Category: Neighborhood Newsletter

SE Community Kitchen Tool Library in the Works

Sunnyside is a neighborhood with friendly folks who feel comfortable lending a cup of sugar to their neighbors. But what if there was a place where people could borrow a food dehydrator or cider press?

Everyone deserves access to kitchen tools for food processing, preserving, and serving. With that in mind, community members are developing the Southeast Community Kitchen Tool Library, a place where anyone can borrow from an extensive collection of kitchen appliances and tools. We hope to offer pressure cookers, canners, knife sharpeners, bread machines, popcorn makers, grain mills—even place settings and ravioli crimpers! The goal is to provide a wide variety of handy items that are infrequently needed and often prohibitively expensive.

We also envision the Community Kitchen Tool Library being a place where neighborly connections can be fostered through a shared love of food. The library might even grow into a community-supported kitchen where we can share our culinary skills, nourish our bodies with healthy local food, and collaborate on difficult or intensive projects.

We are inspired by other successful lending libraries, such as the Southeast Portland Tool Library and North Portland Preserve and Serve Library, and believe that together we will make this a reality. By making expensive equipment freely available to all, and by sharing our collective skills and knowledge about food preservation and preparation, the future Southeast Community Kitchen Tool Library will make our community a more equitable and sustainable place to live.

This is a community-directed initiative and we need your input, creative energy, and kitchen items. Please contact Kim Hack for more information ([email protected] or 971-285-7372). Join us on November 7 for a planning meeting at 1221 SE 35th Avenue between Salmon and Main streets. Thank you!

 

 

Neighborhood Leaf Day Information

By Grant Morehead/Portland Bureau of Transportation

One of the joys of living in Sunnyside is our virtual urban forest of trees, especially in the next few months when they’re ablaze with autumn color.

But with autumn comes falling leaves, and leaves can’t just be left on the ground. Not only are fallen leaves a slippery safety hazard to pedestrians, bikes, and cars, they also clog sewer drains and degradeasphalt, both of which take a lot of money to fix downstream. Enter Leaf Day, the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s leaf removal and recycling service for the city’s most tree-lined neighborhoods.

Incorporating suggestions from across Portland, this year’s “2.0” version represents a significant upgrade from last year, offering a lot more value for the $30 fee. For example, sweeper crews will now take any tree leaves, not just those from trees in your parking strip. Just rake them into the street the day before the crews come by.

Because our neighborhood tends to generate a large volume of leaves, we’ll get two Leaf Days, spaced about three weeks apart. Not all of Sunnyside is in a Leaf Service Zone, so to be sure, enter your address in the new Leaf Zone Locator at www.portlandonline.gov/leafday, which will be available when the new Web site is launched this fall. You’ll also be able to find service dates for your address, tips about how to get ready, online payment information, and a streamlined opt-out process if you’d like to manage the street leaves yourself.

One of those Leaf Day tips? Be sure to move your car and any other obstacles off the street on your Leaf Days. Since the sweeper machines can’t fit between and behind cars, you’ll get a better cleaning if they can get right to the curb.

Belmont Street Fair Set for Sept. 10 With Old Favorites & New Fun

This year’s Belmont Street Fair promises to be a spectacular event with all the best of past fairs, plus some new and exciting twists. Our theme this year is “Imagine.” Imagine the possibilities of a thriving local community. Imagine art on every corner, community potluck dinners, bicycle traffic jams, backyard eggs for all, human-powered transport on car-free streets.

Belmont Street between 33rd and 37th will be car-free once again. As one fair enthusiast said last year: “After you go to this fair, you’ll wonder why they don’t always shut down SE Belmont to cars/ buses between 33rd and 37th. It just feels right.” The fair extends from 20th to 60th avenues on Belmont and a free Ecoshuttle will link the special events along the way.

The Sunnyside Neighgorhood Green will return to 34th and Belmont. You’ll find an expanded Kids Fun Center, with activities for kids of all ages, an integrated bouncy house, mini-golf course and juggling with Do Jump. Be sure to visit the Artists’ Alley, showcasing the work of local artists and the alternative transportation exposition, which this year will feature cargo bikes.

Local musicians will perform on multiple stages, with a main stage lineup that is sure to please:

— Chazz Funk All Stars (noon to 12:45 p.m.)

— Dusu Mali (1 p.m. to 2 p.m.)

— Sarah Moon & The Night Sky (2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.)

— Sweet Juice (3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.)

— Brothers of the Baladi (5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.)

— Saloon Ensemble, featuring members of March Fourth Marching Band (6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.)

The Fair will take place Saturday, Sept. 10 from noon to 8 p.m. The Fair is a collaboration between the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association and the Belmont Area Business Association. Organizers have been working overtime to make this year’s fair a fun-filled car-free community event filled with local artists, musicians, street vendors and family-friendly activities, where you can just imagine the possibilities.

For more information or to obtain a vendor (or artist) booth application, visit http://belmontdistrict.org/whats-happening/street-fair, or call (503) 774-2932. This event wouldn’t happen without volunteers, so please consider signing up for a shift. Contact Josh Palmer at (503) 287-1515.

A bit of green, a lot of merrymaking

SEUL Neighborhood Block Party

The Southeast Uplift neighborhood coalition is hosting a community block party in Sunnyside on Saturday, Aug. 27 from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., celebrating communities and neighbors across Southeast Portland.

The Southeast Uplift building and grounds at 3534 SE Main Street will serve as the hub of the festivities, with the entire block of SE Main Street between 35th and 36th avenues filled with an array of fun activities, music, food and beverages throughout the evening.

A number of food carts will be on site, offering food, with St. Josef’s Winery and Coalition Brewing also on hand serving wine and beer. Kids’ activities will also be in abundance, as the Portland Mennonite Church (1312 SE 35th Ave.) will be hosting a Kid’s Corner that will include a bounce house, playground and a host of fun games throughout the evening.

The event will also be a great way to learn about and connect with fantastic community projects, meet neighborhood association and community leaders, learn more about how Southeast Uplift supports your community and meet your neighbors from not only down the block but across Southeast Portland.

If your organization or community group is interested in participating, please get in touch at the email address below. We look forward to seeing you there!

Stay up-to-date with music listings and participating groups at www.southeastuplift.org and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SE.uplift.

If you’re available to help out on the day of the event, there are fun (really!) volunteer opportunities available in short one or two-hour slots — your assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Please contact [email protected] for more information.

Watch Video, Learn More About Proposed Walgreen’s Drive-Thru

While we wait to see what plans Walgreen’s resubmits to the city regarding the renovation and proposed Drive-Thru for the store on the corner of Belmont and Cesar Chavez Boulevard, neighbors have created a video to illustrate how a drive-thru will adversely impact traffic and the neighborhood.

Watch the video and learn more about the issue at www.walbrowns.com