Buckman Community Association
By Susan Lindsay
At the October 8 meeting, staff from Portland Bureau of Transportation presented on two separate areas of their interest which could affect Buckman, the proposed west Buckman “Green Loop” and a look at forming a potential new parking district in residential areas of east Buckman with parking meters.
At our upcoming November 12 meeting, representatives from the Bureau of Planning will come to present on their efforts toward upzoning a large portion of the inner eastside of Portland (12th-60th avenues, SE Powell Blvd. to NE Fremont St.) including the historic areas to eliminate all single family, duplex, four-plex and cluster housing zoning and replacing it with universal, multi-story, multi-unit apartment zoning. Also at this meeting will be representatives from Portland for All, an up-zoning advocacy group, and Save NE Portland, a grassroots group opposing the city’s efforts at this mass rezoning. Information about both of these groups can be found on their respective websites. There will be time for presenters, Q & A, and audience comment and discussion. Community members are encouraged to come in person, but we host a hybrid link too. Please join us for what will certainly be a lively and interesting discussion!
Regarding Buckman Elementary, the BCA is sending a letter to the PPS superintendent and school board members, in opposition to a proposed closure of our neighborhood school and its highly regarded arts programming. We will be having a standing open agenda item each month for the potential school closure issue.
Buckman meetings are held every second Thursday of the month save August, 7-9 pm at 1302 SE Ankeny St., in the Imago Dei fellowship room. Enter on the corner of SE 13th Ave. and SE Ankeny St. Meetings are also available via our hybrid link found on our website, buckmanpdx.org. Past meeting minutes are found there, too. Contact the BCA anytime: buckmanboard@googlegroups.com.
Hosford-Abernethy Neighborhood District
By Jill Riebesehl
The chock-full October Board meeting of the Hosford-Abernethy Neighborhood District kept us past our deadline. City staff members from the Portland Bureau of Transportation provided detailed information on how Vision Zero is working to make our streets safer and, further, how parking districts are established and new ones added. Also, the Clinton-Division Business Association requested our Enhanced Service District support.
An Abernethy Elementary PTA spokesperson described plans for resurfacing the grounds at the school. We were asked to support their request of a grant from Percent for Green. Stephanie Englesman, a nonpartisan rep on the Portland School Board for our district, gave her rundown on the schools closure situation.
On a lighter note, we learned about the nonprofit Portland Fruit Tree Project, pertinent this banner year of apples, plums, figs and persimmons hitting the ground in SE Portland. And news had just come in about Amazon’s interest in delivering packages to customers via drones in Portland, a possibility we tossed around. Next month, for starters, we will be exploring more fully the need for street-corner daylighting.
For more detailed reports on HAND meetings, you can find the minutes on our website as soon as we have approved them. We meet every second Tuesday (not December or August) on the St. Philip Neri campus at 7 pm.
Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association
By David Petrozzi
Camus once said, “Autumn is a second Spring where every leaf is a flower,” and this one sure has been special. Thank you everyone for making the second annual Mt. Tabor neighborhood yard sale a big success! Over 80 neighbors participated in the event, which drew plenty of visitors into our area over the course of the weekend. Early reports indicate a good time was had by…if not all, certainly most…and we’re already looking forward to next year.
During our October meeting, PBOT liaison Sishanah Oppenheim delivered a thoughtful update regarding the ongoing 82nd Avenue Transit Design Project. This is a major redesign of an important traffic corridor featuring BAT lanes, new hydrogen buses, stop balancing, improved sidewalks/ADA ramps and much more in an overall effort to make public transit faster and more reliable. We also heard from a community member beginning to organize emergency preparedness efforts in our neighborhood. Her activities seek to promote community resilience by focusing on things within our personal control, especially to combat the pernicious pitfall of learned helplessness. One idea: simply start small with something practical like creating a home emergency supply kit, and then build up from there. Going forward, we’ll be working in a more organized way with similar groups around town to provide opportunities for like minded neighbors to join together on this topic.
Monthly land use updates centered on a massive redesign currently in the planning process for SE 60th Ave. and Stark St. Current ideas include building row-homes that add up to 24 multifamily townhouse units. Community members expressed hope this development will proceed in a thoughtful way, with respect for irreplaceable old growth trees (several 100+ years old are on the lot), and proper attention paid to parking, traffic, pedestrian safety and preserving what makes Portland special.
MTNA meets on the second Wednesday each month, and you can join us in person at Taborspace or online via Zoom. Our next meeting will be November 11, 7-8:30 pm. Check out our website, mttaborpdx.org, to sign up and get more info.
Richmond Neighborhood Association
By Allen Field
The Richmond Neighborhood Association (RNA) Board met October 12 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.
Bill Cunningham, Bureau of Planning & Sustainability (BPS), explained the Inner Eastside Zoning Project. The city is in Phase 2 of a four-phase comprehensive eastside zoning analysis to update zoning to allow for more housing choices in the inner eastside, which will allow for more apartments throughout the area. Phase 3 will be a review of zoning alternatives, with a target date of Spring 2027. Phase 4 will be a discussion draft in Summer 2027. A zoning update proposal will be presented to Council in 2028. The project will include inventorying existing historic resources and working with PBOT to examine infrastructure improvements needed to support growth. In the Spring, Cunningham will report on the alternative zoning approaches BPS has identified.
Richmond resident Steve Holland gave a presentation on a proposal to close off SE 47th Ave. to form a cul de sac and connect the two sides of Ivon Park. The project could keep the site as a Portland park or convert it to a street plaza under the Bureau of Transportation. Significant outreach to neighbors with wide support was described. The RNA recommended that Parks & Rec and/or PBOT staff be invited to an RNA meeting to explain the process and public involvement requirements to modify the park or create a street plaza so that the RNA can assist in that process.
We are always in need of people to help deliver the quarterly Richmond News. If you are not receiving it, it’s because there is no delivery person for the route where you live. Contact rnanewsletter@gmail.com if you want to help distribute the newsletter.
South Tabor Neighborhood Association
By Cathy Kudlick
Join your neighbors and make new friends at the South Tabor Neighborhood Association (STNA) in person at 7 pm on the third Thursday of the month. Thanks to the generosity of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, we now have a regular meeting place at 5415 SE Powell Blvd. In exchange, we ask neighbors to arrive with cans of food and other non-perishables to donate to their weekly food bank.
Recent STNA visitors have included representatives speaking for and against Portland’s ballot measure 26-267. We also heard updates from TriMet about the new FX bus service planned to replace line 72, the city’s busiest route.
Last but not least, we discussed the end-of-year happy hour that in recent years has filled in for December’s regular meeting.
Bring your enthusiasm, your curiosity, your ideas and of course an unexpired can or two or three to our next in-person meeting, Thursday, November 19, 7 pm at St. Mark’s.
To learn more about us (including through back issues of our quarterly newsletter, the South Tabor Crow) and to get on our low-traffic mailing list, visit southtabor.org.