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Commentary:
Eat Well, Do Good
Before I turn this commentary section over to three writers from the neighborhood, I want to make a pitch.
Elsewhere in this issue you will see a brief story about the "Light-Up Hillsdale" Night at Salvador Molly's on Wednesday, July 16. Rick Sadle, Salvador Molly's owner, is making us an offer we all should accept.
He will donate 20 percent of the evening's receipts to our "Light-Up Hillsdale" Campaign. The money is for amenities at The New Watershed building, including the corner drinking fountain and the illumination of the "Hillsdale" sign.
Many of you already have given generously to the campaign, bringing us to within $800 of our $21,000 goal. Those of us who have organized the campaign hope this event, and Rick's kind offer, will allow us to close the books on the campaign.
I hope to see you at Salvador Molly's on the 16th.
Now, on to those writers, who happen to meet just down the street from me...
Self-prompted writing in Hillsdale
Calling ourselves "The Writers Next Door," we are three Hillsdale neighbors - Lyssa Tall Anolik, Marilyn McFarlane, and Theresa Leonard.
Every Tuesday morning we meet to free-write, share and discuss our work. It's exhilarating, this release of our creative selves, and an important part of our lives, which are otherwise very different one from another.
To read more about us and our writings, go to www.thewritersnextdoor.com. The website, designed by Theresa (www.fiddlefacemedia.com) is our way of sharing and supporting other writers in the community.
Our communal writing sessions start with "prompts" or topics.
In response to Rick's invitation that we write something for The Hillsdale News, at a recent meeting, we made our first prompt to write for 10 minutes on "The Writers Next Door ..." Here's how we started; the rest is on the website:
Lyssa: The Writers Next Door scribble furiously, taking in all of the raw material from the neighborhood-the squirrels, cats and dogs, the flickers and jays, the hidden streams and hovering trees, the stories that walk our streets like ghost people waiting to be made real. . . .
Theresa: The Writers Next Door are a motley crew of ups and downs, ins and outs, and other clich�s that rise above the clich�-ness and come out with touches of grandeur. I count myself as one of them but often see myself as the low creature on the totem pole, thinking thoughts of climbing to the top one word at a time. Then a burst of hot flashes tells me that it's all in the process. . . .
Marilyn: The Writers Next Door laugh a lot. We're not afraid to write the weird, offbeat things that clamor for the page. We're willing to delve deep and reveal astonishing corners we didn't know were there. . . .
Our second prompt was "Living in Hillsdale ...."
Lyssa: Living in Hillsdale is green trees, friendly neighbors, lots of hills to walk up and down, keeping me in shape. Living in Hillsdale is a cacophony of birds fighting for my sunflower seeds and suet with the chattering squirrels. Living in Hillsdale is extravagant, a luxury, compared to many people I know . . .
Theresa: Living in Hillsdale, I'm on a hill with a dale somewhere below. The servants' side of the West Hills, I call it. Of course, I do. Placing myself with the servants. Not in a bad way. I'm more comfortable with the ones whose lives have not gone just so. . . .
Marilyn: Living in Hillsdale is watching the passage of time. Twenty-five years ago John and I were the kids on the block. Everyone around us was in or nearing retirement, and there were no children. Then Beulah, in her 90s and still going after moles with her hoe, gave up on the moles and went to a retirement home. . . .
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To address aesthetic concerns, this option under consideration for the Rieke solar array.
Criticism prompts rethinking of solar design
The "but" part was expressed concern about the massive appearance of the array which was originally proposed as a single structure approximately 200 feet long and 60 feet wide.
The reservations got the attention of developers and city and school officials working on the project.
They are exploring alternatives that would break up the massive array into segments that might also have contrasting panel grids to make design patterns.
The segments would allow grass to be visible around the panels. Furthermore, the segmented design permits the array to be directed more to the south than the one-piece design would.
Brian Sheehan, a city planner who is working with the school district and developers, Commercial Solar Ventures, offered the above rendering of what one alternative would look like.
The public will be invited to comment at a planning workshop to be scheduled for August. The workshop will be part of a larger planning effort in Hillsdale conducted by the design firm Sera.
Catherine Diviney, a solar specialist with the school district, said developers must have the project completed by the end of the year in order for investors to qualify for federal tax credits that expire then.
The rush to meet the deadline on projects around the country is driving up costs, said Sandra Walden of Commercial Solar Ventures. The developers want to stay under $900,000 for the project. As the cost increases, the cost of the power the panels produce goes up, making the project and the power less competitive and less attractive to investors.
Another possible stumbling block is a Pacific Power challenge to the legality of the so-called "third-party" alternative energy projects, although Walden said it now seems that the legal issues can be ironed out.
The 100-kilowatt project would provide 60 percent of Rieke Elementary School's energy needs. The district would lease its land to developers and would buy the electricity at a rate slightly below what it would pay PGE.
Under one option, the district would be able to purchase the photo-voltaic system after 20 years.
The project also calls for a solar educational program for Rieke students.
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Multnomah farmers' market starts to blossom
Good weather and enthusiastic shoppers have more than doubled the number of vendors in the new Multnomah Village Farmers Market since its chilly debut in early June.
The Thursday evening market on June 26 had 12 vendors, up seven since the opening day on June 5. Market manager Eamon Mollory expects to have 20 vendors soon.
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Hillsdale was ObamaLand in the May primary
Detailed election results from the May 20 primary show that Hillsdale votes in large numbers and that voters here overwhelmingly favored Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton.
While 60 percent of registered county voters voted in the primary, 73 percent were voting in the two precincts that are entirely within Hillsdale.
Predominantly Democratic in registration, 3811 Democratic voters in Hillsdale's precincts, 1205 and 1224, gave Barack Obama 71 percent of their votes in the Democratic presidential primary.
County-wide, Obama got two-thirds of the vote.
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Food Front "amazed" by support
"Really amazing!" "Incredible!"
Andrea Uehara, the Food Front staffer who tracks new memberships for the grocery
cooperative, is exuberant over the success of the on-going drive for new co-op members in Southwest Portland.
In the two months since the drive began, Food Front, which plans to open its Hillsdale store in late August, has attracted nearly 300 new owner/members. Those are folks who pay $150 for themselves and their families to become a part of the co-op, which has a well-established store on NW Thurman.
A comparision is in order: In all of last year, Food Front signed up 334 members, Uehara said.
Another comparison: More than half of the new owner/members since May have paid the full $150 upfront. The rest will pay $5 over 30 months. Normally only a quarter pay the full amount when they join.
Food Front managers emphasize that the store is open to everyone - members and non-members alike. And with the exception of special membership days, the prices are the same for all. For more on membership go to the Food Front site.
Uehara said that the new store, at the site of the old Wild Oats, was a great motivator for new memberships. "Folks are really enthusiastic. They like to invest in a community project," she said.
Food front is counting on new ownerships to raise $60,000 by the end of August to help pay for costs associated with opening the new Hillsdale store. Results from the first two months have raised $24,000, Uehara said.
Most new owner/members enrolled at the Hillsdale Farmers Market, where Food Front has a booth. About 100 new owner/members signed up at the NW Thurman store, but of those 41 had Southwest Portland addresses.
Here is a list of reminders Food Front wants to share, based on questions that staffers have been getting at the farmers market:
� An owner share is not an annual fee or a contribution, it is a share in the business that retains its value and that can be sold back at any time, for any reason.
� A Food Front ownership card is good in both stores.
� There is no requirement to work or volunteer in order to be a member-owner.
� Other members of a household can get Food Front cards without buying another a share.
Tom Mattox, Food Front's director of Outreach and Marketing, describes a co-op as "a business in which many people pool their resources to create something that serves their needs and their community - like a grocery store.
"A co-op can not be sold or closed without a vote of its member-owners. Food Front will be in Hillsdale as long as you support it through buying owner shares and shopping at the store."
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Briefly:
"Light-Up Hillsdale" night at Molly's July 16th
Mark, Wednesday, July 16, on your calendars and then show up at Salvador Molly's, for "Light-Up Hillsdale Night," good food and a good cause.
Twenty percent of the proceeds go to the $21,000 campaign to light the "Hillsdale" sign on the Watershed. A portion of the campaign money, contributed by SW Trails, paid for the three-tiered drinking fountain at the corner of Bertha Court and Capitol Highway. Another portion paid to light the cylinder at the top of the Watershed's landmark tower.
To date, Hillsdale businesses, organizations and individuals have contributed $20,200, nearly all the money needed.
Organizers of the event at Salvador Molly's hope it will pay off most of the balance, thanks to the July 16th patronage and the generosity of Molly's owner, Rick Sadle.
The "Light-Up Hillsdale" campaign is supported by the members of the Hillsdale Alliance, which include Hillsdale Business and Professional Association, the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association, our four public schools, the Hillsdale Farmers Market, Neighborhood House and SW Trails.
Drop off, chow down and flip through
Donate your old books on Sundays until July 20, then stuff yourself with blueberry pancakes and browse the Hillsdale Book Sale on Sunday, July 27.
First, those book donations: The member organizations of the Hillsdale Alliance need your old books for the third annual Hillsdale Summer Book Sale. (No textbooks or dated almanacs please).
You can drive up to the drop-off site at the Hillsdale Farmers Markets on Sundays through July 20. Contributions are tax deductible.
The sale will be held Sunday, July 27, in conjunction with the 32nd Annual Blueberry Pancake Breakfast.
Both events will be held in the parking lot between the Key Bank and Casa Colima restaurant.
The breakfast, which is organized by the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association as a "thank you" to customers, begins at 8:30 and lasts to noon.
Breakfasts are $5 for adults and $3 for children.
The book sale, held adjacent to the breakfast, begins at 10 a.m. and lasts to 3 p.m.
Proceeds from the sale will benefit the organizations of the Hillsdale Alliance,.
Safe Routes to School offers summer outings
The Safe Routes to School program is offering several summer activities for elementary schools students.
All the events meet at Rieke Elementary School by the front door picnic tables and are supervised by Americorps Volunteers.
Tuesdays offer two programs. Those who want to learn how to read a map, use a compass and identify safe routes can drop by anytime between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the four Tuesdays in July.
Another event on two Tuesdays, July 8 and 22, as well as August 5, is learning how to ride the bus. The class lasts from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The session includes a bus ride to the central branch library downtown. The bus leaves at 2 p.m. Participants will return to Rieke at 3:30.
Wednesdays are for two-hour leisurely walks to parks near Rieke. A first session starts at 11 a.m. The second starts at 6:30 p.m. Here's the schedule: 7/9 - Custer Park (scavenger hunt); 7/16 - Robert Gray; 7/23 - Fulton Park (possibly touring community gardens); 7/30 - George Himes Park (bring ingredients for preparing trail mix beforehand at Rieke); 8/6 - Gabriel Park (a long walk for kids - optional bus ride back to Rieke, bring bus fare)
Thursdays offer a chance use map and compass to explore Tryon Creek State Park. Start at Rieke at 2 p.m. The bus leaves at 2:35 p.m. The outing is open-ended, but allow at least three hours for hike + travel time. bring bus fare for both ways) . The event will be held all four Thursdays in July and the first Thursday in August.
Uncovering the story of your house
Your house has a history. Curious what it might be?
Reference librarians Emily-Jane Dawson and Arden Shelton will help the curious find out on Sunday July 20.
They are offering "Researching Your Home's History" from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hillsdale Branch Library.
Those attending the free class will learn about available resources for finding out more about their homes.
You aren't the only one interested in your home, especially if it is older than 50 years. The Multnomah Historical Association is conducting a survey of older homes. Ther survey forms will be available at the class.
All aboard for a day-trip to Bull Run
On Saturday, July 19, several residents will have the rare opportunity to visit the Bull Run Watershed to see where our water comes from.
If you hurry, you might be among them.
The Portland Water Bureau will conduct an all-day bus trip to Bull Run and the waterworks there.
A few seats remain available
The free trip departs at 8:45 a.m. from the Wilson High School Stadium parkng lot just south of SW Capitol Highway and Sunset Boulevard. (Tri-Met lines 44, 45, 54, 56 stop there.)
The 26-passenger bus returns at 5pm.
There is no charge for the tour. No smoking please. Those going should wear walking shoes, dress for mountains and city weather, bring a lunch and some snacks. The Water Bureau will refill water bottles.
NOTE: each passenger must carry a photo ID for security.
To reserve a seat, contact, Arnie Panitch, apanitch@comcast.net, 503-452-8100.
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Rick Seifert
Editor, Hillsdale News
(503) 245-7821
editor@hillsdalenews.org
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