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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.
•฀New฀roofs฀at฀Bridlemile,฀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.
•฀Upgrades฀for฀greater฀access฀for฀
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
at฀a฀USO฀Show.
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.”