Metro to hear Hillsdale Nov. 29

The elected Metro Regional Council will meet in Hillsdale on Nov. 29 at 5 p.m. to listen community plans for making Hillsdale a "model town center." The meeting's location has yet to be determined, but Wilson High School is the expected choice.

Metro Councilor Robert Liberty, who represents our district, initiated the Council's meeting here after he broached the idea to the Hillsdale Alliance in early July.

Moreover, City Commissioner Erik Sten has asked to speak at the November session. Sten, who took a Hillsdale walking tour Thursday, wants to discuss his efforts to help families continue to live in neighborhoods they may no longer be able to afford. The city assistance would help reverse the flow of families to the suburbs and their crowded schools and would help keep Portland's schools open.

The threatened closure of Rieke Elementary School last year resulted, in part, from a shift in enrollments both to the suburbs and to private or religious schools.

Developing Portland town centers, like Hillsdale, will also boost school enrollment by providing more close-in housing located near the schools as well as businesses and transit.

Community leaders here argue that Hillsdale has all those desired elements, as well as an engaged citizenry. That makes Hillsdale an excellent candidate to be a "model" for what town centers can be.

The question to be decided between now and Nov. 29 is what needs to be done to maximize Hillsdale's potential?

And Liberty and his Metro colleagues are asking us how they can help.

Hillsdale's job is to tell them.

Officials to get Hillsdale "Walk-Arounds"

Neighborhood leaders hope that up-c0ming Hillsdale "walk-arounds" with city officials will result to fewer run-arounds in dealing with them later.

Hillsdale Neighborhood Association (HNA) President Don Baack shared plans to lead officials on walking tours of Hillsdale with the HNA Board on Wednesday, June 6.

On Friday, June 22, Baack and other community leaders will lead City Commissioner Erik Sten and Metro Councilor Robert Liberty on individual tours of the Town Center.

Community members are invited to join in the walks, which take approximately 2 hours.

The Sten stroll will start at Baker and Spice at 9:30 a.m. Liberty walkers will convene at 2 p.m. at the big oak tree near the Capitol Highway entrance to Wilson High School.

City Commissioners Dan Salzman, Randy Leonard and Sam Adams have walked with Baack and others in the past. Baack believes that the recent funding of a fully signaled cross-walk at Capitol Highway and Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway resulted from walks with the commissioners.

This Monday, June 11, a 7:30 a.m. walk with Brian Winchester, the new facilities manager of the Public School District, is scheduled to start from Starbuck's.

Baack said that he and others want to talk with Winchester about installing bike racks near the entrance of the Farmers Market and about parking improvements next to the Wilson Stadium. Parked cars now block pedestrians from using the sidewalk there. Another item on the walking agenda is a Rieke site inspection with an eye to a civic plaza and the placement of temporary buildings

Baack, renowned as a pedestrian advocate, said the walks are intended to familiarize officials with Town Center issues such as the development of a pedestrian loop, the civic plaza, undergrounding utilities and traffic calming.

Officials who have walked around Hillsdale have a much better idea of what is needed here, he said.

"If a picture is worth 1000 words," said Baack, "walk-arounds are worth 2000."