Commentary:
As others see us
Insights about our community often come when I least expect them.
I represent a media literacy organization, MediaThink, on the Coalition for Commercial-Free Schools.
At a recent meeting, we were discussing commercial aspects of school fundraisers like Powell's Books for Kids and Pizzicato Pizza Night. The good news: These are ways to raise money for our schools. The bad news: They are an insidious form of advertising for their named sponsors.
I happened to mention that we had just finished a Hillsdale Community Book Sale that attracted surrounding neighbors in no small measure because the community's name, not the name of a business or corporation, was on the event. I even ventured that a sponsor's name on the sale might have hurt attendance.
We like to think that what we do in Hillsdale belongs to Hillsdale. We take civic pride in our "ownership."
Companies have made overtures to the Hillsdale Farmers' Market to offer sponsored help even though none is needed. These would-be sponsors know a good thing when they see it and want to buy into the halo effect.
The farmers market has wisely said, "Thanks, but no thanks."
When I mentioned all this to my colleagues on the Coalition for Commercial-Free Schools," one shot back with, "That's easy for you to say. You live in Hillsdale. In our neighborhood, and in most, there isn't your sense of community. We need the help."
In her own way, my friend was acknowledging something that we in Hillsdale rarely, if ever, do: We have a good thing going here.
There's no need to be smug about it. It was good that I was taken aback by my friend's remark. There's so much more we need to do in Hillsdale.
Still, perhaps we should pause at year's end to allow ourselves a pat on the back. We've made something special of this place.
We may not realize it, but others do.
Rick Seifert
Editor
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Links to Alliance Members
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Ron Tunstall says city regulations make it tough on small garbage haulers.
A Hillsdale Institution
Troudt Bros. sells garbage franchise
Starting January 1, the company collecting your trash in Hillsdale will no longer be owned by the Troudt family.
The change will mark the end of Troudt Brothers Sanitary and Recycling. The small family firm has served the community for 70 years. The company was founded 117 years ago, says Ron Tunstall, part of the fourth generation to run the business.
Ron, his wife, Karen, a Troudt, and Karen's brother Phil Troudt Jr. are selling it to Heiberg Garbage and Recycling in Sellwood. Heiberg will employ all four of Troudt's employees, including Ron and Karen's sons, Greg and Jeff.
Tunstall said that the City is requiring the small family-owned company to buy new trucks and purchase trash carts for its 1,800 customers in the Hillsdale area.
"It was going to cost $1.3 million to stay in business," said Tunstall, who has worked in the garbage collection trade since 1964. "We've enjoyed the people," he said. "It's been a good run."
The only difference Hillsdale customers will notice is the Heiberg name at the top of their bills - and the absence of Ron in the trucks.
Tunstall, 63, was planning to retire at 67, but the city's requirements pushed ahead his plans. "I can't see staying in business and being in debt. Maybe this is the handwriting on the wall."
The city has declared that three of Troudt's big garbage trucks are outdated and need to be replaced, Tunstall said. He estimates the cost of replacement at between $250,000 and $275,000 per truck. Replacing two smaller trucks was going to cost $175,000 each, he estimated. The carts, which will go into use in mid-2008, cost an estimated $200,000.
The family decided it didn't want to burden Greg and Jeff, the next generation, with the debt.
Tunstall said he approached Heiberg about the buyout. "It was a hard decision, but I've know them for 30 years. I like them because they are local and family-operated. They treat all their employees like family."
Heiberg will be familiar to many who participate in the twice-a-year Southwest Neighborhood Clean-up. Heiberg donates drop boxes at the Portland Christian Center site on Dosch Road.
The sale to Heiberg is part of a trend begun when the City started regulating the trash collection business in 1990. Tunstall says there were 157 licensed haulers then. Today there are 27 franchisees.
"Guys don't want to deal with the City of Portland and all the bookwork and paperwork. There's too much politics involved."
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The fourth Hillsdale book sale attracted an estimated 400 browsers and buyers
Book sale, open house draw neighbors to the Watershed
The Dec. 9 Hillsdale Community Book sale at the new Watershed Senior Housing building netted $3,000 for a fund that will eventually become part of a Hillsdale Community Foundation endowment.
The foundation will benefit Hillsdale Alliance neighborhood organizations and institutions such as the public schools, Neighborhood House, SW Trails and the farmers' market.
Light snow flurries on the gray Sunday did not deter an estimated 400 bibliophiles. The event also attracted 200 neighbors who took tours of the Watershed.
The book sale, Hillsdale's fourth, also featured a chili feed, with donated chili from the Burlingame Fred Meyer, and singers and musicians from several local schools. The chili feed raised $300. which will go to the schools that sent groups to perform. The groups also performed at the Hillsdale Holiday Farmers Market,
Several community organizations set up informational tables outside the sale. Among them was the Food Front Co-operative, which is interested in opening a store at the site of the former Wild Oats grocery.
Martin Soloway of Community Partners for Affordable Housing, which owns the Watershed, said he was surprised at the turnout for the eight open house tours of the new $11.65 million building. "I hadn't realized how broad the support was in the community," he said.
The building's first residents moved in Thursday, Dec. 20.
The book sale, founded by the Hillsdale Alliance, was supported with a $1,500 city grant awarded by the Alliance of Portland Neighborhood Business Associations. Three previous sales were held in the vacant Estby gas station next to the Baskin Robbins store.
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Anchor store loss being felt
The first business to take a financial hit from the closure of the Wild Oats store in October, is Z-Fiori, the gift and floral shop next to the vacant anchor space in the Hillsdale Shopping Center.
Owner Christy Hillman said that the week after the Wild Oats closure, her business started to decline after three years of steady growth.
She said she's hoping for turn-around before Valentines Day, but it doesn't seem likely as long as the grocery is vacant. "It's a time issue for us. We don't want to leave Hillsdale, but we may have to. We might not have a choice."
Z-Fiori was once heavily frequented between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. when Wild Oats customers would drop in before or after buying their groceries, Hillman said.
She said that her customers now frequently ask about the status of the grocery store.
The Food Front Co-operative, which owns a store on NW Thurman, is actively considering moving in, but even if it decides to negotiate a lease, a store opening wouldn't happen until spring at the soonest, said Food Front manager Holly Jarvis.
Another Hillsdale enterprise to notice a downturn is the Hillsdale Farmers' Market. Market manager Eamon Molloy said that as soon as Wild Oats closed, there was a "subtle but noticeable decline."
He said that he couldn't predict a continuing trend downward.
Mike Roach, co-owner of Paloma Clothing and president of the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association, said that with the exception of Z-Fiori and the farmers' market, other businesses haven't reported being affected. But the longer the Wild Oats space is empty, the more likely other businesses will be affected.
The good news, he said, is that the Wild Oats closure has opened parking in the formerly crowded shopping center lot. With customers filling the empty spaces in front of the vacant grocery, the old Wild Oats site doesn't appear closed - at least from the street, he said.
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Contributions roll in
'Light Up Hillsdale' off to fast start
The $17,000 "Light UP Hillsdale" campaign has raised $9,000 in less than a month.
The money will be used to backlight the prominent "Hillsdale" sign on the new Watershed building and to help pay for a landmark cylindrical tower light.
The lights will not be fully operational until the goal is met. Organizers hope the remaining $8,000 will be raised by mid-January.
An additional $4,000 for a drinking fountain at the corner of Capitol Highway and Bertha Court also has been raised, with contributions from SW Trails, the Hillsdale Farmers Market and Community Partners for Affordable Housing, the owners of the Watershed Senior Housing project.
Taken together, the drive has raised $13,000 in paid or pledged funds to be applied towards the $21,000 goal.
Organizers hope to raise $9,000 beyond the lights and fountain goal. The additional money is for a planned Hillsdale Community Foundation. Four community book sales have netted more than $12,000 to the foundation's account kept at Southwest Neighborhoods Inc. (SWNI). (See above book sale/Watershed open house story.)
Those who want to contribute to the effort should write checks to "SWNI" with "Light Up Hillsdale Account" or "the Hillsdale Foundation-Hillsdale Alliance account" in the check note line. Checks can be dropped off at Paloma Clothing or sent to SWNI, 7688 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland Or 97219.
Spearheading the fundraising "Light Up Hillsdale" drive are Don Baack, president of the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association; Mike Roach, president of the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association; Ted Coonfield, founding chair of the Hillsdale Farmers Market; and Rick Seifert, chair of the Hillsdale Alliance.
The Hillsdale foundation will benefit members of the Hillsdale Alliance. The Alliance, founded in January 2004, consists of representatives from neighborhood organizations including the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association; the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association; the Hillsdale Farmers Market; Rieke, Gray and Wilson schools; the Hillsdale Branch Library; SW Trails; the Hillsdale Neighborhood Emergency Team; Hillsdale Votes; and Neighborhood House.
Among the contributions to the "Light Up Hillsdale" fund was a $1470 grant from the city-sponsored, and SWNI administered, "Neighborhood Small Grants Program."
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Initiative campaign launched
Clinic doctor wants health insurance for public school kids
Free health insurance for all Portland public school students would be available under a ballot initiative that has been filed by Hillsdale resident and physician Gregg Coodley, founder of the Fanno Creek Clinic.
If the initiative gains 27,000 valid signatures by early July, it will appear on the November ballot. Coodley said volunteers and paid signature gatherers need to collect 40,000 signatures to make up for invalid signatures.
Coodley is inviting donations to hire signature gatherers. Those who want to learn more about the insurance plan and ways to contribute can go to whynotportland.org.
After initial start-up costs, the insurance program would be self-sustaining, Coodley said. Each additional student enrolled in the Portland school district brings in $6,000 to $7,000 more dollars from the State of Oregon.
Because fixed costs have been met, money for each extra child is available for paying insurance without raising taxes, he said.
The insurance policies would cover primary care and catastrophic situations because of a $7,500 deductible for diagnostic services, specialty care, pharmacy and hospitalizations.
Coodley noted that poor health results in poor academic performance.
He added that providing health insurance would be a "powerful incentive for families to live in Portland and enroll their children in its public schools."
In recent years, families have been leaving Portland and its schools for less expensive housing in the suburbs.
Coodley, who has two children about to enter Rieke Elementary School and two who have graduated from it, said the idea for free health coverage came from his thinking about how to grow the Rieke's enrollment.
Coodley estimates the insurance program's cost at $4.05 million for annual coverage for approximately 9000 uninsured children within the Portland City limits. The cost would drop if more children received insurance through state or Federal programs.
Start-up funds could come from the City of Portland's expected $30 million surplus in 2008-2009, Coodley said.
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Rick Seifert
Editor, Hillsdale News
(503) 245-7821
editor@hillsdalenews.org
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