Learn how current state, regional and city policies shape neighborhood-level community economic development. Panelists will address how high-level policies translate into community benefits. Speakers will include representatives from state, regional, city and community perspectives. A question and answer session will follow panel presentations. Details here.

Wednesday, February 1st, 7:00pm – 9:00pm, St. Andrews Church, 806 NE Alberta, Portland. Arrive at 6:30pm for networking and refreshments.

“Local Motion” will pose questions to Portland mayoral candidates Eileen Brady, Charlie Hales, and Jefferson Smith on active transportation in the Portland metro area. They will have an opportunity to voice their opinions on a range of transportation issues including public transit, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, equity considerations, funding concerns, public health and safety, and projects that impact the Portland region.

Monday, February 6th, 7:00 to 8:30pm followed by a reception, at Lincoln Performance Hall, Portland State University, 1620 SW Park Avenue, Portland. Free and open to the public on a first-come basis. If you would like language interpretation or child care, contact Heidi Guenin by email or call 503-284-6390 by January 30th.

After nine years of operating an online storefront and taking their show on the road for trunk shows all over the country, Jill Golden and Samantha Becker, the women behind Tinctoria Designs, have opened their first showroom in Portland inside the Alberta Studios complex in the Alberta Arts District. At the new shop, Golden says shoppers can expect the same locally designed and locally manufactured fashion lines to which they’ve grown accustomed. The women’s tops, pants, skirts and dresses are all made with sustainable materials, like hemp, and, once they’ve been manufactured, are hand-dyed (dyes include indigo and madder root) in their nearby studio.

Tinctoria, 1627 NE Alberta St., 503.810.9232

From all of us at Woodlawn Neighborhood Association, we wish you happiness and peace this season and throughout the New Year!

Here are some sensible suggestions for your holiday entertaining from the Oregon Liquor Control Coalition:

• Serve plenty of food and non-alcoholic drinks to help guests pace themselves.
• Get the keys from your guests when they arrive.
• Have a designated driver.
• Collect money from your guests for a taxi cab fare fund.
• Have a phone number for a taxi company handy.
• Plan to be a sober host or hostess so you can determine if your guests are able to drive home.
• Stop serving alcohol one hour before the party ends.
• Wait until a guest finishes a drink before you serve him/her another one.
• Know the signs of intoxication.

More party tips are available here.

Hi neighbors. Rob Ingram, who ran the city’s Office of  Youth Violence Prevention, died unexpectedly over the weekend of a heart attack.

Rob worked tirelessly to steer our youth away from gangs and his loss will be felt across the community.

Here’s the story from The Oregonian.

Many neighbors lost plants last winter due to the cold temperatures. You can help protect your plants once they’ve become dormant by adding mulch to keep your garden stable and cool.  And we don’t mean bark dust!

Learn about this mulching technique, plus how to prepare new beds now for spring planting, by clicking here.

This will be an important Woodlawn Neighborhood Association Meeting to attend. We’ll cover visioning the future, elections to the board of directors, bylaws, and more!

It’s from 7: 00 to 8:30 PM, at the Woodlawn United Methodist Church, 1425 NE Dekum St. Use the west entrance and come upstairs to room 202.

See you there!

Race Talks, a discussion series sponsored by Multnomah County, will tackle the complex and sensitive topic of how race has impacted a local transportation project. This event’s topic is “Coming Together on North Williams Avenue: Reconciling Neighborhood’s Past with Proposed Bike Lane”.

BikePortland has a post with more details, take a look here.

Following the presentations, the audience wil break into small discussion groups to talk over the evening’s subject and more general topics of race and ethnicity. These groups are facilitated by trained volunteers from Uniting to Understand Racism and Portland’s Intergroup Dialogue program.

Free.

Tuesday, November 8th. Doors open at 6PM, event begins at 7PM at the McMenamin’s Kennedy School Gymnasium.

You are invited to this forum on the 2012 State of Oregon Legislative Session:

• Learn how the legislative agenda is developed.
• Hear an overview of next year’s agenda.
• Share issues relevant to your neighborhood.

Saturday, November 11th,  6:30 to 8:00 PM

Portland Building, 1120 SW 5th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Room C

For more information, click here.