SoPo, here we go.

Transportation officials are considering changing thousands of addresses on the west side to a newly created directional area: South Portland.

The city's transportation bureau notified thousands of homeowners west of the Willamette River, but in a narrow slice of the city broadly east of Southwest Naito Parkway, to alert them of the potential address change.

Portland currently has five designated directional areas of the city - North, Northeast Northwest, Southwest and Southeast.

A map of the proposed addition of South Portland.

Dylan Rivera, transportation bureau spokesman, noted politely that Willamette Week, which picked up on the issue Wednesday, inaccurately said Portland was considering adding a sixth quadrant.

Rivera said quadrants are defined as four parts of a body.

"In coming up with how to announce this, we've leaned on the side of adherence to proper English usage and a good sense of humor," Rivera said.

Thus, Portland is considering creating a sixth sextant.

Rivera said the agency isn't trying to create new neighborhoods out of whole cloth. Rather, it's responding to a request from law enforcement and emergency personnel.

"This is a high priority for the fire bureau," Rivera said, "and we've tried to be responsive to them."

Some 5,000 property owners, largely in the South Waterfront neighborhood and surrounding areas, have what city officials call a "leading zero" address. For example, The Old Spaghetti Factory is listed at 0715 S.W. Bancroft St.

That leading zero can be a point of confusion for people calling 911 and trying to give directions to first responders, Rivera said.

That's become more of an issue as the neighborhood on the bank of the river continues to grow. Confusion can add to delays for dispatchers, and those delays in response time can affect all Portlanders relying on emergency services.

Rivera said the South Portland designation would convert 8 percent of the residents with a Southwest Portland address currently. The Old Spaghetti Factory's new address would be 715 S. Bancroft St.

South Portland isn't an entirely new idea.

There's already a South Portland Neighborhood Association. Rivera said the transportation agency has discussed the changes with other affected parties in the Collins View and Lair Hall neighborhoods, too. "They are very supportive of it," he said.

Lewis & Clark College is in the Collins View neighborhood.

Changing thousands of addresses is a lengthy process outlined in city code.

If approved, the changes would be implemented starting in May 2020, and signage indicating both the new South Portland and old Southwest designation for those affected would remain in place until 2025.

The first open house on the issue is March 8 from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at the Mirabella Auditorium, 3550 S.W. Bond Ave.

The City Council is tentatively scheduled to hold a hearing on the designation change May 31.

The process includes no mention of the area broadly known as East Portland east of Interstate 205.

The largest geographic part of the city is already underserved politically and has the highest proportion of low-income residents and people of color.

It's also currently classified as either Northeast or Southeast Portland.

There's an East Portland Neighborhood Association, too, but few East Portland directional addresses (Burnside Street, which divides North and South addresses is the exception -- having both West and East distinctions).

That isn't expected to change anytime soon. ""We have not proposed any change to addressing east of 205," Rivera said.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen