From 96 ideas, the future of Memorial Coliseum is now whittled down to three concepts. Last night the Rose Quarter Stakeholder Committee voted to advance the Trail Blazers’ Jumptown, Doug Obletz’s Memorial Athletic and Recreation Center (MARC) and the Veteran’s Memorial Arts and Athletic Center (VMAAC) onto the next round. It will be exciting to see what the groups come up with for the building, and it’s interesting that the advisory committee decided to send on both Jumptown and the MARC, which is pitching itself as the opposite of the Blazers’ plan. Each group will receive an as-yet-undetermined cash stipend to spend while putting together their final proposals.
Those three teams will write up full proposals for their ideas and present them to City Council in March. Two other ideas, the Vision Into Action’s Community Crossroads and the Portland Action Sport’s Complex, were selected as alternates.
The decision was not without controversy. Though 67 percent of the advisory committee group believed the Community Crossroads idea, which would turn Memorial Coliseum into a large public market and multicultural center, should not be recommended to Council, the project pulled in about 50 public supporters in the audience. “Portland is known as the whitest city in the nation and this is something that would help shift people’s perspective of us,” Lisa Reed Guarnero of the Center for Intercultural Organizing, told the committee after the vote.
So no one has taken official notice yet that Jumptown sounds like a terrible idea? I mean, there’s already a bunch of businesses right there that absolutely no one attends when there’s not a game or concert. How the hell is dumping a ready-made retail hell that’s every bit as charming as an airport concourse gonna change anything?
Conversely, a fair amount of my work takes me to the Rose Quarter, and it’d be great if the nearest place to eat wasn’t on MLK, and shitty. So you know, here’s hopin’, but I have grave doubts…
jumptown will fail but win the bid due to backroom deals, where is the cucina cucina in the jumptown pictures
I like Jumptown. People who go to games go to Cucina Cucina. People who go to the little independent businesses in the MARC model don’t go to the Rose Garden.
Seriously, if you catch yourself using the phrase “retail hell” without irony, you might realize you’re not in the mainstream. Do you think there are malls and shopping centers all over the world because people hate them? How crazy are you, to think that chain stores and restaurants are ‘hell’ and expect that MOST people agree with you? How do you think they GOT to be chain stores?
To be clear, the committee did not advance Jumptown last night – they advanced something called “Trail Blazers and Winterhawks Concept,” which is specific to the Memorial Coliseum building.
Jumptown refers to the Trail Blazers’ idea for the larger Rose Quarter district, something that doesn’t officially become part of the process until around June–the committee has not yet heard a presentation about Jumptown.
Until then, we are laser focused on the Memorial Coliseum building, and are comparing building proposals to building proposals.
There’s a lot of empty malls, Rey. Especially where there’s other options nearby.
The places where malls and chain restaurants thrive is where there’s nothing better to be found. Or nothing else at all to be found…And fuck your false populism.
@ Amy – no the committee didn’t SPECIFICALLY endorse/advance/slobber all over the “jumptown” concept for the quarter, but they basically made them the ONLY proposal with any realistic chance of advancing beyond the RFP phase.
i say that because they are the only proposal of the three selected to move forward that keeps the exterior and the bowl of the MC intact. significant alteration to either of those elements would necessitate seismic and energy code updates. leaving them in their current configuration would not. that doesn’t even take into account the epic battle that the City would have to wage with the historical designation.
beyond that, as someone said last night, moving forward on the coliseum without looking at the broader picture of what to do with the rose quarter is patently ridiculous.
your boss has lost the plot.
Reymont: I know plenty of people who go to little independent businesses and also go to the Rose Garden, the two groups are not as exclusive as you seem to think. And the way I see it, the reason those people don’t go to the Rose Garden on a daily basis is because there’s nothing to draw them there. I hasten to point out that people who prefer independent businesses won’t be particularly drawn by retail hell, but they’ll probably be drawn by a proper velodrome. I know I’d be there more often if we made the Rose Quarter a place for cyclists to congregate rather than just an obstacle for them to go around.
Incidentally, we already have one mall very nearby the Rose Quarter, we don’t really need another.
“…significant alteration to either of those elements would necessitate seismic and energy code updates. leaving them in their current configuration would not.”
You say that like it’s a mark in Jumptown’s favor, instead of a way to dodge well-justified infrastructure improvements.
Jumptown: cutting corners and undermining civic identity for Portland!
Put my down for the MARC plan, it’s clearly the plan that suits our city the best.
“You say that like it’s a mark in Jumptown’s favor, instead of a way to dodge well-justified infrastructure improvements. ”
i say that because i believe that this whole process has been an effort to make the public feel like their city is looking out for their best interests with this inclusive little competition, when the reality is that they’ve ALWAYS intended on giving the whole enchilada to the blazers. and if they get selected to redevelop the MC, the likelihood of anyone else getting a piece of future rose quarter development gets dimmer and dimmer.
of course it’s in jumptown’s favor, just don’t misunderstand my previous post as endorsing that plastic/suburban/lifestyley POS.
i should add that seismic/energy upgrades would add tens of millions (dollars, that is) to any remodel.
The biggest problem I have with the Marc plan is that he expects the city to fund it 100% with public money. So, in other words, he’s created a plan to get a contract with the City to boost his paycheck without assuming any of the financial risk. I don’t believe for one minute that he’s interested in the public good, community values, or even the veterans. He’s just looking for a paycheck. At least the Blazers are willing to pony up some cash for their idea.