Harvard has heft on Oregon ballot

This morning I went through the voters’ pamphlet and tallied who won.

How’s that? The votes aren’t counted until May 20.

The count I did was of colleges and universities. Which of the four-year undergraduate and graduate programs produced the most candidates?

If my count is correct (than this can be an eye-glazing exercise), the winner is (drum-roll….)

Portland State with 20 followed closely by the University of Oregon with 19.

No real surprise there.

But what happened to Oregon State with a measly 2? (OSU graduates may know something the rest of us don’t — like politics is a waste of time?)

Even Purdue in Indiana produced three candidates, including Will Hobbs, my Democratic choice (and The Oregonian’s and Willamette Week’s) to replace lack-luster incumbent U.S. Rep. David Wu (Stanford, BA; Yale, JD).

I got into this college-counting exercise because as I read the candidates’ statements, Harvard kept popping up with surprising frequency. Fourteen times to be exact, (one being for Barack Obama). In fact, Harvard ranked third, after PSU and UO, as an alma mater in the Portland-area edition of the pamphlet.

Rival Yale wasn’t even close with three (among them Hillary Rodham Clinton).

Stanford came in with a mere four.

Oxford University, of all places, had three (one more than OSU). Oxford’s graduates in the pamphlet are Metro Councilor Robert Liberty, and two state reps. Steve Griffith (R) and Ben Cannon (D). Liberty got a law degree from Harvard, and Griffith earned a bachelor’s from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford.

Oxford’s rival, Cambridge, produced Amanda Fritz, a Portland City Council candidate, a fellow SW Portlander and an avid blogger.

Not to make too much of this, but a couple of observations come to mind.

Many of the University of Oregon and Harvard candidates went to law school on the campuses. If you want your graduates to become politically influential, be sure to have a law school.

The other point is that political candidates are, by definition, aspiring, if not always inspiring. If Harvard and PSU have one thing in common, it’s that they attract aspirants — but in different ways. Harvard gets youth who are obviously aiming high from the start. PSU often attracts those who kick into high gear later in life.

By the way, I didn’t tally community college graduates, but I probably should have. From my PCC teaching experience, I know community colleges attract scrappy older students. My recollection is that community college grads are well represented in the pamphlet.

Metro "bout" bobs, weaves around key issues

Last Wednesday a standing-room-only crowd that over-flowed into an adjacent video-viewing room packed a Metro Building auditorium on Grand Avenue.

The draw was two academics from British Columbia debating “different strategies for implementing the 2040 growth concept, our region’s plan for the future….”

Amazing.

How is this possible? Didn’t the crowd of, say, 250 to 300, have better things to do?

Well, as a matter of fact, they decided they didn’t.

And why was that?

In a word, marketing.

Metro Councilor Robert Liberty promoted the presentation as a pseudo-prize fight between sparring Professors Patrick “Corridors” Condon of the University of British Columbia and Gordon “Centers” Price of Simon Fraser University.

The set-to featured goofy raised fists, buffo posturing, “rounds,” judges and a “decision.”

It was a great come-on. The two opponents, after some entertaining verbal parrying, didn’t really disagree all that much.

The decision by a vote of the house was deemed a draw.

The disagreement, such as it was, was an effort to get the audience to think about how communities develop, or should develop. Should we “grow” them as nodes along established transit corridors, or should we plan and develop them as stand-alone communities and connect them later?

Importing two academics from Vancouver actually wasn’t as odd as it might seem. For several years, planners have recognized an eerie similarity between the two cities — in Metro size, growth and setting. Planners and planning consultants have shuttled back and forth between the two regions, comparing notes.

I have to confess I went into this verbal slug fest as a “center” guy from the Hillsdale Town Center. But here it all gets fuzzy because a major factor in Metro’s designating Hillsdale a “town center” (one of 27 in the greater Portland Metro Region) was its being located on no less than seven transit lines, which places it on a corridor, or, to be more exact, a pass through the hills.

The hills of southwest Portland are hardly known for straight-edged “corridors.” We don’t even have sidewalks. Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and Barbur Boulevard are obvious exceptions—but they don’t have sidewalks either.

Real corridors are linear trunks like Division, Powell, McLaughlin, Sandy and Hawthorne. Interestingly, none of them is considered a neighborhood.

Hillsdale, by contrast, is undeniably a "neighborhood" and a nascent community despite its dependence on sinuous Capitol Highway and the swerving Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway.

So centers versus corridors, as discrete concepts, seemed far less worth of debate than several crucial planning topics — all of them having as much to with people as place. That may have been the reason they were avoided — people are tougher to plan for and manage than places.

Here is some of what I missed:

Schools: Amazingly, a huge disconnect exists between city planners and those of us who see schools as essential to defining community. My guess is that the problem originates with schools and neighborhoods (communities?) being governed by separate entities — the school district on the one hand and city government on the other.

Integrated parks, plazas, farmers markets and civic centers. Could it be that these topics were avoided because they really are magnets for local organizing, and organizing is a direct threat to the centralized, entrenched power of city hall?

Community governance: This too is a threat. Power in cities should devolve to communities, where people know each other. For the devolution to happen, the present centralized establishments would lose power. Existing, traditional political networks would be disrupted. The topic never entered the ring last Wednesday.

Despite these concerns, Counselor Liberty is to be commended for promoting this “bout.” The promotion worked, but I learned more from what wasn’t discussed than from what was.

I’d suggest that Liberty think beyond the rigid “corridors versus centers” debate and present a debate of human substance and relevance.

Suggestions: “Should neighborhoods be given more power?” and “Should Schools be Community Learning Centers?”

Topics like these promote themselves.

Unfortunately, they are beyond the current purview of our Metro regional government. They shouldn't be.

"Vote" now against billboards

In an editorial attacking the epidemic of billboards since the passage of Measure 37, The Oregonian editorial board today urges a November vote for Measure 49 as a way to reject the billboard epidemic.

Voting for Measure 49 is a good idea for all kinds of reasons, but citizens should “vote” between elections as well. As I have pointed out here and to The Oregonian (in an unpublished letter), the most direct way to fight billboards is to let advertisers know that “outdoor advertising” is counterproductive.

The billboard pictured with today’s editorial is near Sandy and advertises Smoky Hearth Pizza Company, home of “Portland’s Best Pizza.”

Your vote is one phone call away. The phone number for Smoky Hearth Pizza is (503) 668-4466. Ask for co-owner Jeannine Hokanson. Or you can e-mail her.

I talked with Jeannine today on the phone. Jeannine, who is co-owner with her husband, Don, is very pleasant and an excellent listener. If you state your concerns politely, respectfully and even helpfully, I think you will find that your “vote,” added to others, might make a difference.

I told Jeannine that if Smoky Hearth took down its sign, I’d go out of my way to drop in for a pizza on my next trip to Mt. Hood via Sandy.

By the way, Jeannine told me I was the first person from outside the Sandy area to complain.

Will you be the second?

P.S. I hope that someone in Sandy, who has "eyes" on the billboards, will pick up on this little effort and clue us in on others to contact. The manager of the Sandy Safeway perhaps?

Meanwhile, I have put out a call to our Metro Counselor Robert Liberty because Jeannine informed me that the Portland Zoo, which is operated by Metro, has advertised on the Sandy billboards. I'll let you know Robert's response.

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."