Community News September 2016

Development on 82nd Ave. of Rosesmap

 

The property adjacent to Madison High School is scheduled to be developed by Capstone, a local four member development firm. They have a contract to purchase the twelve and one-half acre site and plan to build a 112,000 square foot space to house three retailers.

According to Lauren Golden Jones, the plans to begin construction will begin as soon as the challenges of cleaning up this brownfield are completed. This vacant lot is mostly polluted by construction and organic debris. There is also a problem with stormwater run-off that will have to be resolved.

Dharma Rain, a Soto Zen Buddhist temple and campus and  residential community is also on the same piece of property and had to be cleaned up before they could build on this site.

DEQ is happy to know that one more brownfield property is being cleaned up and made usable. Golden Jones said the preferred method to clean up the land is a process called methane extraction.

According to online research, other methods include venting or burning. Only extraction properly disposes of the potentially hazardous gas.

Brian Wong, a member of the 82nd Ave. Improvement Coalition, says most members are neutral about this development. After looking at the site plans, his concerns are that it will be another autocentric development.

Instead of doing a typical parking lot out front with buildings in the back, Wong would like to see it broken up more like the buildings at Eastport Plaza.

His thinking is that if the buildings were closer to the sidewalk and the parking lot softened with rainwater bioswales it would create more pedestrian appeal.

Establishing development like this would be more in keeping with one of the City mantra’s to get people out of their cars for walking or biking.

Wong’s other idea is to have only one entry off a sidestreet at the light in front of Madison High School instead of having two entring 82nd Ave.

Capstone currently has a contract to purchase with the City. As soon as the process of the land clean-up is complete, they will disclose more about the potential tenants and site plans.

Eisteddfod – an annual Bardic contest

Sharpen your pencils, quills (and keyboards). The Order of the Sacred Oaks, and the Sacred Oak Grove are sponsoring the 16th Annual Eisteddfod. This is a traditional Bardic contest with wonderful prizes awarded for original works in poetry, short stories and song/music. The contest is free to enter and free to attend.

All entries must be on a pagan, Celtic, Wiccan or Druidic theme and must be performed (DH’s allowed) at the Eisteddfod. The contest is held Sunday, September, 18 at 2 pm at the Portland Pagan Pride Festival in Sellwood’s Oaks Park. Children are welcome.

Entries must be postmarked no later than midnight, Sunday, September, 11 or hand-delivered to the address by 5 pm Wednesday, September 14.

Full details and entry forms available at Moonshadow, 3819 SE Belmont St. Call 503.235.5774 or email sacredoak@moonshadowmagick.com.

Recycling tip

By Bonita Davis, Master Recycler and Sunnyside resident

Food pouches are quickly emerging as the packaging of choice. Everything from soup to nuts can be found in these “plastic” pouches.

The flat, squared bottom surface, keeps them upright on shelves, or they can hang from racks, and may feature a screw top, spout or zipper. Clear panels let you to see what’s inside.

Packed with baby food, snack foods, juices, coffee beans, baking supplies, trail and camping foods, meats and cheeses, they are also used for healthcare items, lawn and garden products, cleaning supplies and more.

The industry points out that the convenient squeezable, portable containers excel at protecting contents, and save on shipping costs by being lighter than other packaging. However, food pouches are not recyclable.

It is easy to be confused.  Pouches may come in various shades of green, be stamped as environmentally friendly and contain Certified Organic or GMO Free products. One was spotted with the recognizable chasing arrows but with no number and a very faint diagonal backslash through the symbol.

The pouches are not just a simple plastic film. They are usually a composite of two or more fused materials, such as aluminum, plastic, polyester, polyethylene, Mylar, paperboard, plus additional materials used for the spout, cap, lid or zipper.

These combinations are difficult to recycle. Although a food pouch may not take up a great deal of landfill space, the cumulative volume is worth thinking about.

If you seek alternatives, consider fresh whole fruits and vegetables, choose alternative packaging, buy bulk (bring your own containers) or shop at meat or cheese counters. If you like pouches, you can purchase BPA-free reusable pouches locally.

Investigate the innovations being made by Terracycle at terracycle.com. Methods to clean and extrude polymers from select brands of food pouches can recover material that can be recycled.

Other products, such as select juice pouches can be upcycled into creative new products. Their mail-in programs provide opportunities for school or group fundraisers by collecting hard to recycle items.

Strut Your Mutt

Best Friends Animal Society’s Strut Your Mutt, presented by BOBS from Skechers, may be the most fun people can have helping to save the lives of homeless dogs and cats. The online fundraising event and dog festival brings together rescue groups, shelters and individuals to celebrate the collective effort of saving shelter pets in 14 cities including Portland, across the country.

In 2015, more than 13,000 people laced up their shoes, leashed up their pups and helped raise more than $1.7 million for homeless pets. With a national fundraising goal of $3 million for this year, Strut Your Mutt promises to be an even bigger lifesaving event in 2016.

Here, the fundraising goal is $100,000. Strut Your Mutt will be held Saturday, September 10, at Sellwood Riverfront Park. Registration starts at 8 am. The walk begins at 9 am and the festival ends at noon. For information on participating rescue groups and shelters, a list of events, and directions, go to bit.ly/StrutYourMuttPortland.

Actress Amanda Seyfried and her dog Finn are the national spokesperson and spokesdog for this year’s event, inspiring the #9000Steps Challenge to raise awareness for the estimated 9,000 dogs and cats killed every day in America’s shelters simply because they do not have a safe place to call home.

Best Friends Animal Society is the only national animal welfare organization dedicated to ending the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters. A leader in the no-kill movement, the group runs the nation’s largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals, adoption centers and spay and neuter facilities in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. Their lifesaving programs partner with more than 1,400 rescue groups and shelters across the country.

For more information, see bestfriends.org.

Neighborhood Dessert Meetup

The Center for Earth Leadership is hosting a neighborhood Dessert Meetup, Wednesday,  September 28 at 7 pm for SE parents who might be interested in joining the Portland Eco-School Network community for the upcoming school year.

Eco-School parents help “green” the experience of their children at school. At the meetup, fellow parents from the Franklin and Cleveland school clusters will learn about possibilities to be involved during the 2016-17 school year. Feel free to bring other interested parents.

For some parents, Eco-School involvement may mean organizing an annual Halloween Costume Swap, a school garden, or a bike and walk to school train.

For others, it’s Oregon Green School certification and a wind turbine installation for the students to monitor.

Parents at any interest level are welcome to join the network and be great additions for the “new class” this fall in a SE home of a Portland Eco-School mom.

RSVP to Jeanne Roy at 503.244.0026 or Jeanne@earthleaders.org and she’ll send you the name of your host and directions.

More information at: earthleaders.org.

Destination Dahlia Festival

mark

Even though Mark Harvey has moved Old House Dahlias to Tillamook, he will continue to hold the Dahlia Festival at his new location on the coast and everyone is invited.

What began as a hobby to help pay the mortgage – growing dahlias in the yard of his old house in Montavilla – eventually turned into a business that has been flowering the houses and yards and salads of the people in the area for the past eleven years.

The decision to move his business to the coast was spurred on by a couple of different factors. He needed more room to grow and this years festival features three acres of paths through his dahlia fields and an acre of sunflowers.

The most beautifully colored flowers come from the coast. The overcast skies help keep the blooms from fading so they represent their truest, richest colors.

Mark learned the importance of  amending soil and soil conservation while growing fodder for cows on his brother-in-law’s dairy farm early on in his process.

“The soil in this area  is perfect because their is good drainage and plenty of water,” he said.

The festival this year will take place the first two weekends in September.

Sept. 3 and 4,  10 am – 5 pm

Sept. 10, 11, 10 – 5 pm

The new address is 11600 Highway 101 So. off Tillamook.

There will be Blue Star Coffee, Pelican Brewery, live music and picnic tables. Bring a lunch and head to the coast for a day at the Old House Dahlia Festival.

For more information call Mark at 503.741.85430 or 503.771.1199.

Meet your neighbors  and reduce crime

Sunnyside Neighborhood Association (SNA) is partnering with the City of Portland’s Crime Prevention Program to offer a neighborhood-wide training event for neighbors who wish to start a Neighborhood Watch (NW) on their individual blocks.

The meeting is Tuesday, September 20 from 6:30 – 8:30 pm at Sunnyside Community Center, 3520 SE Yamhill St.

Two individuals per block are invited to attend this training and take this information and material back to their respective blocks and form new Watch groups.

Attending the training and becoming a Watch Organizer does not take much time.

Organizers are asked to go back to their blocks and hold a fun, neighborhood gathering; hand out packets, review basic crime prevention information and collect their neighbors basic contact information to produce a Block Map.

Once the map is created and distributed to participating members, the new Neighborhood Watch is up and running.

The Neighborhood Watch program has teamed up with Portland’s Bureau of Emergency Management to provide a brief discussion and outreach for Neighborhood Emergency Teams (NET) program, the Public Alerts system.

This encourages Watch groups to incorporate general emergency preparedness planning with their crime prevention practices.

It has been a successful and well-received addition to the standard Watch training as crime prevention and emergency preparedness go hand in hand.

For more information on the Neighborhood Watch program see portlandoregon.gov/oni/article/320557

 SUN PROGRAM NEEDS VOLUNTEERS – the Impact NW SUN (Schools Uniting Neighbor) Program is in dire need of nurturing, and positive kid friendly volunteers! If you need classroom experience for your degree or just Love helping children the this is for you! We are a team of passionate teachers and are looking to grow. There is a high need for classroom assistants, one on one tutoring and inclusionary service. If you are interested in volunteering at Buckman Sun contact Joe Hanna, or jhanna@impactnw.org

 FIRST VIKING BREAKFAST OF AUTUMN – Sunday, September 11 from 8 am to 1 pm. All-you-can-eat pancakes, with sides of scrambled eggs, sausages, fresh fruit, fruit compote, orange juice, tea and lots of coffee. A Children’s Nordic story time is held in our Library at 10 am.  Free, on-street parking nearby. Adults $7, kids 5 – 12 $4 children 5 and under free at The Norse Hall – 111 NE 11th St.

GENEALOGICAL FORUM OF OREGON BOOK BONANZA – Saturday, September 17, from 10 am – 4 pm in the main lobby of the Ford Building, 2505 SE 11th. Hundreds of great books. An eclectic collection ranging from history, Pacific Northwest, Canada, travel, French cooking, nature, North American fur trade, genealogy, much more at unbeatable prices. Buy any book for $1 each or buy a GFO tote bag for $5 and fill it with books. You pay only $5.

ST MARK’S RUMMAGE SALE – Friday September 17, from 9 am to 4 pm. St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 5415 SE Powell Blvd Between 54th and 55th, on the #9 bus line. Enter from the parking lot behind the building. The sale has everything you didn’t know you needed!

MONTAVILLA COMMUNITY FLEA MARKET – Oct 16, 11 am – 4 pm located in the Portland Garment Factory parking lot at 408 SE 79th. There will be local vendors of vintage, antiques, collectibles, high quality handmade products and more. Family-friendly. Contact for vending is: drowsyswords@gmail.com

PORTLAND CATIO TOUR – Saturday, September 10 presented by the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon and the Portland Audubon Society with four locations right in your neighborhood: 2808 SE Clay St.; 2642 SE 48th Ave., 3727 SE Woodward St., 3909 SE 28th Pl. The Catio Tour is a popular Portland event, in its 4th year. Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, 503.797.2606, ext. 103, feralcats.com

BIKE FOR PEACE 2016 PEACE RIDE, FILM SCREENING & FIESTA – Saturday, September. 24. Events include: Rose City Peace Ride, 4 – 6 pm, beginning at 425 NW 18th Ave. to Hostelry International (HI) on Hawthorne Blvd. Peace flags and shirts encouraged. Film Screening and Fiesta, from 6 – 10 pm at HI Portland, 3031 SE Hawthorne Blvd. A Portland debut of the award winning documentary Rising from Ashes will be shown. Other events include: DJ Anjali, a bicycle raffle,  a veggie, vegan and carnivore friendly BBQ, local beer, ice-cream and popcorn provided. Free and open to the public. Shine blue for peace by wearing blue and/or blue illuminations. Contact: michele.machado@hiusa.org for details or to volunteer.

LEAD POISONING PREVENTION WORKSHOP – Free workshop. Wednesday, September 7, 11 am – 12 pm at the Community Energy Project, 2900 SE Stark St. Suite A. Participants learn how to prevent lead exposure in their home. Great for households with children or pregnant women in housing older than 1978, or those concerned about lead exposure. Qualified participants receive a free kit of safety and testing supplies.  Register for the workshop at communityenergyproject.org or call 503.284.6827×109.

FREE DANCE LESSON AND COUPLES DANCE – Bring your dance partner to the beautiful historic Laurelhurst Club to welcome in the Fall and the start of a new Dance Season. The first dance is Saturday, September 10 with a Social and Dance Lesson beginning at 7 pm and Taska & The Party Band from 7:30 to 10:30 pm . Dress is business casual, refreshments and  snacks will be served. Hosts for the evening are The Hubbards, Tremblays, VanWinkles, and Lachenmeiers. RSVP to Gerry Hubbard:  Gerry.Hubbard@gmail.com/440.667.7796. The Laurelhurst Club, 3721 SE Ankeny St, 503.206.4076.

FAMILY FUN AND HEALTH FAIR – September 24, 10 am – 4 pm at Taborspace, 5441 SE Belmont St. Events include: live music and dancing from  11 am – 4 pm; food, beverages, beer and cider garden; a free family holistic health clinic; Naturopathic Doctors, Medical Doctors, Massage therapists, Acupuncturists, Nutritional therapists, Holistic information and products; childcare (by donation); face painting, yoga for kids, herb bundling, bubbles, bunny rabbits, hula hooping. Free parking, located on #15 bus line. Suggested sliding-scale donation $10-$20 per family though no one will be turned away for lack of $.

MASS SHELTERS AND HOUSING ZONING CODE UPDATE – Amendments affecting mass shelters, short-term housing and the design/historic review of affordable housing. Copies of this report are available on the project website at portlandoregon.gov/bps/71246; at the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, 1900 SW 4th Ave., 7th floor. Mailed to you if you call 503.823.7700. Provide written testimony on these proposals to the Planning and Sustainabilty Commission anytime prior to their public hearing on Tuesday, September 13. Email to pic@portlandgoregongov. Include the term “Accessary Structures” in the subject line, or faxed to 503.823.7700. For more information on how to provide testimony, check the PSC web page at portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/383947.

SPIRIT OF PORTLAND NOMINATIONS – the deadline for submitting the Spirit of Portland nominations is 4 pm, Monday, September 26. Step 1: Complete the nomination form for the organization or individual you want to nominate. Download the form at portlandoregon.gov/oni/article/401783 or portlandoregon.gov/oni/article/409720.Step Two: Submit a one to two page narrative describing how the nominee exemplifies any of the categories and attach it to this nomination form. Use a 12-point font or greater. The Selection Committee will not review additional pages. Step Three: Submit the form and narrative to the Office of Neighborhood Involvement, Attn: SOP, 4747 E Burnside Street or email to spiritofportland@portlandoregon.gov, fax.503.823.2909. Questions? Call Marco Mejia: 503.823.3093 or email marco.mejia@portlandoregon.gov.

 

 

Community News September 2016

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