Pile driving
hits a nerve
Noisy construction
projects in Pearl spur
neighbors to organize,
but being heard in
City Hall is an uphill
climb.
ALLAN CLASSEN
ile driving isn’t new
to the Pearl District,
where in recent years
the construction of tall buildings...
More
Pile driving
hits a nerve
Noisy construction
projects in Pearl spur
neighbors to organize,
but being heard in
City Hall is an uphill
climb.
ALLAN CLASSEN
ile driving isn’t new
to the Pearl District,
where in recent years
the construction of tall buildings on soft ground has usually involved jarring intervals of
steel-on-steel pounding.
But the latest round of pile
driving has somehow struck a
chord.
Residents near a 16-story
building going up on Block
17 (surrounded by Northwest
Overton, Pettygrove, 11th and
12th streets) are fed up and not
taking it quietly. And they’re
organized.
Most live in the Sitka Apartments, a subsidized housing
building directly south of the
construction site. Weeks after
pile driving began in early April,
the ad hoc group led by Patrice
Hanson and Maura Jess elevated the issue to one echoing
throughout City Hall.
“You’ve made an amazing
effort,” Portland Noise Control
Officer Paul van Orden told
more than a dozen Block 17
neighbors who attended last
month’s m
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