Our appeal regarding the noise variance granted for the Hempstead World Music Festival concert in the Washington Park Rose Garden Amphitheatre will be heard on Thursday, June 23 at 2pm in the City Council Chambers (second floor of City Hall at 1221 SW 4th).
This commercial event will be a 4-act, 6-hour Reggae concert. The gates will open at 3pm and music will run from 4:20pm to 9:45pm. The expected crowd is about 3,200 people. Alcohol will be sold at this event. Unlike the annual summer concert series, tickets for this event will range from $39 to $100.
Past experience with the “Rockin’ Roses” concert series in the 1990s demonstrates that we can expect enough gridlock that emergency vehicles and city buses will have a very difficult time getting up Fairview Blvd.
The neighborhood association has appealed the variance to City Council. You can read our appeal letter, as well as the variance decision, here: http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=50265&a=353352.
The fact that Parks & Rec would approve a permit like this, at a location accessed via residential streets and not well-served by public transit, is an excellent example of why Washington Park needs a master plan. The last one was written 30 years ago, and is no longer operative. Notably, that plan called for establishment of a permanent advisory committee, including neighborhood representatives, to guide management of the park. Parks & Rec failed to establish that committee.
Having a good turnout from the neighborhood will help demonstrate to the City Council how concerned we are about this.