November 2013
EDITORIAL/NEWS
tional program and help guarantee
college affordability for all students.
It is time to stop governing from
crisis to crisis and get back to the real
work of helping Oregonians.
The Southwest Portland Post
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
Fax: (866) 727-5336
email: editor@multnomahpost.com
Jeffrey A. Merkley
United States Senator
Maplewood Bike + Walk
to School
(Continued from Page 1)
Government shutdown is
over; let’s get back to the
real work
Congress has finally agreed on a
deal to reopen the government and
pay our bills.
Although I am glad that after two
and a half long weeks we are putting
this crisis behind us, it is unaccept-
able that we ended up here in the
first place.
Keeping the government open
and paying our bills should not be
cause for celebration, it should be
business as usual.
We have seen the effects of D.C.’s
dysfunction across our state, hurt-
ing Oregon’s business and families.
During this shutdown, small busi-
nesses had loans and permits de-
layed. Thousands of families went
without paychecks. Recreation sites
were closed, hurting the communi-
ties around them.
We must end the cycle of brinks-
manship that has us governing from
one manufactured crisis to another,
and get back to the real work of
building a country that works for
the middle class.
Instead of spending all its time
lurching from crisis to crisis, Con-
gress should be focusing on legisla-
tion that will grow the economy and
create good, middle class jobs.
That’s why I am working on find-
ing solutions that will help boost
manufacturing around America and
here in Oregon.
Last year, I went on a Made in
Oregon tour to hear directly from
Oregon manufacturers about the
opportunities and challenges they
face.
I have been working with a group
of my colleagues to move forward
on promoting manufacturing, and
in the next few weeks we will be
unveiling a plan to help boost
American manufacturing and create
good, living-wage jobs.
As the first in my family to go to
college, I know that an affordable
college education can mean every-
thing to a middle class family.
That’s why it’s so important to
me to take on the student loan debt
crisis and lead the national efforts
to explore Oregon’s innovative Pay
It Forward model.
This new approach would guar-
antee affordability for students who
choose to participate by replacing
the huge loans weighing students
down with a simple promise to pay
a fixed small percentage of their fu-
ture earnings into a Pay it Forward
fund.
In the coming weeks, I will be of-
ficially introducing the first bill that
would make Pay It Forward a na-
epidemic is a crisis that, in the long
run, affects all of us,” said Dr. Jimmy
Unger, a Portland pediatrician with
Kaiser Permanente.
“As one who spends much of
my day encouraging families to
be more active for the sake of their
children’s health, I know that efforts
such as these at Maplewood make it
easier for families to make healthy
choices,” said Unger.
Maplewood Elementary joined
the program in 2008. “When I
moved to Portland with my kids, I
immediately recognized the trans-
portation challenges.” said South-
west Portland resident Ronda
Zakocs.
“As a parent, I’d like to thank SW
Trails, Southwest Neighborhoods,
Inc., and the bureaus of transpor-
tation and environmental services
for their work on improving the
shoulders near Maplewood,” said
Zakocs.
Wilson College and Career
Center
(Continued from Page 1)
weekly,” said Meyers.
College and Career Center vol-
unteers will receive training on Na-
viance planning software, the college
application process, financial aid,
career-related learning, graduation re-
quirements, college visits, and more.
“This is a great opportunity to work
with Wilson students and counsel-
ors,” Meyers said.
Please contact Sue Stahl (sstahl@
pps.net), or Kate Morgan (kmorgan@
pps.net) to make donations to the
Wilson College and Career Center. To
volunteer, please contact Erica Mey-
ers at emeyers@pps.net.
“15 Years of Responsible
Mortgage Lending”
Serving my SW Portland Neighbors
Residential • Investment • Vacation Home
Small Commercial
The Southwest Portland Post • 3
Freeman Water Tank property controversy
continues to boil
By Melinda Hasting
The Southwest Portland Post
The Freeman Water Tank property
sale controversy continues to boil as
neighbors organize in opposition.
Jeremy Solomon, a neighbor who
lives near the property, spoke at a
recent meeting of the Multnomah
Neighborhood Association about
his activities to halt the sale, or at
the least, to eventually improve the
public notification process related
to sale of public land in the future.
The 0.72 acre property, located at
8625 SW 42nd Ave, was contracted
for sale by the Portland Water Bu-
reau to local developer Renaissance
Homes for infill development last
year. Though the property’s fair
market value was a considerably
higher amount, the contract for sale
was $140,000.
Solomon says another prop-
erty just around the corner with a
smaller (0.22 acre) footprint sold for
close to $200,000. The Water Bureau
is required to sell public property for
fair market value, and neighbors in
opposition to the contract for sale
to Renaissance say they believe this
requirement was breached.
Portland Maps, a widely-used
website to determine local fair mar-
ket value of commercial and resi-
dential properties, listed the site’s
value at approximately $416,000 last
(Photo courtesy of Jeremy Solomon)
year at around the time the Water
Bureau entered into contract for sale
of the property to Renaissance.
The property abuts the Woods
Memorial Natural Area, a city park
that is widely used by neighbors
who hike, jog, and enjoy its con-
siderable wildlife, which includes
owls, foxes and woodpeckers.
Solomon claims the Freeman
property has been considered an
informal park itself due to its inher-
ent natural qualities and that neigh-
bors have consistently appealed to
the Water Bureau over the years to
make the space a public park if it
was ever decommissioned.
Claims that the Water Bureau
failed to exercise good faith in noti-
fying the public about the plans to
sell the land abound. In March 2012
the Water Bureau posted a vague
notice on Craigslist advertising the
property for $187,000. Neighbor
Carole McCarthy said the property
(Continued on Page 5)
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