We’ll have more to share in future issues of Street Cred, but for now we’re pausing to reflect on all the work over the last decade to make this vital connection a reality. In her remarks at the opening ceremony, Commissioner Hardesty pointed to what a thankless job public service can be. We hear more about what we’re not doing than being thanked for what we do. We build bridges or complete major milestones, then pivot right away to all the other work to be done. 

We take these words to heart and know that all those PBOTers who had a hand in this project deserve this moment to pause, reflect, celebrate, and feel proud. Congratulations!  

PBOT’s Employee Satisfaction Survey was extended to Monday, Aug. 8! With roughly 150 responses initially, PBOT's Employee Services needs to hear from more of you to ensure all voices are represented. Your feedback helps guide important decisions in how best to support you. Contact Lindsay Bjork with questions.  

After taking a short break in July, PBOT Lunch and Learn is back next week with the long-awaited How Development Shaped Portland’s Street System presented by Tammy Boren-King.  

Have you ever walked or driven along a street in Portland and asked yourself, “How on earth did this get built this way?” or “Why is this street so different from the next street over?” Join Tammy Boren-King for this Lunch and Learn to find out some of the story of how we got to our present system. We won’t go into the entire 150-year history in one lunch hour, but we can start to understand what happened and how a law signed by President Millard Fillmore still fundamentally shapes the transportation network we all use and work with today.  

Join us virtually on Teams or in person at the Portland Building in room 1501 on the 15th floor. 

Friendly reminder, Coffee Talkers, this is the last week to get your second-round chats in. You’ll be matched with your third and final partner Monday, Aug. 8 

Miss out on signing up for this round of Coffee Talk? Next round begins next month so keep an eye on the Scoop and Street Cred for more details. Questions? As always, contact Kailyn Lamb.  

Wellness Wednesday with CityStrong: Are you looking to boost your energy? Having difficulty finding time to be physically active? Do you enjoy walking? Join the CityStrong Portland Building Walking Group on Aug. 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31 from 12 – 12:30 p.m. Meet in front of the Portland Building lobby.  

For more information, contact CityStrong. 

Building Healthy Habits movement challenge: You are invited to stay active, healthy, and have fun through the Building Healthy Habits movement challenge! This virtual map challenge takes you on a journey across the U.S., starting in the gorgeous, rainy Pacific Northwest and ending between the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge mountain ranges. On this journey, learn how to build healthy habits that range from healthy eating to the science behind a consistent exercise regimen to daily self-care gems and how to make these newly built habits stick! 

Challenge starts today, Aug. 3 and runs to Aug. 31. Registration is open. Each participant aims to achieve 232,000 total steps to finish the challenge (8,000 steps/day average). Participants who average at least 8,000 steps/ per day for five days each week will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 gift card (5 winners each week)! 

Participants will have until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 31, to log their steps and activities. 

Join the Building Healthy Habits challenge! 

Questions? Contact citystrong@portlandoregon.gov While we’ve included stops in 12 destinations, remember it’s the content each stop contains, not the destination itself, that’s important. 

“Big thank you to Jacyln and Pennen for taking initiative, providing excellent service and representing MO Well,” said Justin Buchanan, Maintenance Supervisor. We couldn’t agree more!  

It didn’t take long for Portlanders to notice and fall in love with the bow ties either!  

By Abby Hauth  

There’s a lot going on NE 47th Avenue between Cornfoot Road and Columbia Boulevard. Look north from this stretch of road and you have Whitaker Ponds Natural Area to the east, warehouses to the west, and Portland International Airport to the north. All these uses historically meant a mix of school field trips, freight, and a variety of industrial uses on a narrow stretch of road. Neighboring residents found it tough and unsafe to navigate. There were no sidewalks, no bike lanes, and students walking to Whitaker Ponds had to make a precarious journey along the fog line on the side of the road.  

It took years, but PBOT’s Local Improvement District Administrator Andrew Aebi worked behind the scenes with neighbors and other stakeholders, former Commissioner Steve Novick when he oversaw PBOT, and the late Commissioner Nick Fish when he oversaw the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) to form a local improvement district (LID) for this section of NE 47th Avenue. For those who don’t know, Andrew is the bureau’s (and the city’s) go-to person for creatively piecing together funding to improve Portland’s roadways through the LID process.  

Not all LIDs require such levels of coordination, but Civil Engineer Nicole Blanchard led strategic technical planning work on the project and expertly coordinated the many moving pieces across four different bureaus to get the job done. The NE 47th Avenue LID team also included Construction Manager John Wilson and Financial Analyst Ty Berry.  

How the NE 47th Avenue LID was born  

In 2016, Andrew got a call from Portland Parks & Recreation (Parks) asking to build sidewalks in front of Whitaker Ponds. Andrew saw an opportunity to take the project further and suggested a complete reconstruction of the road and sidewalk as well as adding a multi-use path along the half-mile stretch. He organized a group of stakeholders that included the Cully Association of Neighbors, the Columbia Slough Watershed Council, as well as PBOT, Parks, BES, and the Portland Water Bureau (PWB). There were a lot of cooks in that kitchen, but everyone played an important role: 

• PBOT and Parks both contributed funds from system development charges (SDCs). PBOT’s contribution meant constructing the entire length of NE 47th Avenue. Parks’ contribution meant extending the project beyond the frontage improvement for Whitaker Ponds Nature Park. Extending the scope of the project this way ensured the road could provide a safer connection to nearby frequent-service transit, TriMet’s 75 bus line.  
• BES provided major funding to avoid having to reconstruct the road later for what was previously a standalone sewer extension project. For this LID, they extended that sanitary sewer in the area. 
• PWB replaced a 100-year-old cast-iron water main. 

Ty Berry explains that this project wouldn’t have been possible without the financial support from these other bureaus. But it’s beyond the financial contribution. Having all the coordination between bureaus made this a fully fleshed-out, well-rounded project.  

Overcoming challenges 

This was not an easy project to take on. There were environmental regulations to contend with as well as the road’s flat grade which made stormwater drainage a challenge. There was also contaminated soil and the aforementioned poor road conditions. Still, with careful planning, coordination, and communication, the project exceeded expectations in many ways.  

One tricky design element was the multiuse path alongside the vehicle traffic lanes. Typically when PBOT adds infrastructure to the existing right-of-way, Nicole explained, the road expands to fit these elements. But the planning team wanted everything to fit within the street’s existing footprint, including the 26-foot-wide (about 13 feet on each side of the street) multiuse path. To create more room and avoid damage to newly planted trees, Nicole found a solution: move street trees to a location behind the path so they would grow and create a canopy over the residents’ properties instead of being planted curbside where they’d get whacked by truck mirrors.  

Pedestrians, people biking, as well as those accessing transit in the Cully neighborhood all now have a finished multiuse path to use and enjoy. But before this was a reality, there was another hiccup: a ditch running along NE 47th Avenue designated as “Waters of the State.” This term refers to natural waterways like streams, lakes, marshes, and includes drainage systems. If water levels rise in the slough, in other words, the ditch would be backfilled, then drain back into the waterway along with toxins from the road. 

This discovery meant the team had to go through a lengthy process of coordination with Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of State Lands to apply for special permits so construction could continue. The team worked through these unforeseen circumstances, ultimately benefiting from bringing on a woman-owned environmental consulting firm to obtain the necessary permits.  

John Wilson noted that oil-contaminated soil was also an issue during construction, with contractors finding a large amount when they were laying the new sewer line. With clear communication from John and Nicole, the oily soil was tracked, sampled, and removed and the project proceeded in a cost-effective and timely manner.  

A 50-year road  

Before construction, John described NE 47th Avenue as having an alley feel: narrow, big potholes, debris from empty palettes from neighboring businesses. To make the road last longer, contractors paved using concrete instead of asphalt. Though costlier and harder to pour correctly, concrete was the way to go for many reasons:  

• Endurance. Concrete lasts up to 50 years, much longer than asphalt, an important feature given the heavy freight use and the way intersections can deteriorate more quickly.  
• Less soil excavation. You can lay down 10 inches of concrete on 8 inches of base.  
• Cost savings. Less excavation meant less short-term costs. Fewer repairs needed over the next 50 years, means long-term savings as well. 

Speaking of savings, this LID was completed within 0.5% of the budget and with no contract disputes or claims. Andrew noted this is very rare for a project of this size and scale. Not only did the project stick to the budget, but there were virtually no claims filed from the construction contractor. This was an extremely high-risk project in a high-trafficked area, with lots of staging for concrete pouring in a tight space, and with multiple bureaus involved. Nicole and John’s technical leadership and coordination proved it was possible to close a project on budget with so few issues.  

A model project 

By Noah Hanser-Young 

After a three-year hiatus, the Path to Leadership program returned last year. The nine-month program  provides a unique opportunity for non-managerial city employees to develop leadership skills. As the 2022 cohort kicks off soon, we wanted a chance to highlight the program’s reboot and profile the PBOTers that took part last year.  

Before bringing the program back, the staff behind it looked to improve upon its foundation and diversify its participants. This meant a renewed focus on the city’s core values of anti-racism, equity, transparency, communication, collaboration, and fiscal responsibility. It also meant making the application process more inclusive and transparent. Prior to the reboot, for instance, participants had to be nominated directly from management. As a result, the program didn’t reflect the diversity of the city or its staff. 

As part of the reboot, all eligible city employees can now apply to participate in Path to Leadership through the city’s public job site. This, along with the program’s promise to ensure equity in admissions, has resulted in more diverse cohorts representing a wide range of professional and personal backgrounds. 

Workshops, coaching, and impact projects  

Street Cred talked with PBOTers who took part in the program last year to get a sense of how they experienced the program. The program consists of workshops and training on a variety of people-focused skills in leadership and management.  

Amion Caldwell, a Utility Worker II on the Day Street Cleaning team, was one of PBOT’s five graduates of last year’s program. Amion said the class on emotional intelligence was a highlight. “Hands down the most valuable class I had!” he said. “It taught me to look for and understand the signs shown by people who are going through personal issues all while still showing up to work and putting on a brave face.” 

Along with workshops and classes like these, there are optional peer coaching sessions. These consist of three cohort members teaming up to learn from each other’s experiences, then bring this knowledge to solve relevant problems in their jobs.  

“Impact projects” are another aspect of the program. These bring together small groups of the cohort with similar passions who work together on projects to improve work at various city bureaus. Examples of these projects included expanding citywide mentorship programs, increasing water conservation to lower utility bills, and improving opportunities for people of color to gain and retain city employment. 

Staff who took part in the program noted that the work of these impact projects didn’t stop when the program ended, nor did the advocacy it inspired. Another graduate of last year’s program, Aszita Mansor (who has since been promoted to Engineering Supervisor) noted how she worked with fellow cohort Amion to highlight issues affecting both engineering and maintenance. One example was raising awareness about the design of new bike lane facilities and, in turn, what maintenance equipment was needed to maneuver around them for city services like street sweeping. This is just one example of Path to Leadership participants helping break bureau silos, working with peers, and helping improve city work. 

“The program has provided me the opportunity to find my own voice and shape my own leadership style,” Aszita said. “I’m using what I learned from the program to be an advocate to others and helped advance causes that are applicable to my work” 

Congratulations to 2021 cohort graduates from PBOT! 

With the announcement coming soon for this year’s Path to Leadership cohort, we’re taking this moment to highlight some of PBOT’s graduates from last year. Congratulations to PBOTers Amion Caldwell, Zue Carballo Figueroa, Michael Espinoza, Aszita Mansor, and Knute Nesland! 

Get to know a little more about these graduates, in their own words: 

An evolving program 

The staff behind Path to Leadership are not content with the program staying static. Program organizer Monique Harrison at the Bureau of Human Resources explained how important participant input is to their planning process. "We are very focused on feedback from our cohort members,” Monique says, “One of the most frequent things we heard was how important the community and connections fostered in the peer groups were.”  

Based on such feedback, including from the PBOTers profiled here, the program will bolster collaboration with Portland community leaders and constituents. They will also adapt their curriculum to dedicate a month to each city core value.