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January 2010 meeting minutes
Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association (MTNA)
Regular
Meeting Minutes for January 20, 2010
Board Members Present:
Bruce Treat, Nancy Norby, Heidi Kohne, Bing Wong, Paul Leistner,
Mark Bartlett, Jim Blackwood, Tom Dolan, John
Laursen, John McLaren, Mike Shaver, Dawn
Smallman/Greg Snider, Stephanie Stewart
Board Members Absent:
Cascade
Anderson-Geller, Nadine Fiedler, Mike Shaver
Others Present: Officer Gary Manougian,
Barb Gamelgard, Deb Scott, Gayle and Bunny
Marechal, Brian (Warner Pacific), Craig Colans,
Jean Skalsky, Wayne Berg, __ (Friends of Trees),
Brian Olson, Maureen Killian (KeyBank on
Hawthorne), Michelle Barnett (KeyBank on
Hawthorne)
The meeting opened with introductions led by
President Treat. The minutes from the November
meeting were then approved on a motion by Bing
Wong, seconded by Nancy Norby.
The financial report was presented by
Treasurer Wong. We have over $13,000 in the
bank. Some checks were deposited today from the
newsletter.
Announcements:
An announcement was made
about Portland Community College’s Asian New
Year celebration on Monday, February 15. The
event will be held at Legin Chinese restaurant
(at SE Division and 80th Ave.) from
9:30am-1pm. The event is open to the public.
Gayle Marechal announced that he is wanting
articles for the neighborhood newsletter. The
newsletter will be printed sometime in March.
This Thursday (tomorrow) at 6:30pm at the
School for the Blind in west Portland, Parks &
Recreation is presenting their 2010-11 budget at
a public meeting. The budget is planning on
making more cuts, which can include getting rid
of seven full-time employees. Jim Blackwood also
attended a meeting this morning about arming and
certifying guards for the city parks; the
unanimous vote was against this proposal.
It was moved by Stephanie Stewart to write a
letter to agree with the Parks board’s decision
and send it to the city council, seconded by
Greg Snider, passed with one abstention
(Jim Blackwood due to conflict of interest).
The following activities are currently
scheduled at Mt. Tabor Park: Run Mama Run
10k Run, May 9; Mt. Tabor Bicycle Circuit Race,
May 22; Step Forward to Cure TSC, May 23; Mt.
Hood Cycling Classic, June 1; Climb to Conquer
Cancer, June 5; Mt. Tabor Series Bike Race, June
9 through July 14; Adult Soapbox Derby, Aug 14
Friends of Trees: Amy of Friends of Trees
said that Saturday, March 6 will be the next
tree-planting day. Last year the Neighborhood
Association donated $300 towards food and
beverages for the volunteers as well as mulch
for the trees. They are looking for
volunteers. They are looking at having two
or three bicycle crews this year, going around
with trees to plant. Moved by Stephanie
Stewart to donate $400 to Friends of Trees,
seconded by Nancy Norby, passed.
Graffiti: Saturday, April 10, at 9am is
the tentative date for neighborhood groups to go
around to remove graffiti in the neighborhood.
Two weeks prior to the event is the deadline for
pictures of what has been tagged so that the
crews can take care of the problem directly.
Bruce Treat will coordinate this, so talk with
him if you’re interested.
Neighborhood
Issues and Concerns
Planning Commission Problems: Mark
Bartlett gave us updates on the land usage of
the Portland Public Schools and Parks with the
Bureau of Developmental Services. The Bureau of
Planning has decided to change the language of
the land code. The Planning Commission will be
presenting this before City Council soon.
Paul Leistner also presented a related issue,
where schools sometimes get sold or students
transferred quietly and without community input.
Tom Dolan also said that meetings have been
occurring around the city for the public to
learn about what the Public Schools would like
to do with various schools. Part of the
reasoning of what Public Schools is wanting to
do is to try to more-or-less equalize all of the
schools rather than have some schools be at
higher education levels than others. A few
people in attendance tonight had also attended
the Public Schools meeting at Franklin High
School, and it was generally agreed that that
particular meeting was not productive and seemed
to be predetermined to what Public Schools wants
to do. Moved by Stephanie Stewart that Tom
Dolan write a letter to Superintendant Carol
Smith, the School Board, and City Council saying
that the process and the end result is not
adequate for Franklin High School, seconded by
Dawn Smallman, passed.
Brian Brumley: Brian is wanting to create
a green team to help reduce global warming and
environmental degradation. This team would focus
on action, education, and coordinating
activities with other neighborhoods. He reported
that the Sunnyside neighborhood has decreased
the energy use in home heating. Buckman
neighborhood has set up a curbside composting
system. The Reed neighborhood is setting up a
tool “library” where residents can check out
tools. If you are interested in being part of
this group, please let Brian know.
MTNA Cleanup: Bruce Treat gave us an
update on the annual cleanup. Deb Scott received
an email last month from Metro, saying that the
neighborhood cleanups really are a good idea but
they still have to cut funds in their budget.
They said that they will not issue vouchers for
the yard debris dumpsters as they have in the
past. It is still being decided if electronics
can be recycled. Deb stated that she does not
want to be the primary point person for this
event, but she is willing to help out. Please
talk with Deb Scott or Bruce Treat if you are
interested in being in charge of this event.
Steve __: Steve is opening up a cheese
store & deli, Steve’s Cheese, at 61st & Belmont,
where Parkside Deli used to be. They are
designing it to be a community store. They will
be open Tuesday-Sunday. This will be a second
location for the store, the first one located in
northwest Portland. They are hoping to open
mid-March.
Committees
SEUL:
Paul Leistner reported that the
graffiti abatement program will receive more
money than 2009 in the new city budget.
Southeast Uplift just had two staff positions
change.
Paul also reported on Tabor Commons. Much of
the landscaping is complete. If you have
access or want to donate a metal/glass back door
with a panic bar, please see Paul Leistner.
Community activities are starting to happen
there. Cafe au Play raised about $12,000 in
Christmas tree sales. All of the remodeling
needs to be finished by April.
Land Use
Stephanie Stewart reported on the
Portland Plan meeting held recently. She stated
that she felt the meeting was controlled, and
none of her issues were brought up at the
meeting.
Stephanie gave out the website of her new
blog: www.mtna-landuse.blogspot.com. She will
post the newest news of anything landuse-related
in our neighborhood.
Clearwire has done some work on the noisy box
on a telephone pole, and stated that the noise
level is lower than before. However, the
neighbors are still saying that it’s too loud.
Stephanie said that Tampa, Florida, is going
through the same problems with Clearwire.
It was moved Stephanie Stewart to write a letter
to Amanda Fritz and Randy Leonard (copied to
other commissioners) expressing concern over the
Clearwire devices’ impact on neighborhoods,
seconded by Nancy Norby, passed.
Stephanie also reported on the Portland Water
Bureau’s photocopying policy while researching
information about the LT2 process. A bill was
given for supervision while reading documents at
the Water Bureau office. She said that she has
contacted the city ombudsman, wanting reasoning
for charging for supervision and why
notification was not given before this event.
She also reported on the Mt. Tabor reservoir.
The EPA sent a letter to the Water Bureau and
water bureaus of the other cities saying that
they did not believe cities had the variance
tools to cover reservoirs. Friends of the
Reservoirs has written a letter to City Council,
encouraging them to keep pursuing the variance
option. It was moved by Dawn Smallman to
write a letter in support of Friends of
Reservoir saying that we want City Council to
keep pursuing the variance, seconded by Nancy
Norby, passed with one abstention (Jim
Blackwood).
Friends of Mt. Tabor Park
Nancy Norby
stated that the Bureau of Environmental Services
has started the curb extensions in the
neighborhood.
Friends will be presenting the Winter Program
on March 18, 6:30-8:30pm at Western Seminary.
The speaker will be Laura O. Foster.
Friends is exploring the idea of putting up
tree signs to label the trees in the park.
The off-road biking is still a problem. The
Parks department doesn’t have time to deal with
this issue, so Friends of Mt. Tabor Park is
taking this on.
The off-leash dog area is not receiving the
maintenance that it needs from the Parks
department. The area is quite muddy and is
“under-nourished” of upkeep. However, it is
still popular with the neighbors.
The meeting adjourned at 9:20pm.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, February
17, 2010, at 7:00pm at Mt. Tabor Presbyterian
Church, located at SE 54th and Belmont.
For more information, please go to
www.mttaborpdx.org.
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