North Portland ralliers: ‘We are not a Sacrifice Zone'
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — People who live in this region understand that, at some point, a major earthquake will rock the area. Most of the time, talk about damage is centered on the major infrastructure and bridges that connect various parts of Portland.
But the 20,000 people who are residents on the St. Johns Peninsula in North Portland are saying loud and clear, 'We are not a sacrifice zone.'
Donna Cohen, who founded the , led the dozens of people who gathered Sunday to shine a spotlight on the fact they would be cut off and stranded from even a small quake.
'We are connected to Portland by 4 small bridges that are over 110 years old,' Cohen told KOIN 6 News. 'PBOT has evaluated these bridges and told us they are all going to collapse even in a minor earthquake. In fact, they may collapse before. One of them is already weight restricted.'
Portland is America's cleanest metro area
She said the other sides of the peninsula will liquefy, damaging all the structures and roads. Their only way out would be over Columbia Boulevard or Lombard Avenue. But there's a problem.
'They are not emergency routes because they go over the railroad cut. The bridges will collapse, we will be trapped, blocking about 20,000 people, workers and residents in the Rivergate Industrial area who will be trapped here after the earthquake.'
But it gets worse, Cohen said.
'We live across from the which is where 90% of Oregon's fuel is stored,' she said. 'If the CEI hub ruptures – which it probably will – a toxic cloud could very well come across here and we will have no escape. So this is really a dire, life-and-death situation.'
Cohen and her group, supported by , support written by . That bill provides '$5 million so that we could start planning for a new bridge over the railroad cut at Columbia Boulevard,' she told KOIN 6 News.
But it's stuck in the Transportation Committee and her group is urging lawmakers to move it along to Ways and Means and then pass it before this legislative session ends.
Frederick, who was at the Sunday rally, said elected officials are beginning to see how important this issue is.
'We have now started to see that we have to be ready for emergencies and we need to know how to deal with emergencies and make sure people are safe,' Frederick said. 'These folks see that. They're making their voices known. That's the key element.'
The current
KOIN 6 News will continue to follow this issue.
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