NTNA monthly meeting, Tuesday, June. 21, 2016 DRAFT minutes 6:308:30 p.m., 5600 NE Glisan Street
board members present:
Terry DublinskiMilton
Michael Andersen
Beth Sanders
Joel Meulemans
Keith Mosman, chair
board not present:
Devlyn Keith
Max Goldenkranz
others present:
PPD Officer Gilbert
Mireaya Medina, SEUL
Kelly Fedderson, SEUL
Jen Corbridge – Representative Alissa KenyGuyer Office
Brian Rohr Resolutions NorthWest
Ray Gardner
Suzanne Gardner
Niko Lande
Joshua Carey
Sam Fuqua
Roger Huges
Monique Moss
Cathy Riddell
Candice Jordan
Robert Jordan
Luke Cash
Jake Cash
John Michael
Mike Ball
Kim Ball
Meghan Caughey
Julie Miller
Mike Downy
Tom Dough
Debbie Stout
Chuck Touvens
Gavin Kennedy
Mara Bryner
Lars Casch
Kim Casch
1
Joshua Carey
Fatina Santiago Kasch
Kara Santiago Kasch
Bary Capps
Denise Capps
Mike Renfrow
Gabe Frayne
B Mos
Dawn Madden
Roger Hughes
1. Introductions / Opening Business
Unanimous vote to approve the February, March and April Meeting Minutes.
Unanimous vote to update minutes from the May 2015 NTNA meeting. The corrected minutes will now state: “During the neighborhood renaming process in 2008, it was a close vote (by 1 vote) between the names ‘North Tabor’ and ‘Rosemont’.”
There were questions about why the NTNA board does not post draft meeting minutes on the website.
*In the future, NTNA will post draft minutes on the website until they are approved at the subsequent meeting.
2. PPD Officer Gilbert
Officer Gilbert reported that things have been mostly quiet in North Tabor, and that not many calls have been received regarding issues with people experiencing homelessness. The current PPD policy is to be hands off as long as a crime is not being committed. If vacant houses are being occupied, police cannot address the situation unless there is a request from the homeowner or bank that owns the property. At this time, it is not the plan for the SE policing office to become a temporary homeless shelter.
3. Treasurer Report (Keith)
No treasurer report due to treasurer’s absence.
Unanimous vote to reimburse Keith for NTNA’s Secretary of State filing.
Unanimous vote give a $100 donation to NorthStar (check should be made out to Luke Dorf, the fiscal sponsor).
2
4. Resolutions Northwest Neighborhood Mediation Program (Brian Rohr)
Resolutions Northwest Neighborhood Mediation Program offers free mediation services to individuals having issues with their neighbors. More information is available at www.resolutionsnorthwest.org.
5. Representative Alissa KenyGuyer, House District 46 (Jen Corbridge)
The purpose of the presentation was to discuss Representative KenyGuyer’s priorities for the 2017 legislative session. In the past year she’s been working on passing bills to create tenant eviction protections and to allow inclusionary zoning. For 2017, she is looking to fund firsttime home buyer programs and is working on bills related to mental health services, memory care, and child welfare programs.
6. Land Use & Transportation Committee recent safety efforts (Terry)
Updates related to safety in and around North Tabor:
● A group of residents near Thorburn Street have successfully advocated for speed limit reductions on Thorburn and Burnside.
● On Burnside, there are now electronic speed limit signs to gauge average speeds. ● The Providence Good Neighbor Agreement’s transportation working group has been working to identify strategies around reducing single vehicle occupancy rates from employees who drive to work. The current SOV rate is around 69% with 2,000 trips per day, which causes traffic congestion and parking issues on neighboring streets.
● On Glisan, a group of neighbors are advocating for a cross walk near NE 43/44th Ave. There are pedestrian safety issues at NE 55th and 62nd avenues. There are potentially resources available in the future from the City for safety improvements at NE 62nd Ave because it is on the new 60’s greenway.
There were concerns raised with not having sidewalks near NE 65th and Davis. The City is only prioritizing new sidewalks on main arterials near bus lines. In residential areas, city policy states that homeowners are expected to pay around $30,000 per property for sidewalks; and new home developers are required to build sidewalks.
*NTNA will invite Marty Stockton of the City’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability to provide a comprehensive plan update/presentation at the July monthly meeting.
7. SEUL Grant / Promenade Park Concept withdrawing from grant 3
Southeast Uplift manages an annual neighborhood small grant program, where neighborhood associations can request funds to bring the community together, improve livability and increase community involvement. More information on the program can be found here:
http://www.seuplift.org/neighborhoodsmallgrantprogram/.
This year, NTNA was awarded a small grant to bring residents together around gathering ideas related to improving safety on NE Oregon Street between NE 60th and 65th avenues. NTNA proposed to convene two events: 1) a meeting that occurred on 5/21 to plan a block party that would include a demonstration to show ideas for how the area could be improved; 2) the actual block party. The plan was to collect resident feedback from the events to identify a vision for street improvements that could be advocated for within various city and regional agencies.
The idea for the grant proposal from NTNA originated after hearing over the past several years from many residents that there was interest in getting sidewalks on Oregon street. NTNA brainstormed a concept around creating a mini “promenade” park on Oregon street since there is potentially more funds available through the Parks Bureau, as the Transportation Bureau would not likely have funds for a sidewalk. Over the past few years, the idea was discussed at multiple board and transportation/land use meetings; was recently posted on the NTNA website and the NTNA facebook page; and flyers were distributed to houses along a two block radius from Oregon street to invite residents to attend the 5/21 planning meeting. More information can be found here:
https://www.northtabor.org/2016/04/26/letsimagineanoregonstreetpark/.
Many residents at the meeting expressed concerns about potential negative impacts of a promenade park (examples: it could attract people experiencing homelessness, impede local traffic in/out of the pocket). They were also concerned that neighbors were not adequately involved in NTNA’s process around developing the idea and in making the plan to test it at a block party.
One person suggested looking into developing Rosemont Bluff as a park. Terry clarified that while the Bluff is a natural area that cannot become an official park, if residents are interested in making improvements, NTNA could apply for funding from various agencies to do this.
Robert Jordan, former NTNA Chair, suggested that NTNA work with the community to identify a broader range of potential options to improve safety. He also shared that sometimes unexpected funding does come from the City for street improvements, so it’s not out of the range of possibility that Oregon street could get sidewalks, especially with the recent designation of the 60’s greenway on 62nd Avenue.
4
Candice Jordan, former NTNA board member, suggested that more residents join the board in order to support NTNA in carrying out projects and community engagement activities. There are currently 7 out of 15 board member slots filled, so there is room for interested residents to join. The following people expressed interest in joining the board: Charles Tubens, Sam Fuqua, Lars Casch, David Moseley and Joshua Carey.
The board discussed canceling the block party. It was clarified that many residents would like the demonstration canceled but are interested in seeing continued planning for a block party.
Unanimous vote for NTNA to withdraw from the SEUL grant and to cancel the demonstration component of the planned block party.
*At the July NTNA meeting, the board will vote in new members and discuss planning for a “normal” block party in late summer.
8. Communications – North Tabor Noteand facebook
During the discussion on the previous agenda item, many residents expressed concerns around the lack of communication in regards to the board’s decisions and activities. The following communicationsrelated topics were discussed:
● Surveying residents: there were questions about how NTNA consults residents who do not attend monthly meetings before the board makes decisions and takes positions on issues. Keith clarified that the neighborhood association’s
structure is that all decisions are made at monthly board meetings, so it is crucial for residents to show up at the meetings to have their voices heard. It is not feasible to expect that NTNA will survey every resident before board decisions are made neighborhood associations are mandated to take positions on issues. However, NTNA is open to new ideas and help from volunteers to enhance communications activities to support increased community involvement in board decisions.
● Website: there were concerns that meetings agendas cannot be easily downloaded off the website or forwarded via email.
● Meeting agendas. It was suggested that meeting agendas have more specific information to highlight why residents may want to hear about the issues and/or how the issues may affect them. One person requested that minutes from the previous land use and transportation meeting and any supplemental materials be provided with the monthly agenda at future NTNA meetings.
● Facebook: this is not a tool that is used by all residents. Not everyone is on the internet but they do want to know what is happening.
5
● Newsletter: Many people expressed interest in revamping a hardcopy newsletter. Candice Jordan used to be the newsletter editor – it takes a lot of time to manage this, however the newsletter was of high quality and paid for itself with advertising from local businesses. Beth provided an overview of recent efforts to revamp the newsletter (called North Tabor Note). For the past year and half, the NTNA communications chair updated an address list for all residents, developed an online template for newsletter content, got businesses to buy ads, coordinated getting the newsletters printed, then organized events for volunteers to hand deliver the Note. There have been three issues distributed to date.
The group agreed to form an ad hoc communications committee to address the above issues. The following people expressed interest in joining: Candice Jordan, Cathy Riddell, Lars Casch, Kim Casch, Niko Lande, Joshua Carey, Fatina Santiago Kasch.
*Cathy Riddell offered to support archiving documents on the website. She needs access to editing the website from Devlyn.
9. Wrap up – agenda items for the next meeting
● Voting in new board members
● Forming an ad hoc communications committee
● Communications
● Presentation on the comprehensive plan from Marty Stockton at Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
● Block party planning for late August
Next NTNA Monthly Meeting: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 6:308:30pm, at 5300 NE Glisan Street
6