Sunnyside Neighborhood Association

Police Oversight, Building Design, and Welcoming a New Board Member

The April SNA general meeting continued last month’s discussion on building design and police oversight, endorsing documents on both topics. Johanna Brenner from the Portland Metro People’s Coalition and Sarah Kowaleski, Coalition Organizer at Jobs with Justice fielded questions relevant to their March request for the SNA to endorse a letter recommending specific language in the PPB contract. (Please see the related article in the March newsletter and read the letter at www.uniteoregon.org/policing. The SNA voted to endorse the letter. Heather Flint Chatto continued the discussion about building design in the neighborhood, especially along Hawthorne Blvd. and Belmont St. As in the March meeting, a principal focus was the PDX Main Street Design Guidelines, which you can find at  www.pdxmainstreets.org/designguidelines. These guidelines are aimed at improving the fit between new infill and old buildings. Among Heather’s main points was that good design is key to increasing density. Buildings can be built taller when they fit in well with the existing pattern. The SNA voted to adopt the Hawthorne special buildings list and the Main Street Design Guidelines for Hawthorne. The SNA also endorsed a letter to the City Council advocating for Main Street design-specific standards and for parity in design review with downtown. An example of design parity is when a specific building height triggers design review. The board voted to elect Vincent Dawans as a board member, replacing Sunia Gibbs, who recently resigned. Vincent has done wonders as SNA Clean-Up Coordinator and we look forward to working more with him. We thank Sunia for her service. Please note the announcement of our Annual Board elections on July 8th and consider running.

SNA Annual Board Election July 8th

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.

The Other Emergency, an earthquake, that is…

For many of us in the emergency preparedness world, this pandemic is ‘practice’ for the BIG ONE. That is not to downplay in any way the seriousness of our current world issues. This is to say that, due to our training, both as professionals and volunteers, we were a bit calmer at the onset of the pandemic as we reviewed and revised our own preparedness efforts to meet the current challenge. This work and planning is ongoing. In the big picture, it is best to prepare and then improvise as needed.

Working at the micro-neighborhood level, it’s my job to get my neighbors as prepared as possible, having offered training, materials, workshops and tips over the years. This is hard work, but worth the effort.

Let me walk you through a very good scenario that I hope can take place after a major disaster in my neighborhood. After the event, when I have made sure my home and family are okay and it is safe to do, I plan to walk through my neighborhood and check in on my neighbors. I know most of them by name and by sight, and know they have enough food and water to last for two weeks. They all have a shelter-in-place plan that is activated and are keeping themselves as safe as possible, knowing that it is possible that we will be without any emergency services for the immediate future.

As we are able, neighbors help neighbors nearby. 

Those with radio communication skills like ham operators will be able to share news and critical information when cell phones and the internet are down. There are many licensed ham operators in the Sunnyside neighborhood.

We are calm and do the best we can because we all prepared ahead of time.

We prepare, and then we improvise.

Where are you on the preparedness continuum? Start where you are and keep going!