Overlook Neighborhood Update (Aug. 9) – Overlook Neighborhood Association

1) OKNA to vote on bylaws amendments

The Overlook Neighborhood Association Board will ask members to approve bylaws amendments at the August general meeting. The proposed amendments include a few minor technical fixes. The substantive proposed changes are:

Require OKNA committees to announce their meetings in advance so anyone can attend.
Reduce the size of the OKNA board from 15 to 12. (The board increased to 15 a few years ago, but it has proved difficult to maintain a full roster.)
Increase the length of board member terms to two years from one year. Terms would be staggered so that six seats are up each year.
Move the deadline for board nominations to 10 days prior to the Annual General Meeting in September so that members can know who candidates are in advance of the election.
Define an active member for purposes of voting as any member who has attended and signed in at a meeting in the previous six months.
Allow voting at an alternate site within the neighborhood. (This will allow in-person, socially distant voting over an entire day for the September board election. Voting on Zoom is difficult.)
Members can request that the board place items on the agenda for an upcoming meeting. Special general meetings will be reserved for items that must be addressed before the next regular general meeting.

Read all of the amendments in a tracked changes version of the bylaws. Adoption will require two-thirds support of the members present. The meeting will take place via zoom at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 18. Next week’s neighborhood update will include a link and agenda for the meeting. If you have any questions, contact OKNA at info@overlookneighborhood.org.

2) OKNA posting meeting recordings online

Now that we are well into Zoom meetings, the Overlook Neighborhood Association has begun posting recordings of board and general meetings to our new YouTube channel. The August board meeting is available to watch there.

We will post future meetings to the channel and hope to implement some recording strategy for the day when in-person meetings again become viable. The recordings will not display phone numbers of people who call in via their phone.

All OKNA meetings are open to the public, and anyone is welcome to record them in alignment with Oregon open meetings laws.

3) Apply for Portland’s Charter Review Commission

Once a decade, the Portland City Council selects 20 community members for a Charter Review Commission. The commission reviews the city’s foundational documents and recommends changes to the way our government works.

If you are passionate about improving Portland’s government, please consider applying to serve on the commission. The application deadline is Aug. 30. Council will select members in the fall with the commission getting to work by the end of the year. The city seeks commission members who represent Portland’s diversity, including Black people, Indigenous people and people of color.

Apply today to serve on the Charter Review Commission.

For more information, read Mayor Ted Wheeler’s announcement.

4) Represent Overlook on the freight plan committee

The city seeks members for the 2040 Portland Freight Plan Community Advisory Committee. The 2040 plan will include strategies for moving goods through the city while meeting goals for a safe multimodal system that supports economic prosperity, human and environmental health, equity, and resilience.

The Overlook Neighborhood is central to any freight planning. Swan Island is a hub of freight activity, and our neighborhood streets see many more freight vehicles than most other Portland neighborhoods. Having a representative on this committee would help ensure that our neighborhood’s safety and environmental interests remain part of the discussion.

The deadline to apply is Aug. 16. Learn more and apply online.

5) Metro Community Placemaking grants

The regional government Metro is accepting applications for its Community Placemaking grants. The deadline to apply is Sept. 28 at noon. Up to $193,000 is available for all grants. Individual grants range from $5,000 to $25,000 and no matching funds are required.

The Community Placemaking grant program has four objectives.

Placemaking: People’s connections to each other and to places they care about are strengthened.
Equity: People of color and members of historically marginalized communities have power and resources to influence their neighborhoods and communities.
Partnerships: People’s efforts are maximized because they work in partnership with each other and with Metro.
Leadership: People participate in projects and decisions that affect them.

To learn more about the grant program, visit the official website for an overview. Metro also has information online about the application process and will host several Zoom information sessions to help potential applicants.