4 • The Southwest Portland Post
FEATURES
June 2014
Potholes and other miserable road maintenance issues, Part II
Hillsdale resident, Larry Sloan—his
own particular potholes filled—be-
lieves that those chasms crippling
our streets can be repaired if they
fall within areas annexed to Portland
from Multnomah County.
Well, that’s easy, I thought. I’ll call
the city contacts my editor gave me.
The exact truth is just a few phone
calls away.
But surprise! Perfectly nice trans-
portation employees with decades
of experience maintaining city roads
were personable and knowledgeable
about many things gravel, concrete
and asphalt.
One employee even has a map of
which city areas need treatment in
the 2013-2014 biennium. It could be
potholes, it could be repaving. Bravo
to whatever is achieved! You can see a
similar, if not identical map by visiting
www.portlandoregon.gov/transporta-
tion/article/451483.
Still these helpful folks could not
tell me about annexation rules—who
gets the helpful but down-and-dirty
treatment, and who live with pot-
holes and catastrophic street terrain?
Sloan’s information continued to
nag me and I kept digging. I did find
a City of Portland Annexation His-
tory chart on the Web. Annexations
began in 1851 and occurred at least
until 1991.
Web Search “City of Portland An-
nexation History,” and you can see for
yourself. Still searching and getting
antsy, I had a brainstorm. I phoned
the Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc.
By Lee Braymen-Cleary
The Southwest Portland Post
You may recall that in the April
2014 edition of The Post I wrote about
Southwest Portland’s potholes. These
are holes you drive over, back into
from your driveway or hit time and
again as you motor to work.
These same potholes send you to
the auto repair shop to keep you car
on the road and thus reduce the pos-
sibility of a vacation and increase the
possibility of a “staycation.”
It turns out you may or may not
qualify for Portland Bureau of Trans-
portation services when you call them
to fix your potholes.
As you might suspect, current
budgetary constraints limit what
the Bureau of Transportation can do
according to Diane Dulken, media
relations manager for transportation.
Undoubtedly, you have seen the
city’s signs. “POTHOLE HOTLINE
503-823 BUMP (823-2867), City of
Portland.”
Since I’ve seen the signs and the
same miserable budgetary facts about
the city’s inability to meet all city-
wide road maintenance needs, I have
trusted in city transparency.
Hence, my original advice which
was: If you live on an improved street
with a pothole problem, give the city
hotline a call or use an app they have
devised for just that purpose.
Well, I told the truth as I knew it
and nothing but. Nevertheless, one
LUBE, OIL & FILTER CHANGE
only $24.95 reg. $34.95
• Change oil filter, up to 5 qts. - multi grade
* Check collant & cooling system
* Check entire brake system, check all lights
• Check condition of battery & charge system
• Check all leaks & heating/air system
• Check exhaust system
• Tire rotation
Most vehicles
RALEIGH HILLS AUTOMOTIVE
(SWNI) office for
some tips.
Alas, the folks
at SWNI don’t
a rc h i v e S o u t h -
west Portland
annexation
documents, but
Leonard Gard, a
longtime land use
and transporta-
tion specialist,
passed along
something that
he is reasonably
sure explains the
ages-long confu-
sion.
Some Port-
land/Multnomah
County annexa-
tions mention
road mainte-
nance and some Larry Sloan stands near a storm drain on unimproved Southwest
Chesapeake Avenue not far from his home. Sloan said that over the
don’t!
years the city of Portland has done numerous repair and regrading
So can I clear
projects, in this case to redirect stormwater.
the air over this (Post photo by Don Snedecor)
annoying issue?
Not yet. But Dulken did phone me
MAPLEWOOD NOTEBOOK
with the address of Portland’s archi-
(Continued from Page 3)
val site as the city doesn’t have time
to research it themselves.
up that day at Maplewood Coffee & Tea
It is situated on the Portland State
(5206 SW Custer St) after 9:30 a.m. to
University campus. I’ll wend my way
buy $10 tickets, maps and self-guides.
there next week. I hope to shed light
Included in the price will be discus-
on it in our July edition.
sions on native plants and other garden
I also hope to unearth the very lat-
issues. An eco-garden talk is scheduled
est on one of the city’s latest ideas:
for 12 noon at one of the gardens. Ticket
taxing residents to build the coffers
sales contribute to the association’s
for ongoing street maintenance.
general fund.
HOT WEATHER WILL
BE HERE SOON!
Air Conditioning Service
$54.95
System Test, Evacuate
Recharge Refrigerant Extra
Most vehicles • Not valid with other offers
RALEIGH HILLS AUTOMOTIVE
4515 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. • Portland, OR 97221
4515 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. • Portland, OR 97221
503-292-4904
503-292-4904
Celebrating 30 years in the Raleigh Hills Community!