OPINION PIECE: Warning- This content is full of facts and figures and some local boy impressions. But who knows, you just might learn a thing or two. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
Last night I sat at home here in Old Orenco, cooking pasta and waiting for my turn to get my 3 minutes of air time with the City Council; that is something you can all do when they meet but hardly any of you ever do. I often feel lonely, sharing my pointed thoughts and beliefs to a screen of faces who are not allowed by law to answer back. 3 little minutes to speak in a world of trouble, yet some of us keep at it and more will hopefully soon follow. You see friends, Hillsboro is in trouble, big trouble in fact. We see it manifesting itself every day with the endless sirens, traffic, smokestacks, the housing crisis, and crime. I travel around the City daily and as one of the busiest real estate brokers on the Westside, I meet more people in a week than many do in a year. This gives me a unique ear for the lives of people all over Hillsboro and beyond. It is a wide cross-section too. Without exception, people are worried, stressed out, and have things to say. Strong opinions abound and there is no lack of passion. Yes, we have a great town but the sense that things are wrong is pervasive.
Sometimes I drive through town, see the abundance of riches (huge homes, stadiums, City Hall, shopping malls, etc) but get the distinct feeling it is all too much like a movie set. A construct of a system struggling to maintain appearances, and more so its credibility. We are not the town some want us to believe we are, in some ways we are more and in just as many we are less. Let me share one stark example of what I mean.
Suzanne Linneen is the Finance Director for the City of Hillsboro. Last night during the City Council work session she presented the budget for the Cities Capital Improvement Program. Basically, this was a crash course on where the City has committed $579,694,653 dollars to be spent on projects in the next few years. This employee of the City knows here stuff and the numbers were flying fast and furious.
But hold the phone– the ever-sharp Councilor Anthony Martin asked if these numbers included Hillsboro HiLight high-speed internet. After all, that auspicious city-wide noble effort is another $109,000,000 and is headed to be way over budget. Lineen said that it was not in the numbers.
So how about we just call the Capital improvement budget $750,000,000. That is 3/4 of 1-Billion greenbacks we are all on the hook for as we look ahead to the next 5 years, and keep in mind these are capital projects and not the money we need to run the City year to year.
GOD I HATE NUMBERS – but they are very unforgiving when they have to be accounted for and reckoned with. If the economy is good, these capital projects find funding from grants and various revenue streams. But if it goes bad then someone at Hillsboro City Hall will be answering a lot of tough questions and looking for answers that may be nowhere to be found. Let the record show, the current administration in City Hall is on a spending spree, and for many watching it feels just a little like a group of drunken sailors are in port.
Enter the Hillsboro Hops! As the evening went along the staff dove into how these huge numbers were breaking out. In the broad categories were some examples of where the money is going. A few of them include:
- Wood Street Fire Training Improvement – $1.6 Million
- Fire Fleet Facility Expansion – $4.16 Million
- Brookwood and South Hillsboro Fire – $13 Million
- Housing Shelter at TV HWY & NE 17th – $6 Million
- Jackson School Road Improvement – $21.47 Million
- 53rd Avenue Park- $13 Million
- Affordable Housing Projects – $40 Million
Those are all projects in the works and ongoing. Now let’s talk about baseball and the Hillsboro Hops!
The Hillsboro Hops are about to get a big infusion of Cash fron the people of Hillsboro
The Portland Business Journal did a bang-up article on this commitment today and you can read up on that here – https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2022/01/19/hops-bids.html
The Hops are beloved by many but truly they are a small percentage of our population. That is proven by the vast number of empty seats at every game. The new project is bold and brings the Stadium into alignment with what Major League Baseball expects from a farm team. They are not at all a profitable organization from what I read, and it is pretty clear no rationale nor responsible Board of Directors would offer them a $40,000,0000 facilities upgrade using TLT (Hotel / Motel Tax) and a $30,000,000 loan. That loan can not possibly have a guarantee we can count on- if the team perishes so does the money. Anyone watching knows that Mayor Steve Callaway loves the Hops and baseball and this is one of his passions. It is clear this deal would not be done without Mayor Callaway. So it is. Go Baseball- Go Hops!
The list of projects and slides went on and on but the baseball slide, along with the HiLight Internet, just seems a bit much. Those are extravagant window dressings for a city that has ground it out to get where we are. Those are things we get to spend on when we are having a good decade or two. And we have done that. But tough times could be right around the corner and then what? It has been a long time since Hillsboro has had to tighten the purse strings or let any employees go, let alone cut parks or services.
So think about that – $40,000,000. Would you put debt on your house for that? Maybe you would, we would not.
Baseball VS The #HillsboroFire
Here is a photo of my view and it has been for almost 3 weeks now- my office window looks out onto a wire cage and a solid plywood wall 3 feet from the blue dot. We call it Stalag 13 jokingly, but it feels like a prison from our view. This situation is the aftermath of what happened on Jan. 2nd, 2022 when an arson torched the Weil’s Department store and destroyed the businesses and 1/2 the block. The entire block has been closed ever since, and any businesses that are open in the area are reporting to the Herald that business is down an average of 80%. After two years of Covid that spelled catastrophe.
Meetings were had, speeches of a comeback were offered, and social media came alive before the fire even died down with wishes of support. That lasted about a week and then just like the flames it has died down too. My contemporaries are worried. Some quietly wait for customers who are not coming. Two have now told me it is all but over. To this night no money has been offered from the City nor the fundraising that is happening. Some are hoping and praying the City is going to come to the rescue. But can they? The answers we have received so far are simply that the money is not laying around to give.
A Treasure Chest In ARPA Money
Many of the proposed Capital Projects are being funded by are ARPA funds. It turns out that the American Rescue Plan has placed over $18,000,000 into the City coiffures. That money can be used for almost anything as long as some sort of connection can be drawn to Covid or some after effect of Covid. In the work session, Mayor Callaway asked if ARPA money could be used for Fire relief. Awesome question by Mayor Steve who clearly is trying to figure out where to find money to help out. Head of Economic Development Dan Dias answered firmly stating that “It would be tough to make any connection between COVID and the Fire but that could potentially be done”. Shortly after that, we saw slide after slide of projects that ARPA could or would be used for.
Here is a taste for you all:
- Celebration of Latin-X Dance – $60,000
- Cultural Arts District Murals – $45,000
- Expanded Sevices in Shute Park area – $3,000,000
- Waive Connection Fees For HiLight – $240,000
- Community Clean Up Projects – $140,000
- Homelessness Related Projects- $4,250,000
- Community Outreach Projects $3,870,000
The list goes on and on.
The whole night I waited – about 2 hours and 30 minutes online in that lonely zoom meeting just waiting for my chance to speak. Awash in the budget, the $750,000,000 presentation, the debt we are accruing, increasing housing costs, increasing water and sewer and gasoline costs, food costs out of control, and the COVID pandemic striking down young and old… I had a moment of clarity. Not that I am not clear on things because I am. But it hit me.
Baseball VS Fire – the face of this battle we face in this city is
Baseball VS Fire.
If you are reading this I hope to God you see what I see. $40,000,000 million dollars in a baseball stadium and project debt and not a damn dime for Gimre’s Shoes, Thai House, Arcade 2084, Artful Garden, Oaxaca, or Rustic Renditions. No money for small consultants like my co-tenant at Rivers Edge Insurance nor for me. None for the Jensen Law Firm who had to move, nor the lawyers and consultants who were burned out above Weil’s. Nothing for IMPACT Jiu-Jitsu who were torched and are now scrambling to move. The barbers and jewelers and other small firms all tell me they have heard nothing. Crystal Heart, The Venetian, LaHaies, Pupper Nickel, Bennett’s. And there are many more I can not report on as they have closed or are not available.

Here is my point, and this is aimed at City Hall. Grab a checkbook, move some of that ARPA money, and call it the COVID FIRE RELIEF FUND. It doesn’t have to be $40,000,000, not $10,000,000 nor does it have to be $1 million. But with no sales and no reserves these hard-working people of Hillsboro, who do nothing but smile and soldier on, deserve a hell of a lot more from all of you and our City than $0. Here is where I am at, forget #Baseball for now. The City closed the streets, they had to. But that closure better not lead to the closure of these businesses on your watch.
Help these people- do it now. There is no more time to wait. Here is my attempt to make an impression into the box that does not speak back. I will keep on trying for anyone in our town in need to see that they are treated equitably. #HillsboroStrongForever
Great work Dirk. Very sad if the city does not come to the aid of all these businesses.
• Jackson School Road Improvement – $21.47 Million This is ONLY Pacific Excavations winning BID!
(Project actually closer to $40 million when Pre-project costs including, but NOT limited to, Engineering, Surveying, Epic Land Solutions Real Estate fees, Land purchases and temporary easements, Legal Fees, Undergrounding of Utilities, and then Cost overruns/change orders, and the ever concealed costs of Hillsboro HiLight high-speed internet are all factored in. This is only a partial audit.)
• 53rd Avenue Park- $13 Million
(How about the $35 million+ already spent WITHOUT TAXPAYER APPROVAL? This project was overwhelmingly defeated by voters @ 2008. “Full Faith Bonding” was used)
Dirk, you shouldn’t have had to plead before the council to save Main St.
Thank you!
I realize that all the downtown business that were destroyed by fire is extremely sad and they are facing a difficult situation. But if they are like any homeowner hopefully they have insurance. But if something happened to my property I would not be relying on the city to help or pay for it, unless it was there fault for the problem. I would rather see the money used elsewhere than baseball, but I understand that Hillsboro is looking towards the future and the hopes of getting into MLB. Even if the Hillsboro Hi-light internet goes over budget, it’s a project that will ultimately help the city of Hillsboro population getting affordable internet service. Beaverton spends millions and millions of dollars on parks and recreation areas that will never recover any of the money spent on them, but they keep building new ones every year.
Seth- Hillsboro is spending far more on Parks- and the Internet system will likely be unusable before it is done. Cities getting into those sorts of projects have not paid off in the past. The business owners have been closed by the City effectively who have shut down the streets for public safety reasons. Imagine fighting for your life for 2 years plus to survive because of COVID only to have 2022 come, a Fire, and then to have to shut down because the streets are closed. I am not sure where you live or where you are from but I would be willing to bet if your home access was denied and you could not live there you would be looking for the person/company who did that to pay. That is all that is being said here.
Lastly, you have hidden behind what appears to be a false name and email – so if you work for the City just step out in the open and talk to me. If you are a real person step into the light and communicate. But this is clearly a false account- and yet we embrace your views.
Real name, real email – I agree with Seth. Yes, it is sad that a fire has effected downtown businesses but that is what insurance is for. I’ve walked* downtown to Insomnia or Noble Hops multiple times since the fire and there is pedestrian access to the businesses that remain open. Yes, you can’t park on the block but you can still get to the businesses. (They aren’t fenced off and boarded up as the picture above suggests)
*My wife and I walk downtown along the newly renovated Jackson School Road. Although it isn’t completely finished yet it is great to see so many people out enjoying the new sidewalks and bike lanes. I’m so happy that the city didn’t listen to the naysayers fighting against turning Jackson School Road into a multi-use corridor.
Jason;
You are not as informed as you believe. 3 entire buildings were fenced off for over two weeks with NO ACCESS from Main Street. I am glad we provide you with a space to comment and a way to share your opinions. What part of Hillsboro are you living in?
Does were I live in Hillsboro give me more are less of a vote on how the City of Hillsboro spends our money?
From my post you should know I live North of downtown. You are the realtor – what is the name for South of John’s Farm neighborhood, East of Jackson School Rd, West of NE 17th, and North of NE Grant.
No access from Main isn’t the same thing as NO ACCESS.
I listened to Cale Wombacher yesterday on Rip City Drive with Travis and Chad on 620am, and he laid out a very impressive recap of this new funding windfall, about how the money will be used to expand the stadium, about all of the improvements, the new amenities, and what a better fan experience it will be.
Quite honestly, as a sports fan, it got me excited about the project, and gave me a little more motivation to maybe come see a game this upcoming season. And then I read this piece about the victims of arson in old town Hillsboro, and it brought a whole different perspective.
I have to admit that I don’t spend a lot of time in Hillsboro, other than playing golf at Meriwether and Forest Hills, but I do remember a brief time in my life when I worked for Thayer’s Office Supplies in old Hillsboro, and Dirk mentions “Old Orenco.” I used to play a lot of golf at the Old Orenco Golf Course before it was plowed under and turned into housing.
I can certainly sympathize with the owners and employees of the stores Dirk mentioned, and it seem that there’s a lot of money being spent, but there IS something wrong with that segment of the populous, who have been contributors to the community and part of the town culture for so long, being completely ignored. I believe the word I’m looking for here is..ya know..”heartless.”
I believe, good Sir, you have tapped into the growing sentiments of those within our Community. I am happy to report that I and 7 others here in Old Orenco did stop the 486 homes from being built on the Orenco Woods Goldf Course. While some of it did eventually have home built upon it, much of it is now a Nature Park and quite an amazing one at that. Come visit the Orenco Woods Nature Park sometime.
Sure seems to be a lot of money being thrown around for entertainment and housing for everyone, as long as you are not living as lower class or homeless.
Seems that low income, poverty class or those below poverty level get the least of help.
Why use money to buy a hotel then turn around and sell it in a year?
I thought it was to help the homeless.
How does 4 million dollars take care of homeless?
3 million to line the pockets of city officials and 1 Millon to help the homeless?
Why is it that only 200,000 went to housing vouchers for the homeless?
Why are there so many Hillsboro workers and police on the pay role when you see so many of them parked together for hours just visiting?
Yet they complain about not enough money or personnel and need more money?
I see almost everyday two or three code enforcement officers parked and watching one motorhome parked at the empty parking lot of the Fair Complex parking lot at the corner of 28th and Veterans way.
Talk about a waste of resources.
And talk about public intimidation.
The homeless have way more PTSD to deal with by constantly being pushed around and harassed by Police and code enforcement.