Views of the News
Derailing our transit future
Well-intended Metro planners planners trying to help guide  the future of "High Capacity Transit" in the "Southwest Transit Corridor," have lost the vision of what this project is about. It's no wonder. The planners have to answer to communities and interests in places as diverse as downtown Portland, OHSU, Hillsdale, Tigard and Tualatin. And some of those communities disagree within themselves about what they want and don't want - witness the recent divided vote in Tigard. Another may be in the works in Tualatin. Much of the planners' confusion is reflected in the cover letter they recently attached to their recommendations to the high-ranking decision-makers (including Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and City Commissioner Steve Novick) who sit on the corridor steering committee. Here is the planners' over-arching statement of purpose: "The Southwest Corridor Plan is a comprehensive effort focused on supporting community-based development and placemaking that targets, coordinates and leverages public investments to make efficient use of public and private resources." How's that? What about getting from point A to B, C, and D efficiently, conveniently and comfortably in a way that doesn't rely on planet-baking fossil fuels? Town Center history forgotten
It was just such environmental concern 15 years ago that led Metro, the regional government and a major transit planning player, to designate Hillsdale as a "Town Center." Metro saw our community of 6,500 (now 8,000) as a place that can and should accept more population and commercial development. Higher density here fights urban sprawl out there in the suburbs. If we became a real transit hub, that denser population would use transit much more, Metro reasoned. But the current Metro planners seem to be building a case against having a HCT (High Capacity Transit) stop here. They argue that HCT routes to Hillsdale (and Multnomah Village) are "limited to small geographies" and that "added land value that transit would bring would likely influence an increase in density that might not fit the 'village' character of these locations." "Village character" describes Multnomah Village, but Hillsdale? And wasn't the point of Hillsdale' "Town Center" designation precisely to "influence an increase in density" here? How quickly Metro forgets. Planners are also distorting recent history by citing the "City Council-supported" Barbur Transit Corridor Plan as a reason to run HCT down Barbur, by-passing the Hillsdale Town Center. Hillsdale representatives didn't participate in the Barbur Corridor planning with the intention of dictating the routing of HCT. They were asked to identify "nodes" that should be developed and served by transit, any transit. Those nodes could easily connect, by conventional buses, to a couple of HCT stops on Barbur. Tunnel vision
without a tunnel
Finally, planners recommended abandonment of a straight-shot Light Rail tunnel route connecting downtown with OHSU, Hillsdale, and the Barbur Transit Center. The tunnel approach recognizes that Hillsdale, located at the conjunction of Bertha Boulevard, Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and Capitol Highway, has huge potential as a transit center. Hillsdale is also a civic center with Southwest Portland's only high school, a library branch, a Farmers Market and, yes, an engaged citizenry...as witnessed by the numerous Hillsdale responses for pubic comment on the plan. We also have major low-income housing at Stephens Creek Crossing and the Watershed. The planners say the problem with the tunnel is excessive cost, but that is questionable. Using cost comparisons of the ZOO/Robertson Tunnel with the new Milwaukie Orange Line surface route, the Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates (AORTA) makes the case that it is more expensive to build on the surface than to tunnel through the West Hills. The tunnel option should remain on the table. Fear for the Future
My greatest fear at this point is that this whole effort will collapse from lost clarity of purpose and from the weight of trying to serve so many diverse and divergent interests. The differing, fuzzy and distorted perspectives could be fatal when it comes to paying for all this. Local funding is critical. The Federal government, which has funded 90 percent of past HCT projects, is now funding only 50 percent. The Metro region is on its own for the rest of the tab. If local funding goes to a regional vote, as some steering committee officials predict, my guess is that HCT in Southwest will lose at the polls, or be seriously compromised. The Connection at 20
Twenty years ago I started what was then The Hillsdale Connection and grew to become The Southwest Community Connection. I sold the paper after five enlightening, community-building and exhausting years. At the time, I could only dream the monthly would live on for another 15 years. Long may it serve our Southwest communities! Thanks to all who have worked on the paper over the years and to local advertisers who have supported it. Rick Seifert
Editor
Return to top of commentaryLetter to Editor
Panitch was previously honored for cart returns
Your report on Arnie Panitch said:
"No one has bestowed on him the award for most shopping carts returned to Freddie's yet, but they should."
The Hillsdale Neighborhood Association and Fred Meyer did recognize Arnie for his Grocery cart returns a number of years ago. He was given a Fred Meyer hat, T-Shirt and a $50 gift certificate to honor his service. We crowned him "Czar of Grocery Carts".
Don Baack
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Planners recommend dropping Light rail tunnel
to Hillsdale
Forget about a MAX tunnel connecting Hillsdale with OHSU and downtown Portland. That's the recommendation regional transportation planners gave a decision-making panel of prominent public officials meeting at the Multnomah Arts Center on May 12.. The report to the Southwest Corridor Plan Steering Committee cited high costs and disruption from construction as principal reasons for dropping the tunnel option. The recommendation was just one of many from planners trying to narrow an array of transportation choices for High Capacity Transit (HTC) in the corridor which stretches from downtown to Tualatin. The Steering Committee, consisting of elected and appointed officials from the Southwest of the Metro region will decide whether to accept all or some of the recommendations at its Monday, June 9, meeting at 9 a.m. at the Metro Council Chambers, 600 NE Grand. Some options not recommended by the planners could be restored by the Steering Committee. Ultimately the Steering Committee will decide on the form of transportation too. Will it be MAX Light Rail or bus rapid transit (BRT). The large, articulated buses would have dedicated lanes for at least 50 percent of their route. They would also have platformed, covered stops. Whatever is decided, work isn't expected to begin until next decade. Another major decision for Hillsdale is whether the route will pass through the Hillsdale Town Center or bypass it by staying on Barbur Boulevard. Both the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association and the Hillsdale Business and Professional Association are on record favoring a Town Center route. But in a planners' discussion draft handed out at the Steering Committee meeting the planners said of station locations in Hillsdale and Multnomah Village: "....the benefits of redevelopment are limited to small geographies around the potential stations. Addit
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Light green route means further study for Light Rail. Light gray means further study needed for Light Rail or Bus Rapid Transit. Dark colors are recommended but Light Rail is not recommended for Hillsdale Town Center.
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ionally, the added land value that transit would bring would likely influence an increase in density that might not fit the 'village' character of these locations." As for the Barbur route, the planners wrote of the four station locations between SW Terwilliger and SW 30th Ave: "....these potential stations also represent the best opportunities for redevelopment and service to existing and future riders on the system." The planners also noted that the City-adopted Barbur Concept Plan called for transit nodes near the Barbur stops. The planners did not reject Light-rail service to the Town Center altogether but recommended "further study" of a loop coming up Capitol Highway from Barbur and then proceeding down Bertha Boulevard to Barbur and 13th, near the Fred Meyer. The part of the so-called "Hillsdale Loop" in the Town Center would have a shallow "cut and cover" tunnel that requires no underground boring. But the planners noted even the shallow tunnel would result in higher costs. The planners recommended the committee advance two Bus Rapid Transit routes (one through the Town Center and the other exclusively on Barbur) in the planning process that will next include Federal environmental impact reviews. The bus loop through the Town Center would serve more households and businesses than the exclusive and undeveloped segment of Barbur would. But the bus loop through Hillsdale, the planners note in a chart, would make travel time longer. Designated for "further discussion" is an HCT route that would avoid Barbur in Hillsdale by paralleling I-5. The Hillsdale Neighborhood Association's transportation chair, Glenn Bridger favors this route as it would free Barbur of rails and dedicated lanes and continue to allow left-hand turns for vehicular traffic. It would also connect sight-lines between both sides of the boulevard. The planners cited Portland's Barbur Concept Plan as justification for the Barbur route, but Bridger said the plan was never intended as support for a Barbur routing of HCT. The planners also presented a report on how forum and on-line survey participants rated station locations. The on-line survey netted 351 responses, of which 70 percent were from Portland. Favored station sites, in order of voting, were The Barbur Transit Center, OHSU, Hillsdale Town Center, PCC Sylvania and Multnomah Village. You can still comment at www.surveymonkey.com/s/Refinement-Rec-May2014. The planners' decision to recommend against the tunnel option between OHSU and Hillsdale was strongly opposed by the Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates (AORTA). Its representatives spoke briefly at the steering committee meeting.  | | AORTA envisions a tunnel 250 to 300 feet beneath the Hillsdale Town Center with two elevators bringing riders to the surface. |
The organization proposes a six-mile- long tunnel connecting the new South Water Front MAX station with "deep tunnel" stations at OHSU, and Hillsdale, with possible underground extensions to the Barbur Transit Center and PCC Sylvania. The rest of the MAX line would be above ground to Tualatin. AORTA maintains that the tunnel "could prove to be the most cost effective, productive and environmentally sound transit option" and should be studied more. Tunnels are not necessarily more expensive, AORTA contends, citing surface land acquisition costs. The organization compares the per-mile cost of the new Milwaukie line, $200 million, with the adjusted-for-inflation cost of the Zoo-stationed MAX Robertson tunnel, $100 million. Metro Counselor Bob Stacey, however, said, "A lot is uncertain when you go underground." Jim Howell, AORTA's strategic planning director, countered that AORTA's tunnel route is similar to that of the Robertson Tunnel. Metro planner Matt Bihn noted that a big difference between the SW Corridor work and earlier projects is that the Federal government paid 90 percent of the costs formerly but will now meet only 50 percent. Local funding could also present problems. The project has already met voter opposition in Tigard and a similar vote might be held in Tualatin. At one point at the May 12 Steering Committee meeting, Tualatin Mayor Lou Ogden cautioned that a regional vote might be needed to approve local spending. While most comments received from the public were positive, the planners were criticized for not including adequate "multimodal projects" that would feed into the High Density Transit. Among the respondents were a minority of vocal opponents of the entire transit project. They did not mince their words. Here is a sampling: "Keep druggies and criminals out of Tigard and please stop this boondoggle." "Keep it away from my house...I don't need the crime...(and) added people coming into my neighborhood." "Fix the roads and forget this toy train and speedy buses...we need our roads fixed, expanded and improved."
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Korkage to close at the end of June
After nearly five years in Hillsdale, including a year at their new Hillsdale Shopping Center site, Korkage wine shop, bistro and musical venue is closing at the end of June.
In a message to their patrons, co-owners Chef Earl Johnson and manager Tamairah Boleyn explained "there have been some changes in our family that will require a lot of our attention; therefore, we have decided not to continue with our business. We no longer have the resources to run Korkage at the scale we desire or to the level that we believe Hillsdale deserves."
The couple, who are brother-in-law and sister-in-law, wrote of the "blast" of running the business at 6320 SW Capitol Highway and thanked their customers, guest musicians and employees.
They said they "plan to continue being a part of Hillsdale as residents of the community for many years."
Before closure, the two are selling their wine inventory at close to cost.
Korkage's full menu will not be available any longer. Instead, it will be offering cheese plate snacks. The owners regretted that live music will no longer be offered.
Boleyn said she has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of customer regret mingled with thanks as news of the closing has spread.
In addition to the merriment Johnson and Boleyn brought to Hillsdale, they will be remembered for organizing the 2013 Wine Pairing Festival as a community fundraiser for Main Street. The event brought together under one large tent representatives from 25 wineries and 800 attendees.
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Main Street pulls the plug at the end of June
Hillsdale Foundation to continue work
Hillsdale Main Street is dead. Long live the Hillsdale Community Foundation!
At the end of June, Hillsdale Main Street will go out of business, but its "parent" organization, the Hillsdale Community Foundation, will continue using the energy and vision Main Street created in the community.
Board member Josh Kadish recently informed supporters of the Main Street program that the end of the four-year effort here was assured when the Portland Development Commission (PDC), which oversees Main Street programs in Portland, announced Hillsdale Main Street wouldn't be funded for a fifth year.
Main Street is an nationwide economic redevelopment program. In Hillsdale it was initially approved for three years. The Hillsdale Community Foundation had taken on Main Street as its own project with the Foundation board also serving as Hillsdale Main Street's board.
Main Street's accomplishments are visible throughout the Hillsdale Town Center: banners, a Hillsdale logo, a mural, street planters, a fence-free parking lot, recycling bins, landscaping. In addition, the program has offered professional free consultations for businesses challenged by the recession.
Kadish told the May 21 Hillsdale Business and Professional Association meeting, "We've done more in four years than we did in the previous 10 or 20."
After receiving the PDC news, which was expected, the Foundation board decided that raising $50,00 to $60,000 annually each year locally to hire an executive director was not feasible.
At the meeting, Kadish said that fund-raising had been a persistent problem. Some businesses and commercial property owners "stepped up, and some didn't." He singled out one commercial property owner, Frank Hasabe. for being "wonderfully supportive."
He noted that the scope of the Foundation is much broader than Main Street's, which was focused on the Hillsdale Business District. The Foundation takes in the entire Hillsdale community.
Kadish said that moving forward, the Foundation board "will identify specific projects to work on, raise funds around those projects, hire a project manager if needed, and rely on our Hillsdale Main Street experience and 200 plus volunteers to get the job done."
The plan anticipates partnering on projects with other community groups like the schools and their foundations.
The Foundation plans to keep its office in the Sunset Office Building (behind the Hillsdale Brew Pub). The building is owned by Hasabe, who is donating the space to the foundation.
The Foundation's focus over the next two months is the Hillsdale Book Sale, which has been the Foundation's best fundraising event. The sale is Sunday, July 27, at the Watershed Building, Bertha Court and Capitol Highway.
Collection of donated books for the sale will begin at the Sunday Hillsdale Farmers Market on June 29. The organizers do not accept text books, or dated books and manuals.
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Emergency team leaders honored by Neighborhood
Two neighborhood leaders who urge and help you to prepare for the worst have been chosen as Hillsdale's Volunteers of the Year.
Lynn Rossing and John Morris, co-chairs of the Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) were chosen for the honor at the The Hillsdale Neighborhood Association's (HNA) May meeting.  In making the award, the association cited Rossing and Morris for having "worked diligently for many years, as part of a city-wide effort, to inform Hillsdale residents of what they can do individually and collectively to prepare for natural disaster emergencies resulting from major snow storms, floods and earthquakes which may disrupt normal communication and relief efforts by city, county and state agencies." Their work has included training NET volunteers as well as presenting workshops to home owners and renters on how to care for themselves as well as victims living nearby. NET's next meeting is Saturday, June 7, at 2 p.m., at The Watershed building, 6388 SW Capitol Highway. On the agenda is residential seismic upgrades, home emergency preparedness and the new Hillsdale NET Operations Plan. Contact Rossing larossing@gmail.com with any questions. The two also provide periodic updates on NET activities at HNA meetings and speak of the need for each household to have an emergency preparedness plan and provisions since NET volunteers will not be able to save and minister to each of Hillsdale's 8,000 residents following a major disaster. Rossing is also the secretary of the HNA board and Morris undertakes additional volunteer work on behalf of First Presbyterian Church, where he and his wife, Brenda, are members.
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Vermont crosswalks, speed bumps to be restored
Worried that the work on Vermont St. between Chestnut and Capitol Highway has left out speed bumps and striping at crosswalks? One presently missing crosswalk connects Wilson Park with Rieke Elementary School (see photo above).
Not to worry, says Kyle Chisek, capital projects manager for the Portland Bureau of Transportation. The speed bumps, taken out for the recent repaving project on the bike friendly "Greenway Project," will be replaced.
Recent re-striping for new bike lanes and center lines use different equipment than that used to demarcate pedestrian crossings, he said.
The bike lane between Bertha and Chestnut requires that vehicles no longer can be parked on the south side of Vermont. Recently Wilson baseball fans were ticketed for parking there. The fine was a stiff $80, said Wilson baseball coach Mike Clopton.
Another stretch of Vermont, between SW 30th and SW 45th, will also have pavement "zebra" stripes indicating crosswalks at SW 34th, SW 37th, SW Idaho Drive. Much of the segment is getting new sidewalks on the south side.
The corner of Vermont and 35th, which connects directly to Multnomah Village, won't get a crosswalk, said Chisek. Because the intersection is at the crest of a hill, seeing pedestrians is a problem, he said, but a crosswalk at 34th is nearby to help walkers get across busy Vermont.
Parking lot lease deal
in the works
The potholed parking lot across Capitol Highway from the Bertha Station commercial complex may be leased to the three businesses in the building.
The lot is frequently used by TriMet park-and-riders during the day, but that could end if the lease agreement is approved.
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Seasonal canoe and rowboat parking too?
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Under the proposed lease, the businesses - Sasquatch Pub, Verde Cocina and Vis a Vis Salon - would pay $600 total each month to lease the lot, which has approximately 24 parking spaces. Sasquatch owner Tom Sims said if the deal goes through, the spaces could be designated for for Bertha Station customers only.
Kyle Chisek, capital projects manager for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, said the lot may be re-graveled but, because the property is in a sensitive environmental area at the headwaters of Fanno Creek, it can't be paved.
The lease may be short-term because the property will be needed as a construction staging area when work begins in 2016 on a pedestrian/bike bridge to cross the Fanno Creek gulch. The $2.3 million bridge is a key element in the development of the Red Electric Trail for hikers and bicyclists.
Chisek said that eventually the City lot land is expected to be declared surplus and sold to private developers.
In other news regarding the City site, plans to place a "Google Hut" on the property have been dropped, said Chisek. Several neighbors had complained that the facility, which would have housed internet equipment behind a chain-link fence, would be unsightly on property that is being developed for an urban trail.
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Wilson High School will play football and soccer on artificial turf this fall. The cost of the field is $1.2 million
The useful life of the artificial turf is approximately 10 years, said Wilson business manager Erica Meyers.
The groundbreaking for the new field will be Thursday, June 5, following a 5 p.m. Spring Football Intra-Squad Scrimmage, the last event on the old natural turf.
A BBQ will follow and last until 9 p.m.
At the groundbreaking, Wilson boosters will be selling engraved bricks for a new plaza and a new concession area. More funds are needed to build a new concession building.
The new turf is part of a $7.2 million athletic facilities refurbishing that includes four PPS high schools. The high schools will receive new synthetic turf fields and one will receive a new track.
The larger package will be paid for in large part with Construction Excise Tax revenues.
Partnering on program are NIKE, Portland Parks & Recreation Bureau and the City of Portland.
Community members have also contributed to the Wilson project.
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Union 76 station fined
for failure to monitor tanks
In late April, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) said it was penalizing the owners of the Union 76 gas station at the corner of Capitol Highway and Sunset Boulevard for "inadequate monitoring and maintenance" of its underground storage tanks.  The agency has issued $20,545 in penalties to Northwest Dealerco Holdings LLC. In addition to the penalties, DEQ ordered NW Dealerco to supply DEQ updated records concerning the status of the station's three tanks to ensure that the violations have been addressed. According to a DEQ press release, inspections of the station's tanks in November 2013 found that the automatic tank gauge wasn't conducting monitoring information on two of the tanks. DEQ also discovered that the company had no monitoring records for the past 12 months for the third tank. In addition, the company hadn't completed required annual line tightness and line leak detector tests on any of the three tanks since February 2012. DEQ also noted concern that it issued Northwest Dealerco a penalty for the same violations after its last previous inspection of the facility, in December 2011. Northwest Dealerco Holdings LLC did not appeal the penalty. In mid-May Susan Elworth, an environmental law specialist at DEQ, said that Dealerco had yet to pay the penalty and had not provided all of the records requested from the company. Efforts to contact Northwest Dealerco, which is headquartered in Agoura Hills, California. were unsuccessful. The Oregon Secretary of State's office lists David Delrahim of Calabasas, California, as the principal for the company.
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Date Book
Saturday, May 31
Wilson Clean-up day
9 a.m. to noon. Help beautify the Wilson Campus. Bring work gloves and tools. Free BBQ to follow. Wednesday, June 4
HNA elections, SWCP discussion
7 p.m. St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, 2201 SW Vermont. Monthly Hillsdale Neighborhood Association meeting holds Board elections and participates in further presentation and discussion of the Southwest Corridor Plan. Thursday, June 5
Local authors read at Annie Bloom's
7 p.m. Annie Bloom's Books 7834 S.W. Capitol Highway. Four local authors will read from their work in "The Night, and the Rain, and the River," a collection of twenty-two short stories by Oregon writers. Free event. The anthology is edited by Liz Prato of Multnomah Village and published by Hillsdale's Forest Avenue Press.
Saturday, June 7
Become a Usual Suspect Meet at 9 a.m. on the Food Front 'veranda' to help clean up litter in the Town Center until 10 a.m. "Pick of the Litter" contest and Free breakfast sandwiches follow, courtesy of Food Front.
Saturday, June 7
Preparing-for-Disaster workshop
2 p.m. The Watershed, 6388 SW Capitol Highway. The Hillsdale Neighborhood Team (NET) will inform residents of seismic upgrades, home emergency preparedness and the new Hillsdale NET Operations Plan. NET urges residents to make their households safer in the event of an emergency. Contact Lynn Rossing larossing@gmail.com with any questions.
Monday, June 9
Corridor Planning group decides
on route options
9 a.m. Metro Council Chambers, 600 NE Grand. The Southwest Corridor Plan Steering Committee, consisting of transit and regional elected officials, meets to decide which High Capacity Transit routes should be pursued for either Light Rail or Bus Rapid Transit service. The meeting's decisions are an important step in a long process that could lead to the construction enhanced transit in the next decade. See lead story and "Views of the News" in this issue.
Saturday, June 14
SW Trails hike to Bishop's Close 8:45 a.m. Meet behind Wilson High School bleachers for a 9 a.m. departure by carpool to the Lewis and Clark Law School parking lot. Walk about 6 miles with 500 feet elevation gain. Bring a snack and water and dress for the weather. Well-behaved dogs are allowed on leash. No smoking on SW Trails walks. For more information, contact Sharon Fekety at fekety@hevanet.com. Sponsored by The Hillsdale Neighborhood Association. Sunday, June 29
Book Sale donations begin
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hillsdale Farmers Market, north entrance. For four Sunday's beginning on June 29, volunteers from the Hillsdale Community Foundation will collect donated books for the Hillsdale Book Sale on Sunday, July 27. The sale will be at the Watershed Building, Bertha Court and Capital and along the sidewalk. Please, no dated almanacs, manuals or textbooks.
Click to go to top of Datebook
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