Category Archives: Local Issues

Local Issues

Levee improvement plans

The US Army Corps of Engineers will share their draft feasibility study report and tentative plans to make our local levee system more reliable and resilient in early January

Over the course of the last year, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) staff have completed detailed engineering and economic evaluations of our local levee system. They have identified the vulnerabilities and looked at many potential ways to address them. Early this month, the Corps will release their draft feasibility report and tentatively selected plan for public review and comment.

This will be an important opportunity to weigh in on the concepts that are being considered and to help shape what comes next.We will share the draft report once it has been published. In the meantime, please save the date for one of these upcoming community meetings:

Thursday, January 16, 2020           Thursday, January 23, 2020
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.                           6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
City of Fairview Council Chambers       Expo Center
1300 NE Village Street                          2060 N Marine Drive
Fairview, OR 97024                               Portland, OR 97217

If you can’t make it to one of these meetings, LRC will also hold a couple of drop-in sessions later in the month where you can get your questions answered and share your thoughts in a smaller group setting:
  
Portland Drop-in                               East County Drop-In
Saturday, January 25, 2020          Saturday, February 1, 2020
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.                      9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 
Café Eleven                                        Stomping Ground Coffee
435 NE Rosa Parks Way                     21825 NE Halsey Street
Portland, OR 97211                            Fairview, OR 97024

Or, if you’d like to have someone join your neighborhood association or community group to discuss the feasibility study or other efforts to modernize our local levee system, please contact us at leveeready@gmail.com . 

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Local Issues

New flood safety district
 
 
In June, the Oregon State Legislature passed legislation creating a new special district designed to meet long-term flood safety needs along the Columbia, while also allowing for improved environmental stewardship in the managed floodplain and a more equitable distribution of costs based on both services and benefits received.

This district will ultimately take over operating the local 27-mile levee system, which is currently managed by four drainage districts: Peninsula Drainage District #1 (PEN 1), Peninsula Drainage District #2 (PEN 2), Multnomah County Drainage District (MCDD), and Sandy Drainage Improvement Company (SDIC). First, a board of directors needs to be appointed to set up the new district and create a revenue structure to support it. 

Learn more about this new district, how things will change, what will stay the same, board positions, timelines, and much more. 
RSVP Today
An RSVP is greatly appreciated but not required. 
Can’t make it on the 16th? Please let us know if you would be interested in discussing this issue at another time, or if you would like to have someone join your neighborhood association or community group to talk about what’s ahead for flood safety along the Columbia in Multnomah County.
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Local Issues

Town Hall this Saturday

Senator Frederick

Hello Friends and Neighbors,

Please make note of our upcoming town hall this Saturday. We will be gathering in the auditorium of the Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building located at N Killingsworth St and N Albina Ave at 10:00 a.m. Parking will be free on campus during the town hall.

Town Hall

Yours truly,

Senator Lew Frederick
Senate District 22

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Local Issues

Survey results

Levee Ready Columbia – Results from Values and Beliefs Survey

This summer over 1,000 people shared their thoughts about the future of the levee system along the Columbia River in Multnomah County with Levee Ready Columbia (LRC), a group of people from over 20 organizations who different interests in the Columbia River and the levee system.  We heard from people all over Multnomah County and the surrounding area about what they value most about the areas behind the levees and what they hope for the future of the levee system as LRC works to ensure the levees meet federal requirements.  The survey was available online and on paper in multiple languages and community organizers held in-person small group listening sessions and discussions in Spanish, Russian, and Somali.  

Some of the common themes that emerged include:

  • People are concerned about future flooding on the Columbia River (88 percent).
  • Most participants are willing to support investments of some kind beyond minimum federal requirements
  • The majority of participants support paying a few more dollars per year to make sure that the levees meet federal requirements and provide economic, environmental, or recreational improvements along the river.
  • While protecting all of the interests in the areas around the levee were important to people, participants indicated that the following were most important to them:
    • improving the health of the environment and habitat for fish and wildlife
    • protecting places for people to enjoy nature
    • protecting Portland International Airport
    • protecting homes and residents in the area; and
    • protecting educational and training institutions behind the levees

You can read the whole report at Oregon’s Kitchen Table.  To stay involved and hear about the progress LRC makes regarding the levee sytem, visit LRC’s website.

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