Commentary:
A Friendly Idea
Fred Friendly, my journalism professor back in the Sixties, had the brilliant idea of funding public broadcasting with some of the revenues gained from the public's investment in communications satellites, which, at the time, were the "new, new thing."
It never happened, but the idea - in its broad outlines - has stuck with me: Use the next big technological breakthrough to fund worthy projects.
Leap forward to 2008's growing interest in installing photo voltaic solar panels on public property (I'll have more about how this is shaping up in Hillsdale in the next issue). My idea locally is to use the leasing of public land for solar panels to pay for undergrounding unsightly utility wires along Capitol Highway in Hillsdale. Or, use a percentage of the revenues earned from the solar-produced electricity for the same purpose.
I won't go into my long history with the undergrounding issue and trying to fix up what urban planners call "the streetscape" in Hillsdale. Let's just say I've bent my pick on this one for more than a decade. Wes Risher, my colleague in this effort, and I even got a diverse group of stakeholders (notably including the utilities) to accept the idea that a portion of the fees utilities pay to use the public right-of-way should go into an undergrounding fund.
That's an idea not unlike Friendly's, but it too, went nowhere. The city didn't want to divert the money to an appropriate, related use.
So here comes solar power, and a another chance for the "City that Works" to, well, work.
Typewriter tribute
Call me crazy, but I collect typewriters.
Among my 60 machines is the 1920's vintage Remington you see pictured at the top of this column.
I've tried to find a way to prune my collection, which spills out into my basement like some mechanical algae.
I regularly donate typewriters to auctions and raffles for worthy causes. The similarly crazed and smitten snap them up.
The other way I've tried to "focus" the collection is to keep only those models that I know famous writers used. I have models associated with Ernie Pyle, Agatha Christie, Sylvia Plath, George Orwell and E.B. White among others. Be still, my heart!
Many of my typewriters will be on exhibit at the University of Portland's Buckley Center Gallery from March 17 to April 10. Typewriter portraits taken by UP photography students will also be on display. If you find yourself up on Mock's Crest in north Portland, you might drop by and take a look.
Rick Seifert
Editor
|
 |
|
Links to Alliance Members
|
|
|
|
|
Space at a premium as enrollment grows
New building for Rieke raises questions
The Rieke Elementary School community now knows that the old school has been recommended for demolition and for replacement with a new building at an estimated cost of $16.8 million.
Now community members wonder when and how the construction will take place.
Better sooner than later because the old building is feeling the squeeze resulting from an on-going enrollment increase imposed on the school by district officials. By marketing the school to the parents of pre-school parents, Rieke parent leaders have increased enrollment from 280 to 325 students in the past year.
This year, to accommodate the addition of an extra kindergarten class, the district brought in a two-room portable building.
In five more years, if the enrollment drive continues to be successful, Rieke will have increased its enrollment by 50 percent - and outgrown its present building, which was constructed in 1959.
School principal Charlene Russell said the district has just begun to address a method for figuring out which of the 10 new replacement schools will be built first under a recently announced 20-year plan.
Before anything can happen, voters must approve a major construction bond measure.
Meanwhile, the growing Rieke Elementary School population will have to manage next year without another new portable. "It will be cozy," Russell said, "but we will make it work.
Michael Reunert, Rieke's PTA president, worries that a cramped school might almost make Rieke "the victim of its own success" at increasing its enrollment. He sees a time when singles in the Pearl district start having children, move to Hillsdale and send youngsters to Rieke.
If the growth continues as planned, another portable will be needed for the fall of 2009. Russell said that the second portable would satisfy space requirements until the fall of 2011,
If more time passes without a new building, more portables can be brought in. Forest Park School has nine portables, which serve more of the school's students than its original building does, Russell noted.
Russell foresees two approaches to how the school might operate during construction. The new building might be built on an adjacent site, allowing the old building to remain open during construction, or, if the same site is used for the new building, students might use a vacant School District building, like the abandoned Smith Elementary School.
|
Hillsdale grocery would open this summer
Food Front board to vote on store in April
Food Front Co-op's managers are moving ahead with plans to open a grocery in the Hillsdale Shopping center in June or July.
Whether their efforts result in a new store, which would be Food Front's second, depends on a vote by the co-op's board in early April.
The board will base its decision on budget numbers and other information being gathered now by Food Front managers.
Food Front's general manager, Holly Jarvis, will lead contractors through the old Wild Oats space in the first week of March. She needs bids from architects, electricians, refrigeration contractors and awning installers. Those numbers will be added to bids already received for flooring and lighting.
"I haven't completed negotiations on the lease yet, and we haven't approached banks for lending agreements," she said.
Meanwhile, the co-op's finance manager is crunching revenue and expense estimates for the new store, and the outreach manager is planning a membership drive in Hillsdale. Employees at the NW Thurman store are drawing on their experience to write training manuals for a Hillsdale store staff.
|
Neighborhood president Don Baack and city planner Brian Sheehan recently met as part of the working group.
Planner, working group coordinate efforts
At the initiative of community leaders, Brian Sheehan of the Portland Planning Bureau now has a "Hillsdale Working Group" to advise him.
The group, convened by Hillsdale Neighborhood Association president Don Baack, has four Hillsdale community members representing the neighborhood association, the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association, the school community and the Hillsdale Farmer's Market.
The group met for the first time Monday, Feb. 25, to share information and to discuss the purpose of the Working Group. Present were Baack, Sheehan, Rieke Elementary PTA president Michael Reunert, Farmers' Market board chair Josh Kadish, and Rick Seifert of the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association.
The group plans to meet monthly with Sheehan, whose planning responsibilities take in all of Portland's west side, excluding downtown.
Sheehan said that having a working group fits in with the maxim that "good planning is good communication."
The planning bureau and the working group are focusing on updating and implementing the Hillsdale Town Center Plan, which was passed by the Portland City Council more than 10 years ago. Both the City and Metro, the regional government, have taken an interest in the Hillsdale Town Center as a model for other town centers in the metropolitan area.
"If you can't do a town center in Hillsdale, you are going to have a hard time doing it anywhere in Southwest Portland," Sheehan said. He listed several Hillsdale assets including its strong schools, proximity to downtown, an involved community, an active leadership, developable open space and excellent transit service.
A recent on-line planning bureau poll of area residents indicated a desire to improve the Hillsdale commercial area's appearance, he said.
|
SW HOPE
Campaign to help the hungry ends March 15
You've seen the signs. "SW HOPE: Feed the Hungry/Donation Site"
The hungry? In Southwest Portland?
That's right.
At Neighborhood House, Southwest Portland's primary social service agency and local distribution center for the Oregon Food Bank, the number of families seeking food assistance has quadrupled over the last six years.
One in six SW Portland resident is low income. Among seniors, 11 percent go hungry. according to Neighborhood House statistics.
Hunger also is a problem among the working poor. More than 45 percent of households receiving emergency food boxes have at least one working adult.
Last year the Neighborhood House Emergency Food Box Program distributed more than 3,000 food boxes and fed more than 9,000 low-income people.
That's where those donation signs come in.
Under a campaign called "SW Hope: Feed the Hungry," faith communities across Southwest Portland are working together with neighbors, community groups, and local businesses to collect food for Neighborhood House's Emergency Food Box Program.
The food drive has set a goal of raising more than 75,000 pounds (that's more than 32 tons) of canned and non-perishable food or the cash equivalent.
The drive ends March 15.
You can drop off food wherever you see the banners - that means virtually every church and synagogue in SW Portland. Neighborhood House in Multnomah Village is another drop-off site.
Another way to help is by eating food - out - at an area restaurant contributing a percentage of your tab to the program. A complete list of participating restaurants and coupons can be found at www.swhope.org.
|
Refund money kept in the community
Volunteers help working poor with tax returns
To you, CASH means that green stuff in your wallet or purse,
But to Bruce Murray, his fellow CASH volunteers and the thousands they serve, it stands for "
Creating
Assets,
Savings and
Hope."
And each tax season, that is exactly what CASH does. It usually results in that green stuff for those who participate.
Last year 300 volunteers in 50 sites in three counties helped 11,700 low-income people get $5 million in federal tax refunds and $1.3 million in state refunds.
"That's money returned to this community," says Murray, a Healy Heights resident and a retired banker who is a CASH volunteer.
This tax season, the nearest site to Hillsdale is at Loaves and Fishes in Multnomah Village at 7710 SW 31st Avenue. The site is open Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Appointments are preferred. The phone number is 244-5204.
Materials on the program are available at the Hillsdale Branch Library.
Also, Lloyd Center, suite 2010 (on Wednesday, Saturdays or Sundays), and the PSU School of Business Management (Saturdays and Sundays) are sites where walk-in service is available. For details about hours and locations, visit Cash Oregon's website Cashoregon.org.
CASH is in several states. In Oregon, CASH, which works in cooperation with AARP's Tax-Aide program, was started by Social Venture Partners, a group of approximately 60 executives who each donate $5000 a year to help non-profit organizations.
|
Bidding for Robert Gray School
Auction puts beach stay, wine on the block
Go to the beach to help a Hillsdale school.
All you have to do is plunk down $15 admission to the Robert Gray Middle School Foundation auction and then bid like mad for a weekend at Yachats.
Also on the auction block are bowling and lunch for four and a Portland Art Museum tour for three. Attendees will place blind bids on donated wine with hidden labels.
Those are just some of many auction enticements at the benefit event at the Multnomah Arts Center, Saturday, March 8.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Admission price for two is $25. A hot beverage and dessert are included. Beer and wine are available for purchase.
To purchase tickets, contact Elena Miller (houseofchaos05@msn.com;
503-977-2649) or stop by the office at Robert Gray. If you have other
questions, contact Linda Venti (mlventi@comcast.net; 503-293-9939)
|
'The Portland Ballet'
Hillsdale dance academy takes a new name
Hillsdale is now home to The Portland Ballet.
The dance academy isn't new to Hillsdale, but the name, "The Portland Ballet." is.
"The Portland Ballet" replaces "Pacific Artists Ballet," the school's name since Jim Lane and Nancy Davis founded it here in 2001 in the renovated garage at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Capitol Highway.
The old sign on the distinctive building will be replaced soon.
Lane and Davis say the new name reflects a commitment to the city and also marks the fulfillment of their goal to be ranked among the most prestigious dance academies in the country.
|
|
Rick Seifert
Editor, Hillsdale News
(503) 245-7821
editor@hillsdalenews.org
|
|
|
Home
