April 13, 2023 SNA Board Meeting

The SNA’s April Board Meeting will be held Thursday, April 13, 2023, at 7:00pm.

Meeting is open to the public. 

Meeting Agenda. Times are approximate. Agenda items are subject to change.

This meeting will be held in person at SE Uplift (3534 SE Main St, Portland, OR 97214) and virtually at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85776168096?pwd=dTU3V0wycWZxTmhSVGNjNjJxdjNldz09

 

Evicted for a Substation

The following article was published in The Oregonian on December 2, 1977. The Howlands, who had lived in their house on Belmont and 32nd since 1960, were relocated by PGE in 1977. A previous article in the Oregonian said that PGE promised to finance their move if they were able to find a suitable house for an equivalent rent. 

Couple granted delay on moving deadline

Mr. and Mrs. John S. Howland, a sickly couple living in a home that is expected to be razed to make room for expansion of a Portland General Electric Co. substation, were not forced to move Thursday.

Deadline for moving from their rented residence at 3236 S.E. Belmont St. had been set for Dec. 1.

PGE, the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association, and Mrs. Howland’s Attorney are all working to help the Howland’s find a low-cost house to rent. The couple has 12 children, one of them at home, a 14-year-old daughter, Lisa.

They have said they desire a three-bedroom home so their visiting children can have a place to stay.

Mrs. Howland is suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure and Howland has a heart problem and emphysema.

PGE purchased the Howlan’s rented house 18 months ago, along with several others in the block, to make space available for expansion of the substation next door to the Howlands.

The Sunnyside Neighborhood Association has taken the case to City Hall because the association wants as many homes as possible left in the neighborhood.

A PGE spokesman said employees had volunteered to help move the Howlands as soon as another house can be found. The couple is paying $90 for rent and must find another low-cost house.

Mrs. Howland will be 61 Jan. 10. Howland will be 69 in February. The family exists on welfare and Social Security.

Forgotten Former Name of Sunnyside: Rosedale

Doctor Perry Prettyman was one of the first settlers around Mt. Tabor. He practiced as a doctor and is credited with introducing the dandelion to Oregon. He built a home near the modern intersection of 55th and Hawthorne, and the path he would take to the Willamette River would later become Hawthorne Blvd.

Prettyman obtained a one-square-mile land claim around 1850, bordered by today’s SE Chávez to the west, SE Stark to the north, SE 60th to the east and SE Division to the south. The NW quarter of his claim lies in today’s Sunnyside neighborhood east of SE Chávez. 

Sometime before his death in 1872, Prettyman started dividing his land claim, transferring various parts to his four sons. The section to the north, between today’s Stark Street and Belmont Street, was divided into a series of five-acres lots, some of which were subsequently sold. 

It is around this time that William Beck acquired the two five-acre lots in the NW corner of the land claim. William Beck arrived in Portland in 1852 and quickly established himself as a prominent gunsmith and gun merchant. The first lot he acquired from Prettyman today includes the Volunteer of America office building at the SE corner of Stark and Chavez as well as all the apartment buildings along the east side of Chavez going south to Belmont. The second lot would later become Peacock Lane and all its adjoining houses.

Beck’s main residence at the time was in the city (west of the Willamette). The 10-acre lot in Sunnyside was to become his “summer home” which he named Rosedale. In his book, “Portland, Oregon, Its History and Builders,” Joseph Gaston offers the following description:

Beautiful Rosedale, his summer home two miles from the city, was the pride of his heart. With his own hands he cleared the ground and planted his trees. The days spent here were probably the happiest of his life, although he worked from sunrise to sunset he called it “recreation.” The magnificent fruit and vegetables raised in Oregon today are no finer than those which came from the Rosedale orchards and gardens; not a pound was ever sold—it was only for his friends and those who were unable to buy. Many Sundays found him at Rosedale and at evening when he drove back to the city he told his friends he had “been in church all day.” 

Beck is credited as the main force behind the first bridge across the Willamette. Although the first Morrison bridge created a direct connection between his store at Front and Morrison streets and his summer home, Beck only enjoyed it briefly from its opening in 1887 to his death in 1889. With the new bridge in operation, the streetcar arrived in Sunnyside that same year and Rosedale was sold to be further divided. The Peacock Lane section was purchased by Joseph Simons, then a State Senator, and later US Senator and subsequently Mayor of Portland. It remained undeveloped until 1923 when it was subdivided into today’s Peacock Lane under the name of “Ex-Mayor Simon’s Addition.”

The name Rosedale survived a while longer. It can be found on the original subdivision survey of the land to the south. Owned by John A. Beck, William Beck’s nephew, the land encompassing today’s Yamhill from Chávez to that little zigzag on Yamhill east of 42nd, and up to Belmont, was subdivided under the name of “Edendale” in 1889. On the official survey, the stretch of Belmont Street from Chávez to east of 42nd is named “Rosedale Avenue’.’ Although it’s unclear whether that street name was ever used in practice, the Mount Tabor trolley stop later built at the corner of Chávez and Belmont was known as Rosedale station. A funeral announcement published in the Oregonian on April 12, 1895 refers to a residence on today’s 38th block of Yamhill St. as located “a short distance from the Rosedale Station, Mount Tabor railway.” In his book “Portland’s Streetcars,” Richard Thompson has a picture dated at the beginning of the 20th century showing a Mount Tabor trolley car with a dashboard sign reading “No stops west of Rosedale.” Thompson adds “the dashboard sign (…) indicates it was running as a limited from the city limits near Thirty-ninth Street.” It’s unclear how long Rosedale survived as a station name into the 20th century before becoming one of the forgotten place names of Sunnyside.

Nov 1, 2022 SNA Emergency Board Meeting

The SNA Board will hold a short emergency board meeting on Tuesday Nov 1, 2022 starting at 2:30pm to approve/reject the following time sensitive proposal. The meeting will be held over Zoom (link below). This meeting is open to the public.

ISSUE BEING VOTED ON:
– Discuss being a sponsor for Peacock Lane’s Holiday Lights event
– Event runs Dec. 15th thru Dec 31st.
– Request is to partner on promotions and logos and provide insurance sponsorship for pedestrian days
– Peacock Lane organizers need to file for permit by early November

The board will vote on approving/rejecting this request during the emergency meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting URL:
https://akingump.zoom.us/j/83804994526

Meeting ID:
838 0499 4526

Phone one-tap:
US: +12133388477,,83804994526# or +19292056099,,83804994526#

March 10, 2022 SNA General Membership and Board Meetings

The SNA General Membership and Board Meetings will be held back to back Thursday, March 10, 2022, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

  • SNA General Membership Meeting from 7:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.
  • SNA Board Meeting from 8:45 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Both meetings are open to the public. 

Meeting AgendaTimes are approximate. Agenda items are subject to change.

Both meetings will be conducted via Zoom.  All attendees will be muted upon entry into the meeting.  In order to ask a question or make a comment, please use the “Raise Hand” feature.  If accessing the meeting via computer, tablet, or smartphone app, you can do so via the “Raise hand button” in the “Participant” menu. If you are calling into the meeting via phone, please dial *9.  You can learn more about how to use this feature here: https://www.techjunkie.com/zoom-raise-hand/

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89322488666

If you are unable to attend the meeting virtually by Zoom you can email the board at [email protected] for a copy of the meeting minutes or request further assistance with attending the live meeting. The SNA is currently following Covid safety precautions and will continue to meet virtually. If you need assistance with internet access the Board will do their best to help facilitate appropriate resources to join.