Commentary:
Here's a good idea going bad.
The good idea is to create new affordable and public housing in Hillsdale. (See story in this issue).
Here's the poor - make that myopic - execution as planned by the Housing Authority of Portland: locate the housing, the "new" Hillsdale Terrace, in the same, obscure, hard to access gully where the old, smaller Hillsdale Terrace is now.
Why there? Here's what the project manager says: Because the site is so bad that the Housing Authority can't sell it.
Here's a better idea: Swap the parcels with the Portland parks bureau, which currently owns Hillsdale Park. The park's primary use is as a dog run. If the "New" Hillsdale Terrace, with its 120 units were placed in the park, the housing would be next to Robert Gray School, where the families' kids could go, and to the Portland Christian Center, which has shown itself to be a civic-minded congregation.
There might even be some land left over for - a neighboring pocket park.
Meanwhile all those dogs could be romping up and down the gully where the current, '70s-vintage Hillsdale Terrace finds itself moldering away. And I do mean MOLD-ering away. (see the story).
My guess is that the $44.5 million estimated cost of building on the old site would be far less on the Hillsdale Park site. The figure is certain to go up between now and ground breaking in 2011.
Figuring that the new complex will have 120 units, the cost pencils out to $370,000 per apartment unit.
You could buy a pretty decent house and lot for that. In fact, the South Portland waterfront development has plenty of vacant apartments begging for buyers at that price.
Hmmmm.
Oh, and if HAP built on the park site, the agency wouldn't have to displace 60 families for 18 months while construction is taking place.
All of this sounds like the kind of experience Hillsdale had with the Housing Authority back in the early '90s when the agency wanted to build the Turning Point transitional housing project on a flood plain next Stephens Creek. The neighbors successfully fought the plan and invited the authority to move the project four blocks northwest on Bertha Boulevard to an abandoned trash distribution site. Since then, the Stephens Creek property has been transformed into a nature park.
Unfortunately, you can't get bureaucracies like HAP (to say nothing of Portland Parks and Recreation) to shift their thinking at the snap of the fingers.
Will saner heads with a new perspective show up at the community meeting to be held next Tuesday, August 18, at 5:30 p.m. at the Hillsdale Terrace community room? That's at 6775 SW 26th. The entrance is across the street from the Mittleman Jewish Community Center. Once you are down in the gully the complex is to the right.
Those who are concerned will have another chance to share their thoughts at the Wednesday, Sept. 2, Hillsdale Neighborhood Association meetiing. It's at 7 p.m. at St. Barnabas Church, 2201 SW Vermont.
A Cinema for Hillsdale
Here's a high-five to Julian Lauzzana, who in the course of two months has put together a film series in Hillsdale. He's calling it a "MicroCinema." See the story in this issue.
Julian's MicroCinema could be the beginning of what many of us have dreamed of but never tried - a Hillsdale cinema. I hope to see you at the first showing on Tuesday, September 15, 7 p.m. at the Watershed (corner of Bertha Court and Capitol Highway).
By the way, Julian is thinking that the empty, prominent and unsold commercial space in The Watershed would make a fine little movie theater/community center. Everything starts with a vision, and Julian's bears exploration.
Rick Seifert
Editor
Letter to the Editor
Bike corrals
for a better Hillsdale
Editor:
I am a former Wilson High School liaison to the board of the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association. As a Wilson alumnus, I can attest to the lack of bicycle connectivity in Hillsdale, a Metro- designated town center. I believe that Hillsdale must make changes at the expense of single occupancy vehicles if it truly wishes to thrive economically as a vibrant Portland community.
In 2007, I gave a presentation to the neighborhood association proposing the inclusion of "bike corrals" in the town center. Bike corrals consist of a series of bike racks that take the space of on-street car parking. Portland neighborhoods such as Boise and Sunnyside have worked with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) to install this amenity.
The benefits of bike corrals include increasing parking capacity next to local businesses and improving business visibility and overall connectivity for neighborhood and city bicyclists. Bicyclers will bring money and jobs to Hillsdale and a sense of place that the auto commuter-oriented town center now lacks.
The Hillsdale Foundation's recent proposal of a $5,000 grant for bicycle improvements in the neighborhood presents an opportunity to make Hillsdale more bicycle-friendly.
I encourage HIllsdale property owners, bicyclists and neighborhood activists to look at opportunities to implement bike corrals. The longer we choose car travel in Hillsdale over modes such as walking and bicycling, the longer Hillsdale will wait for funding from the City and more customers at its front door.
Daniel Ronan
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Photos courtesy of Jeff Colling
Portland Audubon officials say that beavers, like this one in his Fanno Creek pond,
are one good sign of a healthy eco-system.
Nibbling on Cottonwoods and Willows
Dam-building beavers
make Fanno Creek home
It comes as no surprise that we have Beavers and Ducks in the neighborhood. UO and OSU graduates are everywhere.
But we're not talking about those Beavers and Ducks here.
We have REAL beavers and ducks, and as it turns out they don't always get along when they are on the same pond/playing field.
Hillsdale's duck-beaver habitat is Fanno Creek. To be precise, beavers have made three ponds and a home on the creek where it parallels Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway to the north, just west of the intersection with Dosch Road.
Down in the gully, which is visible from the shoulder of B-H Highway, are the beaver ponds, each with its own wood-woven dam. Walk down next to the ponds and, sure enough, the trees have been gnawed and toppled. The banks of the ponds show signs of beaver slides.
Keturah Pennington, who lives nearby, says the nocturnal beavers stay out of sight until dusk. She and her neighbor Julie Colling visit the ponds two or three times a week to watch the activity. "We've had some good times watching them," says Pennington.
Three years ago they noticed two dams and a beaver pair hard at work - just as you'd expect of eager beavers. In each of the two springs since, the beavers have added two kits to the family.
The numbers may be down to five now. Pennington found the remains of a beaver recently, and, she adds ominously, "I haven't seen the father for a while."
Pennington speculates that the beavers probably found their way to the site by migrating up the creek from a pond that was behind Parr Lumber in Raleigh Hills. Beavers have also been known to inhabit the headwaters of Tryon Creek.
Most people discover vegetarian beavers when tasty plants fall prey to them. Pennington says that beaver trails extend into nearby yards and that a laurel hedge in the neighborhood has become a beaver banquet. "Fruit trees could be next," she says.
 To save trees that keep the creek's water cool enough for fish and other aquatic life, the city's Bureau of Environmental Services has begun protecting young trees in the gully by encircling trunks with wire fencing.
Jennifer Devlin of the bureau says that there's a balance to protecting the habitat, which must serve both fish and beavers. Next February the bureau plans to plant willow trees in the area to restore some gnawed vegetation.
Devlin says that cats and dogs are other dangers to the habitat. Both should be kept under control. Devlin jokes that she recommends tying five-pound bells around the necks of outdoor cats. If that doesn't deter them, coyotes might.
She recommends the Washington State Fish and Game department's web site's fact-filled page on beavers.
As for ducks and beavers getting along, just as UO and OSU alumni do most of the time, Pennington says the birds and the beavers sort things out. A pair of ducks hatched seven ducklings not long ago on the beaver pond. When the furry dam builder came to check out the brood, mother duck chased him off. "The beaver took it with a grain of salt," Pennington reports.
Editor's note: Thanks to Jeff Colling, Julie's brother, for sharing his photographs.
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The route between the arrows is being proposed as a bike boulevard. Vermont is also seen as a potential boulevard and a bike alternative to busy SW Capitol Highway.
 Looking for safer bike routes
Westwood-Dewitt eyed
for bike boulevard
To make bicycle commuting easier and safer through Hillsdale, the city's transportation bureau is planning to open its first bike boulevard in Southwest next summer.
The location is in Hillsdale, which is experiencing increased bicycle traffic, particularly during commuter hours.
The chosen street is Westwood Drive, a quiet residential connector between Terwilliger (just across from the Chart House restaurant) and Cheltenham and Dewitt, which will land two-wheelers on Sunset Boulevard at the Hillsdale Branch Library.
An informational open house about the Westwood-Dewitt bike boulevard will be held Thursday, August 20, at the Multnomah Arts Center, Room 30,
7688 SW Capitol Hwy, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Greg Raisman of the bureau's transportation options office said the changes will reduce and slow automobile traffic on the bicycle connection. The project, which will cost $57,000, also calls for curb extensions and signage at the terminal intersections at Terwilliger and at Sunset.
While no bike lane will designated on the pavement, a bicyclist icon will be painted every block and a half or so to indicate bike traffic.
The open house follows a similar one held on July 23 for Westwood neighbors and others interested in the bike boulevard designation. Raisman said approximately 30 people attended the July meeting. "Generally there was support, but they wanted more details," he said.
The Westwood connector will allow bicyclists to commute downtown without having to share steep, busy Capitol Highway with cars, buses and trucks.
The bureau is looking at other Hillsdale streets as candidates for bike boulevards. One that has particular promise is Vermont where it parallels Capitol Highway in Hillsdale, said Raisman. The effort is part of a 20-year plan for developing more bike boulevards in Portland.
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Hillsdale Terrace site presents challenges
Agency seeks to replace housing project
with complex nearly twice as large
Hillsdale Terrace, an aging public housing project that is literally, and figuratively, out of sight to most Hillsdale residents is slated to be torn down and rebuilt to nearly double its capacity.
At least that is the hope of the Housing Authority or Portland (HAP), which is applying to the federal government for funds to pay for much of the proposed construction.
The current Hillsdale Terrace is in the lower part of the aerial photo, across Capitol Highway from Mittleman Jewish community center at the top.
To discuss ideas for the project, HAP is holding a community design workshop on Tuesday, Aug. 18, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 at community room of the current 63-unit facility at 6775 SW 26th.
The workshop follows a similar one held in June. A final open house will be held, Tuesday, October 6, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The deadline for the HUD application is Nov. 17. HAP officials hope to have HUD's decision about funding early next year.
The most recent cost estimates are $28.1 million for construction. Engineering, attorneys and architecture fees as well as interest on construction loans is now estimated to bring the total cost to $44.5 million.
The most HAP can expect to get from HUD is $22 million, said Julie Livingston, a HAP project manager. HUD money can be used only for the public housing portion of the project.
The Hillsdale Terrace is at the headwaters of Stephens Creek in a gulch across SW Capitol Highway from the Mittleman Jewish Community Center.
When the proposed project is completed in late summer or early fall of 2012, the new facility will have approximately 115 to 125 units, say HAP officials.
They want the Aug. 18 open house to give residents and neighbors the opportunity to talk with design team members from Michael Willis Architects.
HAP must decide what the mix of housing will be - how much of it will be public housing and subsidized affordable housing.
Project manager Livingston said that the 6.25-acre site is "very, very difficult" because of the topography constraints in the gully.
She said that HAP can't sell the site "because it really isn't worth anything."
"This is a hard site," she added.
The current facility, built in 1970, is, she said, "in immense physical distress" including mold, mildew and access problems.
If HAP succeeds in obtaining funding, construction would begin in the spring of 2011, Livingston said.
For more on HAP's project plans, go to its Hillsdale Terrace web site.
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Hillsdale "MicroCinema" debuts Sept. 15
What was conceived of as the "Hillsdale Rotating Cinema" has evolved into the "Hillsdale MicroCinema" under the guidance of organizer/founder Julian Lauzzana.
The MicroCinema's first presentation will be Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. in the Watershed community room.
Two locally-made "work-in-progress" films will be presented under the topic of "Youth Perspectives in the Media."
The first is an animated/live action production called "Escape from Middle C." It is about a child from another planet who can only be healed by music. The second is "Play Again," a documentary about how media-saturated children need to be weaned from screen immersion and introduced to nature.
The filmmakers will be on hand to discuss the films.
Lauzzana, a Hillsdale resident and video instructor at the Robert Gray SUN school and at the Multnomah Arts Center, will present more films on mid-month Tuesdays in October, November and December. The dates are Oct. 20, Nov. 17 and Dec. 15).
A $5 donation is suggested for each date. Lauzzana says that half the donations will go to his Hillsdale-based company, Primal Digital, LLC, which organizes the showings, and half will go to the Hillsdale Community Foundation.
For more information, call him at (503) 616-8740
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The Date Book
Tuesday, August 18, 5:30 p.m. - Hillsdale Terrace Design Workshop
Neighbors and residents are invited to discuss plans for a new Hillsdale Terrace Housing project that the Housing Authority of Portland proposes for the current site. Meeting is at Hillsdale Terrace, 6775 SW 26th.
See story and editor's commentary above.
Wednesday, August 19, 7 p.m. - Mothers' Circle
An introductory session for non-Jewish mothers who are raising their children Jewish. Mothers' Circle provides free education and support in raising a family in an unfamiliar faith. At Mittleman Jewish Community Center, 6651 SW Capitol. For more information call program coordinator Caron Blau Rothstein at 246.8831 x139 or e-mail Portland@TheMothersCircle.org Also Sunday Saturday, Aug. 23, at 9:30 a.m.
Thursday, August 20, 6:30 p.m - 8:30 p.m.
Meeting about proposed Westwood Bicyle Boulevard
The Portland Bureau of Transportation is holding a meeting
about the proposal for arterial crossings, traffic speedmanagement and other features for the Southwest Terwilliger-WestwoodBicycle Boulevard.
See story above. At the Multnomah Arts Center, Room 30.
Saturday, August 22, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. - Flea Market and Free Acupuncture
Working Class Acupuncture is holding a flea market and free acupuncture event in its parking lot at 4410 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway. Artists, vendors and young and old creatives interested in participating call (503) 244-7525 to rent a table for $35.
Sunday, August 23, 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. -
SW Hills Residential League Ice Cream Social
Ice cream, fun and balloons at Portland Hills Park (next to Strohecker's)
Saturday, August 29, 9 a.m. - noon - Robert Gray Community Care Day
The community is invited to help clean up the middle school grounds in preparation for school. Work gloves advised.
Wednesday, Sept.2, 7 p.m. - Hillsdale Neighborhood Assn. meeting
Meets at St. Barnabas Church, 2201 SW Vermont. On the September agenda are updates on the Hillsdale Terrace Project, tree removal in Himes Park, the Sept. 15 MicroCinema presentation and the structure of the neighborhood association board.
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 7 p.m. - Hillsdale "MicroCinema"
Two local films "in progress" will be shown at The Watershed, Capitol Highway and Bertha Court. The filmmakers will be on hand to discuss their work. A $5 donation is suggested.
See story above.
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Rick Seifert
Editor, Hillsdale News
(503) 245-7821
editor@hillsdalenews.org
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