Neighbors, Help SES Harvest Rain Water

Umpqua Bank is sponsoring a “Build Your Block Challenge” to select one neighborhood improvement project to fund.  Sunnyside Environmental School invites you to celebrate the rain with us and hopes that our project will be chosen for funding!
Portland gets about 40″ of rain a year. Much of that ends up polluted and in our sewers, and isn’t available to us when we need it most…the summer. Our school is creating a rainwater harvesting system, which will water the school gardens and highlight other ways to capture and reuse water.
We will create educational materials and host a neighborhood rain barrel building event to help the greater community capture and use water!  If you are interested in helping us plan or implement this idea, please contact [email protected].
Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
–Langston Hughes (excerpt)

Opening Day for Blair Garden

Blair Garden Opening Day: March 26, By Tim Brooks

Mark your calendars for Saturday, March 26, Opening Day for the new Blair Community Garden!

Portland Community Gardens and SNA have hosted four garden work parties since October and we are just about ready to open the gates at the Blair Community Garden. By mid-March, we will build the remaining accessible raised beds, improve the path system and the shed, and then be ready to open.

The SNA would like to thank all the volunteers that joined us for the work parties. We would like to extend a special thank you to Holly Wilkalis from Hands On Portland and Lamar Hurd from the All in One Basketball Academy who helped coordinate the volunteer youth groups. SNA also wants to thank our partner in this effort, Portland Community Gardens, and their key staff Dan Franek, John Iott, and Leslie Pohl-Kosbau.

Come join us for a tour of the garden on March 26. The garden entrance is located on the west side of SE 33rd Avenue, half block south of Stark Street. For more on the garden’s rebirth, visit http://sunnysideportland.com/. For more information on the opening day event, check the SNA website and listserve, or call the SNA Hotline at 503 295-1699.

Bus Riders Unite

TriMet riders who depend on the bus and MAX are facing greater hardships. Many transit riders, especially working-class families and people of color, rely on single-trip fares to meet basic needs and can’t afford to invest in transit passes. TriMet has cut bus service by over 170,000 hours leading to longer wait times between buses, overcrowded buses that pass us by, and missed transfers. Service cuts have decimated evening and weekend service. TriMet’s transfer policy is unequal and insufficient to give bus riders the time required to take care of our daily needs.

OPAL Bus Riders Unite! has a Solution:

1. EXTEND ALL TRIMET TRANSFERS TO 3 HOURS FOR BUS AND MAX
2. SUPPORT EVENING RIDERS WITH UNLIMITED TRANSFER TIME AFTER 7PM

Join us on Monday, February 21st for our Community Kick-off to have your voice heard and to get involved!

Kickoff Campaign for a Fair Transfer
Monday, February 21st
6:00 PM
St Francis Parish 11th and SE Oak (Bus #70)

 

January 2011 Board Meeting Minutes

SNA Board Meeting – Approved

January 13, 2011, 8:00 – 9:00 PM

Board Members Present: Michele Gila, Jane Pullman, Tim Brooks, Paul Loney, Heather Wilson, Bill Stites.

Unexcused absence: Chuck Lawrence

Neighbors and Guests Present: Mary Ann Schwab, Karen Hery

1. Approve agenda/minutes (2 min) Gina moves/ Bill 2nd. Approved.

2. By Laws discussion (Paul/Michele 20 min) Overview of bylaws. 9 members. 4/5 split. MAS brought up 3/3/3 but terms are 3 years. We have no guidelines for elections that address frequency of meeting attendance. Jane voices in favor of changing bylaws regarding the 4/5 split. For the sake of continuity it would be nice to have less than half the board turn over at once. Could increase board positions to 10. Jane asks if bylaws must be 2 years? Bill says some element of qualification is good. Attendance requirement is good solution. For example 2 meetings. Also supports even # of board members. Last year’s election could have been an anomaly. Gina isn’t opposed necessarily but would like to see the meeting agenda posted well in advance. That could cause people to come and show up. Jane motions to make this Old Business for March, Heather 2nd.

3. Sunnyside position on Clearwire moratorium (Michele 8 min) Bill 2nd. Heather friendly amendment to include 29th/Yamhill location and Jane amends a to any. Approved!

SNA “opposes Clearwire’s plans for a wireless tower on SE 32nd or SE 29th near Yamhill or any Priority 4 residential street within Sunnyside, and recommends that the City of Portland Reject the company’s request for any tower and adjacent equipment cabinet.

4. Treasurer’s report (Jane 3 min) Jane handed out treasurer’s report for 2010. On file. Jane comments that the newsletter just about paid for itself. Loss of $163.71. All ad slots are full and paid in full. Could improve on the book keeping for clean ups. Great donations from SNA. BSF made $21.25 from selling buttons. Tim will take treasurer’s report and create a budget. Michele mentions putting some money into cd or interest account. Suggested $5000 go there. We will continue this discussion.

5. Other Items Useful Goods Exchange/clean up, Street Fair, Etc…

Karen Hery: opportunity to combine Useful goods & clean up. Followed Gary through fall clean-up. Participation is down. 2 cleanups a year might not make much sense. Only 30 families participated in fall clean up. Spring clean is fine with Karen but she cannot do a fall clean up. Test one per year. Can always go back to 2 if that fails. Wants a committee for the event and Gina will chair it. Basement at church building has only a few doors. Works better that way. Suggested donation of $1 for entry fee. $10 to do the clean up. What should be done with the funds? How should they be decided. School role? They used to get a donation. School involvement is only through volunteers. St. Stephens just wants to have a bake sale at the event. One Huge Event at St. Stephens. Event not until April. Paul suggests we get Reuben in on the discussion. Have it on agenda next month. Got $200 from SEUL grant to cover costs of Posters. Tim suggests leveraging grant money and get reimbursed for outreach from metro. SEUL helps with that.

6. Newsletter articles due Jan. 17th

7. Other Business.

MAS reports on OLCC staff changes per Kitzhaber. MAS doesn’t want to lose Steve Pharo from OLCC as he works to keep licenses to 1 year instead of 2. She asked him what the community could do to support him. He’d like to stay. Asks the board to write a letter of support to Commissioner Phil Lange so when he meets with Kitzhaber, we can keep Pharo.

Michele makes Motion to write letter of support to Phil Lange for the 1 year renewal, to include a “Thank You” Steve Pharo for his work. Tim 2nd. MAS will give us the contact info. Paul will write the letter.

Tim mentions that the meeting on Jan 31st for SES check in with Parks etc… didn’t make the newsletter. Get requests into our communication for comment from neighbors on how it has been going on the park agreement. Deadline for response is Jan. 30th. So we have feedback. Specific to Park. Tim & Reuben will put something together for me to post to solicit feedback.

Bill will email us about BSF. Wants to meet next week.

8. Adjourn. 9:29pm.

 

January 2011 General Meeting Minutes

SNA General Meeting Minutes – Approved

January 13, 2011, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.

 

Board Members Present: Michele Gila, Jane Pullman, Paul Loney, Bill Stites, Tim Brooks, Gina Binole, Heather Wilson

Excused Absence: Reuben Deumling

Unexcused Absence: Chuck Lawrence

Neighbors and Guests Present: Tim O’Neal, Abby Dacey, Katherine Anderson, Karen Hery, Emily Hery, Adam Green, Valerie Stricklund, Josh Palmer, Edward Morris, Adam Green, Valerie Strickland, Mary Ann Schwab (MAS)

1. Introductions (3 min)

2. Approve Agenda. Circulate Nov. minutes (2 min) Approved.

3. SEUL update (Tim O’Neal 5 min). Until Feb 25th collecting to donate to transition projects for homeless. Linens, blankets, adult clothing, toiletries. Want to recognize & appreciate the n’hood volunteers. Appreciation meeting in April. Bowling competition included. Each n’hood 4-6 people on each bowling team. 2 games bowling + shoes + food. Powell Lanes. Mon 4/25 6-9pm. Kicking around the idea of Soapbox Derby participation 1/31 7-8pm meeting.  Co-sponsor with Center of Earth Leadership “Economics of Happiness” film. Worldwide movement. 1/21 7-10pm will be screened + discussion. First Unitarian Church downtown. $15 donation.

4. Central Catholic High School Master Plan (Abby Dacey 15 min) She works for BOORA. Hired a year ago to vision master plan. School has been at this site for 75 years. Not trying to change classroom count but gain sf for the classes + specialized spaces for special needs/language labs/student commons. Have been working with Buckman and immediate school neighbors. Conditional Use Master Plan is what BOORA is doing. 2 stories above + 1 underground to complete the 4th link. Plus interior remodel. 3rd phase would add 2nd story over original school. Target LEED platinum for first phase. Widen street 4 feet on 24th. Adding pedestrian crossing. Transportation safety is a big issue. Empty lots on west side of 24th at Oak, owned by CCHS and parking added to those lots. Currently have 17 spots on campus. Reducing that to 4. Adding that new parking lot to make up the difference. Curb extensions at 26th crossing. Front angle parking in front of Lone Fir. Neighbors voiced PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION/TRIMET as a parking solution. She responded that is ‘difficult’. Tim asks about solar panels and would they power the school. Phase 1 would have ecoroof. Maybe. Any other traffic flows through PDOT? One way? Portland “doesn’t want to see the grid interrupted”. Tim asks about curb extensions on Stark. Cannot make Stark more narrow without removing parking to create more pedestrian access. Tim suggests moving parking east further at curb extension and remove 3 parking spots. TIMELINE? Conditional Use Master Plan is right now. No plan to submit by certain date? Probably a few more weeks. Mid Feb. Design in June. Construction about a year later. School schedule. PLEASE STAY IN TOUCH.

5. Committee Reports (15 min)

Sustainability – Focused on Emergency/Community Preparedness. Attended City and County formal training “Know Your Neighbor”. To learn how to present that tool to other groups. Some committee members are hosting events at their homes to introduce the idea of being prepared. A way to get together and get to know each other better. As a group, going to design emergency preparedness kits. Anyone is welcome to join. They aren’t ‘advertising’. Email Jane or Reuben if you are interested. MAS attended neighborhood emergency teams network and the communications between neighborhood watch etc…Many streets already have block captains. Meet 2nd Monday of the Month 6-7:30 at SEUL. Please come!

LUTC – Meeting was cancelled this month. Meet right after Sustainability 7:30-8:30. Transportation/Crosswalks/Land Use/ Liquor Licenses. All welcome and bring any concerns you may have.

Crime Prevention – Chuck not here. Our neighborhood is divided into 2 precincts. Frank Silva is Katherine Anderson’s counterpart. She’s east of 39th. Was working with a group of neighbors about the cluster of liquor establishments on Belmont. Katherine brought info on residential burglary. Up 10% on east precinct. East precinct had to drop burglaries by 50% in 4 months and they did it. So successful that police bureau has established a city wide task force. It’s usually 1-2 people that hit a general area. There is no absolute to get rid of it…but many opportunities to reduce/mitigate. SNA/Tabor/Richmond got together to talk about Upper Hawthorne in Oct. Not much attendance. She suspects it’s because there aren’t big problems. Next meeting in April. MAS brings up the hope of changing OLCC to 1 year from 2 year license. Asks board to write a letter of support for current director Steve Pharo to Commissioner Phil Lange commenting on the good work that’s been done and we’d like to keep him there. Portlandmaps.com enter your address and you can see multi level crimes near your home. Portland Police Bureau www.portlandonline.com/police will also give you crime stats, reports, every block. All the 911 calls. Pretty live and updated.

SEUL – Bowling & Soap Box Derby. See Tim O’Neal’s report.

6. Announcements (5 min) Valerie is here from condos at 24/Belmont. 37/Main will be open for first Fridays. It’s a studio where he and his wife live. Karen Hery has the Sunnyside report card. Winter Carnival last Sat. of Feb. Family Entertainment. She’ll submit an article for the newsletter. Can drop by prizes of small toys or stuffed animals. Useful Goods Exchange and Clean up. Ideas for fundraising. Wants to thoughtfully plan the event. Best date is right around Earth Day. 15-17 April would be good all around. Suggest a committee from all aspects of the event. Bill from BABA meeting update: Umpqua Bank at Haw/36th having grand opening. Has feedback on Street Fair for SNA. Interested in meeting with SNA on this subject. Gina for HABA that despite the weather etc..holiday stroll was a success. Hope to recreate it next year. Annual silent auction is 2/17 at Masonic Temple. Looking for business donations. Katherine Anderson mentions heavy towing area where Umpqua Bank is now. Property owner said they would aggressively tow. Homeless man who resides in Sunnyside died at that parking lot. Hypothermia. During the extreme cold.

7. Approve Minutes (2 min) Jane moves to approve. Bill 2nd. Approved.

8. Next meeting Feb. 11, 2011. Newsletter articles due January 17th.

Karen Hery. Gina Binole. Tim O’Neal.

9. Adjourn. 7:57pm