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EarthTalk: Is there any way to avoid toxic chemicals in the lining of prepared food cans? – Page 6 Sen. Ron Wyden comes to Hillsdale to discuss internet neutrality – Page 2 The Country Store: Jules of Morocco is closing after 16 years in Multnomah Village – Page 8 The Southwest Portland Post Volume No. 26 Issue No. 8 www.swportlandpost.com Portland, Oregon Complimentary June 2018 Latest plans call for Taylors Ferry Road detour at Barbur Crossroads SOUTHWEST CORRIDOR PLAN By Erik Vidstrand The Southwest Portland Post At the May meeting of the South- west Corridor community advisory committee, Metro informed members that the draft environmental impact statement release had been delayed. According to Eryn Deeming Kehe, Metro senior communications special- ist, the Federal Transit Administration is doing a deeper review of the project. “This is one of the first major transit projects of the current federal admin- istration,” Kehe said. “The FTA has been asking us for more details. I be- lieve the document will be delivered on June 15 at the earliest and the latest on the 29th.” There will be a 45-day public input period as soon as the draft study is released. Metro is trying to keep the document under 150 pages. Kehe explained the protocol for members to reach a consensus on their locally preferred alternative light rail route. Their recommendation goes to the Metro steering committee who will decide the outcome. Matt Bihn, Metro project planner, went over some of the design modifi- cations of the route. “Originally,” Bihn said, “a shuttle up to PCC-Sylvania was proposed on Southwest 53rd Avenue but that now has been moved to 68th.” Light rail tracks are planned to move off Barbur Boulevard near Capi- tol Highway continuing along Taylors Ferry Road. “The tracks would then travel over a section of green space, over the free- way, and then over Barbur,” said Bihn. Several audience members shook their heads in disbelief when someone asked if this road was wide enough for (Continued on Page 3) In June 2015, bicyclists measured and took notes on the thin bike ledge on the Newbury viaduct along Barbur Boulevard. Metro officials recently said there isn't enough money in the budget for bicyclist and pedestrian access along new MAX track viaducts. (Post file photo by Erik Vidstrand) How Lincoln students are fighting the city’s homeless crisis Lincoln High School students prepare program. (Photo courtesy of NBC News) By Bita Ryan and Kait Richmond Hank Sanders is only 17, but he knows exactly how fortunate he is to have a roof over his head and food to eat. That’s because once a week, he and 20 to 30 of his classmates at Lincoln High School, have dinner with the area’s homeless youth. First they cook, and then they eat — together. “It makes you open up your eyes,” Sanders told NBC News. “You are so much more grateful for every single thing that you have, for every dollar that you’re given, for every meal that is on your plate.” Sanders started the program Cards Cook — the school mascot is a car- lessons on everything from drawing they can make in large quan- and poetry to managing personal tities. When they’re done finances. cooking, they grab some of Henry Hooper, the program’s the food and join everyone adviser, who spent 30 years in busi- while they eat, talk and play ness before becoming a teacher, is games. inspired by the teens. “We play the same video “This is unusual,” Hooper said. games, we read the same “That’s a combination of being so- books, we watch the same cial entrepreneurs as well as active movies,” Sanders said. “We students. They really want to do can relate. So with every something to make a difference, and single meal, we’re making it’s extraordinary.” that connection stronger.” Sanders said he hopes to keep Since it began, Cards Cook serving meals while working with has served 27,000 meals and the city to find long-term solutions raised thousands of dollars to homelessness in Portland. for the community. Perhaps “There are so many negative their biggest contribution, connotations that come in people’s however, is listening. heads when they’re looking at home- “They actually come out meals for homeless youth through the CardsCook less people,” Hooper said. “We’ve and they talk with us and got to change that. Not just as 15 they interact,” said Kyle students, not even as 100 students Pillsbury, a homeless 29-year-old ... we’ve got to change it as a city who attends the dinners every week. dinal — two years ago as a way to together.” “It’s humanizing.” integrate himself and his classmates A version of this story was originally The teachers from Lincoln have with Portland’s less fortunate youth. broadcast on NBC News with Lester also taken up their students’ mis- According to officials with Holtz on May 7. sion, often joining the dinners to give Multnomah County, there are at least 700 to 800 homeless teens in the Subscribe to The Post and help us keep the presses rolling! Form on Page 2. county at any given time, a number indicative of an even larger crisis The Southwest Portland Post that the city has been battling for 4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509 years. Government officials declared Portland, OR 97206 the homeless problem a “state of emergency” three years ago, citing a lack of affordable housing as one of the leading factors. The concept of Cards Cook is sim- ple: Student volunteers get together at a church where they prepare a planned menu of healthy meals that