Rosa Parks Max Station

A Salute to Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama after refusing to give up her seat to a white man while riding on a segregated bus.

Rosa Parks' courageous act drew national attention to simple truths: A public transit system paid for by all must benefit all, and civil rights must be protected for all.

Rosa Parks Station
In honor of Ms. Parks' courage, TriMet is proud to announce the renaming of the Portland Blvd Yellow Line MAX Station to the Rosa Parks Station at 10am on her birthday, Wednesday February 4th, 2009 at New Seasons (corner of N. Interstate Ave & Rosa Parks Way). Join us!

Redistricting of Police Precincts

Last night North Portland neighbors gathered together to discuss the proposal of closing the North Portland Police Precinct with Assistant Police Chief Brian Martinek.  Below are notes from that meeting.

 
HISTORY: About October/November 2008 all bureaus in the city were notified that there would be reduced revenue for the city by 2 to 2 1/2 percent. PPD looked at a list of 92 priorities that were considered core to their mission, they ranked them by priority.  The list was cut to 88 from 92.  The proposals are due to the Office of Finance and Management on February 2. The budget forecast comes out in March, every bureau will be affected.
 
However, at the meeting it was determined that the forecast was worse than originally thought and the cuts would likely go to 5%; possibly a little higher for FY 09 and 10.  (FY for Portland is July 1 - June 30).
 
The proposals will be sent to the city commissioners and the mayor to be finalized at the end of June.

 
The proposal goes from 5 Portland precincts to 3 precincts, restructuring management.  The training center that is located in Clackamas and the Justice Center will be moved to the North Precinct building.   The traffic center will be moved to the SE precinct.  Both of these moves will result in approximately 1/2 million $$$ in lease cost savings.  This also results in centralizing the training. 
 
The North Precinct building will remain a full service building.  It will not be a home base for officers, however, there will be officers still working out of the building.  They will need to pickup their equipment from the NE Precinct before going to the N precinct.  North Portland will be primarily a training facility, but will meet the needs of the community.  There will be Captains added to remaining precincts to oversee day to day operations; Commanders will be responsible for community initiatives.
 
Not leasing a traffic building, results in 3 1/2 million $$$$ given back to the city. 
 
The proposal will result in 21 additional patrol officers, however, several others will be demoted, ie commanders, sergeants (the patrol officers will come from the ranks that will be demoted).
 
It was stated that response time will not be affected, in fact, it may improve.  For example, during shift change, there is a lag time, by consolidating; it gives the opportunity for more shifts.  Most likely, they will go from 3 shifts to 5 shifts. 
 
The community would like to see better communication and more transparency between police and the community.  For instance, there were people at the meeting wanting to know why there was very little communication/notice time of the cuts.
 
There is a possibility there will be cuts in officers able to attend neighborhood meetings. 
 
The current map was designed on call load.  It will likely be tweaked so not to divide neighborhoods. 
 
The 3 precincts will be North (MLK and Killingsworth), SE (106th and between Stark and Washington) and Central (downtown).
 
Bottom line, police are dedicated and the priority will be given to safety on the street said Assistant Police Chief Brian Martinek.

 

For the Sentinel article: http://www.portlandsentinel.com/?q=node/3986.

Portland Is Better Together!

Portland City Council went into the community this afternoon to launch an initiative to encourage and better connect Portlanders to resources they might need during the national downturn that has hit families and businesses particularly hard.

"My City Council colleagues and I understand the importance of having a strong support network in place at all times, but especially in times as challenging as these," Mayor Sam Adams said.

The action by City Council highlights goals of the Portland is Better Together initiative, which encourages Portlanders to Give Help, Get Help, and Choose Local.

In announcing Portland is Better Together, Mayor Adams and the four City Commissioners – Amanda Fritz, Nick Fish, Randy Leonard and Dan Saltzman – took the lead in addressing the need by volunteering at Oregon Food Bank.

"The President-elect has issued a call to service, challenging all Americans to not only 'look after ourselves, but each other,' " Commissioner Fish said.

"Volunteering with an organization like the Oregon Food Bank has a
direct impact on the quality of people's lives and health."

At portlandisbettertogether.com, the community will find:

• links to direct neighbors and businesses to organizations that can help them;
• options to explore volunteer needs and find where to make donations;
• ways to support local businesses and strengthen our economy;
• outlets to read and post local stories, nominate a community hero,
• or take the "I Choose Local Pledge;"

For assistance or help with questions, call 503-823-4000 or visit PortlandIsBetterTogether.com.

Free Workshops!

One of my favorite Portland Blogs is Around The Sun. Amy Reyes' posts about free events and local deals weekly.

Check out her recent post titled "Free Workshops on Lowering Energy and Food Bills."

The two workshops that are coming up are on Wednesday, January 21st and on Wednesday, January 28th. Both at Lent Elementary School. Both events are being sponsored by ROSE Community Development. Please see her blog post for more information.

N/NE Patching Up Old Wounds

Steve Law with the Portland Tribune has a recent article on touches upon many of the events over the last 60 years that have impacted Portland's African-American community.

At the end of the article, I found the following detailed events very eye opening...

• 1948: Flooding overruns Vanport, a wartime city near present-day Delta Park in North Portland, destroying 5,295 housing units and displacing 17,000 people, 35 percent of them black
• 1960: Memorial Coliseum completed; 476 housing units destroyed, 46 percent of them occupied by blacks
• 1961-1966: Interstate 5 freeway through North Portland completed; displaces 125 homes occupied by blacks and numerous black-owned businesses
• 1964-1973: Albina Neighborhood Improvement Program; Portland Development Commission spends $2 million on home-repair loans in inner North and Northeast Portland, builds Unthank Park near North Shaver Street and Kerby Avenue, makes sidewalk and other improvements
• 1970-1973: Emanuel Hospital urban renewal; with city’s assistance, 188 nearby homes and black commercial node at N. Russell and Williams are cleared to make way for hospital expansion; Emanuel halts work in April 1973 with loss of federal funding, leaving some blocks undeveloped for decades
• 1970-1975: Neighborhood Development Program – using $14 million in federal Model Cities funds, PDC pays for home-repair loans and community services in inner north and northeast neighborhoods
• 1993: Oregon Convention Center Urban Renewal Area expanded to include part of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard; city excludes residential areas because of bad blood left from Emanuel land clearing
• 2000: PDC creates Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area, in tandem with extension of MAX line along Interstate Boulevard
• 2008: PDC begins study to expand urban renewal in North and Northeast Portland

You can read the full article HERE.

Gang Activity

The Oregonian's Maxine Bernstein has posted two recent articles on the escalating gang violence in N/NE Portland.

"Portland Call Portland-Area Gang Wars a Crisis"

"Portland Mobilizes On Gang War"

PNA Bylaws

The PNA Board has unanimously* voted to present the following alterations to our bylaws:

1. Change general meetings from monthly to quarterly. Our goal with this change is to allow
   the board more time to organize meetings that are more productive and beneficial.
2. Repeal board term limits. Currently the bylaws limit board position participation to
   two years. Two year limits do not allow for continuity in the NA's efforts.

A vote on these changes will occur at our next general meeting. That meeting is Thursday 2009-01-29 @ 7pm and will be held at the Peninsula Park Community Center's Fireside Room.

*1 absent

PNA Email List

From Historical Pics

If you are not already on our email list, you sign up by popping over to http://www.piedmontneighborhood.com/ and then clicking the Mailing List link. Emails from the PNA go out about once a month.

Of course, we will never share or sell the information you submit.

Sunday Parkways 2009 shhhhh

I've been sworn to secrecy regarding a proposed 2009 return of Portland Sunday Parkways as many details as it is still evolving. So until I can give you better information, I present to you BikePortland.org's video from Sunday Parkways' 2008 event.

New Crime Prevention Coordinator

North Portland's Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) has a new Crime Prevention Coordinator. Everyone please welcome Mark Wells to the neighborhood!

Mark has asked all who are active in the community or just interested in crime prevention to fill out a questionnaire. Click HERE for the questionnaire. When finished, you can fax to 503-285-5614.

Soon we'll be hearing from Mark regarding 2009's efforts like Graffiti Cleanup, Spiffin' Up Albina and others. As soon as I hear, it'll be up on our blog!

Mark's contact information is...
Mark Wells
Crime Prevention Program Coordinator
8134 N. Denver
Portland, Oregon, 97217
Phone: 503-823-4098
Fax: 503-285-5614
Email: Mark.Wells@ci.portland.or.us

Parks Budget Cuts

This Saturday, Portland Parks & Recreation is holding a public meeting where the public can hear about and respond to their budget cuts.

One of the proposed "efficiencies" is to close Peninsula Park Community Center (PPCC) daily at 5pm. While we all understand that tough choices must be made given the current economic climate, the impact on the community of closing the PPCC early could be dramatic. Among all the services that PPCC offers, I feel that providing a save, constructive and supervised location for the neighborhood's youth to gather is the most important.

The Piedmont Neighborhood Association's Parks Chair, Sabrina Harris, will be there. However, it is important for residents who want to voice their opinions to attend the meeting this Saturday as that is currently the only method Parks is allowing for input (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop

Portland Parks and the East Columbia Neighborhood Association are hosting Fruit Tree Pruning workshops on January 17th and Feburary 21st.

For more info, click the image below for a larger one where you can read more about the event. They ask that you RSVP by contacting them at TREES@CI.PORTLAND.OR.US

Bike Safety Workshop

The BTA and the NE Coalition of Neighborhoods is hosting a Bike Safety Workshop on Thursday the 15th.

Click the image below for a larger version so you can read all about it.

Potholes!

Some useful information here in the Bureau of Transportation's latest press release...

WINTER STORM BRINGS MORE POTHOLES

This winter's early heavy snowfall caused treacherous driving conditions for motorists, and it is also creating another potential hazard - potholes. The combination of heavy snow and rain, freezing and expanding of moisture under pavement, and thawing has produced potholes, and Maintenance Operations crews busy with sand and gravel cleanup, flood preparation and response, and more snow removal efforts in the West Hills have had limited time and resources to make needed repairs. But pothole patch crews are rolling.

"It's an ongoing battle," said Mayor Sam Adams. "On Monday we received two dozen calls to our Pothole Hotline. On Wednesday we received five dozen calls."

Call the Pothole Hotline at 503-823-BUMP (2867)

Listen to the recording and be prepared to provide some basic information, including the location of the pothole, nearest cross street, your name and contact information, and the time and date of your call.

The Hotline is checked daily. Upon receiving a report, a staff member determines that the street is in fact a Portland-maintained street. It would be a violation of City policy for the program to repair a pothole on a non-maintained street or a street that is the responsibility of another city, the County, or the State.

Pothole repair crews are given their lists each morning and work their way around the city in assigned geographic areas. Crews aim to investigate every pothole on city maintained streets within 48 hours of being notified, although weather, emergencies, and other work demands can sometimes require response times longer than 48 hours.

If weather or other conditions prohibit a permanent thermal patch repair, a cold patch repairs the immediate hazard and crews follow up the emergency repairs with permanent repairs during warmer and drier periods.

To report a pothole in other jurisdictions outside the city of Portland, use the following numbers:
Clackamas County - 503-650-3262
Multnomah County - 503-988-5050
Washington County - 503-846-7623
Beaverton - 503-526-3709
Gresham - 503-618-2525
Lake Oswego - 503-635-0280
Milwaukie - 503-786-7600
ODOT Freeways - 503-283-5859

According to Mayor Adams, "Any time is the right time to call in your request for a pothole repair." He also encourages motorists to pay attention to road conditions and drive safely.

Fighter Wing Training Noise

From Misc

PDX has announced that from Jan 5th to 8th the Oregon Air National Guard's fighters will be performing evening training. It is anticipated that the flights will be completed by 9:30pm. You are encouraged to contact the Port of Portland's Noise Management Department for more information. Click HERE for their www site.

Hey buddy! Want a rebate on a new toilet?

I just read (on our The Portland Sentinel's blog) that Portland Water Bureau customers can recieve a $100 rebate for installing an EPA "WaterSense" toilet. Read more on the Sentinel's blog (HERE), or on the Water Bureau's we site... HERE.

Piedmont'er in the news

Quick congrats to Piedmont'er Amy Ruiz who has left the Portland Mercury and joined new mayor Sam Adams' staff!

Piedmont's own Jonathan Maus' site BikePortland.org has more HERE.


(pic from BikePortland.org's photostream)

Native Plant Workshops

East Multnomah Soil and Water Converstation District is offering 2 FREE Native Plant Workshops to help you learn more about which native plants are most appropriate for your yard, property or project. You’ll walk away with great information that will help you make the right decision about which plants to purchase.

The first is on Jan 27th and is titled "Native Plants for Urban Gardening." The second workshop is Jan 29th and is titled "Native Plants for Large Properties and Restoration Properties." More info on the workshops HERE.

Lame people, let me count the ways... (pt 2)

Good news...I'm a new pet owner. Bad news...I'm now keenly aware that some fellow residents do not pick up their dog's poop. Ugh. Okay, look folks, before I start setting up laser sensors, sonar and cameras...please remember to pick up your dog's...um..."gifts" to your neighbors.

Lame people, let me count the ways... (pt 1)

From Misc

The day before there is FREE e-cycling for TVs and other such appliances here in Oregon, someone who is now certainly off my Christmas card list left the pictured TV on my street. Lame.

So...if y'all have electronics and are considering dropping them off on my street, perhaps I could steer you to Oregon's free e-cycling efforts. More info HERE.

Urban Adventure League

On the very big list of "Things I want to do" here in Portland is to participate in one of Shawn Granton's Urban Adventure League events.

His next event is on Jan. 10th and is a hike up to Council Crest. Details HERE.

The event after that is a "Palm Tree" bike ride through Portland on Jan. 18th. Details HERE.