Sunnyside Neighborhood Association

Street Painting Submissions Needed

The Hawthorne Boulevard Business Association (HBBA) is seeking creative, engaging, and community-inspired designs for a street painting in the heart of a new seasonal plaza opening this summer on the north side of Hawthorne at SE 37th.

The plaza will include a gathering space, seating, street painting, landscaping, and a solar kiosk for phone charging. The project is funded by a grant from Venture Portland to the HBBA. More information is available at sunnysideportland.org/category/land-use-and-transportation

This street painting, similar to the one at 33rd and Yamhill, will serve as a unique and visually captivating addition to the plaza, encouraging people to pause, reflect, and engage. The plaza will be highly visible and will be experienced by pedestrians, event-goers, and visitors year-round.

Submissions are encouraged to consider the dynamic nature of the plaza space and the variety of people who will engage with it. Along with design submissions, we are also calling for naming ideas that reflect the essence of the plaza and its role in the community.

This competition is open to anyone, of all ages, seeking to make their mark on this exciting new addition to our beloved Hawthorne Boulevard—not just artists. Once design submissions and names for the plaza are received, HBBA and its partners will select the top design. In addition to bragging rights, the winner will be awarded a $250 honorarium!

The winning design will then be painted on the plaza by members of the community

during a neighborhood painting day in late May or early June (TBD date). Winning submissions will be publicized by HBBA and its partners, including the Sunnyside and Richmond Neighborhood Associations, PDX Main Streets, S2C2, and the City of Portland. As the winner, you will not be required to paint the design, but are welcome to join in the community painting.

Submissions are due by Sunday, May 11th at 6 p.m. and may be submitted to [email protected] For explicit design details, please go to: tinyurl.com/ycehakjy.

Please email [email protected] with any questions.

Getting to Know Your Neighbors

Q&A with Greg Bander, Owner/founder of RingCraft

Greg Bander moved to Portland in 2009 and has lived in Buckman and now Lents. A fan of traditional martial arts, he began practicing Muay Thai in 2009. Also known as Thai Boxing, Muay Thai is a martial art that’s known for its embrace of punches, kicks, elbows, knees, and “clinching” techniques. Wanting to share Muay Thai with others, he opened RingCraft in Sunnyside in January of 2020. RingCraft offers classes for all age groups and all levels of experience. You can take a foundational program with others or opt for private lessons with Bander or one of eight other instructors. “The training is done at a very high intensity, “he says. “And it’s done in a safe environment using pads and heavy bags, so people are able to practice techniques with full force and low risk of injury.”

What brought you to Portland?

Greg: I graduated college at the University of Vermont, and I didn’t know what I was gonna do with my life. I was dating a girl who I’d met studying abroad, and she was going to school in Salem and had a year left. So I thought, “Well, I’ve always wanted to check out the West Coast. I’ll just move to Portland.” And then I stayed, and she left.

What was it about Muay Thai that spoke to you?

Greg: I had done a lot of traditional martial arts where everything was set up. It was like, “Okay, you’re gonna grab my wrist.” And then you’d grab their wrist and they’d say, “No, no, with the other hand.” That sort of thing. Muay Thai is more of a live, dynamic thing. It’s real combat, a real way to test to see if what you’re doing works. No one’s gonna tell you how they’re gonna attack you before they attack you.

Then there’s the physical aspect of it. It’s pretty challenging physically. And when I started sparring, I was like, “I feel like I’m okay at this. Maybe I can actually get in the ring and test myself.” And so it satisfied all these boxes of self-defense, physical conditioning, and competition.

What made you want to transition from being a practitioner to being a teacher?

Greg: When I started doing traditional martial arts, I looked up those old movies from the 80s and 90s like Karate Kid and Blood Sport. You see the master training the student, and I thought it would be cool to be that.

When I started coaching classes, I found that I had a knack for it. Students would come up to me and say stuff like, “Hey, I’ve learned more in the last two months training with you than I had in the previous six months to a year.” That felt really good.

How were you different from other coaches?

Greg: At that time, I was training in a gym where the coaches hadn’t been to Thailand, and I don’t think they’d competed in Muay Thai, and I had done both. I was also obsessed with the sport. I was watching fights all the time, trying to incorporate things I had experienced or had seen done by people at the highest levels. I tried to teach those things in the way that I understood them. And I think that that resonated.

What, to you, is the difference between a hobby and an obsession?

Greg: I think a hobby is a thing that you do for fun. You get some enjoyment out of it, but when you’re done doing it, you’re done. People come to the gym, and they train and they enjoy it, and then they leave and then they’re not doing Muay Thai anymore. It crosses over into obsession when you go to the gym early, you stay late, and when you leave the gym you’re watching videos on Muay Thai, you’re reading books about it, you’re thinking about it before you go to sleep and you’re thinking about it when you wake up. Pretty much all of your free time is spent in that space.

What is it about the physicality of Muay Thai that dials people in?

Greg: It’s like a presence – a state of being in the here and now. There’s no thinking about whatever else you have going on in your life when your brain is struggling to maintain its oxygen levels. It feels freeing. That high intensity interval training doesn’t allow you to be burdened by your outside life stuff.

How would you describe the culture of RingCraft?

Greg: I get a lot of feedback from people that they feel really welcome. They enjoy the community, they enjoy the space, and they feel safe. It’s an inclusive space that’s welcoming. You have your small percentage of people who are competing seriously, and then the vast majority of people who are just there to have fun and get in a workout. If they learn about the art in that process, that’s great.

Why do you think so many people find their self-confidence through Muay Thai?

Greg: I think people are able to see that, “Oh, if I just come in, if I listen, if I work hard then I get better.” There’s data to support that I am capable of improving myself. The whole point of martial arts is that it’s process oriented. There isn’t necessarily an end place to get to. The goal is just to keep doing it and to learn. If you keep showing up, you are achieving the goal. And then on top of that, there is something to be said for the confidence you gain in feeling like you can defend yourself.

Who would you encourage to go to RingCraft?

Greg: Anyone who’s interested in moving their body in a way that’s empowering and non-traditional. Anyone who wants to be surrounded by a community of people who are gonna be supportive of you making mistakes, learning, and growing.

Why did you choose Sunnyside for your business?

Greg: It’s a great neighborhood. I would attribute this location to why the gym is successful. We have so much visibility with foot, bike, and car traffic. We have other businesses nearby, and are also tucked into this residential area. Also, Hawthorne in particular is a destination street. It feels cool to be located in a part of Portland that people know about.

RingCraft is located at 4220 SE Hawthorne Blvd. You can learn more or sign up for classes at ringcraftmuaythai.com You can also follow the business at
@ringcraftmuaythai on Instagram.

News From Sunnyside Environmental School (SES)

Thank you to everyone who came to the amazing Earth Day celebration! My family had a fantastic time celebrating the earth, and I hope yours did too.

Join SES For Our Annual Spring Gala on May 17th at Revolution Hall

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to…celebrate!

Our school year is drawing to a close and you are all invited to party with us like it’s 1985 on Saturday, May 17th from 5:30 – 9:00 p.m. at Revolution Hall’s Show Bar. This year’s theme is Purple Rain, so slip into your most powerful purple ensemble, throw on a raspberry beret, and prepare for a night of fundraising, music, and community. Costumes are not required but are very welcome.

This event is a cocktail party. It will include a silent auction, a live auction program hosted by the incomparable Bolivia Charmichaels, and live music by SuperWave PDX. We will auction items donated from the community as well as items made by our students. (To everyone who donated an auction item to us: THANK YOU!) Past auction items have included everything from getaways and fancy dinners to rock climbing gym memberships and handcrafted jewelry. Attendees will also be able to purchase spots on “party boards” – small, themed community gatherings or events. Past parties have included Dungeons & Dragons nights, crafting events, movie parties, and cooking lessons. Having attended some of these events in the past they are very fun and I highly recommend them. Come meet your neighbors and learn a skill or enjoy a pastime together.

Can’t come to the event? Our online auction opens May 1st. You’ll find the link here: ourschool.auction/PURPLERAIN. There are auction items available for all tastes and budgets, so please check it out.

Finally, there will be a variety of Gala games. We will be playing wine ring toss (if you throw a ring around a bottle of wine it’s yours), plinko (drop a chip down a pegboard and win a prize), and heads or tails (compete with others to guess the outcome of repeated coin tosses). There will be a costume competition and the winner will receive a gift certificate for $100 of tacos at ¿Por Qu No?

Tickets are at ourschool.auction/PURPLERAIN. We have three ticket levels: Standard Plus Ticket ($110) that covers all costs for one person and a donation to make the experience accessible to all; Standard Ticket ($60); and Reduced Ticket ($35) that covers some costs for one person to attend, with the remainder covered by donations from Standard Plus Tickets and PTSA funds. Please purchase at whatever level works for you. All tickets include a bidder number, one drink ticket, one complimentary heads & tails game entry, and dessert.

All of the money raised directly supports the school’s garden & sustainability program, the music program, and student field trips. These programs are funded in their entirety by money raised by the PTSA and receive no financial support from PPS. Thank you for helping us allow our students to experience gardening, music education, and learning experiences outside of the traditional classroom.

This is an adults-only (21 and up) party so please leave your children at home. We hope to see you there!

Have questions about SES? Email [email protected] and maybe I’ll answer them in a future column!

News from the President

Hi friends! Isn’t April grand here in the PNW? Who needs April showers for May flowers, when you get them both in one month! The winter daydreams of putting on the hiking shoes and traipsing through fields of wildflowers are turned to reality, and I couldn’t be more psyched for the beautiful days to come.

At the March General meeting we were joined by three special guests, our new city councilors, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo and Steve Novick. We had a GREAT turnout with over 60 neighbors joining in-person and online to hear about how the new form of government is taking shape, and the looming budget crisis that will be consuming much of the council’s efforts. Bottom line on the budget—it’s going to be tough. Depending on how the deficit is calculated, the city faces a deficit of between $92–120 million dollars for the next fiscal year. I was, personally, very impressed with how thoughtful all three councilors were in their responses to constituent questions. Councilor Novick seems to be very much a realist, going through how we got into this situation, not just over the last five years, but through disinvestment in our infrastructure over the past 30 years and with some programs created permanently based on one-time or short-term funding streams. Councilor Morillo appears to bring a keen eye for budgeting and oversight, looking for duplicative efforts and inefficiencies that can be consolidated to improve our long term outlook. Councilor Koyama Lane, in a leadership role as the council Vice President, brings the enthusiasm and optimism of the 3rd grade teacher that she is, trying to bring people together to solve the big issues. The council is still figuring out the exact rules of how legislation will advance, but with the new policy committees having the first review, let’s hope there will be ample opportunities for citizens to make their voices heard on the issues. For the record, the committees District Three members are in are:

• Climate Resilience & Land Use (Novick, Morillo)
• Community & Public Safety (Novick, Morillo)
• Finance (Novick)
• Governance (Koyama Lane)
• Homelessness & Housing (Morillo)
• Labor & Workforce Development (Novick)
• Transportation & Infrastructure (Morillo, Koyama Lane)

Learn more about each committee’s work and sign up to testify at: portland.gov/council/policy-committees.

We also heard about something much more fun than the city’s budget – the Earth Day Parade and Church right here in Sunnyside! Making Earth Cool is planning the event for Saturday, April 26th. Events will kick off at the Sunnyside Environmental School at 11 a.m. with crafts, information booths and other activities. The parade gets going at noon with an approximately one mile route. Individuals and groups are welcome to join the parade. Make a banner! Put on a costume! Walk for the Earth! There will be an Earth Church ceremony at the Sunnyside Community Center (the former Methodist church at 35th and Yamhill) later in the evening. Find out more at makingearthcool.com.

Finally, our annual Board elections are coming up on May 14th at the SNA’s annual meeting. If you are interested in getting more involved in the neighborhood and working with some great folks on important issues, please reach out to me ([email protected]) or call (202-421-5822).