Board Members Present: Nancy Norby, Heidi Kohne, Bing Wong, Jim Blackwood, Tom Dolan, Nadine Fiedler, John Laursen, John McLaren, Dawn Smallman/Greg Snider, Stephanie Stewart

Board Members Absent: Bruce Treat, Paul Leistner, Cascade Anderson-Geller, Mark Bartlett, John Laursen, Mike Shaver

Others Present: Officer Gary Manougian, Deb Scott, Tom Leiner, Barb Gamelgard, Aaron Kelsay (Portland Central Young Life), Frank Gorshline, Spencer Burton (City Council), Bryan Brumly, Robert Liberty

The meeting opened with introductions led by Vice-President Norby. The minutes from the October meeting were then approved on a motion by Bing Wong, seconded by Nadine Fiedler.

The financial report was presented by Treasurer Wong. There were two deposits made since the last meeting, and no checks have been written since then.

Dawn reported that there will be a meeting of the Parks department, to be announced to Dawn, and she will pass that info on to everyone. This is regarding the maintenance yard on SE Division, and how the maintenance yard administration staff will operate and be “housed”.

Heidi Kohne announced the spaghetti dinner that Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church will be hosting on Friday. In the past, the church has held an annual fundraising Chinese dinner, but this year is going a different route by having a good old-fashioned spaghetti feed. She brought fliers for attendees to take home, and had tickets on hand for anyone who wanted to purchase any in advance.

Neighborhood Issues and Concerns

Deb Scott said that it is uncertain if the voucher program will continue for the spring cleanups. Deb asked the attendees that if the voucher program is discontinued if we want to still do a cleanup next spring; this has been tabled to let everyone think of ideas. Stephanie Stewart asked what the monetary difference is if we paid for all the costs ourselves; a $3300 fundraiser would become a $1100 one.

Neighborhood Crime: Officer Manougian gave his report from the police department. He said that our neighborhood had unusually-low crime this last month. He emphasized to us the importance of following your instinct when it comes to calling the police if you see anything suspicious. Do call 911 if you are seeing anything in progress. Discussion ensued about the Water Bureau’s proposal to have armed guards around the reservoirs from the police point of view.

Portland Central Young Life: Aaron Kelsay described to the attendees what Young Life is (a Christian youth organization). Young Life works primarily with at-risk youth and teaches them respect for others and helps them succeed in school and at home. If you are interested in helping or if you know of anyone who needs help, please contact Aaron at akelsay@gmail.com or (503) 819-7578.

Committees

Friends of Mt. Tabor Park

Frank stated that they allocated almost $11,000 for projects in the next year. Mary Kinnick will be the new chair. A number of members have been donating money above their regular dues.

Land Use

Stephanie Stewart reported on the Concordia Neighborhood’s issue of a property with a house being built. They found a lawyer, and although the lawyer is volunteering their time, the neighborhood association is still having to pay additional legal fees. She said that if MTNA donated money to Concordia, and they ended up not needing all the money they receive, they will reimburse money back. It was moved by Dawn Smallman, seconded by Nancy Norby, to donate $200 to Concordia Neighborhood Association; approved.

Stephanie also reported on the ClearWire communications box located at 50^{th & Burnside that has been a noise issue. ClearWire has apparently worked on it recently, and the result is that it has gotten louder. They have now received an official fine of $300 from the city.}

Stephanie also reported on the Water Bureau wanting to have armed guards in the parks. The Water Bureau has tabled the issue until January so that the reports can be written up for City Council.

Stephanie also reported on the LT2 issue. It will be tested at the Bull Run watershed, as early as next week. The EPA will treat all crypto equally, no matter if the crypto is harmful or infectious. The new regional EPA representative has flown over Portland’s reservoirs and the Bull Run watershed; he has submitted a report to the national EPA about our system. In the meantime, Commissioner Randy Leonard is now pushing for a reservoir variance with the EPA.

Further Business

Metro Update: Councilor Robert Liberty gave a presentation about Metro. We are part of District #6, which is covered under Mr. Liberty. He started by asking a few questions about how long people have lived in the neighborhood. He then described what Metro does and what it encompasses. He said that Metro has found that much of the development that is happening nowadays is happening in urban areas (versus outlying areas) and is being done by non-families (singles or couples). He also said that the city has had problems keeping more-outlying areas up to code and up to appearances, while these areas are becoming poorer. Robert said that Metro is still expecting to grow, at the same rate as it always has been, and Metro is seriously looking at how to implement this growth gracefully. He told us that he and the rest of the Metro board is always open to ideas.

Nancy Norby asked him about the status of the neighborhood cleanup vouchers; he responded that for 2009 it was a budget issue and that a letter from the neighborhood association can be sent to him for the voucher to be included in the 2010 budget; Councilor Burkholder is also a good contact regarding this program.

Nancy also asked Robert about Bureau of Developmental Services not holding to their own land-use codes. Stephanie expanded on Nancy’s question about permits. He responded that BDS has to review every applicant for a permit, no matter what the density implications would be, but that this is really a city issue, and that we can send a letter to the city asking for different priority locations for growth.

Stephanie asked him about if and how Metro is enforcing existing building styles and neighborhood styles. He said that Portland has 3 disctinct styles: SW that is hilly, streetcar areas, and corridor-based building. He also said that developers nowadays are employing more mixed-use ideas and mixed-income housing and using multiple building styles rather than cookie-cutter homes.

Bing mentioned that there doesn’t seem to be any development or consideration of building retirement homes in Portland, as the average resident keeps rising. It was moved by Nancy Norby, seconded by Dawn Smallman, to have Bruce write a letter to Metro to reinstate the voucher program for the neighborhood cleanup; approved.

Spencer Burton: Spencer will be running for City Council, hoping to succeed Dan Saltzman, and he brought a petition with him about public financing. He is a stonemason by trade, and he is an advocate for clean energy and other green ideas. He especially wants to promote the Bull Run watershed, electric cars and related charging stations, and more neighborhood parks and cultural centers. He stated that he thinks there needs to be new leadership, and he wants to be part of that. His website is www.spencerburtonforportland.com.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30pm.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, January 20, 2009, at 7:00pm at Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church, located at SE 54th and Belmont.