SNA GENERAL MEETING 10/13/2011
Board members in Attendance: Gina Binole, Bill Stites, Tim Brooks, Tony Jordan, Josh Palmer, Heather Wilson, Karen Hery
Excused absences: Paul Loney, Reuben Deumling
Neighbors and Guests: Valerie Strickland, Jeff Cole, Katherine Anderson, Choya Adkison-Stevens, Kim Hack, Grant Morehead, Matthew Yake, David Abrahamson,
Bill Stites : Calls meeting to order and introductions at 7:03
- Heather motions to approve agenda, Gina seconds, Motion carries unanimously
- Leaf Day Overview by Grant Morehead of PDOT – It’s a period of 6 weeks of street maintenance where city crews will pick up leaves. Historically, city has done it free, but last year it introduced a $15 charge, which did not go over so well. The leaf boundaries for the neighborhood are West of Cesar Chavez. East of Cesar Chavez, does not apply. The pick up days are Nov. 6 and Nov. 30. Crews will be coming through with front-end loaders to take leaves to a composting facility.
If you have trees in your back yard, can bring those to the front as well and have them picked up. There is a $15 charge per day for a total of $30. Goes to whoever owns the water bill. Can opt out by Nov. 1 and take care of them yourself, go to Portlandoregon.gov/leafday. All the info you need to opt out is there. Should have gotten a flier in the mail.
Tony suggests next year the city think about cleaning bike paths, Taylor, Salmon, which are east of Chavez. They aren’t in the zone, but they have lots of leafy. Grant will bring that up to the city.
Heather asked about alternate side parking for leaf removal days. But Grant says that has not been done, and there likely will not be an effort to do so in the near future.
- Jeff Cole of Friends of Trees, announced the next Friends of Trees event will be Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The program will be the same as its been in recent years. Last year FOT planted close to 50 new trees. Trees will cost $50 again this year, and it includes permit and all the paperwork.
The last day to sign up will be in early December.
Jeff wanted to thank the SNA for including a short press release in this month’s newsletter. He said they have gotten an uptick in sign ups since the first of the month.
He noted the areas East of Cesar Chavez are challenging. They have 18-inch planting strips. City code requires at least 2.5 foot for the Friends of Trees program. FOT is working on a solution.
Jeff notes that the SNA for the past few years has sponsored scholarship trees for those who have financial need, or if it’s helpful getting a tree in a rental, or a non-profit biz. Last year, the SNA sponsored 6 trees for $300. Jeff hopes to receive the same funding this year.
- Choya Adkison-Stevens of the YWCA discusses Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is October and the various Y services which can be found in detail at: www.ywca-pdx.org
Choya’s goal for DVA is to let people know this month is DV month. On Oct. 20, there is a vigil at Dawson Park across from Emanuel Hospital in Inner N. Portland to mourn the 27 DV victims who were killed in Oregon. There is a partnership with local restaurants for a fundraiser for YWCA domestic partnerships. Called Dine4DV on Oct. 27. They Have purple light bulbs for sale (purple is domestic violence color) There is a lot of info on their Web site.
- Committee Reports
Sustainability – Continued talk of Resiliency Plan and what the neighborhoods should look like.
LUTC – Tony reported that neighbors from Belmont came to discuss noise from Side Street Tavern, Hob Nob Grille. So LUTC talked to them about what they might do, reporting, etc. Continuing to try and work with Mars Hill Church Good Neighbor Agreement. Primarily parking and noise are issues. Planning to start having Sunday activities next month.
Tony wants to invite bar owners together for a LUTC meeting.
Karen wants to clarify SNAs role and how do we deal with Mars Hill Church and make neighbors feel safe, don’t want one group’s interest outshine another’s views.
Crime Prevention – Katherine reports there are new Crime Prevention folks working West of Cesar Chavez. Heather reports no meeting attendees. Heather says October is crime prevention month. Also says People are stealing strollers off of porches. Oct. 19, bike safety and training. Making sure numbers are engraved on the bike, photographing bikes. Prescription drug turn in event on Sat. Oct. 29.
Car prowls in the past 3 months have increased, unsure why.
SEUL – Heather says deadline for small grants is Nov. 1. SEUL wonders whether they should be looking into strip club issues and creating an alcohol impact area for upper Hawthorne. The suggestion has been made for the “Barmuda triangle” area up there. You can’t easily say where problems are coming from. Katherine says upper Hawthorne is meeting later this month to discuss at 6 p.m. on the 19th. What should SEULs role be? A one-day training? Ballot measures (similar to unsuccessful initiatives posed in the 90s)
Treasurer’s Report – Josh say swe have canceled the Hotline. Wrote the check to the church building for the renovation for the kitchen.
Working on the CT12 Oregon Charities form – for the OR Dept. of Justice form to keep our non-profit status.
BABA – Karen – Everyone was really pleased with Belmtont Street Fair, increased revenue that their half was more than their full. Talk of balance between vendors and biz will continue. When this neighborhood is split by two precincts so there is talk of bringing the SE Precinct back.
— Kim Hack– Has applied for a SEUL neighborhood grant and would like to start a SE Community Kitchen Tool Library – similar wit hkitchen appliance – cider presses, dehydrators, etc. Not everyone needs to own them or can afford to own them. That’s the short-term goal, long term is a community kitchen with workshops, connections with community gardens, to preserve through winter, even the PDX fruit tree project has an interest. Volunteers come away with 20-lb bags of asian pears or more, having a place where they could check out a dehydrator.
So far she reports an enthusiastic response. Looking to partner with the SNA for a SEUL grant.
—- Tim would like to give this check $2,724.19 for half of the proceeds for the Belmont St. Fair.
—- Heather motions to approved September minutes. Minutes approved, Will approve Aug. next month because they were not made available.
Meeting adjourned at 8:06
SNA BOARD MEETING 10/13/2011
Board members in Attendance: Gina Binole, Bill Stites, Tim Brooks, Tony Jordan, Josh Palmer, Heather Wilson, Karen Hery
Excused absences: Paul Loney, Reuben Deumling
Neighbors and Guests: Jeff Cole, Kim Hack,
Bill Stites : Calls meeting to order at 8:15
- Agenda approved
- Minutes for September and August introduced
- Gina SEUL discussion, future succession planning. Gina relays information from SEUL communications meeting earlier in the month. Reports that only one other neighborhood, Laurelhurst, does a monthly newsletter with delivery. We seem to be doing a thorough job of communicating with neighbors online and offline.
Gina and others discussed at the communications meeting the need for information to live with neighborhood associations, not necessarily the people holding positions, even if they have done so for many years. Blythe, the communications director at SEUL, offered to house all of the NA data, and asked us to send info to them. This eliminates our need to set up Google docs, or transcribe/scan handwritten files, etc.
Gina agrees to submit individual questionnaires for board members to fill out that detail their position responsibilities before the next election in May, hopefully much sooner.
- Jeff Cole of Friends of Trees formally asks for SNA sponsorship of scholarship trees.
Jeff describes the scholarship process, generally there is an area begging for trees to be planted, or people call and say they want a tree, but cannot pay. The thinking is that trees are a worthwhile community investment.
The board asked for more information on where these scholarship trees wind up, and to document this moving forward, for promotional purposes as well as general accounting.
Last year the board contributed $283.22
Tim makes a motion to contribute up to $300 toward six trees to be planted in Sunnyside, with a special request that if the species is not specifically requested by the owner, the tree be native. Heather seconds motion. Motion carries.
- Neighborhood Small Grants – Karen Hery presents two grants, one her own through the SwapShop, known as the Storefront Park Equipment Program, which seeks to obtain a SEUL grant to help fund the church storefront on 34th, a storage unit and a community set equipment for the park, including everything from chess sets to juggling equipment.
Karen also spoke about the SES PTSA request for the SNA to support its SEUL grant request for a Sunnyside Neighborhood Disaster Dinner, which will be a once a year event, to gather everyone together and create a meal, construct temporary shelter, obtain portable cook equipment and work with neighbors. There also is talk of an inferno disco, shelter building contest and other fun events. Karen says the church/SwapShop also will be supporting this event, aiming to facilitate an overall goal to feed 1,000 people for a week should a disaster occur.
Kim Hack discusses her vision for the SE Community Kitchen Tool Library (see 10/13 general board minutes) and it is unclear at this time whether she has a non-profit sponsor. But the board likes the idea and agrees to work with her to apply for the grant.
Tim expresses his concerns about the timing and refers to the guidelines the board established last year re: the neighborhood grants process and a need for timely board review.
Gina agrees and also points out that SEUL announced the grants, or made a public push around Sept. 27, and those interested in obtaining grants contacted board members prior to this meeting, which was the first available to them.
Bill makes a motion that the SNA board creates a letter of support to be signed by Reuben for the 3 proposals for the grant program, the SE Community Kitchen Tool Library, Neighborhood Disaster Dinner and Storefront Park Equipment Program. Gina seconds.
Motion carries. Tim & Karen abstain.
Tim wants to make sure that Reuben is aware of the small grant situation. The secretary will make a note that we adhere to existing policy.
Heather says she will write an article about the sign and it is what we agreed to.
Meeting adjourned at 8:54.