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HydroPark dedicated by Leonard, Robinson

Editor’s note:
For your reading pleasure, we present Perlman’s potpourri — a roundup of news items from the Gateway and Parkrose neighborhoods of Mid-Multnomah County from veteran Beat Reporter Lee Perlman.

Perlman starts November’s potpourri with a tree planting at the unofficial dedication of the new HydroPark — on property owned and maintained by the Portland Water Bureau — in the Hazelwood neighborhood. Next, Perlman attended the groundbreaking for two structures at Adventist Medical Center in the Mill Park neighborhood.

Perlman keeps us apprised on developer Andy Kelly’s attempts to get designs approved for two multi-unit buildings in the Gateway Urban Renewal Area.

Although opposed by the Wilkes Community Group, a new “family-oriented” 21-and-over bar may still get approval from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. Well, aren’t you and your adult children considered a family?

An African proverb says, “When two elephants fight, it is the grass which gets trampled.” Last month, two Mid-county behemoths — TriMet and Portland Adventist — wrestled, but this time the “grass” — Mid-county motorists — won.

The recently and unofficially dedicated Hazelwood HydroPark has a planning meeting for its future in November.

The newly built Oregon Clinic (the towering edifice at the Gateway Transit Center) is holding an open house — free food in November.

Cascade Station, the mega-development adjacent to the airport, hired a commercial real estate firm to fill office space at this so-called “urban village.”

The League of Women Voters holds a panel discussion in November presenting findings of its year-long study of Portland’s vaunted neighborhood associations’ model.

The Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement has extended to Dec. 1 the deadline for applications for its Small Grants program.

Last, but not least, Perlman reports how über activists Bonny McKnight, Russell Neighborhood Association co-chair, and former Planning Commission member and City Council candidate Amanda Fritz preserve a piece of public process. If these two un-elected, yet average citizen representatives are for it — then so are we.

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Hazelwood HydroPark gets a new tree
Civic activist Linda Robinson, far left, and Portland City Commissioner Randy, far right, plant a big leaf maple tree at the unofficial dedication of Hazelwood HydroPark held last month.
MEMO PHOTO: LEE PERLMAN
The official occasion was the planting of a single new tree, but for Commissioner Randy Leonard, it served as the unofficial dedication of his new Hazelwood HydroPark.

The Villa Garden Club contributed the tree, a “patriotic” big leaf maple. Garden club member Kitty Larkin explained that the planting was part of an effort by garden clubs throughout the nation to honor “heroes,” who she said included the military, police officers and fire fighters. These people help defend “the dream of our forefathers, the sanctity of living free,” Larkin said.

Both Leonard and garden club Chair Dorothy Drews commented that a year ago the four-acre parcel at Northeast 117th Avenue and Holladay Street was fallow land. It has since been developed into a community park. A building on site, the former Hazelwood Water District headquarters, has been leased to the East Portland Neighborhood Office for free. A recent improvement by the Water Bureau’s Tom Klutz, who managed the park’s planning and development, was the importation of large rocks from the Bull Run, the major source of Portland's water,to serve as barriers to motor vehicles seeking to drive into the park illegally.

The tree “will grow up to be a grand maple, and will be a symbol of the Water Bureau working with the community,” Leonard said.

Adventist breaks ground on new building, garage
It’s a big groundbreaking party at Portland Adventist Medical Center for two big building projects — a multi-level parking garage and a four-story, 181,000 sq. ft. building.
MEMO PHOTO: LEE PERLMAN
A few days after the above event, Portland Adventist Medical Center broke ground on something bigger: a multi-level parking garage and four-story building, the first new facilities called for in its master plan.

The new 181,000 square foot structure will be located on Southeast Main Street adjacent to the existing emergency room and oncology center. It will include expanded emergency facilities, additional operating rooms, a cardiovascular services center, and future space for medical offices.

Center President Deryl Jones said that at times the hospital’s emergency facilities have been so overloaded that they have been forced to order new patients “diverted to other hospitals — a very unfortunate situation.” The new structure will expand emergency facilities from the current 18 beds to 32. Likewise, he said, the structure will relieve pressure on the hospital’s three existing physicians’ office buildings, all of which are at capacity.

Among the speakers was State Representative Jeff Merkley. While attending Floyd Light School, “I used to wonder, ‘What will those empty fields be?’” he said. “In 1975 I found out.” With 2,000 employees, Adventist is now the 12th largest employer in Portland, he said, and the expansion will add 150 jobs. It also means “local residents can receive care in an efficient and compassionate manner.”


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