Author: Emily McCadden

SNACC Co-Chair, SNA Board Member

Sunnyside Neighborhood Community Cares (SNACC) Committee Updates

You can support the Sunnyside Shower Project by donating your empty cans!

Since 2021, Sunnyside resident Molly Twohy has been collecting cans and donating the funds to various organizations. During the month of November, Molly is helping raise funds for the Sunnyside Shower Project by collecting cans on our behalf. The funds raised will greatly increase our ability to provide toiletry items, food, first aid supplies, clean clothing, laundry cards, tents, and tarps. It will also help us meet other needs of our neighbors living outside. If you’d like to contribute, please label your bags with “Sunnyside Shower Project” and drop them over Molly’s fence at 3333 SE Salmon St. (easily identified by the Rosie the Riveter flyer) any time this month. Don’t have enough cans to donate in November but still want to contribute to the Sunnyside Shower Project? You can always donate funds directly to the SNACC Committee to support the Shower Project on the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association’s website via PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle, or email [email protected] to arrange a cash or check donation. If you anticipate that you will have cans to contribute after November, stay tuned for future canning efforts organized by the SNACC Committee.

Questions to Ask/Answer About Emergency Preparedness

Is there a season for emergency preparedness?
The simple answer: nope. 

Is there a reason for emergency preparedness?
The simple answer: yes.

Because we live in a most beautiful part of the world, with mountains, active and inactive volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire, we balance the beauty and wonder of this place with the knowledge that we have to be prepared. Prepared, not scared. The more prepared we are as individuals, within our families, neighborhoods, and schools, the better off we are for daily life, and for whatever weather-related issue that comes our way. Doing nothing, with the hope that an earthquake can’t/won’t happen, is not a plan. 

Is there ‘one way’ to be prepared?
The simple answer: no, it depends.

So, review your family circumstances and get everyone involved with being prepared. Reach out to neighbors; maybe work on your eprep together. It’s great to know what plans your neighbors have in the event of a major climate disaster. Share and connect. Then, repeat as often as needed.

I attended a Zoom meeting recently where the presenter issued “Calls to Action.” Among these were:

• Map Community Assets
• Make Contact
• Share Your Expertise

Her parting words were: Earthquake preparedness is a community action.

These community actions are not just for those in the eprep community. So, start where you are and reach out via email ([email protected]) if you want support or have questions.

News from the President

Hi neighbors! Before we get to the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association (SNA) news, I’d like to take a moment to introduce myself as SNA’s new president. My name is Chris Waldmann (he/him). I have lived in Sunnyside and Portland for the last 5 years after moving here from Washington D.C. This is my second year serving on the SNA Board. My wife Erika and I chose Sunnyside as our new home because we immediately fell in love with the neighborhood – its walkability, amenities, trees and friendly folk. We live on 31st Avenue right near the former International Hostel, soon to be home to lots of new neighbors in the 62 unit building that is under construction. You’ll often see me out walking our cream and tan, cow-marked lab-mix Mojie. Stop us and say hi!

On to the news…

On September 8th, we came together in-person and online for our first general meeting since June. This was the first time we had met at SE Uplift since the beginning of the pandemic and our first attempt to manage a hybrid meeting without the technical wizards at Sunnyside UMC. Despite some scheduling snafus and technical limitations, we were able to have a broad discussion about the charter reform proposal that will be on this year’s November ballot. Past issues of the SNA newsletter have information on the proposal. More details are also available at www.portland.gov/omf/charter-review-commission. At the meeting we had two former charter commission members present to us, representing both Yes and No votes. 

From the Yes side, Melanie Billings-Yun took us through the proposal and argued that passing the package will:

• Steamline city governance by hiring a professional to be the overall manager of the city bureaus and focusing elected council members’ attention on setting policy and responding to constituent needs. 

• Make the City Council more responsive by dividing the city into four districts in order to ensure councilors’ familiarity with neighborhood issues and increasing accountability.

• Improve representation on the council by having each district elect three
council members through a system of proportional ranked-choice-voting.
This could enable communities of common interest to come together
and make their voice heard more effectively as a bloc.

From the No side, Vadim Mozyrsky, while supporting the changes to take the City Council out of bureau management, argued that the other proposals would:

• Decrease voters’ opportunities to hold council members accountable because proportional ranked-choice-voting would mean that it could take as little as 25% of the vote for a candidate to ensure their election.

• Not do enough to improve local representation because only four
districts, in a city as large as Portland, would not ensure enough
neighborhood-focused knowledge and responsiveness.

• Confuse voters and present unforeseen consequences with a combination
of multi-member districts and ranked- choice-voting that has never been tried in the U.S.

It was a lively debate and attendees asked many good questions. In the end, the members in attendance decided that the SNA would not take an official position on the ballot measure, since no consensus could be found.

From the Board…

As Hannah mentioned in last month’s newsletter, the Board has decided to make some changes this year in how Board duties are split up and the schedule for our general meetings. General meetings will now occur every other month, with the next general meeting in November. We hope that this will ensure we always have packed, interesting agendas where the entire community can participate and learn something interesting. The Board will continue to have monthly meetings and everyone is always welcome to join! Seeking to deepen the knowledge and experience of all members of the Board, we are going to have a rotating slate of presiding officers over the course of the next year. While, in order to satisfy the legal niceties I am technically the president for the entire year, every three months we will give a new Board member the opportunity to run meetings, set agendas and be the leading face of the SNA. Our newest member, Cole White, will take over in December, followed by Emily McCadden and Hannah Wallace.

We will have more on what’s coming up for the November general meeting in next month’s newsletter. Until then, thanks for coming out and engaging to improve Sunnyside and Portland!

What’s Your Bandwidth For Emergency Preparedness?

Here are some questions to get you moving forward:

• What skills, talents, and/or tools do you have to offer to your family, neighbors, etc. as part of emergency preparedness? How do these communities know about what you have to offer?

• Do you know the skills, talents and tools that your neighbors, housemates, etc. have to offer?

• How much time/money/effort do you have to devote to being prepared?

• What’s your next step? And the step after that?

So much has been done citywide, countywide, and statewide towards being prepared and it’s easy enough to find articles, lists, and steps to take. Start there. Keep going. It’s not easy, but it is doable. We need all of us to do our part. 

That’s that. Thanks so much for reading this and doing your work. It’s much appreciated.

Be prepared, not scared.

Sunnyside Neighborhood Community Cares (SNACC) Committee Updates

The Sunnyside Neighborhood Association and SNACC Committee (SNACC) recently hosted an art show featuring works by neighbors living outside. The event was a big success and raised $364 to go toward repairing windows at the Sunnyside Methodist Church, which is the home of the Sunnyside Shower Project. Thank you to all who came out and supported this event! In our September meeting, SNACC continued our work to extend operating hours at the Sunnyside Shower Project (SSP). We hope to open the SSP for four days per week by the end of October and are working with church leaders to fulfill this need, which was identified on the needs assessment completed in the spring. Additionally, we are piloting a facilitated discussion process for reaching consensus in decision making. In our October meeting, we will practice this process by discussing the role of neighborhood associations in taking political stances, specifically focusing on charter reform. If you are interested in attending, next month’s SNACC meeting will be Thursday October 20th from 6:30p.m. Please check the SNA website or email [email protected] in the coming weeks for the meeting location, agenda items, and other information about SNACC work.