August 2009
1. Clean
& Safe Security Update
2. Clean & Safe Maintenance Update
3. Neighborhood Based District Attorney Update
4. West Side Community Court statistics
5. Sidewalk Ambassadors
6. Business Census and Survey released
7. Big Belly solar trash compactors
8. Downtown Marketing Initiative
9. Pedestrian Counts
1.
Clean & Safe Security Update
Downtown
property owners, employees and visitors may have noticed a
larger presence of Clean & Safe team members recently. On
July 1, the Alliance began work on a new contract with Portland
Mall Management, Inc. to provide maintenance and security
services on the Downtown Transit Mall and MAX "Loop" from
the Steel Bridge to SW 11th. The Clean & Safe umbrella now
provides 12 cleaners and 10 security officers, along with
assistance from our embedded Central Precinct police bicycle
officers and Mounted Patrol officers, to keep the Mall and
Loop vibrant and enjoyable for everyone. This program is expected
to be a transit security model nationwide and will help continue
our significant decline in crime downtown, more than 30 percent
since 2005.
Multnomah
County Corrections recently instituted a mandatory booking
policy for violation of all state criminal statutes and several
City of Portland criminal ordinances. As of July 6, criminal
defendants will no longer be issued citations and will instead
be booked into the downtown Justice Center jail until they
appear in court, post bail or are released on their own recognizance
based upon their crime and criminal history. We believe this
will significantly reduce crime and the number of warrants
by defendants failing to appear. It may also affect Clean
& Safe police bicycle officers and the Mounted Patrol officers
working downtown, as it will take them off the street for
a period of time while they transport suspects to the jail.
Alliance staff are working with Central Precinct Commander
Mike Reese on ideas to minimize the potential impact of this
process and we will report on this in the coming months.
Downtown
property owners, businesses and residents continue to deal
with the increase in sidewalk sitters since the recent loss
of the sidewalk obstruction ordinance. Two community meetings
were held in July to hear public opinion regarding the ordinance,
with Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish seeking viable
solutions to deal with this issue in the near future. Many
of the meeting attendees commented that the problem isn't
with homeless individuals sitting on sidewalks, it is with
the large number of urban camper "Road Warriors" and local
suburban youth. Until city council determines a solution,
Central Precinct and the District Attorney's office have determined
that individuals intentionally or recklessly obstructing a
sidewalk may be arrested and charged with disorderly conduct
and be lodged in jail under the new mandatory booking policy.
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2.
Clean & Safe Maintenance Update
We are
currently purchasing power washers and other equipment to
enhance the Homeless to Work program's efforts on the Tri-Met
Mall and Loop. We are also testing electric vehicles for use
on the Mall, similar to the one recently purchased by PDSI.
The cleaners
report the following:
- 2,214
graffiti tags removed (Public/Private and Tri-Met)
- 1,436
bags of trash
- 651
citizen cleaning responses
- 643
needles and items of drug paraphernalia
- 1,361
restroom inspections and cleaning.
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3.
Neighborhood Based District Attorney Update
The Neighborhood
District Attorney reviewed 286 cases for July and issued 285,
a significant increase in the normal monthly issuing. With
the new July 6 booking procedure, criminal cases must now
be issued on the next judicial day following arrest, increasing
caseloads of the Neighborhood District Attorney and Legal
Assistant who review the cases.
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4.
West Side Community Court statistics for
July
- 242
defendants were ordered to community service
- 116
defendants were in compliance
- 100
defendants working toward completion
- 26
defendants unsuccessful and facing additional court sanctions.
- 39
jail days saved by the program
Westside
Community Court Work Crew statistics:
- 510
block faces covered
- 270
bags of trash removed
- 1,584
street cleaning hours
- 198
people reporting for crew
Theft
Accountability Class
The
program continues to retain an average 77 percent success
rate.
Other statistics for July:
- 85
defendants sentenced to attend
- 42
successful completions
- 9 failures
to complete resulting in jail sentences
- 34
open cases
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5.
Sidewalk Ambassadors
The Ambassadors
are fully staffed for the summer months with a total of six.
In July the Ambassador kiosk was placed on the Tri-Met Mall
to help with the Mall opening and assist tourists and local
riders with reliable information on use of the Mall. The Ambassadors
also delivered more than 10,000 of the new Downtown Dining
Guides at hotels and other businesses throughout the Business
Improvement District. They also identified a new brewpub,
The American Brewery at NW Park Avenue and Davis Street, which
will take up the first floor of the building when completed.
With a
new laptop and Wi-Fi in the kiosk, residents and tourists
visiting downtown can get instant information from one of
our helpful Ambassadors who rove throughout the BID. All are
specially trained to provide accurate information about downtown,
and are also connected by radio to the Clean & Safe dispatch
center so they can report cleaning and security issues as
they occur.
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6.
Business Census and Survey released
Data collection
of the Alliance's Annual Business Census and Survey of all
businesses, governmental entities and non-profit agencies
located in the I-5/I-405 loop has been completed and the report
will be released in July. The employee count in downtown for
2008 totaled 82,994, a decrease of 4 percent from 2007. Other
highlights of the report show that downtown cleanliness and
safety ratings remained consistent over past years, with 98
percent of respondents rating downtown as "Safe" or "Very
Safe" and 78 percent noting that downtown was "Clean" or "Very
Clean."
Read
press release discussing results >>
View
2008 Business Census >>
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7.
Big Belly Solar Trash Compactors
 The
Alliance has set up a program through their Charitable Institute
in which companies can purchase the Big Belly solar trash
compaction units to donate to the city and apply for a tax
deduction. There has been much interest in the new program,
both from businesses downtown and in the Lloyd District. Eleven
Big Belly units have been purchased under this program and
will be installed in downtown furing August. If you are interested
in sponsoring a unit, additional information is available
at www.portlandadoptabelly.com.
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8.
Downtown Marketing Initiative
The Downtown
Marketing Initiative created a short-term marketing plan to
help immediately stimulate traffic at downtown businesses,
at the request of retailers during their June Downtown Retail
Council meeting. In July, the DMI will promote summer events
and other downtown offerings through "40 Days of Summer" on
KINK-FM. Events will also be advertised through a Portland
Tribune advertorial, TriMet bus sides, and downtownportland.org
Web site. In August and September, the promotion will continue
with the Portland Tribune partnership and additional KINK
advertising, expanding to highlight individual retailers daily
through on-air promos, recorded spots and e-newsletter ads.
Public relations outreach will support unique retail, fall
fashion, and the Green Line MAX launch, downtown events and
ongoing window activation.
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9.
Pedestrian Counts
The Alliance
conducted its semi-annual pedestrian counts at intersections
within the Business Improvement District on June 18 through
20. This season, counts were expanded from past years of 15
corners to 21 intersections, with additional sites on Yamhill
and Morrison added to inform the Downtown Retail Vision Task
Force and their discussion on Retail Signature Streets. Four
of the six intersections counted on Yamhill and Morrison showed
heavier traffic on Morrison, though the percentage difference
was slight. Counts at Broadway and Morrison remained highest
of all other corners counted, though traffic decreased 33
percent over last year. Overall counts may have been negatively
impacted by the extreme rainstorms that occurred on Friday
and Saturday of the counts.
Read
Pedestrian count summary >>
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