Our Gulch community boasts a unique combination of assets; walking proximity to nearly every imaginable mercantile need or want and public transport or bike access to anything anywhere in the city.
What responsibility do we as Gulch residents have to our local businesses, our city, our nation and our globe? I see more Hybrid cars in the Gulch per carpita (I just made that word up!) than when I move around downtown. We have new Gulch-based Zip Cars available on 24th and 21st. Our shady, quiet streets have been identified by the city as a Metro designated bike routes and the hundreds the flow from and through our community every morning attest to the possibilities.
At the Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood Clean-Up last month, we recycled tons of metal, plastic and yard debris for re-use. We will all receive our new combined recycling bins any day now that will make that process much easier. The Neighborhood Yard Sale on July 19th is our annual celebration of exchanging the stuff of our lives instead of stuffing landfills.
The first effort at communal AgriGulchure (sorry) is growing nicely at 24th and Wasco. A local apartment owner agreed to give space and water and a group of Gulchers got together to weed, till, amend, and plant vegetables that will be watered and cared for collectively and harvested by many. Old people, little kids and languid cats often rest on the stone bench that has been put up. It's a small thing, but nice.
There are so many things we do so well, but I think we need to do more to initiate and sustain our local business community. There are too many buildings "FOR LEASE" on Broadway, the commercial equivalent of a body outline on the pavement—corpus commercial delecti. All jokes aside, what accountability do we have to the types of businesses that commit to our urban village?
Dava Bead has just moved to a much larger space at at 21st. This is an enormous commitment as the NE Broadway provides a substantial counterpart to its thriving Beaverton store. Let the folks at Dava know that you appreciate this commitment to our community and go in and check out their new expanded gear and classes. Perhaps their success will lure a developer to the fire-emptied building on the south side of Broadway to build a new commercial/residential structure to draw more owner operated businesses to that stretch of our boulevard to make it an unbroken and vital shopping string from 13th to 33rd. The SGNA Land Use Committee has already influenced the definition of the huge Albina development project at 33rd to enhance our neighborhood's livability.
What would you consider a successful addition to Broadway? What types of businesses do you wish you had close by? Do you want more restaurants, a small hardware store, or a bicycle repair shop? The vacant commercial space at 1620 Broadway suggests that large retail stores are neither drawn to nor well suited for our district. While I pity the developers of the property, I take this as a good sign. As an urban commercial district, with lots of foot and bike traffic, the giant, parking lot-centric chain stores just don't fit on Broadway any more than a Bed Bath and Beyond could enhance SE Hawthorne.
But those are just my thoughts. In the coming year, the SGNA will need to participate in updating the Portland Plan for the first time in 15 years. This official document is the reference for City government to plan for all things relating to our community (http://www.portlandonline.com/portlandplan/). A huge amount has changed in the past 15 years and this plan needs to capture and communicate the true vision and preferences of our community now. The SGNA welcomes input of all kinds from what kind of businesses do you want to see on Broadway, do you want parking meters, what kinds of multi-units do you want within the neighborhoods, traffic planning, building height restrictions, street car or light rail on Broadway, the Gulch bike and pedestrian trail…….? The SGNA welcomes input and energy to help define and codify this important document that will hugely influence how our community evolves. Please send all ideas, thoughts and interest in the process to info@Sullivansgulch.org
On a more basic level, make an active commitment to participate in your community; recycle, bike, take a bus, talk to a neighbor, introduce yourself to a local shopkeeper and let them know you are from the Gulch and that you appreciate them, get involved in the SGNA, participate in the Sidewalk Sale, July 19-20, post some input for the community plan, eat out at local restaurants, buy or sell something at the Neighborhood Yard Sale on the 19th, grow something, make eye contact. The Gulch is yours. ENGAGE.
—Meara McLaughlin