INSIDE: SERVING Burlingame • Capitol Hill • Garden Home • Glen Cullen • Hillsdale • Multnomah Village • Raleigh Hills • South Portland • Vermont Hills • West Portland Garden Home celebrates 100th birthday with a party on September 24 Southwest Portland’s Independent Neighborhood Newspaper Volume No. 19, Issue No. 11 www.swportlandpost.com Portland, Oregon Complimentary – Page 7 September 2011 Congressman Blumenauer talks with business owners in Multnomah Village By Lee Perlman The Southwest Portland Post Last month the earl surveyed his new domain, and the townsfolk and shopkeepers who inhabited it, and they told him they were tired of waiting for sidewalk construction to start, and utility-related construction to stop. U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer has repre- sented the Third Congressional District for ten years, but with re-districting the boundaries have suddenly changed. The district still includes most of Port- land’s near-in east side, but no longer takes in the Northwest District and Pearl. Instead, Blumenauer now represents Downtown and much of southwest, ex- cluding Portland Community College’s Sylvania campus but including South Portland, Hillsdale and Multnomah Village. Thus, last month, the congressman spent part of an afternoon visiting at various shops, and in a round-table discussion with community leaders at O’Connor’s Restaurant, to see what was on people’s minds. A consistent theme was the sewer and water main-related construction that has disrupted South- west Multnomah Boulevard since 2010, and the effect it has had on traffic. One of those visited was Dan Hough- ten, who has owned Southwest Bicycle LLC, at 3635 SW Multnomah Blvd., for three years. The business has existed since 1979, operating out of “six or seven locations” in the Village before settling at the former gas station. Houghten said that 70 percent of the store’s business is bike repair and added, “We have the business to our- selves within a five mile radius. We were doing great until they started tear- ing up the road. We’re still in the black compared to some others.” “We’re rooting for you,” Blumenauer, an avid bicyclist and runner, told Houghten. Michelle Cassinelli said that busi- ness at her Village Beads shop “has increased every year – except this year,” and she attributed the change to the construction. Worse, she said, will be the Interstate 5 access ramp closure this month and October, during “the Moses Ross (left) and Don Baack (right) give Congressman Earl Blumeanauer a tour of Multnomah Village. (Post photo by Lee Perlman) heaviest sales time of the year. They tell us it will be done by November 18; they don’t understand that half our customers will have done their holiday shopping by then.” Meanwhile there are the pedestrian- related projects that have not been funded, starting with the Garden Home section of the Capitol Highway Plan of 1996. This called for improvements to the street along the .09 mile connection of West Portland with Multnomah Vil- NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS By Lee Perlman The Southwest Portland Post OHSU nursing students aid National Night Out Two southwest senior housing resi- dences held National Night Out celebra- tions, and a class of Oregon Health and Science University nursing students showed up to assist and share informa- tion. Students from Launa Rae Mathews’ class assisted at August 2 celebrations at Ruth Haefner Plaza in the Bridlemile neighborhood, and at the Watershed building in Hillsdale. They brought with them exhibits on medication management emergency pre- paredness for seniors, their class project, to share with those who showed up. Multnomah I-5 access closes September 6 (Left to right) Monica Ontiveros, Konnie Ibert and Kirstie Allery were among the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Nursing students who assisted in National Night Out activities at two senior housing complexes. (Post photo by Lee Perlman) Don’t forget to renew your subscription. Form on Page 2. The Southwest Portland Post 4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509 Portland, OR 97206 Starting September 6, as part of the Burlingame Sewer Trunkline Replace- ment Project, the Multnomah on and off-ramps to Interstate 5 will be closed for 45 days, Bureau of Environmental Services spokesperson Stephen Sykes told The Post. The City had stipulated that the work had to be completed by November 18, to allow access to Multnomah Village shops during the holiday season. The early start to the work may allow it to be completed several weeks ahead of this schedule. Meanwhile, Sykes said, BES and its contractors will be working on utility relocation between Southwest Barbur Boulevard and 31 st Avenue, and the in- stallation of a temporary bypass sewer lage, and particularly called for safe and comfortable pedestrian access. As Jill Crecraft of Sip D’Vine told Blumenauer, “This was the pinnacle of what plans should be, and it was put on a shelf. We pay, and we pay, and we pay, and yet we do not receive.” She spoke of watching “women with baby strollers walking on that goat path.” Longtime Multnomah activist Randy Bonella agreed that Capitol Highway (Continued on Page 7) line on the south side of Multnomah between 22 nd and 31 st avenues, into early September. Some of this work may restrict traf- fic to one lane, and require the use of flaggers, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. In the spring a replacement pipe will be installed on the north side, and once again traffic may be restricted to one lane between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Elsewhere, the newly installed Fanno pressure sewer line has sprung a leak, necessitating the closure of the Fanno Creek Trail at Southwest 82 nd Avenue. After considerable investigation, re- pairs were completed in late August. Neighborhood coalition accepting grant applications Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc. is now accepting applications for the lat- est round of Neighborhood Grants. The deadline for submission is October 31. Money for the program comes from the City General Fund through the Of- fice of Neighborhood Involvement. It is distributed in grants by SWNI and the city’s six other neighborhood coali- tions to community organizations for projects that “increase organizational capacity,” “encourage involvement by under-represented communities,” and “encourage partnerships. This year SWNI has been allocated $22,000. Most grants will be for $200 to $2,000. For more information contact SWNI at 503-823-4592. City considers new uses for Riverview Cemetery land acquisition The Portland Bureau of Parks and Recreation and Commissioner Nick Fish’s office are considering the use of (Continued on Page 3)