Here’s how it is when I can’t hear myself think: I can’t concentrate or sleep because of loud music and bass vibrations coming from new nightclubs in my neighborhood.

Venues are springing up around East Bayside, and they bring with them raucous behaviors that disrupt nearby residential zones. The sound meters say this is all OK; the decibels are in compliance. But people can’t sleep, and that’s the real measure.

This all makes me wonder: Is my neighborhood for its residents, or only for people who don’t live there?

Community policing logs noise complaints, but they don’t have the authority to do much else. The City Council promises to conduct a sound study, but in the meantime, the beat goes on, and will likely continue through the summer.

I own property in East Bayside and have lived there for 20 years. I get it! Things change, but does growth always equal progress? It’s a false equivalency when commercial interests override quality of life for me and my neighbors.

Juxtaposing a light industrial-commercial zone with a residential zone works just fine if managed properly. But the indiscriminate issuing of entertainment licenses that negatively impact residential zones undermines the well-being of East Bayside residents.

There is a new zoning plan on Portland’s horizon, and the prospect of a tax increase is also looming. Will residents actually benefit from these new developments? Or will we end up paying more, only to have our concerns go unheard by city planning and government?

Jan Piribeck
Portland

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