Old Town Neighborhood Association Letter to Our City Leaders

Neighbors: Sharing this so you know what we sent today to Ivan Anderholm and Kyra Haggart from Parks & Rec; and to the LO Police and Traffic Departments with a CC to City Councilor Ali Afghan (who lives in Old Town) and our City Manager Martha Bennett.

At our OTNA Board meeting last week we discussed and agreed that I would write to you about:

1.   The OUTSTANDING job the Parks Maintenance team does in keeping GRP and the pathway from GRP to Old River Road in excellent condition.  We agreed we want to officially recognize and thank them. We hope you will pass on our thanks to them.  We'd appreciate knowing their names and who does what.  

2.   Our excitement about the new riverfront pathway and the new Aquatics Center.  Thank you! 

3.  Discussion about the tennis courts.  Consensus among our Board was that courts need to be resurfaced.  Board Members shared that the courts were regularly resurfaced in the past and that this is important to do to ensure the courts continue to be used. Please give us an update on when this can be scheduled.

4.  Discussion was held about lake access for LO residents at the 2 swim parks.  The Board agreed that we should ask the City to allow LO residents to have access to both swim parks. We would also like to request that the chain link fence at the Swim Park at Ridgeway be removed so that residents can enjoy the view and lake access, as they can from the other Swim Park. https://www.ci.oswego.or.us/parksrec/lake-oswego-swim-park.

5.  Discussion was held about Parks’ plan for work happening now for parking on Furnace street and if people would continue to park diagonally. This would be our suggestion. A decision by our Board was made that we should ask the City Parks & Rec and Police and Traffic to please share a proactive plan for how traffic flow, safety and overflow into the neighborhood will be handled during and after construction of the pathway.

6.  Discussion was held about traffic, vehicle access control and parking for the Arts Festival and the Car & Boat Show.  We agreed we will ask the City for proactive information on/about the plan for traffic flow, parking permits for residents who need to park in front of their homes and for community policing. In years past, there have been people posted to manage traffic flow and that worked very well.

7.  Discussion was held about who we are to call for different situations:  Parks Rangers or non-emergency community police?  We agreed we would ask the City for clarification on this.

8.  Discussion was held about why non-residents of LO can purchase an annual pass to the new bond-funded LORAC (Lake Oswego Recreation & Aquatics Center).  Costs for residents for annual membership is published in the City Activity Guide as Annual adult resident cost as $420 and annual non resident cost of $630. Annual passes are also being sold for youth, seniors and households.  Consensus of the OTNA Board was to ask why non-residents can buy annual passes?  Our preference is that residents have first access since this was funded by a bond.

Thank you!  Know you are busy.  When can we expect to hear back from you about this?  Our next meeting is May 8th.

Derrith Schmidt, Old Town Neighborhood Association Chair

Sent via email on April 15, 2025