Chris Waldmann, Author at Sunnyside Neighborhood Association

News from the President

Hi everyone! Hope your summer is going great!

Just a few things as we prepare for the return of regular Sunnyside Neighborhood Association (SNA) meetings in September:

• The SNA, through its Land Use Committee, is working with a Sunnyside
architect and the owner of the empty lot at 4511 SE Hawthorne Blvd. to
activate the space until it is developed. This is an exciting opportunity to bring new life to the neighborhood on a blank canvas. The architect recently worked with our neighbors to the north in Vancouver, WA to create the Heights Bike Garden, a space for kids and adults to learn how to bike safely in a fun and creative environment! The project at 4511 is still in its early, idea-forming stages. If you are interested in helpingout with this effort, please contact the committee at [email protected].

• With the Belmont Library set to close this fall for a major upgrade, the library will no longer be able to display the quilt created by Sunnysiders in 1988. Do you have a space or an idea for a new home for the quilt? Please reach out to [email protected].

• The Belmont Street Fair (on Sunday, September 8th) needs our help and the SNA is stepping up! If you are interested in volunteering to help at the fair, please email us and we will put together a group. I volunteered last year and it was super fun assisting vendors and non-profits find their spots and get set up.

• We will see you at a bunch of events in the coming weeks, including:

Hawthorne Street Fair, Sunday, August 25th
Sewallcrest Movie Night with A Million Miles Away, Friday, August 30th
Belmont Street Fair, Sunday, September 8th

There is a change coming to the SNA meeting schedule. To better accommodate some board members’ schedules we are moving from our usual 2nd Thursday of the month to the 2nd WEDNESDAY of the month. Meetings are in person at SE Uplift and online via Zoom. We will continue having General meetings every other month and monthly Board meetings. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, September 11th. We will learn about how Portland’s new election system will work and how to fill out a ballot. Hope to see a lot of you there!

News from the President

Hi Sunnyside! The SNA held its annual meeting in May to review what we worked on this year and to elect new Board members for 2024-25.

This past year saw a lot of action on pressing issues for the neighborhood and the city. We had a number of meetings focusing on environmental issues and voted to sign on to many letters regarding efforts to fight diesel emissions and the dangers of the CEI fuel storage facility on the banks of the Willamette. We learned about the upcoming rebuild of the Belmont Library. We also learned about a proposal to allow for increased density within the neighborhood. We continued to serve the less fortunate members of the community through the ongoing Sunnyside Shower Project and our annual Winter Gear Drive. We focused on public safety through re-engagement with our local police precincts and renewed advocacy for improved traffic safety on Cesar Chavez, following the tragic death of librarian Jeannie Diaz last summer. We had a couple of small victories on SE César Chávez, with PBOT installing a new diverter to prevent left hand turns at SE Taylor and changes to the pedestrian cross signals at Taylor and Main to allow increased time for pedestrians to cross. These were small improvements that will hopefully lead to bigger changes as the city embarks on a new initiative to improve safety on our high-crash corridors.

The main business of the annual meeting was our Board elections. I’m excited to welcome three new Board members to the team. Thank you Crystal, Tim and Dresden for stepping up to serve your community! There are so many ways to help the SNA and Sunnyside, whether on the Board, volunteering at an event, or participating in our committees and General meetings. Come on out and join us however you can!

We will be back in September for our next General meeting, but the Board will continue to work through the summer, including keeping our eyes on the revisions to the city’s Housing Production Master Plan, which is set to be released for public comment soon. In the fall, we look forward to the first elections under the new charter. It’s going to be a big change for everyone and the SNA will be here to help educate everyone not only on the issues, but also on how the process will work.

Until then, we will see you around the neighborhood. Have a great summer!

SNA Annual Meeting & Board Elections – THIS THURSDAY!

The SNA will hold its annual meeting and elections for the board of directors this Thursday, May 9th at 7 PM at SE Uplift (3534 SE Main St.). As our bylaws require voting by paper ballot, this will be an in-person only meeting. We will be electing 5 board members during this election for 2 year terms. Nominees need not be present in order to run, but we hope you can join us.

This is a wonderful opportunity to serve your neighborhood while meeting new people and having some fun too! If you would like to learn more, please reach out to [email protected] or [email protected].

Light refreshments will be provided and it should be a beautiful evening for a stroll over to SE Uplift. The meeting will last about an hour. Find a draft agenda at https://sunnysideportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-Annual-Meeting-Agenda.pdf.

News from the President

Hi Sunnyside! Hope you all are doing well and getting outside when you can to enjoy all the beautiful weather, spring flowers and neighborly cheer around in the springtime!

In April, the SNA Board voted to support efforts to fight the CEI Hub, which stores volatile chemicals and fuels along the Willamette River. This energy storage facility presents so many dangers to all of Portland. The trains that bring these chemicals here travel right through the Columbia River Gorge and through many Portland neighborhoods and present the risk of disaster in the event of a derailment, like the incident that occurred last year in tiny East Palestine, Ohio and is still causing hazards to residents’ health. Second, by now you’ve heard about the coming Cascadia earthquake and the other potentially active faults that Portland sits on. Well, the CEI Hub sits on soil along the river that will basically turn to liquid in the event of a major earthquake – a process called liquefaction. Imagine all of those tanks coming crashing down and releasing their contents into our river and our air. Finally, one of the operators in the storage facility, Zenith Energy, has proved an unreliable partner, promising to improve their practices, but never following through to the spirit of the agreement. For all of these reasons, the SNA is proud to partner with the CEI Hub Task Force to fight against the unnecessary and unconscionable risks that the facility holds.

In other news, have you walked by the Sunnyside Piazza at 33rd and Yamhill? If so, you’ve probably thought to yourself that this beloved space could use a little attention. Good news. The SNA, in partnership with nearby residents and area businesses, is planning to repaint the piazza, hopefully later this summer prior to the Belmont Street Fair. We are just gearing up for this project. If you are interested in helping with planning, please email [email protected].

Interested in meeting the candidates for District 3 council seats? SE Uplift will be holding a candidate mixer on Thursday, May 23rd from 6-8 p.m. Find more info and RSVP at shorturl.at/kqA17.

Finally, Thursday, May 9th at 7 p.m. at SE Uplift, we will hold our annual Board elections. If you are interested in joining the Board and would like to learn more, please send an email to me at [email protected]. Everyone is invited to come out and help us vote for new Board members to serve two-year terms. It’s always a fun meeting. It’s pretty short and there are refreshments!

That’s it, I’ll be back next month with a “year” end review of what the SNA has been working on for Sunnyside and Portland!