INSIDE:
SERVING
Burlingame • Capitol Hill
• Garden Home
• Glen Cullen • Hillsdale
• Multnomah Village
• Raleigh Hills • South Portland
• Vermont Hills
• West Portland
Guild of Oregon
Woodworkers
relocates to
Multnomah Village
Celebrating 21 years of continuous Southwest news coverage!
Volume No. 22, Issue No. 3
www.swportlandpost.com
Portland, Oregon
Complimentary
– Page 4
January 2014
Multnomah parents fed up with
navigating busy Capitol Highway
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
It’s been in the works for almost two
decades. The Capitol Highway Plan,
which was implemented in 1996, was
a blueprint to improve pedestrian and
bicyclist access and safety the entire
length of Capitol Highway.
Originally the road to the state capitol
in Salem, present day Capitol High-
way extends from Southwest Barbur
Boulevard (north), through Hillsdale,
Multnomah Village and the Barbur
Crossroads (south) all the way to the
Sylvania campus of Portland Commu-
nity College.
More than half of the improvements
along Capitol Highway have been
completed. But the “Garden Home”
section from Southwest Garden Home
Road south to Taylors Ferry Road is still
unfunded.
Besides getting more dangerous for
pedestrians and bicyclists, there has
been an increase in traffic, speeding,
and estimated costs: the project has
skyrocketed to over $19 million. A
two-phased project comes in at approxi-
mately $23 million.
Due to changes in city of Portland en-
vironmental codes since the mid-1990s,
the price for such projects has gone up
dramatically. No longer can just side-
walks and bike lanes (“streetscapes”)
be installed; stormwater facilities,
like the recent green street project in
Multnomah Village, must be factored
in.
Approximately $6 million, which had
been earmarked for the Garden Home
segment, has been redistributed to fund
other sidewalk and bike lane projects in
Southwest.
Multnomah residents Jessica Wade
and Rob Gardner have been document-
ing their difficulties navigating Capitol
Highway as pedestrians since becoming
parents two years ago. Their options for
walking along the two-lane road are
mud, weeds, rocks, or other dangerous
obstacles.
“Last summer, we had to maneuver
around parked cars blocking the public
right of way,” explained Wade. “We
were forced to push our daughter in
(Continued on Page 6)
Rob Gardner attempts to navigate Southwest Capitol Highway with his 18-month-old
daughter. Along with vehicles parked on the side of the road, he encounters mud, weeds,
and uneven gravel. (Photo courtesy of Jessica Wade)
Hayhurst PTA seeks to raise $100,000
for natural play structures
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
Courtney Kreutz is coordinating the development of a new playground to replace the old
structures at Hayhurst Elementary School. Courtney's son, Calan, is a kindergartner and
hopes the project is completed before he leaves Hayhurst. (Post photo by Erik Vidstrand)
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The Southwest Portland Post
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
Elizabeth Hayhurst Elementary
School has a playground that has seen
better days. The wooden climbing
structure, built in 1984, is rotting, the
slide is cracked and dirty, and the mon-
key bars are oxidized.
The whole area leaves little for the
imagination or active play. But that is
all about to change.
Courtney Kreutz is on a mission: she’s
a parent of three young children, one
who attends Hayhurst, and two who
soon will be.
Kreutz is coordinating the effort to
raise funds and awareness for a new
playground. The Dream Big Project
is a collaborative effort of Hayhurst
School children, parents, teachers, and
the surrounding communities, work-
ing together to design, raise funds, and
build an innovative, imaginative, and
durable playground that will replace
the existing structures.
According to Kreutz, the school will
be welcoming approximately 90 ad-
ditional students when the Stephens
Creek Crossing housing development
in Multnomah is completed this year.
Under the guidance of Principal
Deanne Froehlich, teachers, and staff,
the students of Hayhurst have thrived
academically.
“A playground that engages and
strengthens students’ imagination,
physical well-being, and social skills,”
Froehlich articulated, “will be a benefit
to the entire community.”
Many parents and children wanted a
castle or pirate ship to materialize but
according to one of the teachers, this
would limit the imagination. Having
a natural play area will spawn pirates
and princesses as well as explorers and
much more.
“The principal has already secured
a $5,000 matching donation for the proj-
ect,” Kreutz exclaimed. “That means
we need to raise an additional $5,000 in
direct donations to receive the matching
donation.”
Kreutz guesstimates the entire project
could cost over $100,000. With new
city codes and Portland Public School
requirements, the tan bark chips must
be replaced with rubber tiling.
“The rubber mats and chips nearly
eat up half of that budget,” Kreutz
explained as she opened a folder with
drawings, play equipment catalogs,
and notes.
A raffle will run the last week of Janu-
ary. A wide assortment of community
businesses including Old Market Pub,
Lucky Lab, Baker & Spice, Anastasia
Salon, and numerous others, have
donated items for the raffle. (See the
website for the entire list and where
tickets will be sold.)
Tickets are $10 per ticket, 6 for $50,
and 13 tickets for $100.
“We are working on setting up a
PayPal account so that people can
donate online,” Kreutz said. “Portland
Public Schools doesn’t have money to
replace old play structures, add new
ones or even maintain them.”
Kreutz, who recently moved from
the NE Alameda neighborhood, didn’t
realize how much work this would
(Continued on Page 6)