Commentary:
In its January 7 issue, Willamette Week ran a cautionary tale that took place in Hillsdale, right down the street from me. I had alerted reporter James Pitkin to rumblings I'd heard from neighbors about questionable dealings.
When neighbor Warren Cummins died last fall, his caregiver of three months received his entire estate, amounting to nearly $900,000, including his house. His stepson and three adopted children were left out of the will which had only recently been rewritten to exclusively benefit the caregiver.
The children are now suing.
Pitkins' story, "Estate of Denial," makes for sober reading.
A band to believe in
The "Get a Life Marching Band," the local musical fixture at the Multnomah Day's Parade and other strange events in "Weird City," will be in the big Jan. 20 inauguration parade.
Patti Waitman-Ingebretsen, captain of the band's famed, somewhat-high-stepping baton twirlers, reports the band is pumped for the celebratory parade.
Get a Life has mostly performed in parades in Oregon and southwest Washington. But it has also marched in San Antonio, inexplicably, not once but several times. It has also strutted its stuff at Disneyland and Disney World, and the Tampa Gasperilla Parade.
Next stop after the inauguration will be San Francisco for the Chinese New Year's parade in February.
Right with the times
Howard Kunstler's 2006 book, "The Long Emergency," predicted that a lot of what we are seeing-and are likely to see in the economy will result in permanent, profound changes.
Kunstler's thesis is that the days of putting our lives and values "on plastic" and shopping the malls are over. Instead, we will curb debt, live frugally and stay close to home.
It's back to the basics of food, shelter and clothing. I'd add the basics of health care and education to the list and throw in a dash of fun, whether it be local drama productions, music-making or painting murals.
And then there's community. Kunstler and others argue that we will become more reliant on and closer to each other in the new, spartan economy.
Most of our experiment with community building in Hillsdale has shown that to be a good thing.
Now we need to take it to the next step. The business community needs to take a hard look at what goods and services it is offering. Which are relevant to our times? Which aren't?
Schools need to be rethought. That means true community control of the schools. What skills will our children need in this new economy? What skills do we adults need? And what can all of us learn together? Schools desperately need to become year-round, inter-generatinal community learning centers.
The list of changes is long. As the Christmas storm taught us, we must organize ourselves for emergencies of all kinds. The City of Portland, the school district and the County (particularly the county-run library) should grant us more autonomy in shaping our community and its institutions.
In this "Long Emergency," small communities like ours will be where the action is. It's about time. It's the good news in a time of serious transformation.
Rick Seifert
Editor
|
Click HERE for past newsletters
|
|
Links to Alliance Members
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clinic for poor finds
new, nearby home
 After 18 months of searching, the staff of the Southwest Community Health Center, which serves low-income families, finally has found a new home.
When it reopens in early February at its new leased location at 7754 Capitol Highway in Multnomah Village, the clinic will be easy for current patients to find.
It will be just two buildings away from the center's present clinic in the Multnomah Arts Center (MAC) building. The new space, which is diagonally across from the Multnomah Village Starbucks, will be nearly three times as large as the old one, said Executive director Samira Godil (shown to the left in what will be the main corridor to the new clinic).
Since 2005, the community health center has been subletting its MAC space from Neighborhood House, which now needs for more room. When Neighborhood House informed the Godil it wanted to reoccupy the MAC space, the clinic set out to find new quarters.
The present space, which the clinic moved into in May 2005, has only two examination rooms. "We were turning people away and doctors and nurses were kept waiting," Godil said. The clinic serves about 150 low-income and unemployed patients a month. Sixty percent of them come from Southwest Portland.
The new space has six examination rooms.
The clinic, with its $299,000 annual budget, is supported by corporations, foundations and individual donors. The $3,000/month rent for the new space is being paid by Providence Health Systems.
Godil said it costs $129 for each patient visit including medications and supplies. Contributions from patients average $7 per patient.
The sinking economy has cut into support for the clinic, she said. "Every donation is valuable, but we have seen a 40 percent decrease in giving. I need to work much harder to make up for that."
She said that one donor who had given $1000 for each of the last four years had to cut this year's gift to $250. Foundations have become more rigid and focused in their funding, she said.
|
Storm teaches need
for preparedness, training
 The Great Snow Storm of Christmas 2008 may have come and gone, but is far from forgotten.
The storm and its havoc were a major topic at the January 7 Hillsdale Neighborhood Association meeting.
Much of the discussion focused on what could be done to prepare for future storms - and emergencies.
Those who had lived in the Midwest and East shared insights from their experience with snow that "back East" is no big deal. Glenn Bridger, who lived for years in Madison, Wisconsin, said that the Christmas storm here made him miss his old snow blower.
John Morris, who is co-chair of Hillsdale's Neighborhood Emergency Team, moved here from Connecticut. He said he was amazed at how ill-prepared The City of Portland was for the storm.
Carolyn Raz, who is retired from owning and operating the Raz Bus Company with her husband, Buzz, said the storm made her thankful she is no longer in the bus business.
While the storm caused inconvenience for some, it caused real hardship for a few. Penny Greenwood returned from a trip to California to find a pipe had burst in her home. Cost of repairs: $15,000. Fortunately the insurance paid for it.
The Hillsdale Edward Jones office was flooded when melting snow seeped in. The Bank of America took a hit from a broken pipe.
The storm did more than physical damage to businesses. Mike Roach, co-owner of Paloma Clothing and president of the business assocation, said that the storm contributed to a "disastrous" holiday sales season, the worst of his 32 years in business here. He thanked those who tramped through the snow to patronize local businesses.
He added that the storm-caused losses and the persistent recession may take their toll on local businesses in the coming months. Local purchases in January would be a "morale booster," he said.
Some asked why some Hillsdale businesses were shoveled out and others weren't. Roach explained that his lease and those of others in the Hillsdale Shopping Center (see photo of its "snow park" above) require each business to take responsibility for snow removal. When the storm prevented some from getting to their businesses, the snow went unshoveled.
Still, Roach and community-spirited volunteers pitched in to remove much of the snow in the center. At one point Matt Braidwood, who was shoveling out the Hillsdale Shopping Center by hand, spotted a passing front-loader on Capitol Highway. Braidwood, whose family owns the center, followed the loader, flagged down the driver and hired the equipment on the spot.
The "ad hoc" connection will be useful in the future, Roach said.
A major problem was snow storage. City plows shoved snow aside blocking side streets and burying sidewalks. White snow berms blocked access to bus stops. Bridger, the former Madison resident, declared that city crews need to be taught how to plow properly. And, he added, the city needs to designate snow disposal areas.
Several former former Easterners remarked that snow shoveling is a great way for kids to pick up a few extra bucks. One person suggested that students looking for community service opportunities could be organized to shovel out the town center.
Another snow veteran from the East remarked that half his Portland neighbors don't even own adequate shovels.
Some suggested that the Hillsdale Neighborhood Emergency Team be responsible for following through on the suggestions.
|
Crews remove debris from two demolished houses. Burlingame Place, the previous site of the house that slid, is above the visquene covering.
Clean-up work is slow going;
Terwilliger opening uncertain
For thousands of commuters who once used Terwilliger Boulevard to get to and from OHSU and other destinations, there's still no definitive word on when the route will open.
First the work of clearing the damage from the Oct. 8 landslide that destroyed two homes must be completed. Crews have been demolishing one partially damaged home and removing the rubble. They are also carefully salvaging possessions from another home that slid from Burlingame Place,
"It's slow going," said Mike Liefeld of the City Bureau of Development Services. The work began Dec. 29 and is not expected to be completed until sometime in the week of January 19th.
Then the site above Terwilliger must be tested for its stability, Liefeld added. If engineers find it safe to work, grading on property can begin.
Although Liefeld said he could not estimate when Terwilliger might open, last month city officials had said that they hoped to have Terwilliger open to traffic in late January. Liefeld said, "We are right where we thought we would be."
Area businesses served by Terwilliger report being hurt by the closure. Residents on side streets being used as unofficial detour routes have complained of increased traffic.
Prior to its closure, Terwilliger served 6,200 vehicles on an average work day, according to the Portland Department of Transportation.
|
|
PPS to push for Solar-Powered Rieke in 2009
A solar-powered Rieke Elementary School is still on the Portland Public School district's project agenda for 2009.
Last week a team that promoted the project in 2008, but failed to find funding, regrouped for the new year.
The team includes representatives from the City of Portland, the school district, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and Commercial Solar Ventures, a developer.
"We need a large investor to take all the tax credits," said Catherine Diviney, energy specialist for the school district. Federal and state credits are available in order to attract investors to alternative energy projects.
Diviney said she wasn't certain whether cost estimates from last fall still hold. At that time the estimates were between $800,000 and $900,000 for the project.
The voltaic solar array is planned to go on the school district-owned slope just above Bertha Court. Power from the panels is estimated to provide 60 percent of Rieke's energy needs.
The team is considering approaching SolarWorld AG, a German panel manufacturer with a new plant in Hillsboro, to see whether the Rieke project might get a price break.
The availability of panels is another question mark. Demand has been high under the incentives program. The incentives, which were due to run out at the end of 2008, were extended as part of the $700 billion financial bailout package approved by Congress in September.
The team is planning to put together a prospectus package. Diviney said Hillsdale residents might be approached to become investors in the project.
The group estimates it needs $600,000 beyond commitments from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and the Energy Trust of Oregon.
|
|
Raised bike lanes on Capitol Highway proposed
In the Hillsdale Town Center, bikers and motorists on busy Capitol Highway deserve a break - from each other.
That's what the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association decided at its January 7 meeting by voting to ask the City to raise bike lanes level to the height of the sidewalks.
The resulting "bike tracks" on either side of the busy street between Sunset and 18th Avenue would be elevated to curb height above motorist traffic lanes.
Bike tracks, which are common in Europe, would also protect bicyclists in the event Hillsdale experiments with on-street, off-hour parallel parking along Capitol Highway, said Don Baack, president of the neighborhood association.
The resolution, which passed unanimously, will be conveyed to Mayor Sam Adams, who also is the city commissioner for transportation.
|
|
Capitol Hill Road speed bumps are "tough sell"
If you are a fan of speed bumps as a device for calming traffic, be informed that their price just went up.
Also, if you want speed bumps installed on your street, you, not the City, will pay for them.
That's what speed bump advocates on twisty SW Capitol Hill Road are finding out.
Will Stevens, traffic operations program manager for the Portland Department of Transportation, was the bearer of the bad news at the January meeting of the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association. He reported that speed bumps, once estimated to cost $2000 per bump, are now estimated to cost $3000.
When bumps were installed on Vermont Street last year, the city picked up the tab. No longer. If folks living along Capitol Hill Road want bumps (and it's far from clear that enough of them do), they are going to have to come up with the money themselves.
The stretch of the road under consideration for nine "speed tables" is between Bertha Boulevard and Barbur Boulevard and runs next to Custer Park. The cost is estimated at $27,000.
To get a go-ahead from the City, two-thirds of those living on the stretch would have to approve the bumps. The neighborhood associations for the two affected neighborhoods, Multnomah and Hillsdale, would also have to approve.
But Stevens said that so far most neighbors show little interest in the bumps. Only ten people showed up for a meeting about the installation last month, and, of those, two or three had concerns, he said.
Last year, the posted speed limit was reduced from 30 mph to 25 mph on the "neighborhood collector," but it has made little difference, he reported. Motorists are still driving about 5 mph above the old limit.
He concluded that because of the cost, the need for neighbors to come up with money, and apparent lack of interest, the Capitol Hill Road speed bumps appear to be a tough project to sell to the community. But, he added, the city will continue to pursue it for now.
|
The Date Book
Thursday, Jan. 15 -
Urban Walks offered by Mazama leaders
Mazama members Jane Roberts and Bob Miller will lead two urban walks, one fast, one slower, departing from the SW Community Center (SW 45th and Vermont). Meet by 5:45 p.m. inside the community center, and leave by 6 p.m., returning by 8 p.m. The cost is $2, or $1 for 55 years and older.
Participants are invited to join in for dinner at Laughing Planet afterwards.
Bring a light for safety and perhaps a dry shirt to change into afterwards for dinner.
The group meets every month, usually on the third Thursday, at the same time and place for different hikes. Next month's walk is on Thursday, Feb. 26.
Mazamas is a non-profit mountaineering organization
Saturday, Jan. 17 -
Himes Park Work Party
Help rid the park of invasives from 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at SW Terwillger and Nebraska. Organized by the Watershed Stewards.
Wednesday, Jan. 21 -
Learn the Art of Anime and Manga
At the Hillsdale Branch Library from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Free tickets will be available 30 minutes prior to the program.
Thursday, Jan. 22 -
Raising Our Daughters
Pediatrician Kathy Masarie will give a presentation for parents of elementary and middle school children. The talk will focus on learning how to respect conflicting pressures that young girls experience. At Rieke Elementary School from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Cost: $10. Childcare will not be provided and seating is limited to 65.
Thursday, Jan. 22
-
Rieke Pre-school Parents' program
Children gather for stories and art projects plus a snack while parents participate in a session on "Boredom and Beyond," part of a free monthly educational series. January's session will be taught by Sydney Stocks of Small Friends preschool. 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Rieke Elementary School.
Sunday, Jan. 25 -
Kol Shalom Welcoming Social
The 2 p.m. get-acquainted event will offer information about Humanistic Judaism and a chance to meet Kol Shalom members. Call 503-297-8614 for directions to location, which is a private residence.
Monday, Jan. 26 -
Chinese Fan Decorating for the New Year
Decorate an accordion-folded red fan with Chinese characters for Chinese New Year good luck and prosperity. Hillsdale Branch Library from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Free.
|
|
|
Rick Seifert
Editor, Hillsdale News
(503) 245-7821
editor@hillsdalenews.org
|
|
|
|
Home
