FeaTUReS
September 2007
Design Commission
(Continued from page 12)
The South Portland Neighborhood
Association opposed the project; in a
letter, chair Jim Davis called it “nothing
more than a high-class rest home for
the nation’s well-to-do.” He opposed
the 325-foot height, long a sore point
with the neighborhood, and said it was
unnecessary.
He also charged that OHSU was
transferring density to the project
without specifying where it was coming
from. City Planner Kara Fioravanti
disputed this, saying that of the
project’s nine to one floor area ratio (a
measure of project density), three to one
is transferred from OHSU’s planned
riverfront campus. “At this point, it’s
one big 19-acre site,” Fioravanti told The
Post.
At both hearings commission
members praised both the project’s
content and architecture. “This is an
extraordinarily beautiful project,”
commission chair Lloyd Lindley said.
“The orientation, the massing, the width
make it extraordinary.”
By comparison, the nearby John Ross
tower “looks a little chubby,” he said.
The concept of solar water heating
“desperately needs an example that
works,” he said. Commission member
Jeff Stuhr said, “This is an elegant
building that will add to the skyline of
this district. It will be one of the most
slender buildings in Portland.”
Former commission chair Mike
McCullough said that a guiding
principal involved with construction
of such tall buildings is that the
commission would grant additional
height if the development would
do something extraordinary for the
neighborhood it was in.
“There’s a huge missing piece here,”
said McCullough. “So far we have no
park and the pedestrian bridge is a
ways off.” In addition to a lack of parks,
McCullouch was frustrated by a lack of
ground floor retail. “We have one café
to serve this neighborhood,” he said.
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Multnomah Villager
(Continued from page 13)
than other facilities but then again,
I’m a bit larger than your average
Maplewood student.
We’ve visited the new playground
several times since it’s gone up and
Jr. V is looking forward to many
future recesses on this gear. There are
benches for the adults.
Rieke Playground
A visit to the Hillsdale Farmers’
Market is not complete, in our
house, without a lengthy side trip to
the playground here at Mary Rieke
Elementary School. There’s a good
“modern” play structure and some
old-school gear including a long slide
and one of those Buckminster Fuller-
like dome climbing bars.
It’s a nice long walk from our house
to Rieke, and the playground is a good
place for the parents to catch their
breath while the kids work out some
energy of the structure. Plus, you
can always take the “long way” back
and hit Baskin-Robbins for a cone
afterwards, and the combination of a
playground AND ice cream is pretty
hard to beat.
There’s also some really great play
areas around the Village that I refer
to as “semi-private” such as the one
at St John Fisher right across from
Gabriel Park, which we’ve snuck onto
before…Sshhh!
Jr. V enjoys the excellent playground
facilities at the Mittleman Jewish
Community Center as well, since
he goes to Kid’s Corner there, after
school. West Hills Learning Center
has excellent facilities, if you go to day
care there.
The Multnomah Villager is an online
web log of one resident’s experience of life
in and around our Village. You can find
the Multnomah Villager blog at www.
multnomahvillager.com.
The Multnomah Village Post • 15