General Meeting Minutes - Monday, March 26, 2007

AGENDA

Community police report

Sabin School PTA report

SCA survey results

Sabin School playground improvement

Art on Alberta

Sabin Hydropark project

Summer music at Irving park

SUMMARY

Community police report (PPD Officer Alicia Russell) The NE Precinct office is now open seven days a week until midnight. Four parents were cited last weekend because their children were out after curfew. A bike was stolen near NE 12^th and Beech Street and a car window was smashed. Officer Russell reminded residents to lock bikes, lawn mowers, and the like inside garages. Discussion Betty Walker said that she had gotten a call from a neighbor who was concerned about an elderly neighbor who hadn’t been seen in a while. Russell encouraged residents to keep an eye on the welfare of their neighbors, especially the elderly. It is OK to call the police and ask them to do a “welfare check” on that person’s home. Tom Braibish suggested reminding residents in the newsletter to look out for each other in this way. Conclusion At its next meeting, the SCA board will identify ways to raise community awareness of this issue.

Sabin School PTA report (Judy Harrison) The Sabin PTA met February 8 and main agenda item was the 2007 Sabin Auction, April 20. The auction is increasingly successful, raising $4,000 in 2005, $26,000 in 2006, and now aiming to raise $40,000 at this year’s auction. There is a lot of parental support of the PTA. The PTA is looking to fill its volunteer coordinator position (which is, itself, a volunteer job). Discussion Tom Braibish suggested that the SCA and the PTA meet jointly this summer to review each organization’s plans for the coming year to identify opportunities to share resources.

SCA survey results (Gabrielle Josephson) Fifteen hundred surveys were distributed to residents in February, with 50 completed forms being submitted. This 3.3 percent response is about the norm. Many of the forms had written comments, which may provide some useful anecdotal information, but the sample isn’t big enough to provide a thorough representation of residents’ concerns. Discussion Perhaps we should do an annual survey. Zoomerang Internet survey program may be an option. Kamberly suggested handing out additional survey forms at the Sabin Spring Cleanup in May. Conclusion Kamberly will bring a summary of the survey results to the board meeting.

Sabin School playground improvement (Jordan Secter) Jordan is a landscape architect and local resident with a 7-year-old daughter attending the Sabin School. While involved with the PTA, he learned from the principal that the school would be going from preK-6 to preK-8 model, and that this would make it necessary to improve the playground facilities to support the play and education of these different age groups. He has helped the school create a landscape improvement plan for the entire schoolgrounds to support its aesthetics, outdoor curricula, safety, and maintenance. Jordan created two design options, which he showed to us. He plans to present them to the PTA and at the school auction. Both design options for the north playground, which would be primarily used by younger students, include safety measures such as open views, lighting, and motion detectors. It also includes play structures, a basketball court, outdoor classroom spaces, and a vegetable garden. Additionally, there are plans to resurface the basketball courts in the south play area, and to install new goal posts, backstops, and new benches. Discussion Depicting shade lines in the design plans would help to inform the placement of the vegetable gardens. Perhaps students and local artists could contribute art—murals and garden art, for example—to the playground to enhance color and interest. Dog owners should be invited to comment on plans, particularly for the south play area, to help devise strategies for dogs and children to share the grounds safely. Jordan said that Portland Parks and Recreation is responsible for maintaining the grass field in the south play area where dog owners take their dogs. A new maintenance plan will be undertaken and that should address the issue of dogs.

Sabin Hydropark project (Kamberly Wilbourne, Rosemarie Cordello) Commissioner Randy Leonard and Tom Klutz of the Water Bureau attended the latest public meeting of the Hydropark subcommittee. People for and against the improvement plans expressed their views. A professional facilitator will be hired and a seven-member committee was formed comprising three people who are in favor of the improvement plans, three who have expressed concerns, and an employee of the Water Bureau. This committee will meet weekly to incorporate public input into the improvement plans and to submit finalized plans to the full subcommittee. The park will be called the Sabin Hydropark. The community gardens expansion will get underway next spring, but the playground improvements should begin this summer. Discussion For future joint projects, Lucrecia Choto suggested that the SCA board take the lead in devising effective decision making processes by drawing on the professional skills and expertise of its own members, rather than following the lead of another organization. Conclusion The next public meeting of the Hydropark subcommittee is set for April 12.

Art on Alberta (Elise Scholnick) Elise is a member of the Art on Alberta board. Organizers of the Alberta Street Fair have invited the SCA to be involved in planning. The Alberta Street Safety Project is addressing the impact of pedestrian and automobile traffic congestion that occurs during Last Thursdays art walks through a public involvement process. At present, TriMet redirects buses from Alberta Street to side streets so that pedestrians can walk freely on Alberta Street during the art walks. But this impacts residents who live on those side streets. Discussion Rosemarie Cordello proposed partnerships between the Hydropark and Art on Alberta community, such as local artists contributing public art to the Hydropark playground and gardens. Conclusion Elise will bring drawings of proposed traffic redirections to the next SCA meeting.

Summer Music in Irving Park (Lucrecia Choto) Lucrecia has talked with Kristin Knapp of Portland Parks and Recreation about presenting summer concerts near the basketball courts at Irving Park (the courts have the necessary electrical outlets). We would need to raise $10,000 to have four artists perform during a weekend in late August or September of next year, and Lucrecia suggested inviting neighboring Irvington and King community associations to cohost the event and to share costs. A smaller concert could be presented this summer for $2,500 to present one night of music. Discussion Elise Scholnick suggested seeking a grant from the Regional Arts Commission. Conclusion It was decided to move ahead on this project.

The next SCA board meeting is set for Monday, April 9, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Wild Oats cooking school area.

The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.

General Meeting Minutes - Monday, February 26, 2007

Agenda

Install new board member

Police update from Portland Police NE Precinct officers

Presentation by Youth Violence Prevention

Launch of Sabin Elementary School playground improvement project

Update on proposed improvements to the Water Tower park

Summary

New Board Member Nasir Najieb, a local resident and owner of Café Bean at NE 15^th and Prescott, was installed as member at large.

Police Update (Officer Brian Sims, and Officers Clary and Liday): Officers distributed handouts of crime statistics for 2006 and 2007 that show a 50 percent reduction in overall crime in the Northeast precinct. Burglaries are down 7 percent, but graffiti is a growing problem. Police are working with the OLCC to address complaints about parking and public consumption of alcohol during the Alberta Street Last Thursdays street fairs. Officers were interested to learn the forthcoming results of the survey distributed by the Sabin Community Association. The survey asked residents and business people to indicate which issues--including criminal activity--are of greatest concern to them.

Discussion Additionally, police were asked what can be done about ongoing drug activity, particularly at NE 15th Avenue and Prescott; abandoned automobiles; poor traffic signage; and making an improved Water Tower park and gardens safe.

Conclusion Police offered these suggestions:

• If you see drug activity, call the nonemergency precinct at 503-823-5700 and provide the dispatcher with a description of the individuals. Calls are tracked and logged and frequent calls about a particular problem area will come to the attention of police. Make your presence known to drug dealers; let them know you’re watching their illegal activity. Write down their license plate numbers, the frequency and duration of their presence, and house and apartment numbers where activity is taking place. Getting criminals evicted from apartments is relatively easy when police have your documented observations and can ask the landlord to evict them.

• To report abandoned automobiles, call 503-823-7309. (Commissioner Sam Adams’ office is working to improve the system for reporting and dealing with abandoned cars.)

• Requests for improvements to traffic signage or configurations need to be made by a neighborhood association—not by individuals—to the Portland Department of Transportation.

• A gated fence around the Water Tower park and garden, that is locked and unlocked at regular hours, would help prevent crime, as would adequate lighting and trimmed bushes. Patrols done by security for the Portland Water Bureau would be OK but may be minimal.

Youth Violence Prevention, Office of the Mayor (Tom Peavey, policy manager) The agency received $360,000 in grant funds to support outreach and intervention across the city, with a focus on gang violence and graffiti. Graffiti by taggers consider themselves artists, while gangs mark their turf with such symbols as “STC13” and “187” (the California police code for homicide). In Sabin, taggers are responsible for most of the grafitti. Gang graffiti is more likely to appear farther north around Lombard. To report graffiti, contact Marsha Dennis at 503-823-5860. “Flash mobs” are a new problem in which young people track parties by text messaging and MySpace.com, resulting in hordes of uninvited and unruly kids descending on another youth’s home, often spilling out into the streets and causing trouble. The solution, says Peavey is to provide youths with more things to do on weekends. Portland Parks and Recreation is keeping later hours on Friday nights at several of its facilities to offer a safe place for young people to go. Between 9 and 11 p.m., doors are open (with no in-and-out privileges) at Peninsula, Deer Park, University Park, Mount Scott, and Matt Dishman community centers. Peavey encourages neighborhood associations to sponsor youth activities.

Conclusion Rachel Studer will invite a SUN School representative to attend the SCA meetings, and Amy Hunter will include SUN School youth events in the SCA newsletter.

Sabin Elementary School Update (Principal Richard Schafer): Sabin resident and landscape architect Jordan Secter is working with the school’s PTA and site council to launch a landscape improvement project for the north play area. In-kind donations worth $45,000 have been raised toward the $300,000 goal. The project will improve the area’s aesthetics and security and will support expanded enrichment courses, such as outdoor academic curricula, sports, and creative play. (No money is available from Portland Public Schools for this project.) Principal Schafer’s goal is to offer three enrichment periods each year, including PE, art, and computer science. The PTA hopes to raise $30,000 from its annual auction on April 20, from 6 to 11 p.m. at The Acadian Ballroom, 1829 NE Alberta Street. Tickets are $30 per person and the auction will feature silent and live auctions, fine foods and spirits, and art, products, and services from local artists and businesses. Additionally, the annual art auction at Starbucks at 15^th and Fremont will take place in late April or May. All of the proceeds will go to fund the school’s art program.

Conclusion Judy Harrison will attend the next PTA meeting, March 8 at 6:30 p.m., to invite a PTA representative to attend SCA meetings.

The Water Tower Park (Rosemarie Cordello) Tonight was supposed to be the final public meeting with the SCA planning subcommittee and the Portland Water Bureau before work was to begin at the park. Some residents who live next to the park continued to object to the project, however, and the Water Bureau representative said that if the community opposes it the bureau may “walk away” from it.

Discussion It’s unclear whether there is a consensus for or against the project. It was noted that there is a long list of people who have waited up to 10 years to be assigned a plot in the Water Tower Community Garden, which the project would have expanded.

Conclusion Board members Kamberly Wilbourne and Gabrielle Josephson, and residents Rosemarie Cordello and Tom Braibish, will ask for a meeting with the Water Bureau to hear its assessment of the situation and to identify how to address residents’ concerns and to move forward. It is necessary to create a timeline and structure for decision making. It was proposed that the project be brought back under the oversight of the full SCA board with the subcommittee serving in an advisory role.

The next SCA board meeting was set for Monday, March 12, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Wild Oats cooking school area.

The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.