Old Town neighbors wrote a wish list this morning for things they want to see in the city’s new homeless access center, marking what appeared to be a shift from internal division over the siting of the center, to negotiation with the city over its various elements, wherever it eventually goes.

TRACKING THE CHANGES: Old Town developer Doug Obletz writes the wish list with neighbors’ input this morning…

The list aims at linking the development of the Homeless Center to other, private development in the district, including an Uwajimaya supermarket.

At this point, I think all the neighbors are expecting the center to proceed on block 25. That’s a development from the uncertainty of the last few weeks, since their initial meeting with City Commissioner Erik Sten, on January 9.

The question now seems to be whether the neighbors can cooperate enough to negotiate effectively as a coalition with the City. Despite obvious tensions, today’s meeting felt optimistic on that front.

City Commissioner Erik Sten essentially promised $350 of urban renewal money to the neighbors at a meeting on January 9, if they could simply agree to have the center on Block 25. Yet today's meeting was the result of a vote on Tuesday, when members of the Old Town Neighborhood/Visions Land Use Committee voted to shift the city's focus back to looking at block 25 instead of an alternative block.

Are you confused yet? I have a feeling the neighbors are, and I most certainly am. Perhaps that's part of Sten's master plan—to not only bribe, but tire and confuse the neighborhood into submission. Well, it appears to be working...

Continued arguments opened this morning's meeting about whether block 25 is the best choice for the center. For example, Doreen Binder of Transition Projects, Inc, had a raised-voice exchange with Stephen Ying of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, after asking why the Chinese community is so fixated on block 25, when the redevelopment money that comes with the access center from the city can be used to redevelop the entire district.

"I'm looking at all the other properties," Binder said. "This is your opportunity to devlop those buildings."

"That's why we're coming to the table now," Ying responded.

"We did try," said Rebecca Liu, also of the CCBA. "I personally did try, but every private owner has their own issues. It's cultural, it's about family, and also legal, too. We were hoping to find a developer to come into Portland and redevelop Chinatown just like the redevelopment of Chinatowns in California and Texas. That's why we're focused on block 25. Because it's life or death for Chinatown. Do you want a Chinatown, still?"

Developer Doug Obletz, who came to the meeting armed with a 17" Powerbook and projector, a Venti Starbucks coffee, and a Blackberry, was accused (along with another developer, Michael Menashe) of trying to hijack the engagement process to negotiate a piece of the access center pie for private developers, by one of the lead developers of the access center.

"I'm sitting here listening to you direct this conversation, obviously, in your own self-interest," said HAP's assistant development director, Betty Dominguez. "I'm really having difficulty having you sit here and have this conversation over our heads."

There's no doubt Obletz has a lot to gain from being involved in the negotiations. He has a deal with Uwajimaya, good through to the end of this year, to develop next to the Goldsmith blocks, on SW 5th.

Obletz later responded: "I view these other private investments as needing to occur at the same time as the access center is built. If you don't invest simultaneously, then we'll have lost the opportunity to redevelop this neighborhood."

But PDC's Peter Englander laid out the political position for the neighbors, in an attempt to stop the arguing.

"Everybody be quiet," he said. "Everybody comes to this meeting with two interests. You all have self and community interests. I know you do. I know you all want to rebuild Old Town Chinatown. I'm telling you that in some elements the train could be leaving the station. I think there's pretty darn strong momentum towards block 25, but all we have to work on is, where do you guys want to position yourselves as a neighborhood?"

That didn't stop some present from continuing to protest the lack of public process in the siting of the center. "There is no public process where people can really participate in a realistic way," said Planner Kathryn Krygier.

"I think we're being offered a deal that exchanges money for public process," said Paul Verhoeven of the Saturday Market. "And you may not like that, but if you start demanding a more thorough public process, the dollars start to shrink."

So the neighbors came up with their wish list, which included guarantees from the city about preserving a balance of affordable housing in the neighborhood, and certain assurances about the new center. Here's a draft version of that list, a full and final copy of which is expected Monday morning:

1.PDC and City council re-affirm a commitment to the Old Town/Chinatown Visions Plan of 2003.
2.PDC and City council re-affirm a commitment to no net loss or gain and 50/50 balance of social service/market rate housing in the district.
3.City will work with Old Town to incentivise new market rate housing developments.
4.Good neighbor agreements and management plans for the new access center.
5.The City will review its plan to locate a proposed women's shelter at 11 NW 5th Ave.
6.PDC and Hap should look at cheaper options than investing $1.5m in interim improvements to the Grove Hotel on Burnside.
7.There will be specific parameters for the development of block 25, including: limiting the size of the homeless center; internal queuing; quality design; TPI's temporary facility will be destroyed after the new center is built; adding Chinese cultural and community facilities; making sure there's housing to replace the 70 units at the Grove hotel; focusing on housing targeted at 30-80% of median income.
8.The existing TPI site at NW 5th and Glisan will be redeveloped to attract viable commercial use.
9.PDC will commit money to support other private developments in Old Town, at the same time as it develops the access center. These include the Goldsmith Blocks, the Ankeny-Burnside area, the Fish Block Market and/or Workforce Housing, the Louis Lee Block Workforce Housing, the Medford Hotel redevelopment, and the Portland Mall/Pearl District Pedestrian Connections on Davis Street.