WNA November 2019 minutes
WOODLAWN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
November 6, 2019 Meeting Minutes (draft until approved at next meeting)
Wednesday, November 6, 2019 7:00 – 8:30 pm
at Classic Foods, 817 NE Madrona St, Portland, OR 97211
7:00-7:10 Welcome and Introductions: Melody Randolph, Beth Heins, Maija Spencer, Dennis Kennedy, Keith Baich, Anjala Ehlebe, Thelma Diggs, Shirley Minor, Nancy Flynn. Not here: Andree Culpepper.
7:10-7:15 Approvals
Approve agenda for this meeting. Swap census representative for the person who wanted to speak about the High Water Mark. Melody moves that we approve the agenda; Beth seconds, all in favor.
Approve October meeting minutes. Beth moves, Dennis seconds, all in favor.
7:15-8:00
New Business
Issues re: High Water Mark and Patrons that began as a thread on nextdoor.com —Alex Meesev – withdrew request
Substitute topic: Census:
Peg is helping coordinate hiring for the US census which pays $18-20/hour to be a census taker. They need people to apply now, it’s a slow process to get hired, they want to hire a number in December and more in 2020/springtime. There are some clerk jobs that are in the office and pay less. Employees have to be a US Citizen, have a SSN, an email address, and be 18 or over when they start working. It’s a temporary job, 20-40 hours per week, could run until the end of July or beyond. Go to: 2020census.gov/jobs
Officially elect Anjala to be the chair of the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association (WNA) Land Use Transportation Committee (LUTC) for next year.
Dennis suggests some corrections to the appointment letter as written to just focus on Anjala’s appointment. Liz moves we re-elect Anjala as the chair of the WNA LUTC; Beth seconds, all in favor. Liz moves to elect Anjala as the representative from WNA to NECn LUTC , Dennis seconds, all in favor.
Nancy: Request to contribute $75 toward the costs of food/drinks at the September 26 multi-neighborhood association meeting at Alberta Abbey to talk about cooperation and collaboration among groups. (There were leftover items that will be used for future gatherings.)
Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods (NECN), Humboldt, King, Sabin, Vernon, and Woodlawn participated. WNA folks attending included Anjala, Shirley, Annie, Ross, and Nancy. The group will continue to meet to further explore how we can work together. – Nancy reports: this group didn’t communicate the fiscal request ahead of time. If we approve it, the money should go to Alan Whiting, the chair of the Vernon Neighborhood Association. This was requested as a one-time contribution for the group to use, and they had a very good turnout. So far this group doesn’t have a formal identity – it’s a collection of local Neighborhood Associations, trying to expand their outreach to the community.
Melody moves we contribute $75: Beth seconds, all on the board in favor.
Showing of “Lift Ev’ry Voice” Oregon Experience documentary about Portland Civil Rights at Alberta Abbey on Friday December 6 with a conversation afterward. This is part of the Oregon Humanities Conversation Project – a second collaboration with those other NE PDX neighborhood associations. Does WNA want to be a sponsor and if yes, can we contribute $50 so that the event can be free to any who want to attend? It’s not really clear what expenses are involved in this event, who else might be contributing. The board would like more information before we contribute more money, Nancy will see what else she can find out. https://www.opb.org/television/programs/oregonexperience/segment/portland-civil-rights-lift-evry-voice/ —
Approval of letter to Governor Brown re: Oregon National Guard F-15 Overflights. – Melody
Recap of presentation from last meeting – we are adding our voice to those of other groups. Melody moves that she coordinate updates to the letter so we can rewrite and submit it. Thelma seconds, all in favor.
7:45-7:55 Announcements for Upcoming Events, Deadlines, and Other News:
Office of Community & Civic Life November 14th Council Meeting about the code changes. Location: Self Enhancement, Inc. (SEI), 3920 N Kerby Ave, Portland, 97227 Time: 5:30 -8:00pm (doors open at 5:00pm, meeting will end promptly at 8:00pm) Food, refreshments, and childcare will be provided. There will be an opportunity to sign up for public testimony on November 14th beginning at 5:00pm.
– Dennis has an update: Commissioner Eudaly came and spoke to the NECN members – her assurance is that this won’t affect Neighborhood Associations. But in the last two years funding to NAs has been reduced. The Office of Community Life has said they will propose a resolution that hasn’t been written yet.
– NECN is going to craft a letter to all the commissioners objecting to the process as it has occurred so far.
– It’s possible that NECN will be totally defunded and disappear, and they’ve been a great support over the last years. At present it doesn’t seem like this has been aboveboard process.
– Dennis encourages people to attend this meeting to express support for Neighborhood Associations and that structure.
– Maija: the resolution has been posted now that will be discussed on November 14th – The proposal includes a work group and a presentation of a plan no later than November 2020. They will have quarterly updates on the process of the work group. More info here: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/civic/77951
– Why does NECN want the auditor involved in this? The auditor released a negative report on ONI and said the neighborhoods weren’t being treated equitably.
– Nancy adds: it seems the Community Collection Event changes have been put in place to try to spread resources equitably among the different events.
Lots of Woodlawn School upcoming events posted on our web page and/or our Facebook page including Woodlawn Night Out on November 21st at Village Ballroom. And Green Bean Books (1600 NE Alberta Street) will donate 10% of all sales on Friday, November 8th between 10 am and 6 pm to Woodlawn Elementary School. Upcoming events:
Friday November 8th: Green Bean Books – 10% of profits from sales will go to Woodlawn Elementary-be sure to mention the school
Also Friday the 8th: Lego Movie 2 at Woodlawn School – free – donations and proceeds from concessions will support the Lego robotics program at the school.
Woodlawn Night Out: Thursday November 21st 5:30-9 at the Village Ballroom – includes music and entertainment. $5 suggested donation, food and drinks available for sale. They’re accepting raffle donations.
Sunday December 15th: Farmer’s Market Holiday party – 2:30-6:30, free, raffle tickets, at the Village Ballroom. Maija suggests getting a Facebook event set up
Also check NECN Hey Neighbor for other events: https://www.necoalition.org/newspaper
7:55-8:25 Board and Community Business
Treasurer’s Report—Dennis: $8,995.70 as of October statement
Land Use & Transportation Committee—Anjala/Patricia
– They will not meet in November. Meetings are now the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 7pm Grand Army Tavern in the front room (Campana restaurant room). Next meeting Dec 9
– They’ve been working on getting the city to communicate with us before leaf collection
– Asking city to shift parking on Rosa Parks and Grand a little away from the intersection
– No recent news about building or demolition projects.
– LUTC has been getting reports about the Residential Infill Project; several of the feedback items
– Lloyd to Woodlawn bikeway: a new bridge for bicycles is being started that will connect over 84 at NE 12th
Farmers’ Market— Keith
– Last market of the season occurred on Oct 26th. They had a very successful season – they have approximately 4600 in the bank, which is about double what they had at the end of 2018.
– They had a good number of vendors and sales went well over the season especially at the beginning of the season.
– The market manager took a week off mid-season which was also a savings
– Last year the holiday market netted them about $800 (mostly from vendor fees)
– They’re going to move the market trailer out of the Dekum triangle – location to be determined.
– Question: is the trailer secured? Yes, its door is locked, and there is also a mechanism blocking the hitch from being used.
– Does the market give anything to the house they park in front of? Keith is not aware of that but will find out. If others think that is the right thing to do, he would take the feedback. He thinks they’ve met with and talked to people in that building and have some relationships with some of the residents.
NECN — Dennis – see comments about the community code update above
NET – Erin – not present, no updates. Melody shares what happens in shakeout events – they are training events so volunteers/citizens can experience what might happen in event of an earthquake. There was one on October 17th here.
8:25-8:30 Final Thoughts and Adjourn
– Woodlawn swap & play has closed. Word has it that it will be an accessible venue for events at the ballroom.
– Shirley: National Association of Black Veterans – their priority is to help veterans get their benefits. Over the 10 years they have been operating, they’ve put more than $20m back into the community. There’s an office downtown and there is a great article in the Portland Tribune in the recent issue (early November).
– Maija: do we have future topics we want to be sure to add to future agendas? Future speakers we might invite to come?
o Anjala would like 15 minutes next month to talk about North Star Village and announce that they will be requesting a grant from the NE Coalition to fund block parties for greater outreach
o Keith has a friend who is a project manager for PBOT alternative transportation department – he was the project manager for the recent Rosa Parks restriping. We could invite him if we need a PBOT rep at some point.
o Nancy wrote to the police department to invite having someone come out – do we care to pursue that?
o Maija suggests contacting the county commissioner and inviting that person too
o Nancy knows Chris Warner at PBOT if we want to invite him at some point.
– Maija:
o Do we have specific topics/concerns? Perhaps we can add this to future agendas as well to gather more ideas.
– Liz: in the past couple of years we’ve had a social hour inviting neighbors who might not come otherwise. Maija: first Wed in Jan is Jan 1st, perhaps we should push to Jan 8, have a social hour, have a guest speaker.
