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• 21. [Article] Development of a Pedestrian Demand Estimation Tool: a Destination Choice Model

  There is growing support for improvements to the quality of the walking environment, including more investments to promote pedestrian travel. Planners, engineers, and others seek improved tools to estimate ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Development of a Pedestrian Demand Estimation Tool: a Destination Choice Model Author: Muhs, Christopher D., Clifton, Kelly, Singleton, Patrick Allen, Schneider, Robert J. Year: 2015 There is growing support for improvements to the quality of the walking environment, including more investments to promote pedestrian travel. Planners, engineers, and others seek improved tools to estimate pedestrian demand that are sensitive to environmental and demographic factors at the appropriate scale in order to aid policy-relevant issues like air quality, public health, and smart allocation of infrastructure and other resources. Further, in the travel demand forecasting realm, tools of this kind are difficult to implement due to the use of spatial scales of analysis that are oriented towards motorized modes, vast data requirements, and computer processing limitations. To address these issues, a two-phase project between Portland State University and Oregon Metro is underway to develop a robust pedestrian planning method for use in regional travel demand models. The first phase, completed in 2013, utilizes a tool that predicts the number of walking trips generated with spatial acuity, based on a new measure of the pedestrian environment and a micro-level unit of analysis. Currently, phase two is building upon this tool to predict the distribution of walking trips, connecting the origins predicted in phase one to destinations. This presentation will focus on phase two, which is one of the first studies to focus on destination choices among pedestrians separately from other modes. The approach can be extended to identify the spatial extent of potential pedestrian paths to these destinations. Ultimately, the products developed from the research can estimate various aspects of pedestrian demand – trip generation, trip distribution, and areas of potential pedestrian activity. These tools will add to the analytical methods available for transportation modeling, pedestrian and safety analysis, health assessments, and other pedestrian planning applications. Title: Development of a Pedestrian Demand Estimation Tool: a Destination Choice Model Author: Muhs, Christopher D., Clifton, Kelly, Singleton, Patrick Allen, Schneider, Robert J. Year: 2015 There is growing support for improvements to the quality of the walking environment, including more investments to promote pedestrian travel. Planners, engineers, and others seek improved tools to estimate pedestrian demand that are sensitive to environmental and demographic factors at the appropriate scale in order to aid policy-relevant issues like air quality, public health, and smart allocation of infrastructure and other resources. Further, in the travel demand forecasting realm, tools of this kind are difficult to implement due to the use of spatial scales of analysis that are oriented towards motorized modes, vast data requirements, and computer processing limitations. To address these issues, a two-phase project between Portland State University and Oregon Metro is underway to develop a robust pedestrian planning method for use in regional travel demand models. The first phase, completed in 2013, utilizes a tool that predicts the number of walking trips generated with spatial acuity, based on a new measure of the pedestrian environment and a micro-level unit of analysis. Currently, phase two is building upon this tool to predict the distribution of walking trips, connecting the origins predicted in phase one to destinations. This presentation will focus on phase two, which is one of the first studies to focus on destination choices among pedestrians separately from other modes. The approach can be extended to identify the spatial extent of potential pedestrian paths to these destinations. Ultimately, the products developed from the research can estimate various aspects of pedestrian demand – trip generation, trip distribution, and areas of potential pedestrian activity. These tools will add to the analytical methods available for transportation modeling, pedestrian and safety analysis, health assessments, and other pedestrian planning applications. Close

• 22. [Article] From the Frontlines of the Housing Crisis: Two Vulnerable Tenants Discuss Their Experiences in Portland's Increasingly Brutal Housing Market

  Homelessness is the most visible face of Portland's affordable housing crisis, but the numbers of street sleepers and tent campers are nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of beleaguered tenants. ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: From the Frontlines of the Housing Crisis: Two Vulnerable Tenants Discuss Their Experiences in Portland's Increasingly Brutal Housing Market Author: Kerr, Thomas Year: 2016 Homelessness is the most visible face of Portland's affordable housing crisis, but the numbers of street sleepers and tent campers are nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of beleaguered tenants. They may be hidden away in their separate apartments, but they are suffering the effects of crisis all the same. Forty percent of the 900,000 households in the Portland Metro area are tenants, and half are paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent. A quarter pay more than 50 percent, and the percentages go higher as the households get poorer. Besides forcing them to impoverish themselves to pay for housing, the crisis is narrowing their choices, blighting their lives with frequent moves and compromising their ability to survive. Although we usually dedicate the interview to prominent officials and civic leaders, we decided, this time, to talk with two of Portland's low-income tenants, both active in the tenant movement, and get their take on the crisis and how these problems might be solved. Lynn Hager, 34, is finishing up her degree in community development at Portland State University after working for many years and having a child. Melissa Pyle, 26, works at PSU and is also in the final year of her community development degree. Here are some highlights from their discussion with Metroscape writer, Thomas Kerr. Title: From the Frontlines of the Housing Crisis: Two Vulnerable Tenants Discuss Their Experiences in Portland's Increasingly Brutal Housing Market Author: Kerr, Thomas Year: 2016 Homelessness is the most visible face of Portland's affordable housing crisis, but the numbers of street sleepers and tent campers are nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of beleaguered tenants. They may be hidden away in their separate apartments, but they are suffering the effects of crisis all the same. Forty percent of the 900,000 households in the Portland Metro area are tenants, and half are paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent. A quarter pay more than 50 percent, and the percentages go higher as the households get poorer. Besides forcing them to impoverish themselves to pay for housing, the crisis is narrowing their choices, blighting their lives with frequent moves and compromising their ability to survive. Although we usually dedicate the interview to prominent officials and civic leaders, we decided, this time, to talk with two of Portland's low-income tenants, both active in the tenant movement, and get their take on the crisis and how these problems might be solved. Lynn Hager, 34, is finishing up her degree in community development at Portland State University after working for many years and having a child. Melissa Pyle, 26, works at PSU and is also in the final year of her community development degree. Here are some highlights from their discussion with Metroscape writer, Thomas Kerr. Close

• 23. [Article] Informing the Plan - Incorporating Stakeholder Hopes, Dreams, and Concerns: An Assessment of the Creekside District Master Plan

  In April 2011, the City of Beaverton adopted its Civic Plan Central City Strategy (“the Civic Plan”). The Civic Plan provided a new understanding of the Central City. One of the Civic Plan’s most important ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Informing the Plan - Incorporating Stakeholder Hopes, Dreams, and Concerns: An Assessment of the Creekside District Master Plan Author: Merrick, Meg Year: 2014 In April 2011, the City of Beaverton adopted its Civic Plan Central City Strategy (“the Civic Plan”). The Civic Plan provided a new understanding of the Central City. One of the Civic Plan’s most important strategic goals was the transformation of the Creekside District (an underutilized 50-acre site situated at the heart of the Central City) into a vibrant, sustainable, mixed-use community. The Creekside District master planning effort (that was supported by a HUD Community Challenge Grant) has built on the Civic Plan, Beaverton’s Community Vision (2010), the Beaverton Urban Renewal Plan (2011), and Metro’s 2040 Growth Concept. The Creekside District Master Plan and Implementation Strategy outlines the investments, projects, and programs that will be needed to transform the District into “a vibrant, mixed-use, transit-oriented downtown neighborhood, where people enjoy easy access to the natural environment, safe and reliable transportation and parking systems, and opportunities for jobs, housing, and entertainment” (Creekside District Master Plan and Implementation Strategy, 2014). Central to the Creekside District master planning process was the engagement of the current business owners and residents in and immediately surrounding the District – in other words, those who will be most directly impacted by the plan. Additionally, recognizing that a significant number of the small business owners and residents who would be affected are racial and ethnic minorities, the City put special emphasis on engaging these typically underrepresented groups in the planning process. The purpose of this report is to assess how well the public input, that was gathered throughout the Creekside District master planning process, has been considered and incorporated into the Creekside District Master Plan. Specifically, this report focuses on the findings of the outreach efforts directed at those most directly impacted by changes to the Creekside District: business owners within the District; residents in and adjacent to the District; and minority community leaders and youth. Following public engagement best practices, the City sought input from these stakeholders early in the planning process to gain a better understanding of how the District does and doesn’t work for them, as well as stakeholders’ hopes for its future. Beginning in the fall, 2012, Beaverton planners conducted a Creekside District mobility audit with transportation planners, representation from the disability community, and pedestrian advocates to get a better understanding of the barriers to mobility, access, and transportation generally within the District. The results of this audit were integrated into the City’s existing conditions analysis. Title: Informing the Plan - Incorporating Stakeholder Hopes, Dreams, and Concerns: An Assessment of the Creekside District Master Plan Author: Merrick, Meg Year: 2014 In April 2011, the City of Beaverton adopted its Civic Plan Central City Strategy (“the Civic Plan”). The Civic Plan provided a new understanding of the Central City. One of the Civic Plan’s most important strategic goals was the transformation of the Creekside District (an underutilized 50-acre site situated at the heart of the Central City) into a vibrant, sustainable, mixed-use community. The Creekside District master planning effort (that was supported by a HUD Community Challenge Grant) has built on the Civic Plan, Beaverton’s Community Vision (2010), the Beaverton Urban Renewal Plan (2011), and Metro’s 2040 Growth Concept. The Creekside District Master Plan and Implementation Strategy outlines the investments, projects, and programs that will be needed to transform the District into “a vibrant, mixed-use, transit-oriented downtown neighborhood, where people enjoy easy access to the natural environment, safe and reliable transportation and parking systems, and opportunities for jobs, housing, and entertainment” (Creekside District Master Plan and Implementation Strategy, 2014). Central to the Creekside District master planning process was the engagement of the current business owners and residents in and immediately surrounding the District – in other words, those who will be most directly impacted by the plan. Additionally, recognizing that a significant number of the small business owners and residents who would be affected are racial and ethnic minorities, the City put special emphasis on engaging these typically underrepresented groups in the planning process. The purpose of this report is to assess how well the public input, that was gathered throughout the Creekside District master planning process, has been considered and incorporated into the Creekside District Master Plan. Specifically, this report focuses on the findings of the outreach efforts directed at those most directly impacted by changes to the Creekside District: business owners within the District; residents in and adjacent to the District; and minority community leaders and youth. Following public engagement best practices, the City sought input from these stakeholders early in the planning process to gain a better understanding of how the District does and doesn’t work for them, as well as stakeholders’ hopes for its future. Beginning in the fall, 2012, Beaverton planners conducted a Creekside District mobility audit with transportation planners, representation from the disability community, and pedestrian advocates to get a better understanding of the barriers to mobility, access, and transportation generally within the District. The results of this audit were integrated into the City’s existing conditions analysis. Close