Buckman Community Association
By Susan Lindsay
Buckman Summer Events are here!! Saturday, August 1, the Buckman Community Association is once again co-sponsoring Buckman Movie in the Park Night at Colonel Summers Park. Join us that evening for free popcorn, and a showing of the classic 1997 sci-if spoof, Men in Black. Bring your kids, friends, family and a towel, blanket or lawn chairs. Then Sunday, August 2, join the BCA for our 14th Annual Buckman Picnic in the Park. This free, all are welcome event, features music, snacks, free ice cream for kids, bouncy house, baby goats to cuddle, popcorn, face painting, fire truck visit, and of course, splash pad fun! The picnic runs earlier this year, 2-6 pm, so don’t miss it! Music acts include Flamencas Silvestres, a trio of women playing and dancing Flamenco, bluesy singer/songwriter Cody Weathers and others.
These all-volunteer events are of course not free for the BCA to produce, and we welcome donations great and small which are completely tax deductible! Donating is so easy and you’ll get a receipt sent out. Use our Give Lively button found on our website, buckmanpdx.org.
We also need day of event volunteers! Contact us at buckmanpicnicteam@googlegroups.com to volunteer. Volunteering even just an hour really helps and we really need you! Sponsors this year include Councilor Tiffany Koyama-Lane, Community Bridges Inc., the new contractor for the Coordinated Pathways (Deflection) Center, Hinson Church providing tables/chairs, kids activities and cotton candy and many others and we are so grateful for each and every donation. Please help us to be able to continue to produce these fun, free and community positive events with a donation and/or volunteering.
Due to these events, our regular monthly meeting, now held every second Thursday evening at Imago Dei 1302 SE Ankeny St., is canceled for August. Join us next month, September 10, in person or via our hybrid link, when we plan to host a candidate forum for those running for Multnomah County Chair. In October we will have contenders for City Council Position 3. The BCA welcomes everyone who lives, works, owns property or a business in the Buckman Neighborhood. Got an issue? Want to plan an event? Organize a project? Contact us! Email buckmanboard@gogglegroups.com.
HAND
By Jill Riebesehl
Ah, summertime. A free summer movie should provide some relief from the heat: Cool Runnings, a fun family comedy about the 1988 winter Olympics. The show starts around dusk at Sewallcrest Park, Saturday, August 22. Bring a picnic and the family. It is sponsored by the Richmond neighborhood and partly underwritten by us, the Hosford-Abernethy Neighborhood Association (HAND). We helped quickly organize a fun, successful block party July 11 on newly stubbed Caruthers St. and are planning more summer activities, while at the same time mulling over how to solve cycle/pedestrian conflicts on the Eastbank Esplanade. Abernethy PTA reports that volunteers are always needed at the school’s garden.
Gabe Graff, from PBOT’s Central City in Motion, shared detailed traffic planning on SE 11th and 12th avenues from E Burnside St. to SE Hawthorne Blvd. that have been in the works since 2018. Changes involve bus, automobile and bicycle interaction and access. The city is still taking input on the planning proposals. In time, HAND will benefit from this work. Graff also updated us on changes at OMSI, which is starting work on a low-income housing project on one of its parcels. Larger development plans will require a rerouting of SE Water Ave., beneath which will run water and sewer lines and other utilities.
The Board, representing the neighborhood, penned a letter of thanks for the work of PEMO—the city’s Public Environment Management Office—pointing out the new mural on SE Powell Blvd. and the group’s many years of work throughout the city.
But vexed by the drop in services resulting from changes at the Clinton TASS (Triangle Alternative Shelter), the Board will be strongly responding to the loss of PDX Love services that provided patrolling, addressed crime and camping situations and aid to people in distress. HAND is asking that funding be reinstated for PDX Love services. We are reaching out to the mayor, District 3 city councilors, city staff and our state representative and senator.
And, finally, we are brainstorming on ways to make our meetings more accessible to neighbors and businesses. Stay tuned. HAND meets every second Tuesday on the St. Philip Neri campus, 7-9 pm, except August and December.
Montavilla Neighborhood Association
By Steph Cleary
We hope you’re enjoying the glorious season of bountiful plum harvests, wondering if that raccoon is the same one from last year and planning out all 1,000 garden projects you’ll get to by the fall. Summer is in full swing, and so is our neighborhood. We have some ongoing projects we’d love to share with you!
Firstly, our art committee has been working hard on our neighborhood virtual art walk. Do you have a favorite piece of public art in Montavilla? We’re building a map of our community’s public art to create a self-guided walking tour of the area’s extensive artistic footprint. Our goal is to celebrate the incredible diversity of art all around us and inspire neighbors and visitors alike to explore Montavilla.
Secondly, we are looking for nominations for our new “Meet Your Neighbors” segment in our monthly newsletter. We want to shine a light on the people who make Montavilla great. Do you know someone who deserves to be featured? We’re looking for neighbors launching exciting projects, favorite employees at local businesses who always brighten your day, new residents we’d love to welcome, dedicated volunteers or anyone else you think should be celebrated.
Are you a Montavilla resident? Friends of Trees is planting FREE street and yard trees in our neighborhood! We have a wide variety of species to select from. They will provide planting support, tree care education and free watering for street trees.
Lastly, we’re launching a street mural project sponsored by the MNA. Do you know an intersection in the neighborhood that could use some brightening up? Or, even better, are you an artist who can help create and execute a street mural project? We want to hear from you! Submit all your information, nominations and ideas for the above projects through our website, montavilla.org.
I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has supported the MNA with their presence and their skills so far this year! So many of you have been attending events, volunteering and finding creative ways to connect. Neighborhoods don’t become communities by accident—they’re built by people who stop to chat, lend a hand and occasionally rescue each other’s recycling bins from the middle of the street. I love this neighborhood, and I’m so grateful to be your neighbor.
If you want to know more about what the MNA is up to, we meet every second Monday of the month. We’re taking a break in August, but our next meeting is September 14, 6:30-7:30 pm at the Montavilla United Methodist Church. We hope to see you!
Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association
By David Petrozzi
Mark your calendars for the return of the Mt. Tabor Soapbox Derby, returning for its 27th year Saturday, August 15, 10 am-4 pm. This annual event is always a ton of fun for the whole family, featuring temporary food and beverage carts for your full day picnic needs and a friendly cast of colorful characters from around town. Check out soapboxracer.org for more info, including volunteer opportunities. And while you have your pen out, circle September 19 and 20 for the second annual “Taborhood Yard Sale” taking place in various front yards, driveways and garages near you. We’ll publish more details including the neighborhood map soon, stay tuned.
MTNA is also pleased to announce an accessible summit hike to the top of Tabor Monday, August 3, brought to you by The Tabor for All project, in association with the Oregon Wheelchair Hiking group. Open to all skill levels, including families with children, wheelchair users and those with mobility devices; departing at noon from the visitors center. Finally, our older adults project has secured a community grant from AARP and helped organize two notable events at the Center for Positive Aging: a summer block party and an energy saving solutions shindig to help publicize ways eligible adults can save on utility bills and many additional programs designed to help seniors age well.
Can you lend a hand and help out? MTNA meets every second Wednesday of the month, in person at Taborspace and online via Zoom. Join us for our next meeting, August 12, 7 pm. Sign up on our website, mttaborpdx.org, where you can also find meeting minutes, more information on community outreach and join our mailing list.
Richmond Neighborhood Association
By Allen Field
The Richmond Neighborhood Association (RNA) Board met July 13 at Central Christian Church, 1844 SE 39th Ave. Meetings are the second Monday of the month, 7–9 pm, except January. Everyone is welcome in person or via Zoom. The Zoom registration link is at richmondpdx.org and on every agenda, which is sent to the RNA listserv. Meetings are recorded and posted on the RNA’s website, richmondpdx.org. To join the listserv, email richmondnasecretary@gmail.com.
Nick Brodnicki, Executive Director, Division Clinton Business District, explained the city’s Enhanced Service District (ESD) program. The Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID) is one of three ESDs where property management license fees are collected to fund enhanced services such as trash cleanup, events, visitor attraction and business development. Central Eastside Together is a non-profit that manages the CEID. For more information, visit portland.gov/esd/enhanced-services-districts-overview.
Sarah Bunger, SE Uplift, gave an informative overview of the services and programs provided by the SE Uplift Coalition office that oversees the 19 SE neighborhood associations.
Ana Aruajo gave a presentation on the Richmond area MigraWatch rapid response and immigrant support efforts. To get involved or get more information, email contact rsneighbors@proton.me.
Our Ice Cream Social takes place Monday, August 10, 7-8:30 pm at Sewallcrest Park in the SE corner of the park. Everyone is welcome. We have invited the Neighborhood Response Team (NRT) Police Officers and District 3 Councilors. Meet the Board, neighbors, your Council representatives, officers serving this area and enjoy ice cream.
Saturday, August 22 is the Movie in Sewallcrest Park, showing Cool Runnings. Pre-movie entertainment starts at 7:30 pm with One With Heart martial arts demonstration and movie starts at dusk.
The Board reelected Deby Hochhalter as Chair, Fran Davison as Treasurer and Allen Field as Secretary. We ran out of time to appoint committee chairs and liaisons/representatives, which we will do at our September 14 meeting.
The RNA needs volunteers to deliver its quarterly Richmond newsletter. If you don’t receive it, the route you live on lacks a carrier. Contact rnanewsletter@gmail.com to help with deliveries.
The next meeting is August 10 in Sewallcrest Park. Join us for some ice cream.
South Tabor Neighborhood Association
By Cathy Kudlick
At our July meeting, the South Tabor Neighborhood Association (STNA) held our Board elections. We now have a near-fully-staffed Board with one open slot: representative to SE Uplift. If you’re interested, this role is a great way to see how South Tabor’s issues relate to those of the rest of SE Portland and the City. Who knows, it might even lead to higher office! If interested, come to one of our regular in-person meetings, the third Thursday of each month.
In response to neighbor concerns, STNA asked the City to enforce Portland Public Schools’ conditional use permit for Franklin High School (FHS). When FHS was modernized in 2016–17, PPS proposed using an existing path from SE Division St. to SE Woodward St.—half in Clinton Park, half on FHS campus—as one of its required pedestrian connections. The exception was granted, but the permit required that the connection be kept open 6 am-11 pm every day, year round, as this was the only direct, accessible north-south connection through the park and campus. In the years since, PPS has often gated the connection during the required open hours. It has also failed to post the required signage letting the public know the access hours. This is confusing for pedestrians and renders the connection unreliable. The City has notified PPS of the violation and granted an extension until late August for PPS to comply. PPS told the City it will seek to revise its conditional use permit rather than comply with the current requirements. Stay tuned for more.
STNA will be tabling at All City Church’s Taborhood community block party at SE 68th Ave. and SE Taggart St. Wednesday, August 26, 4–7 pm. Come say hi and learn more about us. And of course, there’s always the web (southtabor.org) where you can learn about local businesses and sign up for our quarterly newsletter and low-traffic mailing list.
Sunnyside Neighborhood Association
By Chris Waldmann
The Sunnyside Neighborhood Association (SNA) is excited to announce our first neighborhood yard sale! The event will occur Sunnyside-wide Saturday, September 26, 9 am-3 pm. This is a great opportunity to de-clutter your home, make a bit of extra money and support your local neighborhood association. Registration begins August 1 at sunnysideportland.org/yardsale and requires a $25 tax-deductible donation to the SNA. This donation will cover inclusion of your sale location on both the digital and printed maps.
The SNA is super excited for the upcoming grand reopening of the Belmont Library! Prior to the August 15-16 festivities, the SNA will receive a sneak peak of all the new features that the library will offer the community at our August Board meeting. Join us at 7 pm at SE Uplift to see what’s coming.
We will also be discussing neighborhood concerns over a potential redevelopment of the empty lot at 4511 SE Hawthorne Blvd. into an approximately 150-unit apartment building and how the SNA will engage the developer and city during the development process.
The SNA meets the second Wednesday of the month. Our next Board meeting will be Wednesday, August 12, 7 pm at SE Uplift, 3534 SE Main St., and online at tinyurl.com/sna-zoom. The next General meeting will be September 9. Our next Land Use & Transportation meeting will be Wednesday, August 19 at SE Uplift and online at tinyurl.com/sna-lutc-zoom. All of our meetings are open to the public.