Sunnyside Neighborhood Association
Helping connect neighbors through events and information in Portland's Sunnyside Neighborhood.
In the post announcing this Wednesday’s meeting re: traffic and pedestrian safety on our neighborhood corridors, we said that the Grey Wolfe was hit by a speeding car. At this time there is no evidence that the driver was speeding at the time of the crash or that speed was a factor in the crash. We have edited the original post to reflect this.
We apologize for any pain and anguish that this error has caused Grey’s family or the driver and their family.
Please join us on Wednesday Dec. 10th for a special Community Meeting about traffic safety on Sunnyside’s major traffic corridors. Last week, another pedestrian—beloved friend, mother, grandmother, and therapist Grey Wolfe—was tragically hit by a car and killed on Cesar Chavez Blvd. Grey was returning from her morning walk to Mount Tabor. We are calling a special community meeting to talk to Clay Veka, Vision Zero Program Manager with the City of Portland; a PBOT engineer; and representatives from both Councilor Koyama-Lane and Morillo’s offices. Please come with your questions and ideas for how we can improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians both along Cesar Chavez and 30th Ave. (And other main thoroughfares.)
The meeting, which will be held in the upstairs conference room at Southeast Uplift (3534 SE Main St.) and online via Zoom.
We’ll also be collecting clothing and gear for our annual SSP Winter Gear Drive—so bring winter coats, jackets, pants, sweaters, long johns, socks, gloves, sleeping bags, tents, and tarps.
The full agenda is available here.
Happy Holidays Sunnyside! I hope you are finding the joy in the season with your family and friends. This is such a wonderful time of year – the streets filled with colorful lights, the children anticipating winter break and perhaps a visit from Santa, and evenings full of cheer as we come together to celebrate.
Onto the news…
At our November General Meeting, I gave a briefing on disaster preparedness and helping our neighbors in times of great need. I’m not an expert, but unfortunately, Sunnyside doesn’t have an active Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) right now. Trained NET volunteers are not only involved in actual disaster response, but in helping neighbors prepare themselves by engaging with the community through meetings with groups like the SNA. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, please visit portland.gov/pbem/neighborhood-emergency-teams to learn more and to get tips to help your family when disaster strikes.
We also talked about caring for our neighbors. As of this writing, the threat of federal troops being deployed in Portland has not gone away. If federal agents come to our neighborhood, there are a number of ways that you can help protect yourself and your community.
• Talk to your neighbors so that you can know who is at risk so that you can
help out.
• Carry a whistle to alert the community that something is happening.
• Take a cellphone video, from a distance.
• Know your rights so that if you encounter agents, you can protect yourself.
Visit aclu.org/know-your-rights to learn more.
• Please, DO NOT ENGAGE OR INTERFERE with federal agents. You
will only get yourself in trouble, rather than helping the community.
Another great way to support your neighbors through the cold winter months ahead is to participate in the Sunnyside Shower Project’s Winter Gear Drive! Through December 21st, the SSP will partner with local businesses to accept donations of adult winter clothing and cold weather gear at various stores throughout Sunnyside. For a complete list of participating businesses, please visit sunnysideshowerproject.org or their Instagram, @sunnysideshowerproject.
That’s it for now. We will see you in 2026 for the next General Meeting. Until then, have a wonderful holiday season. Here’s to a prosperous, safe and community-filled New Year for all of us in this neighborhood, city, country, and world.
Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov. 12th at 7 PM @ SE Uplift for our next general meeting!
We’ll be discussing how neighbors can help neighbors in times of trouble, whether that is responding to a natural disaster, bringing aid and comfort to neighbors in economic need, or protecting each other from unexpected, unasked-for federal incursions.
Please bring canned goods or other non-perishable food items to share with the Oregon Food Bank.
The meeting is also available on Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85776168096?pwd=dTU3V0wycWZxTmhSVGNjNjJxdjNldz09
See you then!
As I write this, we’re still waiting on judicial decisions about whether or not federalized troops will be walking our streets. Given the courts today, I don’t have optimism in the ultimate ruling. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking about mutual aid, how we can help each other in the best way possible, neighbor-to-neighbor. Here are just a few tips to get you started:
1. Talk to your neighbors! Make a list of who is on your block, who may have special needs and who has special skills that they can share in an emergency. Get a phone tree or a texting list together.
2. Be prepared yourself. We all know we live in the looming shadow of a disaster. Have your plan and supplies ready.
3. Keep an eye out. Maybe you live near an immigrant family who feels vulnerable in the current environment or you know that an elderly neighbor may be vulnerable to door-to-door scams. If you’ve done #1, then you can warn them if you see something strange going on. Don’t jump too fast to conclusions, but forewarning is a great start to self defense.
We’ll have an opportunity to discuss this further and learn more at our November 12th General Meeting, where members of our local NET (Neighborhood Emergency Team) will share valuable information about how we can all get through potential disasters, natural or not. We will continue with a discussion surrounding what we as residents can do to respond safely and responsibly to the new sight of troops in Portland.
Lastly, you’ve probably heard about the SNA’s very own Sunnyside Shower Project. Would you like to learn more about how we are doing mutual aid for our less fortunate neighbors? We’ll be hosting an open house and forum at the Sunnyside Community Center, the former Methodist church at 35th and Yamhill, on Sunday, November 16th from 3-5 p.m. Come see what we do, ask questions, and maybe you’ll decide to volunteer!
Also, keep an eye out for drop boxes at businesses in Sunnyside where you can drop off donations of clothing and gear for our annual Winter Gear Drive. This annual drive brings gifts of clothing and cold weather equipment to help our neighbors survive the cold months.
One last request, if you are coming to the General Meeting on November 12th at 7 p.m., please bring donations of non-perishable food. SNA will bring all donations to the Oregon Food Bank. The cuts in federal food aid are going to start taking a bite just as prices are set to rise because of other policy decisions. So, please help your neighbors if you can!