Woodlawn Neighborhood Association General Meeting Minutes

(minutes are in draft until approved at the next meeting)

Tuesday June 7th, 2022 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Meeting was recorded and is available here: https://www.facebook.com/woodlawnpdx/videos/562939228520775

7:00 – 7:15 Welcome and Introductions. Please share your name and pronouns.

Board members: Melody Randolph (chair), Beth Heins (secretary), Dennis Kennedy (treasurer), Anjala Ehlebe (ad hoc/land use chair), Nancy Flynn (ad hoc)

Neighbors: Rick Reynolds, Krista Reynolds, John Laurence, Jeff Laurence, Paige, Kris, Murray, Michael

Not present: Keith Baich, Shirley Minor, Barbara English, Chida

7:15 – 7:20 Approve May meeting notes – Beth moves, Liz seconds; all in favor. Approve June agenda: Rich moves, Dennis seconds; all in favor.

7:20 – 8:00 General Business

1. Guest: Commissioner Dan Ryan (joining in person) –
   1. Commissioner’s comments: he was born & raised in Portland and ran for office because Portland residents seemed to be struggling. He’s now been in office a year and a half and just won a re-election by getting a majority vote in the May primaries. City council is focused on getting more efficient with all the bureaus – he is connected to the county’s homeless services bureau. He’s also responsible for the housing bureau, getting people into stable housing. Another of his areas of focus is the permitting process, which is known to be challenging/difficult to work with/slow to get permits issued, but they have a task force looking at improving those processes.
   2. Conversation around trash cans: Murray observes there aren’t many cans around; Rick shared that the cans at the Tri Met stops are only there if volunteers agree to pick up the trash. Rick and Anjala and a few other volunteers work with local businesses to actually pick up and dump the trash. Comments from Mark, Dan Ryan’s policy person: Portland has many siloed bureaus – eleven of them have something to do with trash, for example – he thinks Bureau of Planning & Sustainability determines where garbage cans can go, but they hear that there is a need that perhaps isn’t being met and they could do some more investigation in this issue.
   3. Question about the homeless camp at NE 33rd & Dekum intersection. Who is the right person to contact about encampments? The Impact Reduction team has been building up over the last six months or so to help physically clean up the extra garbage generated at these sites – not sweeping the humans, but cleaning up some of the messes. In general we need more services to help people in the houseless population to get the services they need to help them. In general, the state of Oregon needs to focus on improving our mental health services – keep that in mind during the governor’s race.
   4. Where does Portland Street Response fit in? They will be a huge help but we need places for people to go when they come in off the streets.
   5. Q: there’s 200 million set aside for housing the unhoused – what are the city’s top 3 priorities for providing housing to the houseless? That money came from a housing bond measure that voters passed – there finally some housing villages and buildings being built. Right now people are moving into Safe Rest Villages, which are meant to be a first step in helping people move from the street to a sheltered situation.
   6. Nancy: what’s going on with the bus shelter vandalism? There seems to be some bizarre citywide endemic of it. Unknown at this time – Commissioner Ryan has some possible thoughts including that this may be related to drug abuse and psychotic behaviors linked to the new class of drugs available on the streets. Our addiction crisis is the root of a lot of problems. Prosper Portland issues grants for window repair for small businesses. https://prosperportland.us/portfolio-items/local-small-business-repair-reopening-grant/
2. Rick Reynolds- report on hoped-for success of clean-up weekend
   1. Woodlawn cleanup weekend – thanks to all the volunteers who made it happen. Over 200 households came to the Sunday drop-off to dispose of trash & recycling. We raised over $4000 for the neighborhood/PTA (the proceeds are being split) – exact amount will be determined after all the bills have been paid. Volunteers also connected with neighbors who needed assistance getting their recyclables/items picked up. The farmer’s market loaned all their pop-ups that helped keep everything dry on the pickup. Shelly Caldwell, Jeff, Francisco Gadea, Avery Lewis, Jan Clutter, Shirley Minor, Liz Kennedy, Mary Scholls  and more!. Great companies joined us: Paper Trace Shredding & Recycling handled all the shredding; Ranch, Cafe Eleven, Woodlawn Coffee & Pastry, Marsee Baking all donated snacks or drinks. Other contributors: Ridwell, Metro sent educators, Trash for Peace. City of Roses Recycling helped sort out all of the materials we collected: we filled six containers of trash & recycling. This was funded via a Metro grant for $5000 that let us put on this event and make it happen.
3. Secretary position – Beth Heins is stepping down, Krista Reynolds will take over. We have take a vote on this position. Melody moves that we add Krista as the new secretary- all in favor, none opposed.

8:00 – 8:20 Board Business-

1. Treasurer’s Report-Dennis Kennedy:
   1. not including anything with the cleanup (that will be reflected next month). End of May, balance was $11,335.40 which includes the $5000 from Metro.
   2. Dennis has filed all the required reports to maintain our non-profit status.
   3. Question: if our cleanup expenses don’t use up the $5k from Metro, what happens with the balance? Rick doesn’t think we need to worry about that as he just saw the bill from the disposal company, so it’s a moot point.
   4. Dennis has been tracking the expenses vs the income from the cleanup so we’ll have good information on how it all worked out in the end.
2. Land Use and Transportation-Anjala Ehelebe
   1. There’s a weekly notice that goes out to LUTC to let us know what’s happening in our neighborhood. There haven’t been any project notifications sent around lately.
   2. At 10th & Stafford the house deconstruction is well underway. Unclear what may be going onto that site – in 2018 a storage building was proposed. The property is zoned for some kind of commercial building.
   3. Anjala learned about Safe & Sustainable, a local organization, and shared their information on deconstruction (in contrast to demolition – which can be a dirtier process). Sites can be certified that a safe deconstruction occurred. Anjala moves that we become an ally of the safe & sustainable – we can take a vote at the next meeting so everyone has a chance to review.
   4. Right now Anjala is the only person on the neighborhood’s Land Use and Transportation Committee – would love to have more people join her, contact her if interested: aehelebe@gmail.com
   5. Question about 6243 NE 19th – recently sold, was built in 1914 per Portland Maps. It looks like a development company bought it – will it be torn down? If it’s listed as a contributor to the historic zone, there might be a way to issue feedback on any potential construction projects. She’ll see what she can find out.
3. Farmer’s Market –
   1. Update from Erin: market launched on Saturday and will be weekly on Saturdays 10-2 through the end of October, including with live music.
   2. The board is looking for board members, volunteers to show up on Saturdays to help keep the market running, and hiring for a market manager – a part-time seasonal role. Avery is serving as the interim market manager for now.
   3. Board to formally approve removing Dallas Haley from the bank account. Motion to remove Dallas Haley: made by Erin Cooper, seconded by Beth Heins; vote only by the board – all in favor, none opposed.
   4. What’s the status of the SNAP match? $20 match is available.
4. NECN-Dennis Kennedy – no updates
5. NET-Erin Cooper – Neighborhood Emergency Team
   1. BEECN – emergency communication nodes – the training is a 90-minute online training – June 13, 6-7:30 is the next training for BEECN volunteers.

8:20 – 8:30 Final thoughts, announcements, other upcoming events

• Walking tours of Vernon, Woodlawn – run by Anjala and another resident historian – historic tours will be running in July and August. Schedule & walk info will be listed on Go Woodlawn.
• Melody: This Friday at the High Water Mark, Melody’s friend’s band will be playing
• Rick: Oregon Climate Action Hub – orclimatehub.org is having a launch party later this week at TaborSpace

8:30 Meeting adjourns

Thank you for coming! Hope to see you Tuesday, July 5th at 7pm for our next Meeting!