Woodlawn Neighborhood Association General Meeting Agenda
Tuesday, January 6th, 2026, at 6:30 pm
PLEASE NOTE: We were unable to get into our regular meeting space at Classic Foods for our January 2026 meeting. So we relocated to the Tamale Boy outdoor patio for our meeting. As a result, there is NO RECORDING of this January 2026 meeting available on Zoom or streamed on our YouTube channel. Apologies in advance for this. And a big thank you to Tamale Boy for letting us use their patio space on such a short notice.
Please make every effort to join us In Person at Classic Foods: 817 NE Madrona
Or join the meeting online via Zoom (now with improved audio): https://zoom.us/j/3014662210?pwd=d3VKbXkzVldqYzNWU2RwVm9OUkZyZz09 Meeting ID: 301 466 2210 , Passcode: WNA
Streamed/recorded on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/@woodlawnneighborhoodassoci5818
Welcome and Vision: “In the future, Woodlawn will be a place where people live harmoniously, respectfully, and in support of one another. The neighborhood will be a clean and thriving community… All Woodlawn residents will share and pursue the common values of health, efficiency, beauty, equity, and justice.”
6:30 – 6:45 Remembering Barbara England
Our Woodlawn Neighborhood Association chairperson, Barbara England, passed away on November 18, 2025, after a brief illness. Folks in attendance offered their remembrances of Barbara at the start of the meeting. In addition, everyone was invited an open house celebration of her life hosted by her sons on Saturday, January 10, 2026, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at her home, 704 NE Buffalo Street.
6:45 – 7:30 General Business
- Approve November meeting notes.
NOTE: There are no December meeting minutes to approve because there was not a quorum at the December meeting.
Melissa makes a motion to approve the November 2025 WNA meeting minutes. Anjala seconds. All are in favor. November minutes are approved.
Payton Davies, a Portland native and Whitman College student, attended our January meeting. She is an anthropology major whose senior thesis is a study of neighborhood associations in Portland. She asked if she could record our meeting. All in attendance were fine with her recording. Nancy and Anjala mentioned that there are recordings (past and present) that Payton can also listen to and available on the Go Woodlawn website. . Payton’s e-mail will be in the minutes. Payton’s email is daviesp@whitman.edu.
- Discussion about working with other neighborhood associations—Concordia, Vernon, King, etc.—on traffic issues that affect all of our neighborhoods.
Autumn Voirol from the board of the Concordia Neighborhood Association. Concordia wants to work with Cully and Woodlawn about traffic safety and improvement. Anjala and Autumn met before our WNA general meeting. They discussed a year’s campaign that we can do including some inexpensive efforts that might help to improve the traffic and speeding situations. One example is getting Google maps to “change” its recommendations to not go through residential neighborhoods. Another would be to go to the media/television to amplify our concerns especially about spots where there have been fatalities. We continue to have issues when attempting to work with PBOT re: slowing traffic on NE 15th and the speed issues on NE Lombard which is considered the third most dangerous road in Portland. Anjala and Autumn will reach out to other interested neighbors to create a team to further discuss ways we can move forward on this thorny topic.
- Update on application for a community plaza in Woodlawn neighborhood.
John Tudisco gave an update. WNA applied to the PBOT program for a potential street plaza where Farmers Market has historically been staged. As part of the program, PBOT will assist with design and engineering. If we make the shortlist for selection, WNA then needs to find a project leader to work with PBOT on the design. John has talked with the folks at Concordia about their community plaza at NE 30th and NE Killingsworth to learn more about the process. If you have any thoughts about this potential project, let Matt West and John T. know.
- Portland Parks & Recreation Summer 2026 Summer Free for All Cultural Events. Do we want to participate? The fee is $1000. More information at: Summer Free For All Cultural Events
Unfortunately, we don’t have the volunteer capacity or the funding to apply for this program this year.
- Initial discussion about an updated charter for the WNA board to reflect a few new positions and ones that will primarily oversee the Farmers Market.
Linde reviewed her proposal for a potential re-structuring of the Woodlawn Neighborhood and Woodlawn Farmers Market boards. We have community members interested in serving in smaller roles or on shorter term committees. A big change would be the treasurer role in the new potential plan. Melissa thinks keeping the finances separate between the two groups is the best road forward. Beth notes there are many challenges around relying on volunteers for key roles to keep a public market up and running week after week.
There was not enough time to fully discuss such an important topic so it will be the main item on our February 2026 agenda. Linde will circulate her proposal to the board to get more feedback and thoughts.
In the meantime, we need to elect a new interim chair for the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association. PZ Zelenka is interested in filling this position until we have a new board election in October 2026. A longtime Woodlawn resident and owners of Frankie’s, PZ served the manager of the Woodlawn Farmers Market for the past two years. They are no longer in that role so they can now be the interim chair of the WNA.
Linde makes a motion to elect PZ to be the interim chair of the WNA Board until our fall 2026 board elections. Nancy seconds the motion. All are in favor. No one opposed. No abstentions.
- Time for Neighbor Open Comments
Levi wonders if we could have a neighborhood-wide garage sale again this year. He would be happy to help with this. In fact, he own the website, Levi owns neighborhoodsale.com. We piggybacked off the Buy Nothing Woodlawn. Also Levi will be starting to set up his extensive Halloween display in July 2026 this year—1201 NE Holland.
Next meeting Portland City District #2 Council Member Sameer Kanal would like to come to the next meeting. The board approves this for our February agenda.
Linde notes that we received an e-mail from a neighbor complaining about the smell of Lil Barbecue’s smoker next to their their house. She wondered what the WNA might be able to do to ameliorate this problem. PZ asked to have the details of the complaint sent to them and will talk to the neighbor in person. Perhaps WNA an send a letter to the business to see if there is anyway they can “cap the smoke.” Linde will let the neighbor know that this will be happening.
7:30 – 7:50 Regular Meeting Adjourned – You are welcome to stay for Board business!
- Treasurer Report – Melissa
We have $2523.27. $600 is for communications. Venmo – working on figuring it out. Melissa is having issues re: this. She will
- Farmers Market Update – Keith
None because we already discussed the issues in the potential board re-organization part of the meeting.
- Secretary Report – Nancy
Melissa notes that there are issues getting access to the WNA Venmo account. While she is sorting these out, Nancy will ask Shelly to take the Venmo QR code off the Go Woodlawn website for now.
- Outreach and Community Engagement Report – Linde
Linde gave an update about adding historical toppers to street sign intersections along Rose Parks Way in Woodlawn. They will also be in the other neighborhoods primarily Concordia. Anjala has one at her house and she will bring to the next meeting to show everyone what it looks like There will be a neighborhood party to celebrate their installation with the artist who designed them likely in March 2026.
- NECN Report – Anjala
The expanded NECN board is finally starting to function a lot better. The board is in the middle of a planning process
- Land Use and Transportation Report – Anjala
Anjala received a plan from Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. They want our input on development along the Columbia Corridor by January 11th. She also received a notice about a landowner wanting to put two tiny houses in their yard. Anjala is willing to write and approve this proposal as this supports our past belief that WNA that should support affordable housing and infill.
7:50 – 8:00 Additional agenda items and announcements
No additional comments so the meeting is adjourned.
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