A request was made to 503-823-SAFE in March of 2006 requesting that SW 54th north of Garden Home Road be posted “No Parking” for public safety reasons. 54th is a 12' wide dead-end queuing street, and cars are too frequently parked along the street such that fire trucks and ambulances would be unable to proceed down the road. Additionally, a number of senior citizens reside on the northern end of 54th. On August 1, 2006 PDOT (Portland Department of Transportation) made this response:
Subject: SW 54th N
From: Thareth Yin
Date: August 1, 2006 5:54:09 PM PDTI have completed the investigation on your service request for parking removal on SW 54th Avenue north of SW Garden Home Road. As a results of the investigation, I could not recommend any action at this time. The following was the report given for the investigation:
SW 54th Avenue had a pavement width of about 20' for the majority of the length of the roadway north of SW Garden Home Road (there were no curbs). During my field visit, there were no vehicles parked along the side of the road. Some parts of the roadway were lined with hedges near the edge of the pavement, but there were many opportunities with long residential driveways and shoulders along the side of the road for parking off of the pavement. It did not appear that limited roadway access due to parked vehicles was a typical condition, but occurred during isolated times of residential parties. Parking removal was not recommended for those isolated events. Additionally, it was not legal to park on the roadway and block vehicle access (violators could be cited for impeding traffic without NO PARKING signs). The requestor had the option of contacting Parking Enforcement (503-823-5195) during the week or police non-emergency (503-823-3333) during the weekends to request enforcement if parked vehicles were blocking access. Since the street was a dead end, the requestor also had the option on contacting the Fire Bureau (503-823-3710) and initiating the process of parking removal for emergency vehicle access. No further TRI action was recommended.
Thank you for your patience while waiting for the results of the investigation. If you have additional questions about traffic safety, I encourage you to call 503-823-SAFE.
Sincerely,
Thareth Yin
Traffic Engineering Associate
503.823.5223
Given that the city has been made aware of a dangerous situation and has refused to post the street “No Parking,” it is a near certainty the city will be sued should a medical or fire emergency occur during a time when the street is blocked by parked cars. And the city would lose such a lawsuit because: 1) there are other similarly sized streets in the neighborhood (e.g. 61st, Marigold, 56th) which are posted “No Parking,” 2) “No Parking” signs are a requirement of the aforementioned development along the areas of 54th which are to be widened to 20', and all along the 18' private road, and 3) the many gross factual and logical errors in Ms. Yin’s rationale for PDOT’s refusal to take action.
A picture is worth a thousand words; please take this virtual tour of SW 54th, and the No Parking signs on SW 61st.