Happy Spring, Sunnysiders! This is my favorite season. The star magnolia in our backyard is blooming, and to me that signals the start of the season. Walking down Taylor Street this evening, I admired my neighbors’ hyacinths, daffodils and dogwood. This is when we realize all that rain was worth it!
At our March General meeting, we had councilor Steve Novick as our special guest. He talked about a few things that are before the Portland City Council right now.
Our streets are crumbling and we don’t have enough money to fix them. Councilor Olivia Clark has proposed a fee on residents ($12 a month per household and $8.40 per apartment) but that would only raise $47 million. That would either help repair existing streets (for example Hawthorne and Salmon), Novick said, or it could go to paving streets in outer neighborhoods that are not yet paved and adding sidewalks—but not both. Discussion ensued.
Novick talked about the discovery of $106 million in the Portland Housing Bureau and acknowledged that some of it is earmarked for particular programs. There are three schools of thought on how to spend the money that is not earmarked. Novick said we could:
1.) Create more housing (which is expensive).
2.) Prevent people who are at risk of losing their apartments or homes
by giving them temporary rent assistance.
3.) Spend money on shelters. We had some debate in the room on which of these values was most important, with several people suggesting
Single Room Occupancies (SROs) and tiny home villages as a less-
expensive option than building full-fledged apartments.
Mayor Wilson has suggested tapping $75 million from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to help renovate the Moda Center, using renewable technology to reduce its carbon emissions. There was some debate in the room about whether Governor Kotek should have agreed to cough up $300 million of public money when we don’t have enough money in the state to pay for schools or roads adequately.
At our Board meeting we talked about a few projects we’d like to do in 2026 or early 2027. These include a community potluck, a neighborhood-wide yard sale, and a potential Bingo Card with Hawthorne businesses that would raise money for the SNA. Stay tuned. We’ll post info to our social media channels! A reminder: on Instagram we’re @Sunnysidepdxna and on Facebook we’re Sunnyside Neighborhood Association.
Board elections will be at our May 13th meeting at 7 p.m. Please plan to attend! We have five positions up for election this year, one of which is an “open” seat. Please reach out to Chris at [email protected] if you are interested in running for a Board seat and would like to know more!
