Pizzicato nw 23rd5/29/2023 If I'm just a dummy too given to automobile use to fully appreciate the principled, brave stand the Northwest District Association is taking, I urge someone to make that case (politely of course). I've done enough of that lately, whether it's against immigration foes or the idea of destroying my beloved Checkerboard building. That way the historic district's original architecture can be properly caricatured.īut again, I don't want to make this post a rant. Still, garage supporters might want to add a few doilies or a pitched roof to the design just to be safe. Rather than the look of the garage itself, it seems like they'll be tackling whether there can or should be a garage at all. It will also be interesting to see how the Landmarks Commission tackles this. And by the way, in case someone thinks this is all about gas-guzzling, pollution-spewing cars, won't people of the future with electric or fuel cell powered cars need somewhere to park as well? If I lived in Northwest, it'd be 10 times worse, in which case I'd practically pray for a 20-story stack of concrete if it'd get these people from infesting every inch of curb. Here in Southeast I live next to a popular restaurant and a dance studio, both of which make it often difficult to park in front of or even near my house. In fact, if I lived in the 23rd Avenue area, I'd want the garage even more. But does that necessarily mean the district should essentially look at the traffic problem, cover its ears, and shout, "La-la-la, I'm not listening!"? It's true no garage will satisfy all the cars that want to shop on 23rd. That's precisely what Singer and Holst have proposed. I'm not talking about some concrete behemoth like some of the Smart Park garages downtown, but some storefront-like garage that used to be common here and in many parts of the city. When I drive anywhere near NW 23rd, there is such terrible traffic, not only on 23rd and 21st (the other principal retail corridor here) but all the residential side streets, that it always seems ludicrous that there wasn't a garage built a decade ago. My personal feeling, however, at least based on what I read is that this is just nuts, and I really side with the garage builders. The two projects are completely unrelated in my mind.) (Singer and Holst are also partnered on the "checkerboard" building renovation downtown that I wrote about yesterday, but it's only coincidence that I'm writing about their efforts two days straight. Or to vilify a developer that's tried good-faith negotiations and has hired one of the best architecture firms in town to do the job. I want to be careful about how I characterize the two sides, because it would be wrong to single out residents of a historic neighborhood for wanting to protect its character or questioning a move that caters to cars in such a pedestrian and transit-friendly development. (Singer has offered to contribute $25,000 for its removal.) But it seems to be the idea of a garage at all on this site or in this area that's really troubling to them. It's true the garage project would demolish what's left of a house once owned by Julia Hoffman, founder of the Oregon College of Art and Craft, and mother of the founder of Hoffman Construction. Juliet Hyams, president of the NW District Association, told Leeson the garage was still too big and that t was a "troubling precedent". But the site faces Irving instead of 23rd, putting it more on the border with the ressidential portion of the area. It looks pretty much like a storefront for two buildings. This time, Singer and Holst cut the amount of cars the garage would hold from 103 to 87, and made the two story building nine feet shorter. This after previous efforts to find an acceptible version of the garage failed. This latest redesign, available for viewing here in PDF, comes after the city council urged a confidential mediation between the developer and the neighborhood group. The city's Historic Landmarks Commission is reviewing the plan and is expected to address it at their next meeting, on August 11. In today's Oregonian, Fred Leeson reports that the Northwest District Association has again gone on record opposing developer Richard Singer's plan for a Holst Architecture-designed garage at NW 23rd and Irving.
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