Where is the rest of this story? What did the county say? What did Smith do at council? What do the residents say?

Not hating on - I am intrigued by the well written story SM - just want more details!

I'd also like to see Parts II, III, IV, and V coming soon to a Blogtown near me.

Or is that East Blogtown?

Hey D and Liz,
I'm glad to hear you want to know more. I only get so many words to use for the paper, but will definitely keep up with coverage of East Portland and budget issues both on the blog and in future print articles.

For now, check out my more thorough report on what Rep Smith said to Council last week here: http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blogto…

And some coverage today on the blog about how East Portland is getting only 3% of the city transpo budget: http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blogto…

Stay tuned!

I think what the Mayor means is that since the city didn't have any plans for development in East Portland, there were no shovel-ready projects, so even if they wanted to, they couldn't have spent many stimulus dollars there.

So, it isn't the acute problem of inequitable stimulus spending by the city East of 82nd that is shameful...it's the chronic problem of inadequate (or nonexistent) planning East of 82nd by the city that is shameful, and the responsibility for that lies with this City Council and Mayor, and everyone else who's been in those positions since the annexation.

It would be interesting to see how many of the signatures on the recall petition came from people living east of 82nd. The mayor doesn't care about neighborhoods where there are no hipsters on bicycles.

Thank you, Sarah! Thanks especially for the stat about 44% of school children. Wow. One thing that needs further exploration is the Mayor's comment that poverty has gone down everywhere but East Portland. If the "neighborhood leaders" are right that East Portland has gotten the people who've been gentrified out of "inner" Portland, that's not a very satisfying answer. (Of course, even if poverty has gone down everywhere else but held steady in the East, it's still pretty cold comfort to the East ... )

East Portland is indeed critical ground for social justice work, although all of Oregon's places and people have cause to work together.

I applaud Representative Jefferson Smith and Nick Sauvie for their actions to raise the profile and seek to address the disparities in East Portland.

OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon www.opalpdx.org joins in the concern about environment and in particular the slow decay of bus service - from the bus overcrowding to the 'pass up' incidents where people are left behind. We invite bus riders to contact us!

And...17 community centers in the city and ONE is east of 82nd Ave. This part of the city was annexed over 20 years ago in a storm of promises about all the wonderful things Portland leadership would do for us. What did we get? Higher taxes and high residential zoning without parks or zoning for jobs and businesses, much less commercial and retail services. We have the Springwater Corridor, Zenger Farm, Leach Botanical Gardens, Johnson Creek, MAX... but not the infrastructure investments and employment lands combined with zoning for ALL housing that makes for a balanced, livable and sustainable community.
There is so much more to the story. Please continue!

Great story, and something that doesn't get nearly enough attention. Sarah you're doing terrific work.

One thing I would add (that I think is outside of the official scope of the East Portland Action Plan we set up a few years ago) is that the boundaries of the 54,000 household midcounty sewer annexation extend beyond 82nd---namely into Cully and Brentwood-Darlington some 40-50 blocks farther west. These neighborhoods have experienced the same degree of infrastructure neglect.

A tragic irony in this whole mess is that the market rate for apartments (existing and new) is lowest in those neighborhoods with the least adequate infrastructure. So the highest growth in the city's population of children and low income residents in general has been taking place--for almost 20 years--in the neighborhoods least able to accommodate them.

This stuff won't sort itself out on its own. The same demographic dynamic has driven waves of K-8 school closures in Portland Public Schools, and now threatens the high schools. Please keep up the great journalism!

As a life-long resident of this city - there was nothing about this story that was new to me. The disparity of investment between the east and west sides of town has always been an aggravation to me and should be an embarrassment to all of us. A big "Thank you" to SM for writing (what I hope will be) the first of many articles on this issue.

My family moved to Portland in 2007-2008 (in two parts) and in order to be close to the workplace, we chose an apartment complex at 152nd and Stark. Nothing we read about the community before moving discouraged us, or indicated that the area was different from the rest of Portland. That was of course before pulling the moving truck off of 84 at 181st. We were honestly shocked. What we had read, seen and heard about Portland--and abundance of parks, trees, sense of community, etc.--was absolutely not prevalent in East Portland/County.

Some of our first reactions were specifically the severe lack of sidewalks and paved residential streets. What someone noted above--possibly tongue-in-cheek--about bike ramps and ad-hoc skating rinks being created from potholed dirt roads is actually a sign of blight in most communities. But the lack of sidewalks on streets like SE Stark, Glisan and Halsey is almost negligent on behalf of our city planners! There are "cow paths" along each of these major thoroughfares where pedestrians have to struggle while walking beside vehicles moving from 35 to 45 MPH! I am actually surprised the ADA hasn't visited Portland with a civil suit for not putting down sidewalk and curb ramp plans.

Needless to say, we are now in a much better neighborhood (than Stark)...but we're still East County residents!

Sam Adams blames the County for lack of basic infrastructure in East Portland. The area was annexed by the City against most of the residents' will over 25 years ago. Seems it has had plenty of time to start making those investments.

I grew up on the east side, east of 82nd. I now live in Southwest, near Raleigh Hills. I think it is important not to pit the sides of town against each other. Frankly, there are no sidewalks on the roads on the west side outside of downtown and when I was leading the local soccer club, we had kids that had to travel to the east side to get time on a soccer field due to the shortage of parks. It's not an east side v. west side issue. The west side lacks sidewalks and parks to the same or greater degree than the east side. It's really about affordable housing. As we re-invent the neighborhoods close to the city core, the amount of affordable housing decreases and households with lesser means are forced to move to unimproved neighbohoods. It's less about infrastructure (sidewalks and parks) and more about housing. Improve the distribution of truly affordable housing throughout the city, that is the only way to stop the concentration of poverty.

I live near Sandy & 82nd and there isn't a park to walk to, although the library is nearby. If there was a New Seasons somewhere near Sandy & I-205 that would be awesome, wouldn't it? If there were actual sidewalks all along 82nd Ave, that would be awesome, too. My property taxes are too high to not have some sidewalks 'round here.

That news is interesting to note that how civilized and moderate countries make eastern ports to decline and put them into crisis. Unfortunately this is not a good sign for world economy because Eastern Ports are very productive for westerns economy.

http://www.bayut.com