that would be a drastic change from its history.
The Planning Bureau is a sad example of the confused mess that Portland government has become.
hilsy on 13 Aug 2003
Of course, the same could have been said about the old freeway that used to be where Waterfront Park currently resides.
However, 122 is a main artery of transportation across the eastside, with numerous businesses (that employ many people) located along it. Doesn't the Planning Bureau have better things to do? Does everything get sacrificed just for MAX. Remember that the whole MAX issue was a big reason we lost the opportunity of locating Columbia Sportswear's HQ in a moribund neighborhood (and that was for a MAX line that may never exist).
Dave Lister on 13 Aug 2003
When I read the article in the Tribune, I e mailed every member of the City Council encouraging them to work for an accomodation with the Tonkin organization. The Tonkin's provide approximately eight hundred well paying jobs. Oregon Business magazine recently rated them as one of the top ten companies to work for in Oregon based on employee surveys. The idea of a pedestrian transit mall at 122nd and Halsey is a wonderfully warm and fuzzy concept but what kind of employment will that provide. Part time, no benefit jobs pouring late's, serving yogurt or selling books and magazines. Who's going to pay the taxes to fund the city's great schemes like the North Macadam when all the good businesses evacuate the city? Business retention is the biggest issue currently facing the city. You can definitely bet that plenty of other businesses are watching this situation and contemplating their own departure.
Randy Leonard on 14 Aug 2003
B!X and Readers:
I went to a meeting at Rep Jeff Merkley's house (he is an east Portland Legislator who is, in my opinion, one of the most progressive elected officials in Oregon) last night for a prearranged meeting with east Portland neighborhood leaders and activists. Included in the group was the East Portland neighborhood leader that was quoted in the Tribune article that B!x references in his piece. It was clear that the neighborhood activists, after hearing both sides of the issue, were incensed at the prospect of losing a business that they considered to be a positive contributor to East Portland.
Please confirm my impression with Rep Merkley, but I came away with the clear message that the "zoning out of existence" the new car dealerships along 122nd Ave is not supported by the vast majority of the neighborhood leaders in east Portland.
Commissioner Randy Leonard