The big vote... Neighbors say no to the HD

(See closeups of the ballot at the bottom on this page)

The ENA announced their plans to turn Eastmoreland into a historic district in mid-2016.  Work on the HD nomination proceeded rapidly and the first draft was submitted to the National Park Service on November 1, 2016.

The draft was presented to the neighborhood in January 2017.  Many neighbors were upset that the process had proceeded so far and so rapidly without their input or feedback.  

To address neighbor concerns, the ENA declared that there would be a vote of all affected homes in the proposed district.  Though the simple ballot had only three choices (yes, no, don't know), months were spent wrangling over the wording, presentation, and the mechanics of sending, receiving and tallying the ballots. The staff of Southeast Uplift (from the City of Portland) would be counting the ballots and announcing the results.  Everything possible was done to ensure a fair and meaningful vote.

By March 2017, ballots were mailed to every home in Eastmoreland affected by the proposed historic district.  As reported in the Portland Tribune, the ENA said they would abide by the results of the vote.  

The Tribune reported that the ENA president had said,  "I think the board is dedicated to the idea that the majority must support [the historic district] before proceeding."

Over 2/3 of the ballots were returned and when the votes were tallied, the majority indicated they did not want a historic district.   The Tribune reported, "A recent poll mailed out to 2,066 eligible homeowners revealed that a majority were opposed to the designation: 702 were opposed, 666 in favor, and 19 had no opinion."

One board member insisted that the vote was not a vote, but a poll.  This was despite the fact that the ballot used the word "vote" four times, such as "Your vote counts and will inform our decision!  Please be assured your vote is confidential."  The ENA also said the result "was not statistically significant" despite declarations from voting experts that the concept of statistical significance was both meaningless and misleading in interpreting voting results.

Despite the previous assurances to honor the results of the vote, the ENA ignored the results and continued to pursue the historic district.

https://www.oregonlive.com/front-porch/2017/03/eastmoreland_residents_oppose.html