Updated 03/06/2020

The purpose of this petition and effort is two-fold; 

First, and overall, I am advocating for more mindful development of urban areas; I envision a paradigm shift strongly towards greater mindfulness for the surrounding community of residents that have to live with the outcomes of development projects so as to optimize livability and sustainability.  The use of the word "ugly" with reference to the title refers to pollution, waste and other undesirable outcomes of more reckless development approaches. 

Second, this petition is to raise awareness of the project of immediate concern; The  Patricia Reser Center for the Arts in Beaverton Oregon. In accordance with this project a 7 story parking garage is being built, and the garage will have the greatest negative impact to an entire group of residents who live and use Central Beaverton every day. Residents directly across the street from the garage will be subjected to the following negative outcomes: 

1. Vehicle headlights shining into their apartments.
2. Auto emissions pollution (from up to 350 vehicles) for the The Rise East building residents. Intense, significant increases during busy events.
3. Traffic congestion and noise pollution from the density of event traffic, combined with limited egress.
4. An unnecessary, unsightly view of a prison-like structure. 
5. Unnecessary daylight degradation for lower level tenants. 

The City of Beaverton has long-planned a garage in this area and could have vetted and addressed the above concerns during the project planning process. Correct project management and change management steps were not followed when The Rise development was announced to ensure stakeholders were adequately represented.  The result of this is the "design hypocrisy" of the location and design of the Arts center versus the location and design of the garage. 

The petition goals were to spark action from The City of Beaverton and key leaders to;

1. Ideally, create a leadership moment for the City of Beaverton to hit the "pause button" and consider a different parking structure design, taking into account the above.
2. Second, ensure that appropriate remediation efforts are undertaken to mitigate preventable outcomes.
3. Third, ensure that any project post-mortems include a opportunity to receive feedback from residents of The Rise as to the parking garage impacts.   

I would not be comfortable as a leader with these errors and resulting negative outcomes, so I decided to start this petition and build support. 

A more mindful approach would include;

1. Greater questioning of the need for expansive parking garages
2. More emphasis on distributed parking, walkability and future transportation modes.
3. Include an approach that places utmost importance on design-for-environment and aesthetics as it pertains to the surrounding area and community of daily users. 

At the very least I am speaking up so that this effort can be leveraged in the future so as to benefit others. 

Regards,

Mark