Commentary:
Choosing Transition
over Recovery
Since the recession began, I've encouraged anyone who will listen that the economy doesn't need to "recover." If the economy returns to its old state, it will simply continue to cycle between boom and bust and to perpetuate habits that are destroying the planet.
No, "recovery," literally "covering again," will cloak alternatives to a destructive, deceptive economy and way of life.
So what does all of this have to do with Hillsdale?
In some ways, not all that much. We are making real changes here: the solar panels at Rieke School, the customer-owned Food Front Cooperative, the bustling Hillsdale Farmers Market and the energy-efficient, community-inspiring "Hillsdale" sign.
Still many in the business community are staking their futures on a "recovery." So, if not a recovery, what?
Try "transition."
A recent article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, titled "The End is Near! (Yah!)" introduces readers to the "Transition Movement," which began in England and is now spreading across this country.
As the article's author Jon Mooallem puts it: "Transition's message is two-fold: first, that a dire global emergency demands we transform our society; and second, that we might actually enjoy making those changes."
Joy. Think of reactions to the four Hillsdale projects I've mentioned. I don't know about you, but joy is one of mine.
The Times story focuses on one community that is embracing the transition movement, Sandpoint, Idaho, which, with its 8,100 residents is similar in size to Hillsdale. Of course, Sandpoint and Hillsdale have many differences, not the least of which is that Sandpoint is an incorporated town while Hillsdale is a virtual legal non-entity.
That doesn't mean we can't have a transition movement here. We'd break up into working groups such as "Food," "Transportation," "Commerce," "Education," and, yes, "Self-governance."
The groups would explore the transitions necessary to survive joyously in a time of environmental tumult and economic challenge. And they would be helped by the experience of other "transition" communities and by a national organization "Transition U.S."
I've argued in this space before that we can't be a true community until we have the power to act on our own behalf. A major needed transition is to petition for that power from City Hall. If that means a Hillsdale self-governance referendum on the ballot, win or lose, the debate and discussion of independence would open our minds.
Reading Mooallem's article has even led me to question some results of our recent planning efforts with SERA consultants. Instead of adding housing density to the core of the Sunset Triangle, why not try something much simpler? Lease the unused land with its southern exposure from its owners and turn it into a community garden with a path winding through it. Our children could learn gardening, and the leases would be paid for by the produce we (and they) would sell at Food Front and the Farmers Market.
The idea may seem odd, but its strangeness is a sign that it might take us where we need to go rather than back to where we have been.
Correction:
The link to Phil Pennington's web site didn't work in the last issue. Click here and you should have better luck. The site, www.explorepdx.com, is fascinating and a wonderful reflection of Phil's lively curiosity about the world.
Rick Seifert
Editor
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Links to Alliance Members
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Parking will be behind the four-unit complex on the north side of Capitol Highway.
New shops planned
for old gas station site
Gone is the vacant and battered hulk of the old Estby gas station. It was torn down on April 23 and 24.
The vacant site now awaits a new 4-unit, 6,500 square foot commercial structure that also requires the demolition of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream store.
Ardys Braidwood, part owner and manager of Wardin Properties, said that there's no telling when her company will break ground on the new one-story building designed by architect Richard Brown. While she awaits improvements in the financing market, she is in discussions with three potential contractors.
"If the building were ready now," she said, "I could probably have it leased out." One tenant, whom Braidwood declined to name, has already been lined up and a potential leasee is very interested. Baskin-Robbins might also move into a unit if the price is right, she added.
Despite the recession, she said that Hillsdale is a desirable location, partly because the surrounding community is so supportive of the Town Center's businesses.
The new building will also have the advantage of offering store frontage on busy Capitol Highway. No commercial space on the north side of Capitol offers such prominent exposure.
Wardin Properties owns the shopping center on the south side of Capitol as well the Portland Ballet dance school, the drug store and the clinic building. It also owns the Casa Colima restaurant building and the commercial building to the east of cleared site.
The driveway to the latter property will serve as the entry to the 37 parking spaces behind the new building. Cars may exit to the west using what is now the entry to the ice cream parlor.
Brown, who designed the conversion of the Wardin-owned garage at Capitol and Sunset into the Portland Ballet dance studio, said that the new building's "green" features will focus on run-off water management. A "green" roof will clean runoff before it enters the city system, and parking lot run-off will pass through bio-swales to filter out oils and dirt.
Natural ventilation will be on the building's north side, away from Capitol Highway noise and pollution, he added.
Several neighborhood leaders had hoped the new structure, just feet away from Hillsdale bus routes, would have more than one story, with living units on the upper floors, but Braidwood said the site couldn't accommodate needed tenant parking.
The old gas station was once leased by Dwight Estby who operated it under the Shell, Texaco and Estby names. The building had been empty for years and had attracted vandalism and graffiti. The unsightliness and "attractive nuisance" led Braidwood to decide to tear down the structure.
In recent years, the Hillsdale Alliance used the old station for three community book sales.
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In Memoriam:
Tony Scuito, Jim Lynch shaped
Hillsdale in the booming '50s
Two business owners who helped define Hillsdale in the second half of the 20th Century have died.
 James Lynch, Jr., whose Lynch's Market, anchored the Hillsdale Shopping Center when the center first opened, passed away on March 24 in Chandler, Arizona, at the age of 89. (Lynch is pictured to the left.)
Tony Sciuto, known to many as "Mr. Hillsdale," died April 25 in Portland at age 87. (His photo is below.)
Both men were Portland natives and veterans of World War II. Scuito received two Bronze Stars for heroism and two Purple Hearts during his time in the Army. Lynch enlisted in the Navy immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and received the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Ribbon and the Good Conduct Medal for his service.
Both became actively involved in Hillsdale in the early 1950s. Scuito opened the Hillsdale Shoe Repair in 1954. Lynch took over Lynch's Market from his father, who had started the business as a roadside fruit and vegetable stand in Hillsdale in 1926.
Lynch's Market moved into the current Food Front Coop space in 1954 when the shopping center opened. Lynch sold the store in 1980 and retired to Arizona.
Scuito ran his shoe repair for 29 years. The shop remains a popular fixture in the community.
Lynch and Scuito were known for their generosity.
Old-timers remember charging purchases at Lynch's long before there were credit cards. Lynch sponsored bowling teams and youth athletic teams. His children went to Wilson High and he was a member of the booster club as well as a charter member, elder and deacon of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. He also served as president of the Southwest Lions Club.
The affable Scuito would give complimentary lollipops to children who came to his shoe repair shop. Janet Vehring, Lynch's daughter, remembers Scuito handing out heels to the children to use in playing hop-scotch.
Scuito also was a Wilson High booster, and he was instrumental in starting the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association Annual Customer-Appreciation Pancake Breakfast. In his retirement, Scuito would unfailingly return to the breakfast to help serve pancakes.
Both men worked together on numerous occasions as members of the Hillsdale Booster Club, the predecessor to the current Hillsdale Business and Professional Association.
A celebration of life for Tony will be held on Saturday, May 2, at 1 p.m. at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, located at Dosch and Sunset.
Scuito is survived by his wife, Patricia Scuito, two sons, Steve and Ken, and a daughter, Diane Kleve, as well as by eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Lynch is survived by his wife Bernadine; daughters Linda Easthope and Janet Vehring, by sister Violet Richards; plus five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
A funeral service for Lynch was held March 30 at River View Cemetery Funeral Home.
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Oregonian distribution center closes
after 40 years in Hillsdale
 Declining Oregonian readership has shut down an obscure but venerable Hillsdale business operation that has been tucked away in a commercial building's basement garage for 40 years.
In the wee hours of the morning, newspaper carriers have set out with hundreds of papers from the garage on Cheltenham Street beneath the Sunset Office Building. Their routes fanned out throughout Southwest.
But in recent months, circulation has declined markedly, said Debbie Dupree, who had the Station 16 distribution contract.
In February, The Oregonian had about 2,900 home delivery subscribers, she said. On Thursday, April 30, the last day of Station 16's distribution from Hillsdale, it had dropped to 2,500.
"A lot of people have moved. A lot of people have lost their jobs. The price has gone up. Older people can't afford it or are traveling. And the Internet is free. Why would you pay for something you can get free?" she said.
The cavernous center housed two contract operations, Dupree's Station 16 and Station 26, which covered Macadam, John's Landing and the South Waterfront. The operations are being consolidated with two others and will be run out of "Super Distribution Station" just off Powell Boulevard at 17th.
By consolidating, Dupree said, The Oregonian can pay less for distribution. Dupree, who has been working with or at the Oregonian for 23 years, is the only one from her 10-carrier team to lose her job in the switch. Among those to stay on is Ty Walker, who is pictured above on his last day in the Hillsdale office.
To make sure all the deliveries are made on time, trucks that delivered hot-off-the-presses papers for distribution between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. in Hillsdale, will deliver at the "Super Station" between midnight and 1 a.m., Walker said.
Dupree, who has had the Hillsdale contract for three years, said she was grateful to subscribers for "letting us come into their homes every day. I really enjoyed getting to know them."
Meanwhile, Frank Hasabe, who owns the Sunset Office Building, has a 2,200 square foot space to lease. "The Oregonian distribution was an anchor in the building," he says.
He is willing to split the space into pieces and, with five other vacant spaces in the building, he's "willing to negotiate."
As for newspapers, he predicts that home delivery is destined to disappear.
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Mike Roach, schools activist and business leader, honored
Oregon Partnership is recognizing the activism and volunteerism of
Mike Roach by awarding him
the Mary Oberst Award for Leadership in Preventing Underage Drinking. The annual award is given to individuals who have devoted themselves to raising public awareness about the devastating impact of alcohol on young minds and bodies.
A community activist, Hillsdale business leader and long-time schools volunteer, Roach founded the Parent Action Network at West Sylvan Middle School and is co-chairperson of the Health Action Network at Lincoln High School. He is president of the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association.
In making the announcement, the Oregon Partnership said: "His tireless work has been instrumental in advocating safe choices and positive reinforcement for students and educating parents about substance abuse issues. Ever since his daughter Isabel entered kindergarten, Mike has spent Mondays volunteering at her school, saying 'I've never had a boring day.'"
The Oregon Partnership is dedicated to ending drug and alcohol abuse and suicide in Oregon. It describes itself as "celebrating a healthy life and the hope that we can serve those in need."
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Styrofoam recycling at Wilson High
Global Citizen Corps, a service club at Wilson High School, is collecting styrofoam to be recycled. Styrofoam can be dropped off any weekday from 7:30 a.m to 3:45 p.m. Deposit styrofoam in one of two white bins, one by the main entrance of the school and one by the back entrance (near the gym.) The students can only recycle clean packing styrofoam: packing peanuts, block styrofoam or anything that is #16. No styrofoam used to serve food, such as plates or cups, is accepted. For more information, e-mail Caley Gallison. |
The Date Book
Friday, May 1; Saturday, May 2
'Bye, Bye, Birdie' - Robert Gray MS's first musical
Robert Gray students are performing in their first musical, the popular "Bye,Bye, Birdie," which has been on Broaday and been made into a film. Thelocation is Robert Gray Middle School. Times are 7 p.m. on Friday, and 2 p.m. on Saturday. Ticket prices: $5, studentsand seniors; $7, adults: $20, family four-pack. Limited number ofpremium seats are available at $10 each. Purchase tickets by contacting christycaton@msn.com or reenb@q.com, (503) 246-0891 or (503) 246-1474.
Sunday, May 3 - Farmers' Market Opening Day & Food Front event
To mark the opening of the 8th market season, Josh Kadish, the Hillsdale Farmers' Market board chair, will be playing music. Also, plant starts will be given away to the first 500 customers.
Nearby at the Food Front Cooperative Grocery, the store is holding an event titled "Gear up for Gardening". It runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will include gardening tips, information and recipes. An interactive planting table will be set up to inspire younger gardeners.
Sunday, May 3 - Rieke Art Fair and Classes
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Rieke Gym. Art from 40 vendors is for sale to benefit the school. Paintings, photography, wearable art, music, food, plants and classes for kids. Held in conjunction with the Hillsdale Farmers Market.
Visit the fair's web site.
Wednesday, May 6 - Hillsdale Neighborhood Association
7 p.m. at the Watershed meeting room, Bertha Court and Capitol. Note the new location for this meeting only. Shared remembrances of the late Phil Pennington. Election of new officers. Discussion of SERA Framework Strategic Plan for Hillsdale and of SWTrails' liability proposal.
Saturday, May 9 - Hillsdale Second Saturday Clean-up
This month's clean-up will meet at 9 a.m. at the Portland Christian Center as part of the SWNI/SOLV Spring Clean-up and Litter Patrol Events. See article below.
Saturday, May 9 - Spring Clean-up and Litter Patrol
SWNI, the coalition of Southwest neighborhoods, is once again helpingneighbors with spring cleaning - at home and along our by-ways.Neighbors are invited to drop off items to recycle, dispose of anddonate from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Portland Christian Center Parkinglot, 5700 Dosch Road, which is next to Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.Suggested donation fee of $10 per trip to the dropoff site. Volunteersfor the SWNI/SOLV Litter Patrol, should meet at 9 a.m. at the churchparking lot. For more volunteer information, contact Ginny at(503) 823-4592 or e-mail ginny@swni.org. Or visit swni.org. For a list of acceptable items for recycling, go here.
Saturday, May 9 - Multnomah Historical Association Open House
Learn more about "Southwest Portland neighborhood history
and visit the association's new location at
2929 SW Multnomah Blvd.
2 p.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit the association's web site.
Saturday, May 16 - Walking tour of historic South Portland district
Arnie Panitch of Hillsdale will conduct a free walking tour of the Jewish and Italian South Portland immigrant neighborhood from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., or 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. for those who want a shorter tour. Meet at SW 1st Avenue and Meade St.near the Lair Hill Cafe. Door prizes will be awarded along the route. Wear comfortable shoes. The walk is flat on paved sidewalks. For more information e-mail Panitch at apanitch@comcast.net
Saturday, May 16 - Neighborhood House Auction
Neighborhood House will be honoring SW HOPE with a Century of ServiceAward at Neighborhood House's annual dinner auction at the Multnomah Athletic Club. Thetheme for the event is "It's a beautiful day in the NeighborhoodHouse." Tom Kenny, the voice of Sponge Bob, again will serve asMaster of Ceremonies. Tickets are $100 each and a table sponsorship is$1,000. Contact Tia, tsherry@nhweb.org or call 503-246-1663 to purchase tickets or donate items for the auction.
Monday, May 18, 7 p.m. - Disaster Triage presentation
The Hillsdale Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) is presenting this program on triage,
a system to quickly assess patients, categorize injuries, and prioritize treatment for those injured in a disaster. 7 p.m. at the Watershed building, 6380 SW Capitol Highway. When an earthquake or other emergency occurs, an estimated 80 percent of rescues are carried out by neighbors, not fire departments. Marcel Rodriguez, the presenter, is a former Army medic, a NET team trainer and team leader of the Arnold Creek NET. For more information, call Lynn at (503) 768-9209.
Saturday, May 23 - Portland Bridge walk with poetry and music
SharonWood Wortman, Hillsdale resident and author of The Portland Bridge Book, will lead the first of three 2009 bridge walks. Wortman has been leader ofwaterfront bridge walks for Portland Parks & Recreationsince 1991. The first 2009 walk features poet Shirley Sachiko Kishiyama and includes a visit to
the Japanese-American Memorial in Tom McCall Waterfront Park.
Meetat 8:30 a.m., corner of NW Second & Everett (steps of the NorthwestNatural Building). The walk ends with a Chinatown lunch (not included in price). $16 foradults, $10 for children. For more information, c
ontact Nancy Harger, Portland Parks, (503) 823-5127, nharger@ci.portland.or.us or Sharon Wood Wortman (503) 222-5535, sharon@bridgestories.com
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Rick Seifert
Editor, Hillsdale News
(503) 245-7821
editor@hillsdalenews.org
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