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| Vol. 21, No. 9 • Mailed monthly to over 13,500 homes in the Gateway & Parkrose Communities Free • JANUARY 2006 | ||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLES | |
Memo Calendar | Memo Pad | Business Memos | Loaves & Fishes | Letters | Home |
Maywood Park citizens get involved BY CAMI JONER FOR THE MID-COUNTY MEMO Residents say Maywood Park is a nice place to live. And they aim to keep it that way. “Everybody works for the good of everybody,” said Werner Zeller, 94, a retired Providence Portland Medical Center surgeon and Maywood Park’s former mayor. Zeller helped found the tiny city, leading residents to incorporate in 1967 in a desperate attempt to save the subdivision from the construction path of Interstate 205. They lost the seven-year battle, but had launched a tradition of community involvement by the time I-205 cut through the city.
“There’s really no reason to drive through Maywood Park,” which gives the wooded, all-residential community a tranquil appeal, said current Mayor Mark Hardie. “Our mission is to maintain our independence and keep this a safe place to live.” Hardie heads an all-volunteer city council and a new generation of activists in maintaining Maywood Park’s identity with community events and beautification projects like the city’s new welcome signs. “Our city is what it is because of active volunteers and citizen involvement,” Hardie said. “That’s what is great about Maywood Park.” Maywood Park was first planned as an upscale east-county subdivision in 1926, a period when Sandy Boulevard was the only connection to Portland’s then-distant downtown core. Most of the neighborhood’s Cape Cod and English-style homes were built between 1938 and 1943, said Ed Medak, owner of local firm Medak Realty. The city’s boundaries are completely surrounded by the city of Portland today, a unique situation that has long attracted buyers, Medak said. “It’s always been a popular area. People like the fact that Maywood Park is its own city,” he said. Hardie said he and the city council want to keep it that way. “I don’t know that we feel any direct pressure to be annexed, but I know Portland would love the tax monies that would come from $66 million in assessed values,” Hardie said. Maywood Park was outside Portland’s boundaries when the smaller city incorporated in 1967. However, a few years later Oregon state legislators passed a statute that prohibits cities to incorporate in close proximity to another municipality. Homes in Maywood Park typically sell for prices ranging between $250,000 and $350,000 on average, according to Medak. He said between 15 and 20 homes are sold annually in Maywood Park. “Taxes in the city of Maywood Park are approximately 25 percent less than the city of Portland,” Medak said. “That attracts people, too.” Residents also like the city’s traditions, which include a yearly Christmas lighting contest, the annual Easter egg hunt, and a Fourth of July parade and barbeque. >>continued |
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