Category: Neighborhood Newsletter

SNA Community Care (SNACC) Committee Update

Volunteers Needed

Come join a fantastic group of Sunnyside volunteers at the Shower Project at the Sunnyside Methodist Church! Because two of our regular volunteers are moving—one to Taiwan and one to Montavilla—we could use a volunteer every other Thursday (from 1-3 p.m.) and every other Saturday (either shift). Shifts are two hours long and mostly involve chatting with your fellow volunteers as you wait for folks to finish their showers. It’s a great way to get to know your houseless neighbors! Please contact Hannah Wallace at [email protected] if you are interested. Thanks!

Sunnyside Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee

The DEIA Committee is running a campaign to promote the upcoming July Board elections while applying a DEIA lens through our outreach process. The committee is looking to build a future Board that represents the diversity of the neighborhood and restructure a more inclusive neighborhood association that folks feel inspired to join and be a part of. The DEIA Committee is partnering with the Hawthorne Business Association (HBA) to create a culture values statement and host more cultural events throughout the year. More details on calendar access to culture events will be shared in the August newsletter. The next committee meeting will be Tuesday, July 6th at 6:30 p.m. Virtual meeting details will be posted on the SNA website on July 5th.

Emergency Preparedness and the SNA Board Meeting

Summer emergency preparedness tips

Last summer, the fires got pretty close to us and we all remember the days spent inside due to very poor air quality and wildfire smoke from Oregon, Washington and California. The forecast for this summer in Oregon is talking about a robust wildfire season. There are common sense guidelines for camping, barbecues and fire pits that most of us are familiar with. Please remember these guidelines to keep our Sunnyside neighborhood safe this summer. 

Here are a few tips:

– Check the air quality index (AQI) in Oregon daily. My husband and I check this index every morning to decide whether or not to open up our windows around the house. You don’t need to download an app, although the free recommended one is OregonAir. Since the wildfires and smoke last year, it’s a good idea to check air quality before heading out for the day. 

– Sign up for Public Alerts.  https://www.publicalerts.org/  This is essential and covers alerts for the Portland-Vancouver area. Please consider signing up for each cell phone in your family. Spend some time on this site where there is great info and lots to learn. Under the ‘Hazards’ section you can learn about ‘Wildfire and Smoke’ and ‘Wildfire 2021’.

– Learn about FirewiseUSA. https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education from the National Fire Protection Association. Great tips for preparing your home and our community during this wildfire season.

Once again, a BIG THANK YOU to all the community-oriented Sunnysiders who step up each and every day to keep our neighborhoods clean and safe and liveable. I am grateful for all that you do.

SNA June Notes and July Plans

Childswork, Rotary, Endorsement Policy

Several neighbors who live close to St. Stephen Catholic Church discussed the church’s decision to evict Childswork Learning Center, which was announced via a flyer. Expressing their high regard for Childswork, these neighbors sought assistance from SNA in contacting the church leadership. Several Board members will follow up. Outreach to churches and other neighborhood organizations is an important aspect of the SNA mission.

Christie Quinn, from the Southeast Portland Rotary Club, talked about opportunities to partner with SNA. The Rotary has a great tradition, especially in furthering education. I hope that we can cook something up.

The Board discussed creating a more formal policy regarding how and what to endorse. Various neighbors and organizations often ask the SNA to endorse a policy or action. Sometimes it involves a complex issue and/or a controversial position. SNA has no legal authority but we would like our endorsements to be both thoughtful and credible. There seemed to be agreement that the SNA should only consider issues directly relevant to the neighborhood, proposals should be in writing, and discussion should span at least two general meetings. There is some disagreement regarding the extent to which endorsements should reflect general neighborhood opinion and controversial topics. We would love to hear your thoughts.

Reminder: The July 8th Board meeting will largely be taken up with the annual Board Election. We will meet at 7 p.m. outside SE Uplift (3534 SE Main) both masked and physically distanced. Our Zoom meetings will resume in August.

SNA Annual Board Election July 8th [Reminder]

The Annual Election for SNA Board members will be held July 8, 2021 at 7 p.m. Like last year, we will be outside SE Uplift (3534 SE Main St.), both masked and physically distanced. Board terms are 2 years, with about half the seats open each year. Five of the nine Board seats are open and at least one current Board member is not pursuing reelection.

Membership is open to anyone 18 years of age or older who is either: 1) a legal resident of Sunnyside, 2) an owner of real property within Sunnyside, or 3) the designated representative of a business, school, church, or non-profit in Sunnyside. All members can vote and serve as Board members. Members may declare their own candidacy or be nominated by another member. Those that declare or accept nomination by June 10th—the meeting prior to the annual meeting—will be announced to the membership by the Board of Directors. Nominations can be made from the floor at the Annual meeting provided that the nominee is a member and is willing to serve if elected. You have to be present at the Annual meeting to vote (secret paper ballot) but need not be present to be elected. Candidates will briefly introduce themselves before the vote.

Getting to Know Your Neighbors

Q&A with Nathan Howard and Leslie Wright

Howard, who was born and raised in Southeast Portland, is president of the cannabis farm East Fork Cultivars, which he founded in 2015 with his brother Aaron. They started the company to grow high-CBD strains of cannabis for their elder brother, Wesley, who regularly used the plant to alleviate symptoms of a rare neurological condition. Leslie, who grew up in San Diego, is a mental health nurse who is finishing her doctorate in psychiatric mental health at Oregon Health and Sciences University. They met when Leslie was working at the Bus Project (now called Next Up) and Nathan was a legislative aide for State Senator Mark Hass. “The Bus Project was putting on an end-of-the-legislative-session celebration and Nate came to the event. I invited him to sit at my table and the rest is history!” recalls Leslie.

Lately, the couple has been working with a group called the Plant Medicine Healing Alliance to persuade the City Council to decriminalize all psychedelics and protect home cultivation and ceremonial religious use of the plants. They just got a labradoodle puppy who they named Blue. When I spoke to the couple in late May, Howard was just getting ready to open Hemp Bar, East Fork’s all-ages CBD café, on 63rd and Foster.

How long have you guys lived in Sunnyside?

Nathan: Five years, in two different locations.

Leslie: We purchased this house two years ago. We fell into the opportunity in a very lucky white privilege way. Nate’s dad is a real estate agent. His first boss in Portland owns a ton of houses and he’s slowly been selling them off. So he was selling this house but never listed it. We did a seller-finance contract with him so we don’t have a traditional mortgage with a bank, which is great because I was about to start school and I probably wouldn’t have qualified because I wasn’t really working.

What do you love about Sunnyside? 

Leslie: We really love Southeast because you can walk everywhere and a lot of our friends live here. And our street has got so many kids on it!

Nathan: I love that aspect. We probably have 16 kids within a block or so, and they’re frequently in our front yard, climbing our apple tree. We just got a dump truck of 10 yards of gravel delivered, and they’re all playing in the gravel and seeing if they can come over and hang out with our puppy Blue. We just love it.

I also love the open-mindedness of the neighborhood. There’s still some fear-based NIMBY stuff going on, but there’s such open-mindedness and I find that so energizing. And I’m starting to see way more diversity—including racial diversity. I’m really hoping that we’re trending towards more diversity in every sense of the word and less homogenous everything. I hope that continues and if that continues that I think I’ll start to love Sunnyside even more.

What’s one thing you would love to see change about Sunnyside?

Nathan: I guess I’ll answer that by saying what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid that Portland—Sunnyside included—is vastly underestimating the amount of in- migration that we’re going to continue to have over the coming decades. We’re vastly underestimating the amount of climate refugees the Pacific Northwest is going to be taking on, specifically the Portland Metro area. And so what I’m really fearful of is that liberal, progressive, open-minded, Sanctuary City Portland—seemingly overnight—could turn into a pretty xenophobic place if we don’t properly plan for a lot more people. So I’d like to see us begin to seriously consider changing that. And that means investing a bunch more infrastructure and housing and probably changing even more zoning laws in certain areas.

Leslie: I don’t know that I have much more to add. Making it more personal: I have friends who have chosen to live in North and Northeast because it’s more racially diverse. I’ve had friends of color who have told me about experiences where they would walk down a street in Sunnyside and people would stare at them from their porch, or smile in a way that was too familiar. Both send the message that they don’t belong and they feel unwelcome.

Why did you name your puppy Blue? 

Leslie: I had a dog named Red growing up, so I thought it’d be on-theme. But then also we were talking to the woman who we bought him from, and she told us that he’s like this kind of old soul, kind of a dopey super chill dog, we thought like “Blue,” blues. That’s cool. That’ll work.