Commentary:
Three pitches
Caution: I'm about to make three appeals for you to take action.
The Hillsdale News has reached a milestone. We now have more than 300 subscribers (303 to be exact).
That's in addition to the approximately 200 online visitors to each issue on the web.
When I started The News last summer, I hoped to have 400 subscribers by the new year. There is nothing sacred about the number. I pulled it out of a hat.
I know we will get to 400 with time. In the meantime, I'm happy you're here to read this.
So here's pitch #1: You can help attain The News reach the 400 goal by spreading the word to neighbors. Have them sign up on the "join" box on the web site, hillsdalenews.org or forward this newsletter to them and direct them to the "join" box.
Pitch #2. I urge those of you who haven't contributed to the "Light Up Hillsdale" campaign to do so immediately. Like today. It's an easy way to make a difference in Hillsdale.
I have an article in this issue about how much has been raised and how much remains to be raised. At the very least we need to make our goal of $21,000 to pay for the Watershed "Hillsdale" sign and tower lights and corner drinking fountain. We are $3270 short of that mark as I write this.
If we don't meet the mark, we will have to dip into the $12,000 the Hillsdale Alliance member organizations raised at four community book sales. Alliance members plan want to use the book sale money to establish a Hillsdale Community Foundation.
In fact, the goal we established for the "Light Up Hillsdale" campaign was set at $30,000, to raise an additional $9,000 for the foundation.
By the way, contributions to the "Light Up Hillsdale" campaign are tax-deductible. As noted in the story, you should make out yourcheck out to "SWNI" and be sure to write in the note line "for the LightUp Hillsdale Fund." The checks should be mailed to SWNI, 7688 SWCapitol Hwy, Portland, OR 97219.
Finally, pitch #3. The city plannig bureau has set up an online survey that asks for your opinions about Hillsdale. See the article in this issue for details. You can take the survey by clicking HERE.
Rick Seifert
Editor
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Links to Alliance Members
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It's 1903 and you are looking east from from just west of where Bertha Boulevard is today. The barn and two house are on the Fulton Park Dairy prior to Gustav Wardin's purchase of the business in 1908. Wilson High School is now located where the far house and distant trees are. Capitol Highway is on the left; Vermont is on the right. OK, stop gazing. There are cows to be milked!
Hillsdale's
own centennial
While Multnomah Village goes about celebrating its 100th birthday (see next story), Hillsdale has reason to mark its own significant centennial.
In 1908, Gustav Wardin bought the Fulton Park Dairy operation from the Raz family. Gustav's wife, Elizabeth, was a niece of the Raz owners. A few years later Gustav bought the land itself.
Today, dairy remnants, specifically the Hillsdale Shopping Center, remain in the hands of three of Gustav and Elizabeth's grandchildren, Ardys Wardin Braidwood, Albert Wardin and John Wardin.
Mike Roach, whose Paloma Clothing has been a shopping center tenant for 33 years, says that the Wardin purchase is notable because it is unusual for such a large Portland commercial property to remain in the hands of one family for so long.
The three grandchildren, also own some of the property on the north side of Capitol Highway.
Much of the Fulton Park Dairy land was purchased in the early 1950's by the Portland School District. The Wilson Park neighborhood to the south of the school district property was also originally part of the dairy.
Albert Wardin recalls that the family decided to sell when municipal officials for the expanding city presented the Wardins with a $28,000 bill for a required new sewer line.
"It was a huge bill," Albert recalls. "That really shook us up. My father had to sell cattle to pay it."
The intrusion of the city into the bucolic dairy life made selling the property seem inevitable, he said. "It was our tipping point."
At the time, the 100-acre dairy, just four miles from downtown Portland, had 3,000 customers and 300 head of cattle. The operation employed teams of milkers and truck drivers.
When the school district negotiated the purchase, school officials insisted that the sale include all the land up to Capitol Highway. But Albert was adamant that the family retain the strip along the highway, which had been zoned commercial and was home to Lynch's Market and an auto repair shop, where the dance studio is today.
Wardin believes the zoning may have been crucial in getting the district to back off, leaving the commercial property in Wardin hands.
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August 16 Event
Multnomah invites Hillsdale to start the parade
Multnomah Village, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, is inviting Hillsdale to join its "Grand Centennial Parade" this August.
Actually, organizers want Hillsdale to be the starting point for the parade to Multnomah.
Multnomah Historical Association President Patti Waitman-Ingebretsen will meet with the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association and the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association to discuss logistics for the Aug. 16 parade and to explain how Hillsdale would provide a staging area.
Mike Roach, president of the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association, said, "We want to do it, but we need people to step up and make it happen. We hope that the unusual nature of the centennial will spur those who haven't been active to become active."
Don Baack, Hillsdale Neighborhood Association president, said that the parade made sense. "It's a comfortable distance to walk and it helps unite our communities in their common history." He added that he hopes Hillsdale businesses will organize parade-day events here.
Waitman-Ingebretsen said the proposed parade route would follow Capitol Highway. Those unable to manage the hill up from Hillsdale could join the end of the parade at the Hillsdale Community Church, which is at the crest of the hill between the two communities.
As proposed by Waitman-Ingebretsen, a shuttle would transport parade participants back to Hillsdale after the parade.
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"Light Up Hillsdale" passes halfway point
The "Light Up Hillsdale" community fund-raising campaign, which has set a goal of $30,000, has pushed past the halfway point by raising $17,270 in cash and pledges.
The most recent large contribution, for $1,500, comes from the Alliance of Portland Neighborhood Business Associations. Several individuals in the community have contributed $500 each, but contributions of any size are welcomed, said Hillsdale Neighborhood Association president Don Baack.
Of the $30,000 goal, $21,000 is earmarked for three community-sponsored enhancements to the new Watershed Building: a drinking fountain, the backlighting of the "Hillsdale" sign and a tower light.
The $9,000 beyond the amount for the Watershed projects will go into a Hillsdale Community Foundation account being kept with Southwest Neighborhoods Inc, SWNI. The foundation account presently has $12,000, money raised by four Hillsdale Community Book sales.
Those interested in making tax-deductible contributions should write checks to "SWNI" and be sure to write in the note line "for the Light Up Hillsdale Fund." The checks should be mailed to SWNI, 7688 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR 97219.
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City survey asks what you think of Hillsdale
Feeling a little left out because you won't be able to vote until May?
No problem.
You can vote on Hillsdale in the next few seconds.
The Portland Bureau of Planning is polling Hillsdale-area residents in order to plan for the Town Center's future.
The online poll has been up since Dec. 10 and so far 107 people have responded.
The City's west side planner Brian Sheehan would like at least another 100 responses to add to the poll's reliability.
You have until Feb. 9 to participate. But why wait? It takes about five minutes, so click HERE.
So far, 40 percent of the respondents have said they favor high-density/mixed use development close in to the commercial Town Center, and, of those, 80 percent favor condos and townhouses, Sheehan said.
The response is significant because so much of Hillsdale is now single-family homes, he added.
Higher density housing will also help "grow" Rieke Elementary School. The Rieke school community has an on-going enrollment drive to satisfy Portland Public School district growth requirements for the school.
Sheehan said that in the spring the bureau plans to show developers the survey results and explain Hillsdale's growth potential.
"If Hillsdale is ever to fulfill its goal of being a 'model Town Center,' it needs to show how it can grow without an urban renewal designation," he said.
Among the surprises in the survey so far is that 40 percent of the respondents said they walk to the town center's commercial area. People also said they were satisfied with businesses in the town center. That too surprised Sheehan because of the condition of many of the commercial buildings and the limited diversity of businesses.
Among respondents' suggestions for improvements are later week-end business hours, more attractive signage and more opportunities for cultural events and entertainment. Several respondents cited the need for a theater in the Town Center.
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Food Front managers anticipate
Co-op board's approval of Hillsdale store
Managers of the Food Front Co-operative are proceeding under that assumption that the Co-op's governing board will approve opening a Hillsdale store at the board's March meeting.
Food Front General Manager Holly Jarvis said that a January 23 owners/members' meeting produced "overwhelmingly positive responses" to opening a store at the site of the old Wild Oats store in the Hillsdale Shopping Center.
"Between now and the board's decision, we will have laid the groundwork to move ahead," Jarvis said.
"We have Hillsdale community support, a primary budget, owners' support, sale projections and preliminary financial projections. Now we need to prepare other documents for the board."
Even before the board decision, Food Front will launch an owner/membership drive in Hillsdale with recruitment at the Hillsdale Farmers Market. Memberships are $150 but can be paid for in $5 monthly installments.
Jarvis said that Food Front anticipates opening in June or July, if all goes according to plan.
While those attending the January owners/members' meeting favored the store, some did air concerns. Among them were parking problems at the Hillsdale Shopping Center and fear of an economic downturn.
Jarvis said parking has always been an issue at the shopping center, but studies showed it wouldn't deter people from patronizing the store. Besides many people are deciding to walk to the center. She added that Food Front's store on NW Thurman has even less parking than the Hillsdale store has.
During economic downturns, she said, grocery stores are relatively unaffected. Customers simply change their buying habits by purchasing less expensive food and eating at home more.
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You're invited
Robert Gray's Multicultural Festival Feb. 12
The community is invited to join in the Ninth Annual Robert Gray Middle School Multicultural celebration on Tuesday, Feb. 12, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 pm.
The free evening festivities will feature the "Lions of Batucada," a marching samba ensemble performing Brazilian-inspired music and dance.
The World Café will sell Greek, Thai, Mexican, Indian, Middle Eastern and Caribbean cuisine donated by local restaurants.
Other entertainment will include music, hands-on craft activities and multicultural displays by students and local artists.
Robert Gray Middle School is located at 5505 SW 23rd Avenue in Hillsdale.
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State Farm agent reflects on 25 years here
 After 25 years of selling insurance in the Hillsdale area, RickHennessy, the State Farm agent, says the community seems to generatefewer claims than similar communities elsewhere. As least that's theimpression he gets from talking to his fellow agents.
But if he gets fewer claims, he gets a lot of visitors to his three-person office next to the Key Bank in Hillsdale.
"We get a lot of people who stick their heads in just to say 'hi.' Theylike to pay their bills personally. And some people come in just tocome in. I don't see them as customers any more; I see them asfriends," he says.
Hennessy describes Hillsdale as having a "small-town feel" even though it is part of a city.
Hennessy grew up in Portland and graduated from Lewis & ClarkCollege. He taught high school in Newberg before becoming an insuranceagent.
Many insurances companies have automated services, but Hennessy takespride in personal service. "When you call here, you get a person," hesays. That person is either Hennessy or one of his office colleagues,Julie Dallin and Susan Schaefbauer
While the basics of insurance haven't changed in 25 years, hesays the numbers have. When he started, the average homeownerdeductible was $50; now it is $1000. And liability coverage hasincreased ten-fold. In 1983, a $100,000 house was considered expensive.The same house today might cost nearly $1 million.
Editor's Note and Apology: In a passing referenceto Hennessy's business in the last issue, I misidentifiedHennessy's parent company as All-State. To make matters worse, Imisspelled his last names.
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Rick Seifert
Editor, Hillsdale News
(503) 245-7821
editor@hillsdalenews.org
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