Our Hidden Neighborhood Mary’s 29th Treasure Notes Playing Here! Year NN Page 13 Page 13 Page 16 OCT SOUTHEAST EXAMINER 2018 southeastexaminer.com “Your Neighborhood News Source” Vol 29 No 10 Portland, OR In-depth Look at the Metro Housing Bonds BY DON MACGILLIVRAY income housing. A no vote would defeat the Metro bond measure and there would not be any The Metro bond measure on the No- additional funding for affordable housing vember ballot will authorize $653 million from Metro, thus keeping property taxes in general obligation bonds to fund afford- unchanged. able housing in Washington, Clackamas, The significant reduction of housing and Multnomah counties. It is Measure 26- construction during the Great Recession 199, titled Metro Housing Bonds. and a rapid increase in new residents has Property owners in these counties worsened a severe shortage of housing for will pay an estimated tax of $0.24 per low-income residents in Portland. $1,000 of assessed value annually. For the Between 2010 and 2016, the median homeowner in the Metro area with an as- income for a renter increased 19 percent, sessed value of $240,000, the tax will be while the average rent increased 52 per- Dave Hillman by a picture of Mt. Tabor in Israel $57.60 per year. cent. Demand for affordable housing con- If the voters approve, Metro will is- tinues to outpace supply, especially for sue bonds to finance the building of afford- those on limited incomes, working fami- Mt. Tabor Visitors Center able housing through purchase, rehabilita- lies, seniors, and the disabled. tion, preservation of affordable housing, Metro reports that more than 67,000 Marks Fifty Thousand purchase of land for affordable housing, and preventing the displacement of low- turn to page 23 BY NANCY TANNLER trol and the Weed Warriors. These services have received the Volunteer Service Award The Friends of Mt. Tabor Park and the Spirit of Portland Award. (FMTP) held a celebration marking the It was while attending a park bud- Signs of the Times at PPS fifty thousandth visitor to the visitor center get meeting at Hoyt Arboretum that Hill- BY MIDGE PIERCE since it opened in 2011. man first noted the nice visitors center the On Saturday, September 15, Don and park has. His first thought was how much Anna Wesley from Milwaukie, Oregon that was what was needed at Mt. Tabor The needle drop-box positioned on brought and their six month old baby and Park. Other members of the FMTP were in the fence in front of the Sunnyside K-8 Don’s visiting parents from Ashland to Mt. agreement as was Portland Parks & Recre- school is a sign of the times, and while the Tabor Park for a morning stroll. Little did ation (PP&R). park the school shares with the community they know they would be making park his- In 2001 the first official meeting of (and sometimes vagrants) is unusual, drug tory. the Friends of Mt. Tabor Park was held. paraphernalia on playgrounds gives par- On hand to present a plaque and to The building where the visitors center is ents, and all Portland residents, pause. hand out cake and coffee, was First Chair located now was being used for storage, so The list of PPS worries is long: stag- of the FMTP, Dave Hillman; long time vol- PP&R was happy to let them use the space. nant test scores, large class sizes, environ- unteer Randy Lowler; park photographer It was easy to transform with elbow grease mental and earthquake threats and the long Andrew Halliburton and his wife Mel, and and a coat of paint. shadow cast last spring by Parkland. A needle drop-box a few other visitors at the park. The success of the visitor center is Parents of kindergartners coming letter to the PPS Community about security FMTP was established in 2000 when due to the evolving relationship between from preschools with locked and coded enhancements to make school perimeters a group of locals decided to help out the the FMTP, PP&R, the Water Bureau doors face particular alarm at the open en- more secure and control access to school beleaguered park crew by maintaining and (PWB), the Portland Police and the people tries adjacent to their five-year-olds’ class- buildings. improving park conditions using all volun- who have donated time, talent, money and rooms. Installations will include video inter- teer help. services. More shock comes when they learn coms, system override buttons to provide Over the past eighteen years, subsid- Jan Caplener has donated a series of of lockdown drills during the first few automatic “lockout” control, additional iaries of FMTP has included the Foot Pa- his historical photographs that portray a vi- weeks of school. public address systems, speakers in hall- sual history of early Portland and the park. Some ease of mind came in a recent turn to page 23 Greg Bunker of KB Frames, has generous- ly framed posters and photos, Rick Slagter of Natural Furniture donated a bookcase and PWB donated office furniture. SE Updates Other contributions that have en- hanced the presentation of the visitors cen- mission BY DAVID KROGH ter/gift shop are the topical brochures avail- • Commissioner Chloe Eudaly able thanks to the contribution of Warner Mayor’s Bureau Assignments ([email protected]) Bureau of Pacific University and the Caplener Group; Mayor Wheeler has been shuffling Transportation (PBOT) Office of Civic and stickers and paper imagery from Elena and bureau assignments for City Commission- Community Life (formerly known as the Jeremy of Ninja Stickers; cards and post- ers as he becomes aware of bureau prob- Office of Neighborhood Involvement) cards from Andrew Halliburton; postcards lems. • Commissioner Nick Fish (Nick@ by watercolor artist Georgina Ottaviano, Since Portland is the last large city in portlandoregon.gov) Bureaus: Parks and t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats with the Mt. the nation to have a commission form of Recreation, Environmental Services Tabor logo, magnets and a few other items government, this shuffling will likely con- • Commissioner Amanda Fritz that help support the park. Last year they tinue until a more efficient system of gov- ([email protected]) Water Bu- made $5k. ernance is ultimately put in place. reau Office of Equity and Human Rights “We started out with six brochures New bureau and office assignments, Open and Accountable Elections Program and now have around one hundred,” Hill- along with email contacts for the respec- • Commissioner Dan Saltzman man said. For any tourist visiting the park tive City Commission members are as fol- ([email protected]) Bureaus: they can find out about local events and lows; Emergency Communications, Emergency activities in the Portland area as well as • Mayor Ted Wheeler (mayorwheel- Management, Fire (Since Commissioner other parts of the state. There are specific [email protected]) Bureaus: Police, Saltzman is not up for re-election, his bu- brochures that describe the parks timeline, Housing, Planning and Sustainability, De- reaus will be reassigned after November). the geological history of the park, the trees velopment Services Offices: Management • The City Ombudsman operates of Mt. Tabor Park and more. and Finance, Government Relations, City out of the City Auditor’s Office and is not turn to page 22 Attorney, Budget and Development Com- turn to page 19 2 THE SOUTHEAST EXAMINER OCTOBER 18 ON On the Streets Where We Live BY NANCY TANNLER, EDITOR Fall has such a sense of or- I, like a bumper sticker I saw the gertips as the Catholic do. derliness and clarity to me. As other day, consider the idea that It stimulates the pineal long as I can remember, I’ve been “Nature is my Church.” gland that in turn brings a sense most aware of the season change of well-being and connection to a at the end of summer when the air Moving forward on another person. It was suggested in one of has another feeling, the angle of more esoteric topic, why do some the articles I read that people kiss the sun changes, school begins people have so much conscience one another on their foreheads for and we begin to tuck ourselves in when others, well you know, look this stimulation. So Portlander, for a different journey. around. I was recently at a yoga how about, a kiss on the forehead We ended this summer with class taught by Signa Cheney instead of both cheeks? That will a family camping trip to one of and the intent of the class was keep us weird. our favorite spots on Mt. Adams; to stimulate the pineal gland, lo- Technology has always a place we have been going to cated in the middle of the brain at been a part of the human endeav- for the past twenty-five years. It the brow point. It is named pineal or and ultimately, even high tech was recently written up in Sunset because it resembles a pinecone. really hasn’t changed us all that magazine so it has been “discov- After class, I came home much. I recently heard a young ered.” and researched the pineal gland woman describe some of the in- I understand that a lot of and came up with thought-pro- ventions of humans as light tech people want to experience the voking information. According to instead of low tech since it really magic of nature these days (and theory, this is the gland that is our isn’t the opposite of high tech, who can blame them?), but one conduit for our relationship with just a different progression. thing bothered me that I’ve no- the supernatural.