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By Michael Bales

Fresh organic produce and other foods may be available as early as May at a new Sunday farmers market planned for Northeast’s King neighborhood.  The Portland Farmers Market would operate the King Farmers Market in partnership with the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods. A formal agreement is near completion.

The Portland Farmers Market operates four of the city’s 14 markets, including the largest at Portland State University. The only other Sunday market is in Hillsdale.

Ann Forsthoefel, Portland Farmers Market executive director, said a primary site is under consideration but declined to disclose it, pending zoning review. The King Neighborhood Association has been told that a possibility is at or near King Elementary School at Northeast Seventh Avenue south of Alberta Street.

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Dekum Family Health, located on the second floor of the historic Dekum Firehouse, is now open and offers acupuncture and Chinese medicine, including Chinese and western herbs, massage, diet therapy and natural family healthcare.  Felicia Ferruzza, licensed acupuncturist and herbalist works at the health center alongside Dr. Elizabeth Busetto, a naturopathic physician.

Felicia explains the benefits of acupuncture as being a way to “enhance the immune system, increase energy, alleviate pain, decrease stress and help with a wide range of health concerns from cancer and chronic disease to depression, anxiety, insomnia, and stress, as well as to improve overall grounding, healing, and vitality.”

// More Info: 503.954.1697

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From Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods:

BIKE SAFETY WORKSHOP
Thursday, January 15th, 6:30pm
NECN, 4815 NE 7th Ave.

Come learn the laws and skills that apply to biking and sharing the road with cyclists in our city.

Other topics of discussion will include bike lanes, bike boxes, lane positioning, safe passing, sidewalks and crosswalks, lights, helmets, communication, and visibility. The workshop will be interactive with plenty of opportunity for participants to ask questions and/or share their favorite biking tips.

For more information, please contact Sylvia Evans, Cross Cultural Neighborhood Organizer for Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods:  503-823-4113.

From the NE Tool Library:

Due to the continued cold and icy conditions forecasted through the end of the week, we will not open the Tool Library this coming Saturday, December 20. If you have tools checked out, you can hold onto them for another week (we won’t charge late fees) and return them December 27th.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and hope you’ll stay safe and warm.

November is the last month to sign up to purchase discounted trees through Friends of Trees.  The annual tree planting will take place on Saturday, February 28, 2009.  Friends of Trees not only provides a discount on trees, they help choose trees that are appropriate for your space, a team digs the hold for you, a team of  neighbors will plant the trees and volunteers will come check up on your trees.  This program is a great way to plant trees without the worry of getting it right, and a great way to help beautify the neighborhood.

The most convenient way to reserve your trees is to fill out an application on the Friends of Trees website.  There is a wide variety of styles available, including fruit trees.

•    Trees contribute to neighborhood livability.  They reduce city noise and glare, and also calm and slow traffic.
•    Houses on tree-lined streets command prices that are up to 20% higher than houses in neighborhoods without.
•    Trees reduce the energy needed to heat and cool our homes by 15-35%.
•    Friends of Trees prices are usually 80% less expensive than those of a contractor planting equal sized trees.
•    Trees help reduce greenhouse gas concentration by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
•    And, the obvious ~ trees beautify our streets and neighborhood.

For more information, contact Laura Demeri, our neighbor who is coordinating the project for neighbors. LDemeri //at// yahoo.com or 503.285.5005.

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We’re looking at a very lovely week ahead, not fall at all!  September in Portland is so sly that way.  This coming week is a great time to finish up yard projects and get things in order for fall. Or, if you’re like me, start chipping away at the mound of yard projects that were not accomplished in the summertime.

Need a tool you don’t have?  Take advantage of the newly-formed NE tool lending library! This incredible resource is up and running strong. The volunteers are very knowledgeable and can help offer project advice, too.  The library is located in a stand-alone garage at Redeemer Lutheran church, NE 20th and Killingsworth. Enter the church parking lot from 20th and head around back.  It’s free to sign up and free to borrow tools, how cool is that?  To register as a member, bring a solid form of ID and a bill with your NE address on it.

And if you have a tool you find you don’t need more than once a year, or something you have more than one of, consider donating to the library, which is always in need of more tools to build the lending base.  Power tools, garden tools and more are accepted.

// more info
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The City of Portland’s Office of Transportation, in partnership with PSU, offers a Traffic and Transportation class.  Students learn about traffic and transportation alongside neighborhood activists who want to see change happen in their neighborhoods.  The partnership results in real-life learning for the students and a free education on how to better neighborhoods for the activists.  They offer a limited (but generous) number of scholarships to neighborhood activists.  This annual class will be offered this fall term.

FROM THE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Calling all neighborhood activists – Learn how the city that works, works! And how you can affect change in your community.

The Portland Traffic and Transportation Class offers Portlanders the opportunity to learn about the city’s transportation system while working on actual neighborhood projects that affect your community.  Work with decision and policy-makers, planners, scholars and engineers to get your neighborhood transportation project moving.

This interactive Portland State University class is open to all Portland citizens and full scholarships are available to qualified applicants. Learn more on the website.

// more info

Woodlawn Historian Anjala Ehelebe has been unearthing Woodlawn stories and photos for years and her efforts have finally been compiled into a beautiful book, Portland’s Woodlawn Neighborhood, showcasing our neighborhood’s unique history. Woodlawn was the first settled area of Portland and our history is rich. You may notice it in the diagonal streets (oriented to the street car line), the majestic red brick firehouse and the historic Village Ballroom and there is even more chronicled in Anjala’s book.

Portland’s Woodlawn Neighborhood is available for perusal at the general meetings and for purchase at major book stores. In the near future, Anjala will have a book signing at Reflections book store and we will put an announcement up when the details are finalized.

// Portland Tribune Article on Anjala’s book

In these times of rising gas prices, so many of our daily costs have gone up. I’m seeing more neighbors with veggie gardens, which is great and will allow them to save on their grocery bills this summer. But did you know you can also save around $120 a year on your garbage service? If you’re like me and you don’t put a full can out every week and you’re prone to skip weeks for lack of garbage, you can opt for once a month service. If you use your own 32 gallon can, the cost is around $11.50/month, as opposed to around $21/month if you use your own 32 gallon can. If you are extremely good about reducing your waste, you can also opt to call in when you need service.

Technically these reduced-service options are only available to home owners, not renters, but if you’re dedicated to waste reduction, talk to your landlord about your options.

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