Other input

Good Morning Jen,


In receiving responses from circulars delivered regarding the historical time line, I have gathered that I need to get in touch with two neighbors who can give an historical perspective. Mike Dennis, who with his wife Mary, live on the creek at the bridge across from us. He is an engineer that can help. He has been so busy this past week, but his wife Mary said he plans to attend this meeting. I have not met him as yet.

Another gentleman named Paul, was the secretary for the Fanno Creek Pond Association. He is also difficult to get in touch with, but I hope his input will help.

If you wish, please call Marie. She has been in phone contact with neighbors have given us information. We both will be attending other prior events, but plan on leaving them so we can arrive at 8 tonight.

A number of emails and calls have all been very supportive of being kept informed.

Here is one more key performer that may provide energy…but at what cost we shall see.

Thanks, John

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John-

Thanks for keeping us informed about the plans for doubling the size of the Fanno Creek Sewage Pump Station. I am mad as hell about this situation and will do whatever I can to stop it. I was opposed to the pump station 5-6 years (?) ago when it was originally proposed to us by BES. I was and continue to be amazed and aghast that the City of Portland chose to pump sewage uphill to North Portland when it could have used gravity to send it downhill to Washington County. I asked why couldnt Portland simply invest in increasing the capacity of Washington Co's (Clean Water Services' sewage treatment plant and send the sewage downhill to them, thereby saving tremendous quantities of energy over the year of operation. I never received a direct and clear answer to my question. Although folks at Clean Water Services told me that it was Portland's decision not to follow this path.

It appear to me that the sewage is currently going to Washington County as an interim measure. Why not just keep on doing it that way? Why throw good money after bad? Why invest in a system that will only get more costly in the future as fuel prices rise? Why create a larger carbon footprint for Portland? Please ask these questions of Commissioner Saltzman.

Once construction started on the sewer line, workmen laid out and installed large sections of pipe. I walked by many times and watched the work in progress. Apparently BES inspectors did not inspect the work since just a few years later, I discovered a leak in the pipe which leaked into Fanno Creek for approximately 48 hours. The official word from BES was that the pipe had failed due to the fact that the contractor had used the wrong type of pipe. Was this just ex-post-facto reasoning? Were they saying that any pipe that would fail this soon was the wrong pipe or did the pipe not meet some objective standard? If I could watch the pipe being installed, so could BES supervisors and inspectors. Why didnt they identify the shortcomings of the pipe and immediately stop the project so that the correct pipe could be installed? How did this situation occur and who was responsible for inspection and oversight of the project?

The Garden Home/Vista Brook neighborhood, which is not serviced by this plant, has already been inconvenienced by construction, maintenance and repairs to the existing system. Neighbors (the Kostiners) have moved from a home that they otherwise loved due to the threat of construction of the new larger facility in their backyard. I wonder how many other have also moved for this reason and how many more will in the future? What will happen to the noise levels, vibrations and property values in our neighborhood? What will be the downstream flooding effects from the new pump station? Where will sewage go if there is a power outage?......

These are my concerns about the proposed larger sewage pump station on Fanno Creek. Thanks for asking and thanks for organizing the neighborhood. Please let me know if I can be of assistance in any way. I was the cofounder of Fans of Fanno Creek and a biologist by training. We've lived at 7040 SW 84th for 21 years.

Jeffry Gottfried, Ph.D.
Executive Director/Lead Educator