Opened in the late 1950’s, George Smith Elementary School operated for nearly 50 years before being closed by the school district for “declining enrollment.”

In the eighties or nineties, Smith’s boundaries were shrunk in order to enhance the number of students at Markham, which had been closed. The students south of Taylors Ferry Road, many of whom walked to Smith, were bussed to Markham. This was detrimental to our community by fragmenting it, and by eliminating an opportunity for healthy exercise for students by walking to school in a safe, quiet neighborhood.

The Portland Tribune recently ran an article, City’s sewage saga, about the Garden Home pressurized sewer line. It is a tale of exploding sewer lines, environmental contamination, last minute pipe material substitutions, trips to Reno for city employees paid for by pipe manufacturers, and an unnecessary “cost savings” boondoggle which, years later, still hasn’t saved the city any money.

The city did not need to build this system, nor do they have to repair nor replace it now. They have always had the option to send the flow via a gravity fed line to a Washington County treatment plant, as has been done in prior decades. The city built this failed pressure system to pump sewage uphill to their already at-capacity Columbia River treatment plant. Originally, the plan called for using steel pipe, but in order to shave off 0.9% from their $18,000,000 project, they substituted plastic pipe instead.

ASHCREEK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

General Membership Meeting, October 8, 2007

The meeting was called to order by Pres. Jack Klinker at 7:00 PM. Present
13 members, 2 guests, sign in sheet attached. Minutes of the September
meeting approved. Agenda approved.

Guest: Ruthann Bedenkop, Outreach Coordinator for SWNI, explained what she

For more than 40 years we have been promised a traffic signal at this intersection. Enough is enough. Only organized grassroots citizen activism is likely to bring enough pressure on our public officials to improve the situation at this intersection. Here’s a plan for action.

A request was made to 503-823-SAFE in March of 2006 requesting that SW 54th north of Garden Home Road be posted “No Parking” for public safety reasons. 54th is a 12' wide dead-end queuing street, and cars are too frequently parked along the street such that fire trucks and ambulances would be unable to proceed down the road. Additionally, a number of senior citizens reside on the northern end of 54th. On August 1, 2006 PDOT (Portland Department of Transportation) made this response:

By unanimous vote of The Ashcreek Neighborhood Association, we respectfully request your reply to these grievances…

PDOT seems to apply its standards and policies inconsistently and capriciously, frustrating and upsetting many neighborhood residents. Two recent PDOT decisions aptly illustrate this point. They both involve the northern leg of SW 54th Avenue abutting Garden Home Road.

ASHCREEK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
General membership meeting, June 12, 2006

The meeting was called to order by President Jack Klinker at 7:00 PM. Present 19 members, 3 presenters, 1 SWNI staff, sign in sheet attached. Minutes of the May meeting were approved as written. Everyone introduced him/herself and gave location in the neighborhood.

Connie S. Johnson writes:

Some good news at last regarding Station 18! Please read John Klum's message below:

The Council Resolution was processed last Wednesday so we can proceed with the Station 18 relocation project. The only request from Council was from Commissioner Saltzman for the SAC to have a discussion regarding the possibility of a "Dome" station.

Stephen Keller will be the new project manager for the City. His email is skeller@ci.portland.or.us. He will be setting up the future SAC meetings and will let you know what the duties of the SAC during the design phase of the project will be.