2010 Hillsdale News FLAG
Issue #78
Posted Jan. 8, 2011
Founded 2007
Also in This Issue
· Commuting by bike
* Wilson students help Main Street
· The Date Book
Join Our Mailing List!
Hillsdale News Sponsors

Tutor Doctor ad

Learn more here!


Salon Dirk logo
New skin, New You workshop, Jan. 23. Sign up at site

Spa Haircolor Salon Dirk site

Bonnie Crowley new

Visit Bonny Crowley's site


Alissa at Korkage

Visit Dianne Rodway's site

Korkage NEW logo

Visit Korkage web site

Celeste's new logo

Visit Celeste Lewis Architecture, LLC

Forum persentation

Visit Wyse Kadish LLP

Westside Kung Fu

Visit WestsideAcademy of Kung Fu site


Forum persentation

Visit Sunstone site

Air Hillsdale Logo

Owner Appreciation Days,
Jan. 21-23

Visit Food Front site


Forum persentation

Visit Hillsdale Veterinary Group


Alissa at Korkage

Visit Paloma Clothing site


Legacy hospice 2009

Visit Hopewell House Hospice site


Jeff Devine
Chiropractic Physician

Visit Jeff Devine's web site

Om Base Yoga
Visit Om Base web site

Commentary

The 'Other' Hillsdale

Olympia Typewriter
If you are like me, you know what it means to say, "I live in Hillsdale." Hillsdale actually has boundaries, and I (and probably you) live within them. (If you are uncertain about the boundaries, go HERE.)

A few of you live close enough to the mapped Hillsdale that you "feel" you live in Hillsdale. Hillsdale is central to your "sense of place." I believe that if you THINK or FEEL you live in Hillsdale, you do.

Welcome, neighbor!

So now that we are all comfortable with our definition of our community and who is part of it, I'm going to shake things up a bit.

If you are a Hillsdale commercial property owner or a business owner, you see things a bit differently. Hillsdale is a physical place all right, but it also is an important commercial node on a busy commuter corridor.

To be sure, Hillsdale's 7,000 plus residents are valuable customers, but they represent a fraction of the total potential customer base for the commercial district. It's estimated that 30,000 vehicles a day use Capitol Highway each working day. Those cars and buses are probably carrying on the order of 40,000 folks with money in their pockets.

So much of Hillsdale's "value" to businesses here literally resides well beyond our borders. When Hillsdale residents tell property owners what businesses they would like to see here, those desires could be offset by the desires of our commuting population.

So far, those desires have pretty much overlapped, but that may not be the case in the future. Not all businesses may fit the "character" of Hillsdale as residents define it.

But commuters might find the same businesses convenient. And commercial property owners might see them as stable sources of revenue in exceedingly trying times.

Hillsdale's Main Street program may need to deal with these differing perceptions of our community's "value."  Indeed, the Main Street application called for a description of a Hillsdale Main Street "trade area."  It turns out the trade area's population is three times that our neighborhood.

As we address Hillsdale's future, we need to remember the "other Hillsdale" and the role commuters play in the economic and social vibrancy of our community.

    Rick Seifert, Editor/Publisher

Letters to the editor are always welcome. Write [email protected]
Correction

In a story in the last issue about the highway department's work on the Iowa viaduct on I-5, the first name and title of Brad Wurfel, Oregon Dept. of Transportation Public Information Officer, was inadvertenly omitted by the editor.
Letter to the Editor

Please return
missing signs

Editor:

I'm a Hillsdale/Bridlemile resident and have a business importing fair trade Latin American folk art.

I don't have a store but rather participate in bead shows, powwows, and other venues to offer the folk art and create a stable livelihood for the artists.

I also host a holiday sale at my home in Bridlemile. I put out nice signs (that cost $25 each), and I'm careful to ask permission and put them in non-intrusive areas and I promptly take them down.

Last month, the sale was December 11, 12, 18 and 19. After the first weekend I removed the signs and replaced them before the next weekend. I should have taken them down early Monday, the 20th. Four of them were missing Tuesday on Sunset Boulevard.

To the person responsible, please contact me so I may retrieve them.

Karen Fura   (971) 212-3505
   [email protected]

Links to Hillsdale organizations

Doug's home under bridge
Doug Baxter lived under the Bertha viaduct for four years.

Life and Death under Capitol Highway

Homeless man was helped by Hillsdale neighbors

Doug Baxter, a "homeless" man who made a home under the Bertha viaduct, was discovered dead on Monday, Dec. 13. His body was beneath a pile of blankets in the shallow depression that served as his bed.

He is believed to have died of pneumonia.

Purnima Prasad, who works in an office next to the bridge, said Baxter had probably been dead at least a week. Neighbors who had come to know him over his two decades in Hillsdale, continued to leave money and food on top of the blanket pile, thinking that he was simply asleep.
Doug's memorial tribute
Friends have left tributes.
Now they are leaving written tributes and flowers to the friendly man they knew simply as "Doug."

A black feral cat, who snarled at everyone, made an exception for Doug. The two became friends. Next to where Doug's body was found, the cat left "gifts" of dead mice and a mauled rat.

Michael Bissell said cat and man seemed to treat each other as a "sort of feral companions."

Bissell, who employs Prasad as a designer, was Doug's nearest neighbor and had known Doug for the four years he lived under the bridge. Bissell is the president of a small web site development firm, Conquent. He and Prasad work out of a squat bungalow next to the old bridge.

"Doug drank a lot so he couldn't go to a shelter. He was really harmless but he didn't make sense all of the time," said Bissell.

"He seemed to be happy under the bridge. He was so far from our day-to-day world it was hard to know what he wanted."

Still, Doug was always appreciative of help. People would drop off cans for him to recycle. A few acquaintances brought money or contributed to an account for him at the nearby Caffe Autogrill coffee shop. One couple left two jackets for him early this winter. Later, in the cold, they saw him wearing both jackets at once to fight off the chill.

Doug had lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, said Bissell. Before settling in under the bridge, he lived in a hole in the Frisbee field next to the Greater Portland Bible Church. When the church bought the land, Doug was forced to leave, said Bissell.

Living under the bridge, Doug would also be "evicted" now and then by the police, but would later return.

Bissell estimated that Doug was in his mid-40s and survived by on the generosity of neighbors and by recycling bottles and cans at the Burlingame Fred Meyer, where he was something of a fixture.

Bissell has written movingly about Doug, before and after Doug's death.  You can read his thoughts about Doug in two blog posts. One is about Doug's life; the other is about his death. A copy of Bissell's memorial tribute, now posted on the bridge (see photos), is found in the second blog.
Bike commuter Andy's story
                                                                                     Photo by Peter DeCrescenzo

On his well-lit bike, commuter Paul Souders wears reflective trim and bright back pack.
Vigilance and preparation required

            Commuting by bike, rain or shine


By Andy Wheeler

It was a dark and stormy morning. Raindrops pounded the windshields of car commuters, safe from the raging elements as they waited for the light at Capitol and Sunset.

Then, astonishingly, two bicyclists whizzed down the slick bike lane. Then three, then five. Surely today, of all days, they'd excuse themselves from riding al fresco to work.

Not so, says Hillsdale bike commuter Keith Liden. "It's always a good day to ride. Some are just better than others!"

Liden is one of several Hillsdale residents who bike to work every day, through wind, rain, sleet and bitter cold (though not snow or ice). It takes dedication and determination, and most importantly preparation, vigilance and good equipment.

Bicyclists agree the most important requirement for a safe ride is to be seen. Bright front and rear lights and garishly colored clothing are essential. "Cyclists need to remember they're very difficult to see, especially when it's raining," says Liden.

In short, make a splash in the rain, the bigger and brighter the better.

Bikers must be particularly defensive during the winter because darkness, rain and foggy windows make it more difficult for drivers to notice bikers. In addition, Dave Johnson, co-founder of the Hillsdale Bicycle Coalition, says, "leaves, branches, puddles of water, junk seem to accumulate in the bike lanes more in winter than during the summer months."

Then there is the question of comfort. To keep warm and dry, Liden uses a waterproof but breathable jacket and has installed fenders over his wheels to contain grit flying off them.

Johnson agrees that bicyclists must have good rain gear, top and bottom. "Otherwise you won't ride when it looks threatening out." He also recommends toe covers, heavy gloves and a headband to keep the ears warm.

Paul Souders, another Hillsdale resident, has been bike commuting for a decade. "I own full rain gear but seldom wear it," he says. "It's too hot. If I don't get wet from the outside, I'm getting wet from the inside." He typically wears heavy bike shorts, a jersey, and a wool tee shirt. "The exercise warms me up."

Souders says choosing the right route is an important consideration for a comfortable,safe commute. "Barbur is a headache," he says. "Riding home on Barbur is - I can't sugarcoat this - kind of nerve-wracking. There's no bypass for the Capitol/Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway on-ramp, and then right after that you get two bridges with no bike lane."

He is mindful of the tragedy that occurred on December 15, when Angela Burke was struck and killed by a drunk driver while walking her bike in the bike lane. "I haven't come home from work on Barbur since," Sonders says.

Souder's favorite route is Terwilliger. "We moved to Southwest Portland seven years ago just so we could have a bike commute on Terwilliger." Souder says there are fewer encounters with traffic on Terwilliger, which is slower and less stressful. "This is a great route for novices."

For winter bike commuters, the benefits of biking year-round are worth the extra precautions. Says Liden, "It's enjoyable, it keeps me in shape, and I have the flexibility of driving without the parking hassle or cost.

"I have to admit that occasionally at the end of the day, riding home seems like too much work. But once I get going, I'm always glad I did."

Improving the 'Lunchbox'

Wilson students help out Hillsdale Main Street

By Reid Van Mouwerik

Wilson students, who view the sloping shops of Hillsdale as a perennial lunchbox, are joining the Hillsdale Main Street program to burnish the box and improve its contents.

 The students, members of Wilson's marketing class, are drawn in by loyalty to their community and by the chance to experience working with local businesses.

 Simone Smith, a junior, said, "I think it's easy to experience Hillsdale as a consumer, but it's really interesting to see what kind of things you would think of as a business owner."

Smith's marketing teacher, Linda Owen-Cooper, says the opportunities offered by Main Street allow her students to put classroom-learned skills to work.
.
The student involvement is just part of a much larger Hillsdale Main Street program that has attracted dozens of volunteers. Thanks to the efforts of the Hillsdale Community Foundation, Hillsdale residents and businesses donated $30,000 last year to qualify for the Main Street designation.  The status comes with a $58,000 city grant to advance Hillsdale in five areas: design, economic restructuring, organization, promotion, and sustainability.

Hillsdale Main Street's full-time executive director is Suzan Poisner. Poisner says she has always made a point of getting students involved in her past work in urban planning.

She and Owen-Cooper say the cooperation is a triple-win that benefits the community, Main Street and students.

The 10 marketing students are joining Main Street committees, taking notes, and even establishing a presence for Main Street on Facebook.

Grace Clark, a junior who lives just blocks from the Capitol Highway commercial area, says her work putting Hillsdale Main Street online has brought her closer to Hillsdale in new ways.

"I feel like I'm connected to the neighborhood," said Clark.

She is not alone. Hundreds of Hillsdale-area youth pass through Rieke, Robert Gray, and Wilson schools. All are within a half-mile of the cluster of shops and eateries that line the Capitol Highway strip.

Cole Somers, a junior not involved with Main Street or Wilson's marketing program, said, "The Dale" has been his "spot" for years.
 
The new Main Street connection between Hillsdale and Wilson students is already making Hillsdale a better lunchbox.

Reid Van Mouwerik is a Junior at Wilson High School where he is an editor on The Statesman student newspaper staff. He lives in Hillsdale and is an avid cyclist.

DATE BOOK

Wednesday, Jan. 12


         Main Street Board considers action plans


6 p.m. The Watershed Building, Bertha Court and SW Capitol Highway. The board will hear updates on work plans from five Main Street committees. Public welcomed.



Thursday, Jan. 13


     Hillsdale Alliance looks at Main Street's role


Note that this is a late change in the date of the meeting. 7 p.m. The Watershed Building, Bertha Court and SW Capitol Highway. The Alliance, with representatives from major Hillsdale groups, meets quarterly to provide a forum to share events and perceptions and to promote cooperation. Topics for the meeting include the school bond measure and Hillsdale Main Street's relationship to other Hillsdale organizations.



Saturday, Jan. 15


           Stephens Creek Nature Park planting


9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will be planting native shrubs and trees. Meet at the SW Capitol Hill Road entrance to the park. Wear long pants and closed-toe shoes. For more information contact Rachel (503) 823-9423 or e-mail [email protected].



Saturday, Jan. 15

 
Parents & Kids pajama party

5:30 p.m. Congregation Neveh Shalom, 2900 SW Peaceful Lane. Food, singing and playing. For Jewish families with children ages 0-5. Prize for best kid and adult pj's. RSVP (503) 246-8831 x100 or [email protected]. For more information and cost, go HERE.


 

Thursday, Jan. 20


Q & A about Iowa overpass work on I-5


Anytime between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., Coffee Plant, 5915 SW Corbett. For those with questions about the three-year project that started this summer on I-5.  See the special web site at www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/REGION1/iowaviaduct/ or call Mike Mason at the state transportation department:  (503) 731.8246
 

 Tuesday, Jan. 25

 
Movie night: 'Ingredients'


6 p.m. Hillsdale Branch Library. A documentary about Portland's local food movement. Free.


 

Friday, Feb. 4 and Saturday, Feb. 5


Book Sale benefiting Wilson's graduating seniors


9 a.m. to 5 p.m., St. Lukes' Church, Vermont and 45th. Donations of books, videos and DVDs for the sale are still accepted at Wilson. Proceeds support Wilson's graduate night party.


 

Saturday, Feb. 5 & Sunday Feb. 6


Styrofoam recycling at Rieke

9 a.m. to Noon on Saturday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. In addition to collecting Styrofoam, Green Teams for Rieke, Hayhurst and Maplewood elementary schools will show how to recycle household plastics. Recology, a recycling company, will see that collected Styrofoam is reprocessed. Donations appreciated. For more information contact Cindy Eldkrona, [email protected].