As noted in the weekly email, the Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI) is due, like many programs, for budget cuts. Specifically, the graffiti abatement and crime prevention coordinator programs.
The following letter was sent to the m
ayor and city commissioners, arguing for the Office of Neighborhood Involvement in the coming budget. The author is an active volunteer with the Overlook Livability Team (OLT) and brings a definite hands-on perspective to the topic. This letter is important to share with Overlook neighbors because you should all know about the amount of work the OLT does, and the benefits we enjoy from it. Compare our graffiti problems with any neighborhood in the city and you have to feel proud to have neighbors like our OLT members. While it is great that our neighborhood has volunteers to help stay on top of graffiti (the majority are gang tags) this is also a basic, essential city government function. Please consider authoring your own letter to the mayor and commissioners in support of the graffiti abatement program.
Mayor Adams, Comms. Fritz, Fish, Leonard & Saltzman:
I’d like to put in my two cents on the upcoming budget for the City of Portland. In particular, I’d like to draw attention to all the good that comes from the graffiti abatement program, and Marcia Dennis in particular. As a longtime volunteer with the Overlook Livability Team, we work in conjunction with Marcia and her office in eradication and abatement of neighborhood graffiti in the Overlook neighborhood. While we, the voters and residents, do the actual hard work of removing any graffiti and trash monthly, the abatement office is a critical support resource for us. Marcia’s office takes care of handling cases that are out of our jurisdiction, and maintains the catalog for prosecution purposes.
I would personally like to invite you up to Overlook to pedal through our neighborhood to see what a difference our efforts have made in neighborhood livability. While we didn’t have the kinds and scale of graffiti you’d see in SE Portland, we currently have virtually NONE due to the OLT volunteer efforts over the years with the assistance of Marcia and her team. When graffiti is promptly removed, taggers tend not to return, and we have seen the proof in the pudding.
Additionally, I’d like to put in a word of support to the work the north ONI does in coordinating neighborhood involvement, in particular, Mark Wells & Angela. Mark was responsible for starting the Livability Team project here in Overlook which has now spread to other neighborhoods, including Kenton. The office is tireless and DEDICATED to improving neighborhood livability. From livability teams, crime prevention training, PSAC meetings and neighborhood meetings, the ONI is an invaluable resource to ALL of our communities.
While bike lanes and bio-swales and Leonard Loos are great for city of Portland PR, neighborhood livability is of top importance to those of us who live here. In lean times, choices must be made. Those choices, however difficult, must benefit the public and taxpaying residents in their day to day lives. That is why I encourage you to continue funding for ONI, Graffiti abatement and the PPB.
Please, no more budget cuts to the PPB. We are understaffed by a considerable amount already in comparison to comparable cities. Cmdr. Leloff has been an outstanding addition to the N. Precinct and always attends the N. PSAC meeting (time allowing). He is engaged with the community and dedicated to serving the citizens of Portland. And with gang shootings out of control all over the city, cuts to PPB are NOT a priority for this taxpayer.
And one last note to clear up any misconceptions on graffiti abatement budgeting and Livability Teams—you may say, “We don’t need to fund graffiti abatement because the livability teams and residents will clean up the mess.” Wrong. While Overlook has a very strong neighborhood association, not all neighborhoods do. We are lucky to have a contingent of well educated residents who have the time and resources to volunteer in the community, not all neighborhoods are so lucky. Marcia’s work is critical to maintaining livability city-wide.
BTW, I’d like to invite any or all of you to come out this Saturday, 4/21/12, for our Going Street Earth Day Cleanup event; 10 am at the Pittman Addition HydroPark at the Going St. overpass between N. and S. Overlook. This is in support of the Going to the River Project.
http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?a=370924&c=50518
Thank you for listening to our concerns. I urge you to support ONI, graffiti abatement, and PPB budget allocations.
Sincerely,