Vista Bridge neighbors say fences were a bad idea, consider other solutions

Neighbors who oppose the fences lining Vista Bridge had one thing to say to city officials Thursday: we told you so.

The city installed 9-foot-high suicide-prevention fences on both sides of the historic Vista Bridge in Southwest Portland in August. Since then two people have gone around or over the fencing and threatened to jump, though both came down unharmed.

On Wednesday, police had to cut a hole in the barrier to either provide a way for a suicidal man to get off the edge which he did not use or physically intervene if he attempted to jump.

Its kind of like, We told you so, and you didnt listen, said Jerry Powell, a resident of the Goose Hollow neighborhood.

The installation of the chain-link fences, a $236,000 temporary solution intended to last five years, was controversial. Residents expressed their support for suicide-prevention measures to City Commissioner Steve Novick, who runs the citys transportation bureau, at a meeting in July. Two months later, neighbors railed against Novick for hastily pushing the temporary fences through and ruining, they said, the view and look of the bridge. They suggested alternatives like nets or an alarm system.

Had the city moved more slowly and engaged with the neighborhoods, Powell said, the result likely would have looked better and been more effective. The barriers clearly arent enough to stop would-be jumpers, he said, and the money could have been put toward a solution that works.

Concerned neighbors have appointed a committee of seven four of whom are architects to look at better options, said Bill Failing, a Southwest Hills resident and co-organizer of the committee.

The purpose is to find an aesthetic solution to replace the temporarily blight that right now is allegedly protecting the bridge from suicides, Failing said.

Novick has met with the committee and agreed to work with them, Failing said.

Christa Moe doesnt live in the neighborhoods surrounding Vista Bridge, but she knows them well. Moe cleans a number of homes in the area. The families that live there come from old money, she said, and take almost a sacred ownership of the land and its history.

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Vista Bridge neighbors say fences were a bad idea, consider other solutions