Take Action to Ensure Portland Implements Green Policies

The draft plan includes several important new environmental policies, such as increasing the tree canopy, requiring eco-roofs on new commercial development, increasing support for bird-friendly buildings, restoring habitat along the Willamette, reducing light pollution, and more. These policies would help protect our community and make our landscape more ecologically connected and resilient to climate change.

We need your help to ensure that these new policies are adopted by city council. Please submit comments and attend the hearing and/or write City Council and let them know that you want them to adopt the package of environmental policies in the Central City Plan.

When: September 7 at 2 p.m.
Where: Portland City Hall, 1221 SW 4th Ave, Portland, OR 97204

Key Messages:

Please support the package of environmental policies contained in the Central City Plan. These policies are critical to restoring Portland’s leadership as a green city, protecting our environment and making our communities resilient to climate change. They include:

• • Expansion of the Willamette River Greenway from 25 to 50 feet which over time will allow for increased restoration and access along the Willamette River
  • Aggressive restoration objectives along the downtown stretch of the Willamette River
  • Requirements to include green roofs on all buildings over 20,000 square feet
  • Bird friendly building policies to reduce collisions with windows, the leading cause of bird mortality in the United States
  • Increased regulations on lighting along the Willamette River to reduce unnecessary light pollution
  • New targets for increasing tree canopy in central city neighborhoods
  • The “Green Loop”—a concept for a six mile long linear park to connect neighborhoods in the Central City

In addition to supporting the package of green infrastructure initiatives in the Central City Plan, we also urge you to OPPOSE the I-5 Freeway expansion at the Rose Quarter. This expansion of I-5 will be ineffective in terms of addressing congestion, is entirely at odds with the City’s climate change agenda, will increase pollution in local neighborhoods and will divert critical financial resources away from higher priority road projects such as addressing road related safety issues in East Portland.