1) Leaf Day in Overlook on Dec. 16
2) Morning bus lane coming to Greeley Avenue
1) Leaf Day in Overlook on Dec. 16
Fall has arrived, and the leaves are falling. That means Leaf Day 2020 is coming.
The City of Portland does leaf pick-ups in a few lucky areas, including the Overlook Triangle (the neighborhood south of Going Street and West of Interstate Avenue). This year’s pickup in Overlook will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 16. There is no fee for this taxpayer-funded benefit.
On Dec. 16, residents in the leaf pick-up zone should make sure that they remove all obstacles from the street such as basketball hoops, garbage bins and especially vehicles.
Overlook residents who don’t live in the zone must put leaves in their green compost bin or find some other suitable and legal way to deal with leaves that fall on their property. The city won’t pick them up, unlike in the leaf zones. Please do not rake leaves into the street where they will clog sewers and potentially cause flooding.
2) Morning bus lane coming to Greeley Avenue
If you traveled down N Greeley Avenue recently, you might have noticed the construction of a curbside bus lane for southbound traffic between N Rosa Parks and N Killingsworth streets. The Portland Bureau of Transportation discussed this change with neighbors a while back. Neighbor feedback helped PBOT develop a balance between assisting transit past long traffic queues and local parking needs.
The new lane will be used by transit (Line 35 buses) on weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. During all other hours, the lane will be available for parking. Only the long blocks from N Holman Street to N Ainsworth Street and N Jessup Street to N Killingsworth Street will be designated as curbside bus lanes with red paint and signs.
The morning rush hour is not as busy as it used to be pre-pandemic, but Greeley will be ready when traffic returns. If there are problems with the new lanes that do not settle down after drivers get used to them, send your observations to transportation@overlookneighborhood.org so they can be brought to the city’s attention.
Also, please be extra careful in the construction zone on Greeley next to the adidas village south of N Willamette Street during the dark and rainy days. Once that project is done, traffic on Greeley should flow better for all modes of travel.
Finally, if you live in the areas served by the new lanes, please leave your garbage, recycling and yard debris cans on the planting strip above the curb instead of on the street. If your planting strip is narrow (like on Greeley), the carts and bins can protrude over the sidewalk as long as 3 feet is maintained clear for wheelchair users.