[BWNA] FW: Sullivan's Gulch Corridor/Trail Resolution and Letters of Support

Wed Nov 1 21:15:20 PST 2006

Hi everyone,

Just a head's up that we're being asked for support for this effort.  If
anyone wants to take this issue and really run with it, please let me know.
Otherwise, I will bring it before the Board for a vote at our next meeting.

Ankist and I attended tonight's CNN meeting.  Nothing much to report, but
what there is I will talk about at our next meeting.

Albert

From: MJ Coe <mj at mjsunderground.net>
Reply-To: mj at mjsunderground.net
Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2006 13:07:56 -0800
To: albertkaufman at gmail.com
Subject: Sullivan's Gulch Corridor/Trail Resolution and Letters of Support

Hi Albert:

Thanks for getting back to me, and thanks for taking this issue up with your
board at its
next meeting.  I am one of seven people on the Sullivan's Gulch Corridor
Steering
Committee.  We are currently soliciting official board support in the form
of
resolutions and letters of support for the Sullivan's Gulch Corridor and
Trail Project
from 23 neighborhood association who's boundaries are adjacent to, or in
close proximity
to, the I-84/Banfield corridor, and who's neighborhoods would have use of
such a trail.

Our objective for this public project is to create a greenway corridor from
the Willamette
River to I-205/Gateway/Rocky Butte along the I-84/Banfield corridor, for
recreation and
alternative transportation (bicycle and pedestrian) purposes.  We are
currently looking
for master plan study funding through a process called MTIP (info on MTIP
may be found
on the METRO web site -- Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program).

The project would eventually be an off-road trail in the land north of the
rail line,
parallel to the freeway.  It would connect to all the neighborhoods adjacent
to the
corridor with the Eastbank Esplanade, the Willamette River Greenway, the
I-205 Bike Trail,
the Springwater Corridor, and all the MAX light rail stations along its
route.  A 2003
study done by Portland State University graduate students reported that
there are 17
existing bridges that could connect the south side of the corridor to the
trail, and there
are approximately 50 access points on the north side.  There are currently
NO physical
structures that would impede the path of this trail project.

We would welcome your participation on our committee, as well as a show of
support by
passing neighborhood association board resolutions and writing letters of
support showing
how and why this project would be a valuable asset, particularly for those
residing in
your neighborhood.  The timely support of neighborhood associations like
yours that will
benefit from this project directly is critical to moving the project
forward.  Toward this
goal, I've attached three separate attachments to this email for your use.
All electronic
files are in Microsoft Word (.doc) file format:

1)  SGTrail Letter of Support:  a stock "letter of support" you may amend
for composing
your own letter.   Language for a sample resolution is found on page 2, as
well.
2)  Official Regional Contact addresses for public officials who should
receive copies of
your formal letter of support, printed on assn. letterhead (if possible)
3)  A Sullivans Gulch Project Fact Sheet, for your info.

Also, for more information, an online brochure, map, and a powerpoint
presentation on the
project is available at this website:

http://sullivansgulch.org/news/trails.asp

Links to the online brochure (.pdf Acrobat Reader file), a map (web page),
and an online
powerpoint presentation can be found on the right hand side of the above
trails web page.

Resolution wording may look something like this...amend as needed:

"Be it resolved that the board of the _____________ Neighborhood Association
strongly
supports the concept of a Sullivan's Gulch/I-84 Corridor and Trail Project
as recognized
in METRO¹s Regional Trails and Greenway System, as well as in the city¹s
Portland Parks &
Recreation 2020 Vision Plan.  We also request that MTIP funding be allocated
for master
plan studies, and we encourage our regionally elected officials to support
and endorse
this project.  Regarded as a ³missing link² to our current multi-modal
transportation
system, we believe that such a project, running through the heart of our
region, will
quickly become a valued asset to our neighborhood, and anticipate many of
our residents
will support and use it in the future."

We are asking three things from your assn. board:

1) please pass a resolution, post it in your official board minutes, and let
us know the
date it was passed.  My contact information can be found below, as well as
on the
"official regional contacts" file.
2) write a letter of support on your assn's. letterhead, stating how this
project would
    be of benefit to your residents.  Please send a copy of the letter to
each of
    the five people listed on the attached "Official Regional Contacts"
list.
3) Assign, and notify me of a contact person on your board for future
reference
4) Invite any interested people to help on our steering committee

At your request, we'll be happy to supply self-addressed stamped envelopes
to the five
regional contacts.

We hope that at least 20 of the 23 targeted associations will pass (as a
minimum) a
resolution of support by the end of September, and hope that many will write
a letter of
support as well.  Letters go a lot further than resolutions.  Use the
attached
"SGTrail_Letter_of_Support" file for guidelines in writing a letter.
Wording for a sample
resolution is at the end of the letter file, on page 2, as well.

If we make the initial "cut" in September, there will be public hearings on
all
transportation projects beginning in Octsober, at which point we may call on
neighborhood
association members to come and testify in support of this project.  There
will be lots of
other competing projects, no doubt.

Thank you very much for your consideration of this project.  Please forward
this message
to the rest of your board to provide them with background information they
may need to
consider resolutions.  This endeavor will take a number of years, but is an
extremely
worthwhile project, and organization/planning toward this goal needs to
start now.  Let us
know if anyone in your organization needs any more info, or if your
association would like
someone from our committee to give a presentation at one of your upcoming
assn. meetings.

Kind Regards,

MJ Coe
Sullivan's Gulch Corridor Steering Committee
Laurelhurst NA Board Member
mj at mjsunderground.net
503-233-1911

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