October 2007.indd - Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc.

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PAGE 4 OCTOBER 2007 Trails and Recycling The Raz Baack Crossing What a great party! Thanks to everyone who came to help us celebrate the opening of our summer project: the walkway across Stephen’s Creek. Although the construction was all done this summer, we have been working on this project for years. We are grateful to city commissioner Dan Saltzman and Metro commissioner Robert Liberty for helping us with the opening ceremony, helping us move this project along and putting a much stronger priority on pedestrian issues. SW Trails Don Baack, chair, 503-246-2088 Above: Trudi Raz Frengle, Commissioner Dan Saltzman, Don Baack and Metro Councilor Robert Liberty speak at Raz Baack Crossing dedication. Below: everyone enjoys festivities Please rinse and sort your plastics into the following categories before the event: *Plastic bags (dry cleaning, store sacks) *Plant containers and trays (please knock dirt out ahead of time) *Please rinse and separate plastics with numbers by each number separately (bags and plant containers go in the first two categories, no Styrofoam food trays even if they have a number). The Hillsdale neighborhood association voted unanimously to name the walkway the Raz Baack Crossing. It is through the tenacious efforts of Werner Raz and Don Baack that this major pedestrian improvement got done. Werner first started advocating for the bridge in the 70s and actually built a structure that lasted for many years. Then, a few years back Don took up the project. He relentlessly pushed the permit process through and rounded up a very large crew of volunteers to get the work done in such short order. The community can be very grateful to these two men for their selfless dream to do something good for everyone. *Miscellaneous plastics without numbers (bottle caps, drink lids, DVD’s, CD’s, CD cases, cereal liners, straws, lawn/patio furniture, kids’ toys (think slides!), pet igloos, laundry baskets, kiddy pools, & more. Bring it, we’ll try to take it). * Reusable plastic items. - We especially love buckets! Master Recyclers label and redistribute them to encourage residents to keep glass separate from other recyclables. Be sure and drop by this section to see if you might find a useful item you would like to take home. Werner Raz (above) and Don Baack (right) The next big project (or projects) First, we need your input on what streets we should designate as bike boulevards in SW Portland. Join us at our regular meeting on 10/25 and watch for an open house later this year. SWTrails will now start planning trail projects for next year. If you know of any place in SW you think could stand pedestrian improvements, please let us know. At our next trails meeting on 10/25, we will be developing plans. We would really like to get all the ideas and feedback we can. Lake Oswego Portland Advisory Committee (LOPAC) The planning for transportation alternatives between Portland and Lake Oswego is going hot and heavy. It looks like Metro is favoring the streetcar option. This is the most expensive option and it makes construction of the companion bike/pedestrian trail very expensive. Please take the time to voice your opinion that the trail is important. You can give your feedback on the web at: trans@metro-region.org. Next SW Trails meeting: Thurs., October 25, 7 pm St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 6835 SW 46th Plastics Roundup Saturday, October 6, 2007, 9 am to 2 pm, PCC Sylvania, 12000 SW 49th, lot 10 We cannot accept • Styrofoam block, Styrofoam peanuts, Styrofoam food trays or Styrofoam egg cartons even if they have a number • “biodegradable” plastic or plastic that says PLA 7 on the bottom (this is a contaminant for plastics recycling) • milk jugs • plastic with metal inside (car seats/highchairs) • VHS or cassette tapes • PVC pipe • small toys • food-contaminated or dirty plastic that contained motor oil, herbicides or pesticides (a thin layer of dried paint is okay) Master Recyclers suggest reusing plastic items and selecting products with less packaging to reduce the need to recycle products in the first place. Packaging comprises an estimated 20 – 30% of waste in Oregon. Buy in bulk, bring your own reusable shopping bag to the store, and don’t hesitate to contact manufacturers about your packaging preferences. Only plastics with a neck, such as bottles and milk jugs, can be recycled at home. A “recycling number” stamped on plastics doesn’t guarantee they are recyclable, it only indicates the type of resin used in the product. Unstable markets and limited demand from manufacturers make it difficult to recycle more plastic in curbside programs. What do they do with all that plastic collected at the Master Recycler Roundups, anyway? Agri-plas, a Brooks company, specializes in recycling plastics used at farms, greenhouses and plant nurseries. Their innovative approach to developing new markets in plastics (mostly in the United States) has made it possible to recycle those hard-to-recycle plastics. Agri-plas makes chips or pellets out of the materials and then sells them to other manufacturers who make a multitude of items. Plastic pots are mostly made back into plastic pots. Plastic bags mostly become plastic lumber. Markets come and go for various other resins and plastics. If Agri-plas doesn’t have a specific market for materials they are combined as miscellaneous plastic. The miscellaneous plastics often get chipped together and mixed with recycled wood powder to become railroad ties, replacing rotting wood ties that require toxic chemicals to maintain. Railroad companies have to replace thousands of wood ties every year. They have yet to have to replace the plastic ones. Agri-plas is known for their exceptionally well sorted and contaminant-free plastic, making it easier for manufacturers to use. For more information, call 503-234-3000 or go to http:// www.masterrecycler.org/plastic-recycling.php.
Southwest Development Review by Leonard Gard, Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc., Program Manager Compiled from development review and other notices Starting in the November issue the Southwest Development Review will be found only on the Southwest Neighborhoods’ website at www.swni.org not in SW Neighborhood News Pre-application conferences: EA 07-154487. Applicant St. Luke’s Lutheran Church proposes conversion of single-dwelling structure for use by church for education and fellowship programs, at 4534 SW 4th Ave, in Maplewood. EA 07-160756. Applicant proposes to correct a tree removal violation at 1527 and 1533 SW Joshua St, in Arnold Creek. Tree violation review is required. Proposals: LU 07-145978 AD. Applicant seeks an adjustment to allow a property line adjustment in order to divide a site into two lots, at 5525 SW Florida St, in Maplewood. LU 07-152287 CU. Applicant seeks conditional use approval for a panel antenna and equipment cabinet on top of a building at PCC Sylvania, at 11900 SW 49th Ave, in West Portland Park. LU 07-147969 AD. Applicant wishes to construct a two-car garage and seeks two adjustments to reduce setbacks, at 2432 SW Broadway Dr, in SWHRL. LU 07-158421 DZ. Applicant seeks design review approval for a new fabric awning on an existing building, at 5210 SW Corbett, in South Portland. LU 07-156685 AD. Applicant intends to build an addition to a house and seeks an adjustment to a building setback, at 1244 SW Cheltenham, in Hillsdale. LU 07-158732 AD. Applicants constructed gazebo, and seek a side setback adjustment, at 833 SW Maplecrest Ct, in Collins View. Decisions: Approval of environmental review for construction of single-family house, at SW Caldew (4500 block), in Maplewood. LU 07-132996 HDZ. Historic design review approval for an addition to an existing house, at 0228 SW Curry St, in South Portland. LU 07-127081 LDP AD. Approval of two-lot land division and adjustments, at 117 SW Whitaker St, in South Portland. Thoughts on destruction by Carol Ivy Do you know Buddha Tree? My name for the 100-year-old maple which graced the path into Gabriel Park*. Kali, my dog, and I would visit Buddha Tree on our daily walks, sitting on its burly Buddha-belly bottom, or just admiring its massive trunk and graceful limbs. Everyone loved its welcoming accessibility, sharing stories of what this tree meant to them. The tree became meeting place, spot for meditation, climbing, writing, hugging place. When you wrapped your arms around it, the love, given and received, was palpable. It accepted my tears when I lost a dear friend last year to cancer. And it shared my joys with the same wise countenance. Buddha Tree shaded and protected everyone, equally. Recently, Buddha Tree was killed. Young people, in the middle of the night, set it ablaze. So said the Parks Dept. worker I encountered one day last week, as I stared in disbelief at its charred body, amputated limbs lying close beside. He said they found beer cans, fireworks and cigarette butts scattered around on the ground. They think someone climbed Buddha Tree and started the fire in its trunk. How could anyone murder this magnificent creation? Will Buddha Tree’s remains serve now as a reminder, a sign of the times perhaps, of how divorced LU 07-127902 DZM. Design review approval for two-building, six-story, mixed-use development, at Block 46 in South Waterfront, in South Portland. LU 07-127030 DZM. Design review approval for the Mirabella 30-story continuing care development, at Block 31 in South Waterfront, in South Portland. LU 06-185570 LDP. Approval of preliminary plan for a two-lot partition, at 8426 SW 7th Ave, in South Burlingame. LU 07-123948 LDS. Approval of preliminary plan for a three-lot land division, at 4900 SW Garden Home Rd and 8610 SW 49th Ave, in Ashcreek. Public hearings: EA 07-151174 DA. Design advice hearing for proposed residential tower at Block 42 in the South Waterfront District, in South Portland. Hearing was scheduled on September 13. EA 07-146222 DA. Design advice hearing for proposed mixed-use tower at Block 43 in the South Waterfront District, in South Portland. Hearing was scheduled on September 13. LU 07-139847 LDS. Applicant proposes a five-lot land division, at 1919-1926 SW Elm St and 2412-2416 SW Vista St. in SWHRL. Hearing was scheduled on September 17. LU 07-116536 EN. Appeal of decision approving environmental review for construction of a house, deck, and associated activities, at 4500 block of SW Caldew, in Maplewood. Hearing scheduled fro October 15, at 1:30 pm, hearing room 3000. LU 07-140693 TV TR. Applicant seeks tree review approval to modify a tree preservation plan, at 9800 SW 55th Ave, in Crestwood. Hearing is tentatively scheduled for October 29, at 1:30 pm. Final plats: 10635 SW 40th, Intents to demolish: 7621 SW 51st Ave from nature we have b e c o m e ? Ignorance preventing our hearts from knowing how we too are “amputated” by this destructive act. Is this just a random act of stupidity, or a symptom of something much deeper and more sinister in our world today an act that begs more serious contemplation? I don’t have the answers, only questions. And so I say, along with many others: Good-bye old friend, you will be missed! * If you’d like to visit the Buddha Tree site, it is located below the baseball diamond, and across from the community garden. Anyone wishing to discuss the possibilities of a permanent memorial at the site, a sign raising awareness about what happened, or anything else regarding this situation, please contact me@buddahtree4@yahoo.com. Committee Reports.. Public Safety Committee Nancy Hand, chair, 503-452-9483 October is Crime Prevention Month! Look for our Crime Prevention pullout in this newspaper. Also, be sure and attend the 2nd Annual Police Reception. It is Monday, October 15 at 7 pm in the Multnomah Center Auditorium. This is the community’s opportunity to thank the police officers at Central Precinct. It is also a great way to get to know each other better and have lots of fun! We will be giving awards to the stars in the bureau. You can’t have a party without good food. Please bring a friend and enjoy the evening. The reception will be our meeting for October and our next formal meeting will be November 27. Next Meeting: Tuesday, Nov. 27, 7 pm Multnomah Center 7688 SW Capitol Hwy Transportation Committee Marianne Fitzgerald 503-246-1847 In September, the committee talked about Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and its impact on Portland planning and project. Metro is now updating the RTP and a series of four open houses and public hearings starts this fall. The time and place of the open house and hearing closest to us are: Thursday, November 1 Metro Regional Center Council Chambers 600 NE Grand Ave The open house starts at 1 pm and the public hearing starts at 2 pm. For more information, go to the Metro website at www. metro-region.org/rtp and click on 2035 RTP update. Chair Marianne Fitzgerald reported on the open house here for Sam Adams’ transportation funding initiative, now called Safe and Sound Streets. Committee member Jim Gardner, a member of a Safe and Sound Streets stakeholder committee reported the final recommendation may be a combination of a city gas tax and a utility fee to generate new funding for transportation maintenance and safety improvements. Finally, the committee endorsed moving ahead with three potential pilot halo local improvement district projects: Hamilton from 42nd to 60th, Vermont from 30th to 37th and 45th to Oleson, and 35th from Stephenson to Arnold. Next Meeting: Tuesday, Oct. 17, 7 pm Multnomah Center 7688 SW Capitol Hwy Parks Committee Kirky Doblie, 503-246-7970 The committee made its annual trek to the SW Community Center in September and heard reports from SW Zone Director Terri Davis and SWCC Director Craig Vanderbout. The news is good. Attendance and cost recovery remain high. The center is offering lots of programs and events for different age and interest groups. They include a junior leader program for 12 and 13 year olds; late weekend hours and a recent weekend retreat for teens, an often underserved group; Skills for Success, which teaches basic life skills to teens; Fit for Life, which teaches good nutrition and other healthful habits; and Bodacious Babes, an event for women that offers spa treatments. Swim lessons remain popular. There is a basketball program, and gymnastics is starting again this fall. We’ll be at Fulton Park Community Center for our October meeting. Next meeting: Thurs., Oct. 4, 7 pm Fulton Park Community Center SW Miles & Brier Pl PAGE 5 OCTOBER 2007 SWNI Board Glenn Bridger, president 503-245-0729 Ruthann Bedenkop has accepted the part-time position as SWNI’s outreach coordinator. See the photo and article on page 1. Welcome, Ruthann. The Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) has started the second cycle of small grants to neighborhoods and community-based organizations. The grants are for projects that expand community building capacity and attract new and diverse members. The deadline for applications is November 1. ONI will conduct a workshop for prospective applicants on Monday, October 1, 6:30 to 8 pm, in the Capitol Room at the Multnomah Center. SWNI has been distributing the draft recommendations from the Community Connect project. The eight recommendations propose methods to implement three underlying goals: to increase the number and diversity of people who are involved in their communities, to strengthen community capacity, and to increase community impact on public decisions. Next Meeting: Wed., Oct. 24, 7 pm Multnomah Center 7688 SW Capitol Hwy. Land Use Committee John Gibbon 503-708-6708 In August, committee members had a long and interesting conversation with Gil Kelley, Steve Dotterrer, and Brian Sheehan about a planning update that is being called the Portland Plan. Per state law, Portland has to soon update its comprehensive plan. In doing so, the Planning Bureau wants to create better policy guidance, with a comprehensive plan containing an urban form plan and updated policies, an economic development strategy, a capital systems plan, and an updated central city plan. Next Mtg: Wednesday, Oct. 16, 7 pm Multnomah Center 7688 SW Capitol Hwy. Schools Committee Will Fuller, 503-764-5501 WHAT’S A “ROUND”? Besides a kind of song or a piece of ammunition, it’s the way Portland Public Schools hires and assigns teachers to schools, in three rounds of placement. A just-released study by the New Teacher Project concludes that the rounds system may be hurting Portland in hiring and placing the best quality teachers for our kids. Controversial. To learn more, we invited a representative of Stand for Children to our September meeting. Come to the October meeting where we will hear an alternative view as well. The New Teacher Project’s press release about their Portland study, with a link to the full report: http://www.tntp.org/newsandpress/newsitems/082907_TNTP.shtml. WHAT’S A “SWNI SCHOOLS COMMUNICATOR”? Our second enewsletter is out. Features articles about school choice in SWNI area, Constitution Day speakers, and the latest list of all 29 (count ‘em, twenty-nine) schools that serve the SWNI area. Send your comments to SWNI for inclusion in the next issue. Get your own copy with an email to wwfuller@teleport.com or go to the SWNI website www.swni.org and read it online. WHAT’S WRONG WITH OUR SCHOOLS? Or what’s right? Does your child go to a unique school? Let us know about it. We’re interested in all the variety of schools in this area, email wwfuller@teleport.com. Next meeting: Thurs, October 18 7 - 8:30 pm Multnomah Center Room 4 7688 SW Capitol Hwy (at 31 st )
Page 1 and 2: OCTOBER 2007 Volume 28, No. 10 Sout
Page 3: Southwest Neighborhoods’ Inc. Ann
Page 7 and 8: Crime Prevention & Public Safety Oc
Page 9 and 10: stars PAGE 9 OCTOBER 2007 Second An
Page 11 and 12: Arnold Creek Next Mtg: Tues., Octob
Page 13 and 14: Maplewood Next Mtg: Mon., Oct. 8, 7
Page 15 and 16: FLU SHOTS at NHSC Flu shots will be

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