February 14, 2019 Board and General Meeting Minutes

Sunnyside Neighborhood Association Board Meeting-February 14, 2019 Meeting came to order at 7:02

Present: SNA Board-Reuben, Dave, Lorraine, KC, Pat, Matt, Maggie Community members: Colin Wonnacott, Dale Pepper, Rob Filitor

Introductions
Agenda-Motion to approve Reuben, Pat seconds, motion approved
January minutes-Motion to approve-Reuben, Dave seconded, motion approved

Announcements: Matt says we have an invitation to meet with a developer for 3150 SE Belmont-45 unit (Mcguirl Design and Architecture) building proposed-across from Substation-5 story building. Reuben says we should meet with the developer as they have invited us. KC will contact him to ask him to come to next meeting. Reuben would like a synopsis put in newsletter so neighbors will know.

Dave has brought an orange comment box for anyone who would like to leave one.
KC announces that light at Sunnyside Park was replaced on January 25th at her request.

Officer present commented that if this kind of thing happens again we can contact them.
Officers present commented on importance of being careful not to leave valuables in car and visible. Officer reported on 24th century Policing-Pilot for idea was Hawthorne District-one of the key goals is to reduce calls for service, and improve livability-Officers doing community outreach to familiarize themselves with people in neighborhood and let people know who they are.
Officer reported on Crime Stats for Sunnyside-4351 crimes reported a year ago-same number year before, so level of crime is not changing overall. 3120 calls for service in a year. Average response time is 26 minutes citywide average. Crimes reported as occurring now is about 9 minutes. Officers asking SNA to brainstorm issues that are of concern that need attention. Discussion ensued about issues with cold temps and houseless folks. Officer Fox is our contact in this district.

Sunnyside Community House GNA-Matt reported on 2nd session-Community House has received more attention lately, so GNA is in the works. Basic structure is Safety and livability committee acts as community sounding board. Small drafting committee takes info and works on the language. Outline, principles and goals were developed. Next meeting is next weekend. Meetings are the first Tue of the month. Next meeting is March 5th.

Committee Reports: LUTC-Dave-
BABA: met today, Tom Weber has Hawthorne Gardens Senior Living invites SNA to have our meeting there sometime. Board will discuss for a future meeting.
HBBA: K.C.: she attended the Hawthorne Vision meeting-get out in front of development before demolition happens. Mapped out neighborhood/buildings. PDX initiative is being worked on.
SES PTSA=K.C.: doing fundraising for school in May, tree recycling event coming up.
Communications: Dave: Website, neighborhood groups and crime watch and Park Watch, Community Gardens. May be able to product something by end of year.

SE Uplift Neighborhood Support Overview and Discussion: Reuben Overseen by Office of Community and Civic Life
SE Uplift is here to support Neighborhood Associations.
There is an annual grant

Grant Stipulations:

Outreach Organizational Support Advocacy Support Participate in OCCL programs Neighborhood Small Grants Program

Training and Skill Builds Maintain accessible office

Document management

SEUL Programs and Services:

Communications Funds Neighborhood Cleanups Fiscal Sponsorship
Grants Events, Trainings, Workshops Land Use and Transportation Admin Support Board Support/NA Liason Outreach and Communication

SNA Budget Allocation Work Session-Maggie
Maggie asked Board last month to think about our priorities
We are losing funds gradually, and we have to consider how we want to allocate funds, or raise them. Matt suggested we set aside money for a project that comes into focus as a result of the GNA.
Ideas for budget building and general budgetary structure were discussed
Maggie said we need to have speakers, community events to let neighbors know who we are so they will participate
What are our priorities? Safety and livability seem to be the issue this year.
Board may meet fewer times/year and have more informational/community events
We will discuss this issue at our next meeting
Meeting adjourned 9:02
Minutes recorded and submitted by Lorraine Henriques, SNA Board Secretary

SNA Meeting Minutes 2019-02-14

Safety & Livability Minutes for 3-5-2019

Sunnyside Neighborhood Association (SNA) Safety and Livability Committee Meeting Minutes 3/5/19

Sunnyside Community House (SCH) 6:30-7:30 pm

Minutes taken by D. Boush (SNA Secretary Lorraine Henriques was ill).

Matt Lembo presiding (Other SNA board members attending: David Boush, KC Hoffert, Pat Schweibert).

Approximately 8 others in attendance.

Matt called the meeting to order and asked if there was any business beside consideration of the Good Neighbor Agreement between SNA and the Community House.

A neighbor asked that the group consider 24-hour security for the community house. He read a statement from the online forum  Nextdoor posted by a woman who lived in the house adjacent to the SCH also owned by the Methodist Church from 1997-2016. There was discussion regarding whether the post was public and it was agreed that it could be summarized in the notes without attribution or included later with author permission. The gist was that the woman said she and her husband had performed monitoring outside the building, especially after Wednesday meals, until funding was ended in 2016. She “was saddened that conditions are so disgusting and unsafe” now and recommended 24-hour security be conducted by an outside party, especially because services by SCH have been expanded since 2016. Pat verified that the woman had lived in the house and noted that there also had been a security guard 20 years ago who was terminated for breaking into cars.

Neighbors and SNA Board members made the following points during the ensuing discussion:

Guests are camping outside the SCH, on the porch of the adjacent house, and in cars on the street next to SCH.

A parent of a Sunnyside Elementary School (SES) student reported hearing loud sex in a car camped by the SCH while walking children to school, observing people smoking something unrecognized, finding a needle, and having someone lying on the street try to strike her when she offered help. She asked whether people who do not want to come inside are asked to leave the premises. The answer from SCH volunteers was “no.”

A teacher offered support for the above statement adding that children have rights along with houseless people.

A neighbor disagreed completely with the perspective taken in the last several Safety and Livability meetings that SCH is enabling a bad situation. Houseless people have desperate needs. These meetings are not useful.

Other responses:

These meetings really are useful to resolve differences of opinion.. It can be tough to listen to different people’s opinions objectively.

We should consider how to make people feel safer. Houseless people (peacemakers) have left because of their security concerns.

This is not a suitable place to have a campground.

We should consider Community Patrols. (The April meeting of this Committee 4/2/19 is scheduled to be a Park Watch Training class).

What we are dealing with in the neighborhood is part of a much larger problem with homelessness.

Matt ended the meeting by expressing the hope that we can work on the little problems

Submitted by Dave Boush

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safety and Livability Minutes 3-5-19 (PDF)

Park Watch Training Session Rescheduled for April 2nd

The Park Watch training session that was cancelled because of weather is now rescheduled to be held on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2019 from 6:30 – 8:30 PM with the joint efforts of the Sunnyside Neighborhood and the Crime Prevention Program with the City of Portland. We will be gathering at the Sunnyside Community House at 3520 SE Yamhill street to create an active Watch Group for the Sunnyside Elementary School Park. Some clarifying details about this training and its purpose are provided below:

The Name of the training is commonly known as a “Park Watch” however with some confusion due to the name (people thinking this training is offered through Portland Parks & Recreation when it is under Office of Community & Civic Life) we currently are calling organized groups with focuses on parks simply a “Watch Group”. The training is structured under the same model as our current Neighborhood Watch program trainings.

The focus and purpose for this group organizing is to work together to bring positive activities and increase livability to the location known as Sunnyside Elementary School Park.

 This training is also open for those who do not wish to join the group but would like to only receive the valuable public safety training that comes along with it.

•    Training material covered include but are not limited to:
•    Calling 9-1-1 and Non-Emergency
•    Being a good witness/reporter
•    How to work with your community
•    The difference between police and park rangers
•    Reporting in Portland Parks
•    Utilizing your organized group for emergency preparedness
•    Accessing city tools and resources to increase livability as a community

This training is structured to help communities organize under a common goal of bettering their community. It is not intended to function as a community problem-solving forum. This training is tightly scheduled to respect the time and participation of all our partners and community members involved. It is a great start to bringing the organized community closer together to make positive change in the City of Portland.

Sunnyside elementray school park-reschedule