December 2008
1. New
24-hour public restrooms to open in downtown Portland
2. Holiday Lighting launch event presents greener
program
3. Holiday car prowl prevention program kicks
off its fourth season
4. Clean & Safe Maintenance update
5. Clean & Safe Security report
6. West Side Community Court update
7. Sidewalk Ambassadors report
8. Downtown Business Census & Survey distributed
9. Biannual pedestrian counts Dec. 18, 19
and 20
10. DMI launches "Seek the Unique" holiday
promotion
11. Construction Moratorium means more parking
for downtown shoppers
1.
New 24-hour public restrooms to open in downtown Portland
 Over
the past year, Alliance staff has been working closely with
the City of Portland on developing a plan to open 24-hour
public restrooms in downtown. Commissioner Randy Leonard has
spearheaded the effort and facilitated development of what
he has termed "The Portland Loo", incorporating crime prevention
through environmental design techniques with ease of maintenance
and utility principles. The first unit will be located in
front of the Greyhound Station in Old Town Chinatown and will
formally open on Dec. 8 at a press event there, beginning
at 11 a.m. The city is contracting with the Alliance to provide
cleaning services, and the police and Clean & Safe will regularly
patrol the area to ensure appropriate usage of the unit.
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2.
Holiday Lighting launch event presents greener program
The Holiday
Lighting Program launched Thurs., Nov. 13, with a press conference
in front of Fox Tower. The Alliance manages the annual tree
lighting program on behalf of downtown property owners, who
fund the lighting program, investing in 22,000 strands of
new LED lights for the roughly 700 trees along 70 blocks in
the retail core. The energy savings from the LED lights totals
320,000-kilowatt hours, enough energy to power the 27-story
Fox Tower office building for approximately two weeks. The
lights will remain up through Feb. 15.
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3.
Holiday car prowl prevention program kicks off its fourth
season
The Holiday
Car Prowl Prevention Program kicked off its fourth season
with the distribution of more than 20,000 flyers advising
visitors to "Park Smart" downtown during the Thanksgiving
weekend. Thanks in part to the efforts of security contractor
Portland Patrol, Inc., in the past three years car prowls
have been reduced by more than 20 percent during the holiday
and other high usage seasons. The Smart Park garages have
also recently seen an even more significant reduction, with
only two car prowls occurring in the past 90 days.
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4.
Clean & Safe Maintenance update
The Clean
& Safe maintenance program has been busy this fall with leaf
pick-ups. To date, more than 2,000 bags have been removed
from the BID, in addition to regular trash pick-ups. Please
call Clean & Safe at 503.224.7383 for leaf pick-ups.
Additionally,
cleaners are currently testing out some trash cart adaptations
featuring new wheels to make them more efficient, reduce noise
and speed work progress.
The Spring
issue of Reed Magazine will feature Cleaning Supervisor
Matt Bellet, a Reed College graduate. Matt uses his skills
every day while supervising the homeless-to-work program:
the magazine is focusing on what Matt brings to this program.
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5.
Clean & Safe Security report
In November,
Clean & Safe security officers contacted 8,175 citizens on
the streets of downtown Portland's Business Improvement District.
These contacts included 2,345 business assistance and referral
contacts, 3,399 pedestrian contacts, 41 arrests, 110 exclusions
and an additional 89 non-enforcement problem-solving contacts.
The Neighborhood
District Attorney Legal Assistant reported reviewing and issuing
203 criminal cases in November.
Some contacts
of note include:
- On
November 7, Clean and Safe security officer Jordan Houck
was informed by a citizen of a fight in progress on SW Morrison
near 10th Avenue. Upon arrival, he observed another security
officer and a civilian detaining a purse-snatcher in front
of Brooks Brothers. Houck determined the suspect was under
control and immediately requested Clean & Safe back up and
a Portland Police response. He then provided assistance
to the female victim until police and medical arrived. The
suspect was arrested and the purse was returned to the victim,
and charges have been filed by the District Attorney's office.
- Clean
& Safe security officer Phil Goodfellow noticed a problem
with abandoned bicycles locked to bicycle stands in the
downtown core area and has developed a system to tag the
bicycles for removal. By partnering with the Bicycle Transit
Authority for proper removal and storage, 42 bicycles have
been tagged to-date and 28 have been removed.
- Clean
& Safe security officer Andrew Lisichenko spotted two subjects
behaving suspiciously and using cellular phones to communicate
in an apparent attempt to perform car prowls in a Smart
Park structure. Lisichenko contacted the pair and issued
them exclusions before escorting them from the structure.
He then observed the car they got into, with a third subject
driving, and provided the license plate to the police; the
vehicle history came back as associated with prolific thieves
and car prowlers.
- Two
Clean & Safe officers were walking downtown on routine patrol
in November and found several shopping bags containing clothing
valued at more than $1,500 from Chico's sitting on the sidewalk.
They returned the bags to Chico's, the customer was contacted
and she retrieved the merchandise.
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6.
West Side Community Court update
The West
Side Community Court reports in November that 159 defendants
were ordered to community service, 52 defendants were in compliance,
100 are working toward completion and 7 were unsuccessful
and given jail sentences.
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7.
Sidewalk Ambassadors report
The Sidewalk
Ambassador program will be reduced to two full-time Ambassador
positions during the non-peak season.
November
Statistics:
- Business
Modifications: 5
- Business
Visits: 203
- Publications:
1,155
- Information:
2,674
- Service
Calls: 50
- Total
Interactions: 4,087
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8.
Downtown Business Census & Survey distributed
The Downtown
Business Census & Survey has been mailed to all businesses,
non-profit entities and governmental agencies this month,
using Oct. 1 as the baseline for data collection. The results
will be collected over a six-month period in order to receive
a 100 percent count of all employees, and a statistically
significant amount of survey information. This is the eighth
annual business census conducted by the Alliance.
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9.
Biannual pedestrian counts Dec. 18, 19 and 20
The Portland
Business Alliance conducts biannual pedestrian traffic counts
on 15 intersections within the Business Improvement District
from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each spring and winter. This season's
pedestrian counts will occur Dec. 18, 19, and 20. The purpose
of the counts is to track pedestrian traffic volumes in front
of key intersections within the downtown core, available retail
space, and parcels poised for redevelopment. Pedestrian counts
measure the foot traffic entering each intersection. Contracted
individuals use directional counting boards to track the number
of pedestrians entering the intersection from each direction.
The counts are recorded hourly, for a period of 12 hours.
The information is compared to previous counts collectively
within the Business Improvement District and individually
by intersection.
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10.
DMI launches "Seek the Unique" holiday promotion
 The
Downtown Marketing Initiative's retail holiday promotion this
year is titled "Seek the Unique." With more than $500,000
in additional marketing dollars from the city, there will
be radio and airplay promoting downtown in addition to the
print, billboard and public bench advertising supplied by
TriMet and our other partners. This year, downtown Portland
will be portioned off into five districts, each with a theme
based on five to 10 of the unique offerings per district.
See these offerings at: www.downtownportland.org.
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11.
Construction Moratorium means more parking for downtown shoppers
A Construction
Moratorium occurs this holiday season from Nov. 21 at 6 p.m.
until Jan. 2, 2009, halting approximately 90 percent of construction
within the retail core. The moratorium will free up at least
400 parking spaces that were previously reserved for construction
activities.
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