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Celebrating 20 years of continuous Southwest news coverage!
Volume No. 21, Issue No. 3
www.swportlandpost.com
Portland, Oregon
Candlelight vigil held
for pedestrian killed
on Beaverton-
Hillsdale Highway
– Page 2
Complimentary
January 2013
Ashcreek’s Dean Smith is a neighborhood leader wherever he goes
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
When Dean Smith accepted a Spirit
of Portland Neighborhood of the Year
award for his Ashcreek Neighborhood
Association in October, he told the Port-
land City Council, “When I first moved
in three years ago, I thought that this
would be a sleepy little neighborhood.
In fact it’s dynamic and very effective.”
Smith is in a unique position to make
such a judgment. Not only has he lived
elsewhere, but he served as chair of the
Goose Hollow Foothills League and
Dean Smith is chair of the Ashcreek Neighborhood Association.
(Post photo by Lee Perlman)
Irvington Community Association. He
was also project manager of the first
Central City Plan.
Born and raised in California, Smith
moved with his family to the Hillsdale
area when he reached “college age.”
He lived downtown and in Goose
Hollow while attending Portland State
University. He lived in two different
locations in Goose Hollow in the 1970s,
and served as their chair.
Smith moved to Southeast Portland
for awhile but, in 1985, moved again
to Irvington with his wife Laura, and
served as their chair as well.
In 2009 the couple looked to move
again, to accommodate Laura’s daily
commute to Wilsonville and to “down-
size” after their children moved out.
According to Smith, Ashcreek friends
told them of a new infill housing project
happening a block away, and they took
advantage of it.
It is a dramatic change from his previ-
ous homes, Smith told The Post. “Goose
Hollow has some very large buildings
and is very close to downtown, with a
lot of traffic and a lot of businesses.”
According to Smith, “Irvington is fur-
ther from downtown, but it’s still more
urban, with an older housing stock.
Both places have fully developed streets
and sidewalks, and there’s not much
opportunity for infill development.”
“Ashcreek is quiet and almost entire-
ly residential. It still has open spaces for
infill. There are different issues: storm
water runoff is a problem; there are a lot
of under-developed streets, and most
don’t have sidewalks.”
Moreover, Smith said, economic and
political considerations work against a
quick and easy solution.
“To provide infrastructure would
eat up an enormous amount of the
City budget,” he said. “It appears City
government tends to lesser-cost projects
where they can see more bang for the
buck.”
Another issue may be the perception
that Ashcreek, like the rest of South-
west, is rich enough to take care of its
own problems. Smith said that isn’t so.
“There are some expensive houses
here, but most are fairly modest, with
a lot of 1940s and 1950s ranch-style
homes. This isn’t Eastmoreland or Ir-
vington or Alameda.”
What has been comparable in all
his homes, Smith said, is the level of
neighborhood activity. “I was frankly
(Continued on Page 6)
Maplewood woman wants to make peace with neighbor who kidnapped her dog
By Jillian Daley
The Southwest Portland Post
A Maplewood woman wants to
make peace with a neighbor charged
with kidnapping her dog and turning
him into Multnomah County’s Animal
Control.
Paula Ripke, 50, who lives in the 7000
block of Southwest 54th Avenue, says
about a year and a half ago she found
a note on her door complaining that
her Miniature Pinscher, Sparky, barked
incessantly and was being neglected.
Ripke spoke with neighbors about
her dog, and no one told her the dog
was a problem. But the notes contin-
ued. Other neighbors told Ripke they
had received similar notes.
Sparky usually played in the front
yard, tethered to a zip line because
the Ripke home has a small back yard.
On July 5, Ripke’s two children were
spending the day with her nieces, and
they decided to go out for lunch. The
weather was fine, so they left Sparky
outside, and when they returned two
hours later, he was gone.
Notes in which someone threatened
to take the dog had been left in the
mailbox and taped to the door, Ripke
said.
Ripke called the police, canvassed
neighbors, posted fliers, trying to find
any hint of Sparky’s whereabouts.
Some neighbors said they saw an older,
heavyset woman with the pooch.
Days later, her nephew spotted a
dog on the Multnomah County Animal
Services website that looked a lot like
Sparky. Ripke realized her pup had
been found and brought him home.
Ripke told Portland Police Officer
Scott Foster the news, and soon after, he
was able to identify a suspect. People
who turn in a dog to animal control
must give their name and show iden-
tification.
Sheila Gayle Yates, 58, of the 7000
block of Southwest 53rd Avenue, was
arrested on July 25 on a charge of first-
degree theft, Portland police Sgt. Pete
Simpson said. Yates is not currently in
police custody.
At press time, her case was sched-
uled for a settlement conference on
Dec. 21 at Multnomah County Court-
house, during which attorneys were
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Paula Ripke's son, Daniel Ben-Israel, holds Sparky in his arms on a chilly De-
cember afternoon in the front yard of the family home in Southwest Portland.
(Post photo by Jillian Daley)
seeking to reach an agreement on
behalf of their clients.
Yates said she preferred not to com-
ment on the court case.
“I just want to have a peaceful settle-
ment conference and just move on
from there,” she said. “That’s my goal.
I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
Ripke said she never considered
Yates as a suspect because she had
worked with her on a professional
basis through her job with the county
and thought they were on good terms.
She does not want Yates to have a
felony besmirching her record, so she
asked the district attorney and the de-
fense attorney to come up with a way
for Yates to plead to a lesser charge
but would give Ripke recourse if a
similar incident occurred again. A civil
compromise could be in the works,
Ripke said.
“We’re not out for vengeance,” she
said. “We don’t want to make anybody
miserable, but we also want to have
some reassurance.”
She no longer leaves Sparky outside
when no one is home to watch him.
Foster brought the incident to neigh-
bors’ attention when he gave his
report on public safety issues in the
Maplewood Neighborhood Associa-
tion meeting on Nov. 14
Simpson, the police public informa-
tion officer, said Portland has a potent
pet culture.
“People are very passionate about
animals, and there are both people who
love them and people who don’t like
to hear them,” Simpson said.