January 2009
The Southwest Portland Post • 3
NEwS
South Portland neighborhood wins Spirit of Portland Award
for hospice care patients in a variety
of locations, and has given private
recitals in the rooms of patients too
ill to be moved. He is also a National
Honors Society member who plans to
study astrophysics in college.
Hoopin’ It Up, the result of a
partnership between SWNI, the Of-
fice of Neighborhood Involvement’s
Neighborhood Crime Prevention
Program, the Housing Authority of
Portland, Portland Police Bureau,
Camp Rosenbaum and Basketball
Institute, Inc., is a four-day basket-
ball camp for children living in the
Hillsdale Terrace and Slavin Court
affordable housing projects. In addi-
tion to teaching basketball skills and
providing summer recreation, the
camps preached hard work, team
spirit, respect for peers and a sense of
community. Last summer, the camp’s
second year, organizers included a
track and field and writing compo-
nents. The camp ended with a Family
Fun Night barbecue.
Members of the South Portland Neighborhood Association receive the Spirit of Portland
Award for Neighborhood of the Year from City Commissioner Randy Leonard at City
Hall, December 11. (Post photo by Lee Perlman)
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
Two groups and one individu-
al from southwest Portland were
among this year’s Spirit of Portland
Award winners. The awards, selected
by a jury of community representa-
tives from nominations submitted by
the public, are awarded annually to
groups and individuals who increase
the city’s livability. At the awards cer-
emony last month, Portland Mayor
Tom Potter referred to the recipients
as “heroes.”
South Portland Neighborhood
Association won this year’s coveted
Neighborhood of the Year award.
They were officially honored for co-
sponsoring five free concerts in Wil-
lamette Park in cooperation with the
Bureau of Parks – the first southwest
neighborhood to stage such an event
– drawing more than 400 people per
concert, and for helping organize a
new business association.
The neighborhood association
also oversaw one of the city’s most
dramatic new development areas in
the South Waterfront, defending the
rights and interests of the older neigh-
borhood to the west while welcoming
the newcomers.
They helped secure traffic calm-
ing for Southwest Corbett Avenue.
Finally, they were active participants
in the Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc.
Coalition, where South Portland chair
Ken Love serves as board co-chair.
As Love received the award he
gestured to the four board members
who accompanied him and said, “It’s
all due to these people.”
George Wolff, a Wilson High School
senior, was named Youth of the Year.
He is a gifted classical guitarist who
won an Oregon State Student Asso-
ciation state music championship in
2007. Wolff uses his skills to perform
Southwest leaders plead for bike
paths in Maricara, Marshall parks
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
By law any citizen can request
to testify before the Portland City
Council for three minutes at the
start of their Wednesday morning
sessions, time permitting, on any
subject they wish. Last month three
local leaders used the occasion to
address a Southwest parks and
transportation issue, and appeal an
administrative decision they didn’t
agree with.
Hillsdale Neighborhood Associa-
tion chair Don Baack, former South-
west Neighborhoods, Inc. chair
Glenn Bridger and SWNI Trails
Committee bike route planner Keith
Liden all called for creating bike
paths through Maricara Natural
Area and Marshall Park, utilizing
and slightly reconfiguring existing
trails and adding a harder surface.
Bridger noted that much of south-
west consists of steep hills (“There’s
no place called Flatsdale”), and in
many places no regular system of
streets. He told Mayor-elect Sam
Adams he meant streets, not just
sidewalks. Thus, he argued, the city
needs to take advantage of what
opportunities it has to make trans-
portation connections.
Liden, who has just completed
a draft bike master plan for south-
west, pursued this point. “There
are no good east-west connections
between Lancaster and Dickinson,”
he said.
Baack said that Maricara is “a
beautiful park, with really great
wild areas.” Utilizing his strategy,
a useable path could be constructed
with “very minor” impact, he said.
According to the three, the Parks
Bureau hierarchy rejected the re-
quest. “They didn’t even consider
it,” Liden complained. Their reason-
ing was that such a path would be
inappropriate for natural habitat
areas such as Maricara or Marshall.
Parks and Recreation suggested
using Southwest Huber Street or
creating a trail on the edge of one of
the parks. According to Baack, rep-
resentatives also commented that
bicyclists who wanted to could ride
through the parks without having it
designated a path, saying, “We don’t
have bicycle police.”
Bridger noted that there is a bike
trail through George Hymes Park, so
there is precedent for such a facility.
Liden said that Huber would be “not
ideal” due to its high traffic volume
and lack of useable shoulders.
Baack said that building a path
on the side of the park would have
far greater impact and expense than
what he proposed. As for encourag-
ing unauthorized use of a pedestrian
path, he said this course would have
“a built-in conflict.” With his pro-
posed course, Baack said, “We can
have a park we can all be proud of.”
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