So what’s new on my riverfront beat, you may be wondering. Besides a doll having been propped up and left by the side of the Dave Clark Path?
¶ Well, for one thing, there’s new housing being built and not just at Edgewater Village, where Baldwin Construction is putting up a bunch of detached units and townhouses. There’s also this duplex, going up next to the path on the north end of Sherman Street:
The duplex under construction at 235 Sherman N.E., the way it looked on May 20.
Bob G. Mitchell is building the 3,322-square-foot duplex on a site where a double-wide mobile home had sat before.
¶ Farther west, near the Wheelhouse, where people for years have been camping high on the riverbank under the concrete slab of the path, somebody had carelessly parked — or dumped — a bike in the bushes. I saw it there on Saturday:
Here’s a closer look, in case somebody who reads this is missing this bike and wondering where it went:
Also of note along the riverfront:
¶ The city planning division has changed its mind about submitting the site plan for The Banks, the 105-unit apartment project proposed near Bowman Park, to the planning commission on June 17. Planner Melissa Anderson now says the plan will be reviewed by the staff and go to the commission only if someone objects to the staff ‘s decision. The June 17 planning commission meeting has been canceled.
¶ And part of the Clark Path is likely to be blocked this summer for the construction of a lift station on the big sewer main known as the Riverside Interceptor.
The underground lift station, capable of pumping 12,500 gallons of wastewater per minute, will be built in the middle of the path just west of the Wheelhouse, and the path will be rebuilt to go around it.
Along with the pump, the project calls for construction of 7,000 feet of a new sewer main down Water Avenue and then to the treatment plant. It’s intended to prevent the overflow of wastewater to the Willamette River during heavy rainstorms.
The city opened bids for the project on May 21 and posted the results online. There were seven bidders. The apparent low bid was submitted by Pacific Excavation in the amount of $7,173,075, substantially below the city engineer’s estimate.
According to the contract documents, the pump and force main are to be completed by Jan. 31, 2020.
¶ No word on how or whether all that construction will affect the homeless squats under the path or along the rest of the banks. (hh)
It is demonstrative that not a soul gave a tinkers damn about the homeless “squats under the path,” as Hasso so compassionately puts it, until such time as the $300-thousand dollar homes started going up.
It’s like a replay of when the White Euro settlers gave the original owners the boot so they could build their Towne homes.
And don’t forget about WREN’S mural project on the wooden fences on the east end of the path, where the doll is. We’ll be showcasing the work of 6 Albany artists, including 2 South Albany High School students. We plan on starting as soon as the cottonwood stops shedding. Stop by in June to watch the transformation!
And how long will it be before it gets “tagged” by a genuine graffiti artist?
We hope not at all. Studies show that surfaces are less likely to be tagged if artwork is painted on them.
https://www.kqed.org/news/10530644/why-dont-murals-get-covered-by-graffiti-in-the-mission
http://www.anti-graffiti.org/cities-in-action/mural-programs
From your 1st source-
“Tags happen to some degree every week,” says Megan Wilson, director of the Clarion Alley Mural Project,”
“Though graffiti often marks up the perimeter of the murals, it’s rare to find a tag cutting directly across the detailed center of the artwork, says Wilson.”
Numerous other references to tagging in more discreet places between the murals.
As to your 2nd source-
How many of these are low use bike paths that have a somewhat “seedy” reputation at night?
I didn’t go through your entire list, but it appeared to all be open, public places.
Let’s watch you learn the truth about “studies” first hand.