Despite financial uncertainty created by the Trump Administration, the City of Portland has scheduled an open house to explore options for reconnecting Albina as part of the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project in Northeast Portland.
The Envisioning a Reconnected Albina: District Framework Open House is set from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 3 at Harriet Tubman Middle School, 2231 N. Flint Ave. It is hosted by the Portland Bureau of Transportation, Portland Planning and Sustainability, and Prosper Portland, the city’s economic development agency.
The project is currently planned to improve safety on I-5 and cap the freeway through the Rose Quarter to allow construction of new surface streets, residential buildings, and commercial properties. The open house is intended to explore concepts about how streets, buildings, open spaces, and connections could look, feel, and evolve to create a vibrant neighborhood that functions as a place for community life, culture, and connection.
The concept is proposed by the nonprofit Albina Vision Trust and has been endorsed by the City Council and the Oregon Legislature, both of which have approved millions of dollars for the first stages. But after a series of early accomplishments, Congress withdrew a previously approved federal $450 million Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods program grant for the project in one of Trump’s early domestic spending bills.
As a result, the $2-plus billion project is facing a funding shortfall of up to $1.6 billion.
But that did not stop the Oregon Transportation Commission from voting to start work in August. The Oregon Department of Transportation still has $447.5 on hand for the project. The first phase of the project includes stormwater improvements, bridge maintenance, striping an area auxiliary lane and adding signs for highway cover safety and construction, estimated at $75 million.
Commission members admitted ODOT does not have all the money to complete the project when they approved its start during their July 24 meeting.
“We are not saying that we are going to move forward with the complete Rose Quarter. It’s not up to us at this point. It’s up to the people who have the purse strings,” Commission Chair Julie Brown said. The Oregon Legislature did not include replacement funds in the transportation funding plans approved during the September special session.
Albina Vision Trust and its supporters have still found much to celebrate. Portland Public Schools has agreed to allow the organization to purchase its headquarters on 10.5 acres of property across North Broadway from the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Oregon Legislature has already approved $25 million towards the purchase. The sale will be completed after PPS finds a new headquarters.
And, on Sept. 6, the Albina Vision Trust held a grand opening for One Albina, a 94-unit affordable housing project it sponsored that is intended to offer homes to previously displaced North and Northeast Portland residents who want to move back to their previous neighborhood. Through the city’s N/NE Preference Policy, the affordable housing project gives preference to applicants who lost their homes in Albina due to discriminatory policies, including the previous urban renewal projects related to the construction of I-5, or their descendants.
“The Albina Vision Trust is honored to serve as the catalyst in bringing the realization of Albina One to our community and to our city. It reflects what we can accomplish when aspirations, dreams, and commitment to the greater good drive our efforts, our resolve and our resources,” Board Chair Michael Alexander said.
More information about project and the Dec. 3 open house is available at portland.gov/bps/planning/reconnecting-albina.