Fearing Milwaukie's MAX

Locals express safety concerns over light rail

By By Matthew Graham

The Clackamas Review, Nov 13, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (17 Reader comments)

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Ed Zumwalt doesn’t want light rail coming through Milwaukie. He thinks it will bring crime, drugs and poverty to a city attempting to undergo economic redevelopment.

After last week’s violent beating of a 71-year-old man at a Gresham station, Zumwalt and others decided to take their concerns to the city council. The city has been working with TriMet on a proposed light-rail line between downtown Portland and Milwaukie.

“If I had an old-fashioned telephone switchboard, it would have been lit up like a Christmas tree today” with calls on the light rail crime, Zumwalt, vice chair of the Historic Milwaukie Neighborhood District Association, told the council. “Someone is going to have to step up” and protect the city.

“In 20 years we’ll be sitting in a slum, and it’s up to you folks to do something right now.”

He and others insinuated that city council is becoming complacent citing a string of what residents see as undesirable developments coming into the city – the light rail, the residential treatment facility and the controversial Oxford House.

Mayor James Bernard assured a packed council chambers that the board would not allow a project until it has been deemed safe and unlikely to increase crime.

“I told TriMet if our police chief isn’t satisfied, I’m not endorsing the plan … and until he’s satisfied, I’m not going to be satisfied.”

But Bernard said he would like to see light rail come, noting benefits like sustainability, reducing oil dependence, redevelopment of downtown and access to jobs in the region.

David Aschenbrenner, chair of the Hector-Campbell neighborhood association, agrees, and said he is working to bring light rail to town.

“I am in favor of it,” he said. “I think we need to give the community as many options as possible to get around the community. The security issue has been an issue even before the Gresham thing. That’s why the police chief is involved, that’s why we have the safety and security task force. Economic development [is a benefit], yes … That’s why people like myself are involved in shaping that – we are actively involved in how light rail comes to town.”

Others are more ambivalent, understanding the benefits but seeing the potential for harm. Among that group are schools, whose proximity to the officially proposed alignment allows them special concern.

“Now our children are tripped and sworn at and abused by people at that transit station, so the safety situation is not imagined,” said Cyndia Ashkar of the Waldorf School and a member of the light rail Safety and Security Task Force. Waldorf’s parking lot is about 10 feet from the proposed rail and a proposed rail stop.

“For the early grades, we really protect them and [keep them from] real-world experience. People value education because of that protection element. So for enrollment, it’s a really big question. If it’s a block away, great, but not that close.”

Jerry Foy of St. John’s School and also a member of the safety task force, agrees. “We have the same issues that Waldorf has – noise, safety, disturbances.”

“My concern is that it provides a vehicle from Hillsboro to Gresham and from Gresham to Milwaukie – I want to make sure there’s not going to be someone abusing our kids … I haven’t seen any concrete evidence that there’s real (safety improvement) results yet.”

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