Construction Projects

     The main new expenditures as mayor will be for the purchase of private apartments, construction of new homeless shelters, and installation of video cameras. However I do have some other projects I plan on pursuing overtime.

General Development of Portland -  There are several areas of Portland I plan on developing. These plans will probably take decades to manifest and may be fulfilled in the public or the private. 

1. Lloyd Area - One key area I would like to see develop is the Lloyd area just west of Lloyd center. If high rise apartments and commercial buildings were built in this area it would create a great customer base for the mall, as well as easy access to downtown and the light rail. There are many lots in this area with small buildings on them that could be replaced.

2. Inner East Side - The area between the river and 12th street is ripe for development. Ideally the tallest buildings could be built on 6th and 7th street and then buildings would get shorter towards 12th and towards the river. This way every building will have a view from their top floor of either downtown or Mt. Hood. Ideally buildings could be designed so they can have skyways added on as more buildings are built around them. If certain floors were designated for skyways, every building could eventually be connected giving residents and employees ability to move around the city more efficiently while staying dry.

3. 82nd - 82nd already has many thriving businesses and has the potential for more growth. Light rail is fairly accessible on its eastside as well on its northern end. Bus commute is fairly quick as it is a high speed street. The main plan will be to slowly remove all car lots and car related businesses as they are eye sores. Parking garages can be built further down 82nd near the airport, and each car lot can have its own floor. This will pose less of an eyesore. The city will work with companies to slowly move them. High rise apartments, strip malls, possibly commercial buildings can replace them. 82nd is a highspeed street so using strip malls to shield customers, as well as developing off streets similar to Stark in Montavilla, can be a good way to create a more customer friendly environment. 

4. Mall 205 Area - Creating a mini downtown area between Market st. and Halsey could offer cultural and business opportunity for outer east Portlanders. Outer east Portland is mainly characterized by its larger streets such as Halsey, Division, Stark, 122nd, 162nd that don't offer the same slow pace business friendly environment that streets like Hawthorne, 23rd, Alberta and downtown offer. The main reason for this is that the streets are 5 lanes instead of 2. However, redeveloping off streets can create pockets where the pace is slower and more customer friendly. The area between Market st. and Halsey, especially between Stark and Northeast Pacific st. offer a good opportunity for this. Currently there are several empty lots, junkyards, and a few houses. Overtime these could be turned into high rise apartments, and possibly commercial buildings, with the ground floors being dedicated to businesses. This area also has great access to the light rail, and has several malls already surrounding it.

Streets - I will work to maintain streets in a cost efficient manner, and pave all graveled streets. I plan on potentially building more freeway entrances and exits to increase traffic flow, as well as adding auxiliary lanes, and if possible more lanes to the freeways. Possibly more parking structures will be built in high use neighborhoods as well.

Electrical Grid - Much of Portland's electrical grid is above ground, this leaves us vulnerable to power outages when storms come. I will analyze possible solutions to remedy this issue. My main goal is to make Portland the first city with a wireless electrical grid.

Environmental Services - I plan on installing holes in curbs in order to siphon stormwater into the grassy area between the curb and side walk known as the furnishing zone. Private property owners can then turn their furnishing zones into various types of water traps such as the ones listed by the city HERE. This should save the city money as this water will no longer have to be treated. I will analyze these plans and there costs with the bureau of environmental services. The designs will then be tested in order to see how affective they are before doing a full roll out.

Wireless Electricity

New Parks - I have several new parks I plan on building, and old parks I will upgrade.

1. North East Community Center - On the site of the old Whitaker School on the southside of Fernhill park I plan on building a strip mall and community center. The community center will be run similarly to a planet fitness or 24 hour fitness, a swimming pool will be on the 1st floor, weight room on the second floor, basketball courts on the third floor, etc. Below is a rough draft plan of the community center. The red represents the gym, the green represents the strip mall, the blue will be a patio area over looking the park.

Broughton Beach Community Center - I plan on building a mini community center at Broughton beach. It will be two stories, have a lounge and snack bar, pool tables. I plan to begin having swim lessons at the Columbia River. The water between the dikes has essentially no current due to the sand bars created by the dikes and offers a great opportunity for swim lessons. The sand bars created by the dikes go 100's feet out into the water before ever getting that deep so it offers plenty of space for different levels of swimmers. Mini docks can be placed out in the river, so students can swim from one dock to another. More parking will be added on the south side of marine drive, and a pedestrian bridge will be added so traffic doesn't have to stop on marine drive. The map below is a rough draft of the community center.  The red represents the community center, the green represents a parking lot, and the orange represents the area where swim lessons can be taught. Life guards can be put on some of the docks.

East Johnson Creek City Park - I plan on build a new park just south west of 82nd and harney, next to the springwater cart park. It will be built around Johnson Creek. The creek has a fairly steep banks around it almost like a mini canyon, the plan is to excavate these banks so the creek is more accessible and has a nice shore line on both sides. A mini bridge may be built over the creek so people can cross. A strip mall will be built in the south east corner of the park facing the park. Below is an image of a rough draft plan for the park. Red represents the strip mall, blue a parking lot, orange a basket ball court, green a playground. This will be the biggest park in this area of Portland, and bring customers to Springwater Cart Park.

Cathedral Park Upgrades - The main plan is just to clear out all the trees, brush, and debris along the shore underneath the bridge and just make it a giant beach. This will make the view of the bridge much more spectacular. The orange in picture below represents the area that will be cleared out.

Government Island - I plan on building freeway exits and entrances on government island off of i-205. Government Island is essentially a giant beach. I will build a few roads on the island and hiking trails that will give people access to the beaches.

Downtown South Hawthorne Waterfront Beach - I plan to build a beach at the waterfront here. The rough plan will be to build large stairs to replace the rocks that are currently there, and then at the bottom bring in sand. A dock will possibly be added as well. In the image below the orange represents what will be sand, and then right above will be stairs.

Waterfront Beach - Another good beach is between the Marquam and Tilikum Bridge on the west side. Currently it is already pretty nice, it is just rocky. Sand could be added in and the bank developed a little bit to create better access.

Lindbergh Beach Parking - In Northeast Portland on Swan Island, there is a pretty nice beach called Lindbergh beach. There currently isn't the greatest public parking. The red in the image below represents what could be become public parking.

Kelly Butte Park Upgrades - The main plan will be to build parking lots and develop the trails a little more, make sure they are connected to the lots. Below is a map with parking lots in blue, and one added trail in red.

North Park Blocks Upgrades - The park blocks are a great summer park as they are fairly shady. They are not always the most inviting though, as the grass isn't well kept. One way to solve these problems is by adding picnic tables throughout the park. In the portion between Everett and Flanders I plan on adding 2 large picnic tables similar to the ones at Laurlehurst. Between Flanders and Glisan I plan on adding full basketballs courts. Possibly food carts in the parking lot north of Glisan.

Powell Butte Amusement Park - An amusement park could be added on top of Powell Butte. The Ferris wheel would have a great view of Mt.Hood. This should bring tourism to the outer east which should hopefully be good for businesses near by as well. Below is a map of a potential amusement park, the blue represents a potential parking lot, the red an amusement park.

Mt. Hood University - I plan on turning Mt. Hood Community College into a University. The plan is to build more buildings on the east side of Beaver Creek and then have trails go through the natural area and bridges go over the creek connecting the old and new campus. On the map below the blue rerpresents the creek, the red the theoretical new buildings, and the green the trails.

West Side Freeway - I plan on working with Washington County and the State Government to build a freeway on the west side connecting the 26 to the I-5. The new freeway will pass between Hillsboro and Cornelius and then hug the outskirts of Aloha area before connecting with the I-5 just north of Wilsonville. This will become important as the westside continues to grow. Building it sooner rather than later will save a lot of money by avoiding the need to tear down any buildings if the area gets developed.