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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2012)
SERVING Burlingame • Capitol Hill • Garden Home • Glen Cullen • Hillsdale • Multnomah Village • Raleigh Hills • South Portland • Vermont Hills • West Portland COMMUNITY LIFE Mayor and City Council candidates debate slated for October 16 – Page 2 Celebrating 20 years of continuous Southwest news coverage! Volume No. 20, Issue No. 12 www.swportlandpost.com Portland, Oregon Complimentary October 2012 Construction bond would bring needed improvements to Southwest schools By Jillian Daley The Southwest Portland Post If the school construction bond passes on November 6, it would gen- erate $482 million in revenue, funds that would support reconstructing and improving buildings at Portland Public Schools, including several here in Southwest. Portland School District spokeswoman Erin Barnett and Portland School Board member Ruth Adkins delivered a presentation on the proposed school construc- tion bond at the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association meeting in September. (Post photo by Jillian Daley) The bond aims to bring schools into this century. More than half of the district’s 78 schools were built be- fore 1940, and several are more than 100 years old, according to school district documents. During a presentation at the Hill- sdale Neighborhood Association meeting in September, school district spokeswoman Erin Barnett and Portland School Board member Ruth Adkins delivered a bond presenta- tion, which included how the bond would affect the Southwest. Southwest schools that stand to reap the benefits of the bond revenue include: •Roof replacement and seismic bracing at Ainsworth and Hayhurst elementary schools. •NewroofsatBridlemile,Maple- wood and Stephenson elementary schools as well as Jackson Middle School and Wilson High School. •Seismic strengthening at Ain- sworth and Hayhurst and Jackson Middle School. •Upgradesforgreateraccessfor people with disabilities at Ainsworth and Markham elementary schools as well as West Sylvan Middle School and Lincoln and Wilson high schools, •Science lab improvements at Robert Gray and Jackson middle schools and Hayhurst. For the first eight years of the mea- sure, the cost to homeowners would be $1.10 per $1,000 of assessed prop- erty value; the bond would dip to 30 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value for an additional 12 years, ac- cording to school district documents. For a house with an assessed property value of $150,000, the cost would be $165 per year for the first eight years and $45 per year for the additional 12 years. A “citizen accountability commit- tee” will oversee the bond program. The bond money only can be used to rebuild or improve schools, not for salaries or educational programs. There will be a dedicated funding stream to ensure that the new build- ings can be maintained. To make the decisions about what (Continued on Page 6) Historic home at Eagle Point, one of two viewpoints along Terwilliger Parkway, is up for sale By Lee Perlman The Southwest Portland Post The 1912 Olmsted Plan for South- west Terwilliger Parkway called for two public viewpoints. One was Elk Point, now partially occupied by the Chart House restaurant. The other, Eagle Point (4099 SW Lowell Lane), was never acquired and eventually abandoned by planners – but is now for sale. Friends of Terwilliger Parkway member Susan Egnor told the Homestead Neighborhood Asso- ciation last month that she was on Terwilliger during the parkway’s centennial celebration in July, and was startled to see owner Kirk Ken- wood set up a card table with a sign saying, “House for Sale.” Kenwood has since held several open houses on the 1.2-acre prop- erty. However, he later told The Post, he would prefer to sell it to a public agency such as the City of Portland Bureau of Parks and Recreation. City officials contacted by the Post refused to discuss the matter. How- ever, Hillsdale community activist Wes Risher told Homestead that there have been discussions with officials of the park bureau about acquiring and maintaining the prop- erty, with Metro about using some of its Nature in Neighborhoods funds for the acquisition, and that both expressed interest. The current driveway originally circled the property’s perimeter, but part of it was vacated in 1963; in that year also, 0.2 acres of the prop- erty was sold off. Tree growth has obscured the original view to some extent, but it still offers a spectacular vista of downtown, the Willamette Valley, and Mount Hood. Kenwood said the four-bedroom house was built in 1892 by Frederick Walpole. Later occupants included the naturalist John Muir (not the Don’t forget to renew your subscription. Form on Page 2. The Southwest Portland Post 4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509 Portland, OR 97206 Kirk Kenwood's four-bedroom house at Eagle Point was built in 1892 by Fred- erick Walpole. Kenwood said he would prefer to sell the house and property to the Portland Bureau of Parks and Recreation (Post photo by Lee Perlman) creator of Yosemite National Park), and Kenwood’s father John. The elder Kenwood served as director of the Portland Develop- ment Commission for 20 years under Commission chair Ira Keller and Mayor Terry Shrunk. Both of Kenwood’s parents were military pilots during World War II who met ataUSOShow. Kenwood said the house’s fea- tures include stone fireplaces in every room and old growth fir floors, harvested from trees on the property. The house is now sur- rounded by second-growth trees as high as 100 feet. Some of them, including a Japa- nese maple and a sequoia, were planted to commemorate the birth of his three children, he said. Kenwood has lived in the house all his life, and loves it, but said, “I don’t need all that room, and I do need the money. I’d rather sell it to Parks and have them care for the house than sell it to a developer who’d tear it down.”