1) Hazelnut Grove camp moving to St. Johns
2) Adidas parking
3) Adidas construction
4) Grants available for community projects
1) Hazelnut Grove camp moving to St. Johns
The city-county Joint Office of Homeless Services announced this week that the Hazelnut Grove homeless camp will move to a city-owned site in the St. Johns neighborhood. Overlook Neighborhood Association Chair Chris Trejbal has been engaged with the Joint Office for most of the year on the relocation, and he’s optimistic that this time a promised move will happen.
At the new site, the plan is for an organized village modeled on the Kenton Women’s Village. A service provider will work with residents to connect them to services, training and health care so that they can transition to permanent housing. Unlike the current site in a designated wildfire hazard zone on the Willamette Bluff, the new site is not a fire risk. The new site also has safer road access as well as water and sewer service, which the current site does not.
The Joint Office has forecast that the move will occur in the spring. In the meantime, OKNA will convene conversations about what to do with the land once Hazelnut Grove moves. Join us at the Nov. 20 OKNA General Meeting to share your ideas.
The camp’s move was covered by several news organizations, including Willamette Week, KGW, KPTV and KOIN.
2) Adidas parking
Adidas continues to look for ways to encourage employees not to drive to the campus in Overlook and, if they do drive, not to park on neighborhood streets. Anyone seeing an adidas employee parking on the street can send the license plate to overlook@adidas.com. The company will intervene with the employee.
In the meantime, adidas is encouraging employees to park off-site and ride a company shuttle to the campus. It also is paying for Uber rides for employees to and from work.
If neighbors continue to have adidas employees park in front of their house, the company has printed signs for placement next to the street. The signs remind employees not to park there. If you live near the campus and experience repeat parking problems, you can pick up one of the signs from OKNA. Send an email requesting one to overlookna@gmail.com. Please include your address.
3) Adidas construction
The adidas campus expansion is in full swing, and the Turner Construction Company team is keeping OKNA’s Adidas Liaison Committee up to date on what’s happening with the project. (Learn more about Turner Construction.)
Over the next couple of months, neighbors can expect:
- Excavation will continue with saw cutting, jack hammering, and demolition of existing concrete structures and walls along select areas of the site.
- Shoring activities that will include drilling and installing steel beams (soldier piles) around the perimeter for a few weeks, and drilling and installing ground anchors starting in a week or two.
Residents will see delivery of steel, lumber and anchors, concrete trucks and trucks hauling off dirt. The volume of dirt-hauling trucks will decrease in a few weeks but will continue.
At this time, there is no planned weekend work, but that is subject to change based on production rates.
If you have any questions or concerns, send them to OKNA Board Member Stefan Bester who chairs the Adidas Liaison Committee at adidasconst@gmail.com.
4) Grants available for community projects
North Portland Community Works and Metro announce a new community enhancement grant available to fund North Portland community projects and programs. Applications are available now.
The Metro North Portland Vanport Legacy Enhancement Grant is named after Vanport, once Oregon’s second largest city until May 30, 1948 when it was destroyed after the levees along the swollen Columbia River failed. The story of Vanport is one of historic loss, the power of nature, a rich multicultural community, tragic displacement and resiliency. In honor of this legacy, these grants are for programs and projects building community for all North Portlanders.
In this inaugural year of the grant program, a total of up to $65,000 will be available. Grants will be awarded in three categories: Projects/Programs, Community Events, and Operational Capacity.
An informational workshop will be held on Monday, October 29, 2018 from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Historic Kenton Firehouse (8105 N Brandon Ave.). This will be an opportunity for applicants to learn more about the grant, get grant writing tips and have questions answered.