Find OKNA on Facebook: www.facebook.com/OKNAinPDX
Unfortunately, FB filters keep you from seeing many of our important posts. Please like, share or comment on them so that you will see more posts. Or, just drop by our page on a regular basis.
We’re looking for more people to post news to our Facebook page. Please message if you would like to be an OKNA Facebook Reporter!
1) Beach School Community Fundraiser (Tonight)
2) The Intersection Repair Party is Tomorrow! (5/31)
3) Village Building Convergence in Overlook (5/31)
4) Clean Up at Unthank Park/Sustainable Mississippi (5/31)
5) Gang Violence Task Force Meeting
6) Transportation Utility Fee (TUF)
7) Two Air Quality Items
8) Introduce an International Student to the Overlook Neighborhood!
9) Tidbits from our Facebook Page
——————————————–
1) Beach School Community Fundraiser (Tonight)
The Beach School PTA Community Auction is tonight – May 30th starting at 5:30 pm. We have lots of awesome items procured from very generous neighborhood businesses! If you have preschool children and want to check out Beach, this is a great opportunity. There are some great items available and the ‘auction’ is in ‘buy it now’ format! http://tinyurl.com/qb2pge4
——————————————–
2) The Intersection Repair Party is Tomorrow! (5/31)
It’s like a block party for the whole neighborhood, come close the streets with us and have some fun!
N. Concord Ave. and N. Overlook Blvd. 97227
Saturday, May 31, 2014, 9 am to 4 pm
Bring your family, friends and neighbors, and sunscreen – the weather looks like it will be awesome! Join Sustainable Overlook for street graphic and planter box repainting and fun at the intersection as part of the Village Building Convergence. Come for morning bagels and coffee from the Eisenhower Bagel House at Pinky’s (our new cafe on Interstate Ave) and Kenny & Zuke’s famous pastrami at lunch time, and bring a veggie dish or family-friendly beverage to share. Our local Station 24 Firefighting crew will stop by with their truck. Kids can plant bee-friendly flower seeds to take home at the Sustainable Overlook booth. Bring a paintbrush or paint roller if you can. We’re going to have a good time…see you there!
——————————————–
3) Village Building Convergence in Overlook (5/31)
The Attunement Center has several days of activities planned as a part of the VBC (Village Building Convergence, May 23 – June 1, www.cityrepair.org)
We will be starting every day at 11am and ending at 5pm. Specific workshop offerings are listed below with times! Lunch will be served at 1pm and is being generously sponsored by Cha Cha Cha Taqueria!
Details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/772415972803107
Attunement Center
Address: 1732 N. Blandena St.
Contact: Joelle Budinich guesthaus@attunementcenter.com
503.548.8250 (text only!)
——————————————–
4) Clean Up at Unthank Park/Sustainable Mississippi (5/31)
Saturday, May 31, 2014, 9 am to 2 pm
Clean Up at Unthank Park/SEI Parking Lot, 510 N. Shaver Street
Our neighbors to the east with Sustainable Mississippi will be having a cleanup this Saturday at Unthank Park. If you have clutter around your home or non-curbside disposables/recyclables, this might be the perfect chance to accomplish some spring cleaning. Here is what they’re accepting:
✔ Household Items/Appliances/Electronics/TVs – nice stuff will be taken to Community Warehouse (please no large TV’s or exercise equipment). Items in poor condition will be recycled or disposed of as necessary.
✔ Bikes
✔ Batteries of all shapes and sizes
✔ Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs will be taken by Total Reclaim
✔ Construction debris – Good reusable stuff will go to Rebuilding Center, the rest will be recycled or disposed of with Metro
✔ Furniture and Mattresses – good, bad or otherwise
✔ Scrap metals
✔ Styrofoam pieces – must be large pieces, not peanuts (to be handled by Total Reclaim)
✔ Tires - these will be sorted out of the waste stream at Metro
…and of course anything else you might want to have taken to Metro Central Station for disposal. (Please no household hazardous waste, such as paints, oils or medications, at this time)
Small car loads will be charged $10. Big vehicle loads will be charged $20, and anything brought on foot or by bike is free! In the spirit of neighborhood reuse (and much like Overlook’s annual Free Share) items can also be swapped here for free.
——————————————–
5) Gang Violence Task Force Meeting
A Very Special Message needing your immediate attention. Please forward through your distribution lists. Why you should care? That airplane that circles our neighborhood all summer is monitoring gang activity; wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t need it droning overhead anymore?
The Portland Metro area is currently experiencing an increase in gang related violence as compared to last year to date. In 2014 to date 50 cases (Gang Violence Response Team or GVRT) have been assigned to PPB. In comparison, 2013 to date, 34 cases had been assigned.
In 2014 to date victims of violent crimes have been injured and traumatized, community members have been endangered, witnesses have been intimidated, and families have fallen victim to associated trauma.
As the weather improves in combination with pending seasonal events, school graduation and summer vacation for school age youth, we need to have an active VOICE in sponsorship of safe environments for our youth, families and all members of our community.
A COMMUNITY VOICE which calls out “Enough is Enough” must be heard, in testimony that the Citizens of our great community honor life.
OUR COMMUNITY, with ONE VOICE, Must Be Heard
Break the Life Damaging Cycle of Violence
Free YOUR COMMUNITY from Fear and Intimidation
Join us, for the next Gang Violence Task Force Meeting (public forum) on June 6th, Friday, 10 – 11:30, at 449 NE Emerson, in the Large Community Conference Room.
——————————————–
6) Transportation Utility Fee (TUF)
The new fee, proposed by Mayor Hales and Commissioner Novik, was passed yesterday by City Council, after 90 people showed up to testify. THANK YOU to all the Overlook neighbors who attended and stayed as long as you could. Who thought a meeting could go on that long (2-8pm)? Your presence was just as important as your testimony whether you gave it verbally or in writing and your neighbors appreciate it.
Backlash from the business community caused council to split the household fee from the business fee and only the household fee was passed. Details are changing literally by the hour. Please keep abreast of this issue, as it will affect all of us, some quite deeply.
——————————————–
7) Two Air Quality Items
Air quality activism is getting louder in North Portland, way to go! State Senator Michael Dembrow is hosting a workshop geared toward legislating the issue, and Metro is conducting a transportation survey related to air quality. If this is your issue, here’s a great chance to be heard and connect with others.
Air Quality Workshop
Senator Michael Dembrow writes: As Chair of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, I’ve partnered with my colleague Rep. Mitch Greenlick (Chair of the House Health Care Committee) to put on a workshop focusing on the link between air quality and risks to public health, with a specific focus on the Portland airshed.
It’s my hope that this workshop will begin a conversation about potential legislation for the 2015 session around air quality. We’ll have several Portland-area legislators in attendance. As you’ll see from the attached draft agenda, we have a lineup of topics as well as time for public comments. If there’s enough community interest, we’ll do a follow-up meeting in late summer or early fall.
If you can join us next Friday, please do — and feel free to reach out to others who you think may be interested.
PORTLAND METRO AREA AIR QUALITY WORKSHOP
Portland Community College/Cascade Campus
705 N. Killingsworth St., Portland OR
Moriarty Auditorium
June 6, 2014
9am to 3pm
Senator Michael Dembrow
SE & NE Portland, Maywood Park
District Phone: 503-281-0608
Email: sen.michaeldembrow@state.or.us
Website: senatordembrow.com
Air quality conformity analysis | civil rights assessment
What do you think? – Regional planning 30-day comment period
Learn and react to how planned transportation investments would affect our air quality and how the investments would be distributed across different populations: people of color, low income, limited English proficiency, senior and youth.
Visit www.oregonmetro.gov/public-projects/regional-transportation-decisions from May 16 through June 15 to give your thoughts.
Air quality conformity analysis: Federal and state regulations require that the region assess the air quality consequences of proposed transportation improvements. Current laws mean that the region must assess the carbon monoxide emissions from surface transportation sources to meet the Clean Air Act. Metro also has voluntarily agreed with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to assess changes in ozone and certain air toxics that would result from its transportation plans.
Civil rights assessment: Part of Metro’s responsibilities include an assessment of how these transportation investments could benefit or burden communities of concern like those of people of color, people with low income, older people, younger people and people who do not speak English well. The region plans provide for a higher rate of investment in these communities as compared to the region as a whole, but what are the potential benefits or burdens from investments in roads, transit and active transportation (walking and biking) for these communities?
For the air quality analysis and civil rights assessment, Metro has analyzed the next 20 years of priority projects (in the 2014 Regional Transportation Plan) and the next four years of projects with committed funding (in the 2015-18 Metropolitan Improvement Program).
——————————————–
8) Introduce an International Student to the Overlook Neighborhood!
Invite a teen or college student from France, Spain, Germany, Japan, or China to discover why the Overlook Neighborhood is such a great place to live! Local host families are needed for 3 or 4 weeks for students arriving late-June through September. Hosting is a great way to learn about another culture, share your own, and make some fun summer memories with a new friend!
Families provide 3 meals per day, a comfortable bed (sharing a room with a host sibling of a similar age and the same gender is fine), and plenty of day-to-day interaction. Some students attended language classes and participate in cultural activities during the work week, while others are free to become immersed in their family’s summer routine. ANDEO welcomes busy host families and can help you choose the program that best fits your summer schedule.
Students bring their own spending money and are covered by comprehensive medical and accident insurance. A small hosting stipend will be provided.
Established in 1981, ANDEO is a Portland-based nonprofit that welcomes more than 1500 international students to the Northwest for short-term homestays each year. For more information or to apply to host, please visit www.andeo.org or contact ANDEO at info@andeo.org or 503.274.1776.
——————————————-
9) Tidbits from our Facebook Page
-The NAOBF/North American Organic Brewers Festival is coming to Overlook Park at the end of June. They are still looking for volunteers, who can earn free beer for their labor. Details: http://www.naobf.org/volunteer-signup/
You’ll get a dollar off your tasting cup when you show your proof of Overlook residence! The festival selected OKNA as the beneficiary of their donations this year and tips at the bike corral benefit Rotary International’s “End Polio Now” campaign to eradicate polio worldwide.
-Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) will hold a free, public remembrance event for the late Charles Jordan this Saturday, beginning at 2pm. Live music and reception to follow comments.
WHAT: A celebration of the late former Portland Parks & Recreation Director and City Commissioner Charles Jordan.
WHEN: Saturday, May 31, 2pm-4pm
WHERE: Charles Jordan Community Center, 9009 N. Foss Ave., Portland
-St Johns Farmers Market Opens its 6th Season
Sat., May 31st – 9am-2pm, Opening Day of the 2014 St. Johns Farmers Market Season @ St. Johns Plaza
Sat., May 31st – Music, The Roosevelt High School Jazz Band will kick of the season with their high energy set
Sat., May 31st – 11am, Gateway Greenspace Dedication @ Gateway Greenspace next to Burgerville
-Commissioner Amanda Fritz would like to put a new Parks bond on the ballot. She also wants to know what you think about that. Take the short survey here:
http://t.e2ma.net/webview/a1lvh/d10a9dbe58d28f74736a624e83241ade