SERVING
INSIDE:
Burlingame • Capitol Hill
• Garden Home
• Glen Cullen • Hillsdale
• Multnomah Village
• Raleigh Hills • South Portland
• Vermont Hills
• West Portland
Metro Councilor
Barbara Roberts
previews South
Corridor Project
– Page 4
Southwest Portland’s Independent Neighborhood Newspaper
Volume No. 20, Issue No. 4
www.swportlandpost.com
Portland, Oregon
Complimentary
February 2012
Fulton Park Community Center on chopping block as park bureau faces cuts
Bureau of Parks and Recreation
has prepared a proposed series of
budget cuts. Among the proposed
cut items is closure of Fulton Park
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
Community Center.
The proposed cuts, equal to four
percent of the bureau’s budget, also
In response to the directive from
include closure of Buckman Pool in
Mayor Sam Adams, the Portland
Southeast Portland.
Other cuts are reduc-
tions in park trash re-
moval, “scholarships”
to residents who can-
not pay normal fees,
tree inspections, and
“pass-through” grants
to senior centers for
recreation programs.
Outdoor recre-
ation programs will
be eliminated and
port-a-potties will be
substituted for rest-
rooms. Responsibility
for SUN School recre-
Fulton Park Community Center may be closed due to ation programs will be
proposed budget cuts by Portland Parks and Recreation. given to Multnomah
(Photo courtesy of Isabel Souza)
County with $1.13
PARKS AND RECREATION
million, $238,000 short of that pro-
gram’s annual budget.
If the system must be cut by six
percent, the draft budget calls for
closure of Hillside Community
Center in the northwest hills, reduc-
tions in landscaping, natural area
maintenance and irrigation, and
closure of elm disease prevention
and operation of “splash pads.”
Linda Robinson, a member of the
bureau’s Budget Advisory Com-
mittee, told The Post that the BAC
had called for reductions in several
areas, rather than elimination of any
(Continued on Page 7)
Snow
Shelter
No this isn’t Mt.
Hood, it’s actu-
ally the TriMet
bus shelter at
the intersection
of Southwest
Dosch and Pat-
ton roads, Jan-
uary 18. (Post
photo by Don
Snedecor)
Senators Burdick and Devlin meet with voters at Hillsdale town hall
Oregon must stop eroding its edu-
cation funding even as it prepares to
cut spending elsewhere, State Sen.
Richard Devlin (Democrat-Tualatin)
said at a recent town hall meeting
in Hillsdale.
“I think we are at a point where
we say enough is enough,” Devlin
told a group of about 20 like-minded
Sen. Ginny Burdick
Sen. Richard Devlin
By Scott Mobley
Special to The Southwest Portland Post
Don’t forget to renew your subscription. Form on Page 2.
The Southwest Portland Post
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
voters attending the Jan. 10 meeting.
“We can’t diminish our resources
in education any more. It’s a core
responsibility.”
Devlin conducted the meeting
at the Watershed affordable senior
housing center with State Sen. Gin-
ny Burdick (Democrat-Portland/
Tigard), who has represented the
Hillsdale area for some 15 years.
But Hillsdale will fall into Devlin’s
district under the new legislative
map drawn up last year to reflect
the 2010 census.
The updated boundaries will go
into effect after the November elec-
tion when Burdick, Senate President
Pro Tempore, faces an as yet un-
known challenger for her fifth term.
Devlin and Burdick met with vot-
ers a few weeks before legislators go
into special session to wrestle with a
budget shortfall pegged at between
$50 million.
State service cuts will likely con-
tinue, though not as severely as be-
fore, said Devlin. He predicted the
state, national and global economies
will remain weak for three to four
more years at least.
Legislators paring spending must
spare Oregon’s schools and univer-
sities, where the long-term costs of
cuts far outweigh any short-term
cost-saving gains, the senators said.
“We don’t do enough to make sure
people succeed and when they don’t
succeed, the public ultimately has
to pay the bill,” Devlin said. “The
primary determinate of whether
a person will need government
services in the future is education.”
Oregon in the 1980s spent roughly
15 percent of its budget on educa-
tion and eight percent on prisons,
Burdick said. Those percentages
have reversed since voters capped
property taxes dedicated to schools
and approved mandatory sentenc-
ing, she said.
Burdick called for greater focus
on early childhood education to
help keep people out of prison, and
more emphasis on drug courts and
transitional programs to prevent
recidivism.
“’Smart on Crime’ programs are
so much cheaper than just lock-
ing somebody up,” Burdick said.
“You have to understand we can’t
just throw these meth addicts in
prison because it feels good. It costs
$35,000 a year, way more than the
amount of support we give for
public higher education. Let’s send
them to college, not prison.”
Voters attending the meeting also
raised concerns about economic
development, health care reform
and the future of Oregon’s senior
property tax deferral program, gut-
ted by declining home values.
The legislature recently approved
a $19-million loan to the property
tax deferral program, designed to
keep disabled and senior citizens
in their homes.
Hoping to stimulate the Oregon
economy, lawmakers narrowed the
state’s tax-credit program to better
target small businesses. But the
(Continued on Page 7)