Mt Tabor Neighborhood Association - Meeting Minutes, November, 2004

Others Present: Officer Gary Manougian, Kevin Bryant (Warner Pacific), Mary Kinnick (Friends of Mt. Tabor Park), Bruce Treat, Barb Gamelgard, Lisa Kirby, Roberta Richards, John Mulney

The meeting opened with introductions led by Nancy Norby. The minutes from the October meeting were then approved as corrected on a motion by Jeff Lovell, seconded by Paul Leistner.

Announcements: Heidi Kohne said that Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church will be having a fundraiser spaghetti dinner Friday, November 18 from 5-8pm. The event is family-friendly and vegan-friendly. There will be a suggested donation, and credit cards, checks, and cash will be accepted.

Paul Leistner announced that there will be a community forum to share ideas of city council members, mayors, and job qualifications of such city positions. This will be held January 19, 2012, at St. Phillip Neri Catholic Church in the evening. This is open to the public.

Kevin Bryant announced that Franklin High School will be renovating their football and baseball fields as part of a Portland Public Schools project. The football field will become all-weather and will have new a press box and new concession area. The track will also be improved. The project will cost between $2.3 and $2.7million and is funded by private donors.

Neighborhood Crime: Officer Manougian gave an update about Occupy Portland, which he worked at. There was some discussion about police procedure in regards to this movement. He also said that there has been some crime in our neighborhood, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Gary also said that there is a pickup truck that is driving around the neighborhood stealing bicycles in broad daylight, even while locked up. Also, packages being delivered to homes are also being taken from front porches. Please make arrangements with your neighbors to accept packages on your behalf or make other arrangements.

Some discussion ensued about graffiti that has been found around the neighborhood. If you come across any, please take a picture of the tagged area and email it to marcia.dennis@portlandoregon.gov, where it will be recorded into the citywide database.

SEUL: Paul Leistner reported on the building that Southeast Uplift has been using as their headquarters. SEUL now owns the building, but needs to get rid of black mold that is inside and is preventing the staff from spending much time there.

Paul also announced that TaborCommons will be selling Christmas trees like last year. Please stop by and getsome hot beverages while you’re buying your tree.

Friends of Mt. Tabor Park:Mary Kinnick gave an update about the new Visitor Center in the park. They’ve already had 494 visitors from all over the U.S. and world to the Center just since it opened Oct. 7. Friends is planning to have the Center open on weekend afternoons during winter months. The Friends Board will be donating $1000 towards repairing the Kids’ Soap Box Derby track when a new non-profit organization is established to begin raising funds for the project.

Portland Parks Urban Forestry staff are assessing where tree pruning or removal may be needed to re-establish historic vistas from various areas throughout the Park system. A Mt. Tabor neighborhood resident is interested in finding out more about how playground equipment in the park might be upgraded or replaced with equipment that challenges kids to be more exploratory and physical in their activity. The Weed Warriors have been keeping track of the number of hours that volunteers have worked in the park. The 2011 year, for just Saturday work parties, had 943 volunteer hours while the number of hours for 2009 was just 380; the 2011 number does not include volunteer hours contributed by Warner Pacific College, Portland Community College, Mt. Tabor Middle School and other organizations in 2011.

Nancy Norby reported that the nursery block that goes from 60^th to 63^rd Avenues has a new split-rail wood fence that is very pleasing to the eye.

Land Use Committee: Stephanie Stewart reported that the property at 52^nd and Stark now has paperwork filed which are searchable online.

There has been no porgress on the property at 60^th and Belmont. The owners would like to have the property rezoned and developed. Stephanie is looking for people to head up a neighborhood group that would meet with the owner and take care of community relations with this project.

Cell phone towers are still being installed in residential neighborhoods, despite complaints from residents. Some neighborhood associations are joining forces to force some policy changes regarding new tower installations, including Concordia, Eastmoreland, and Alameda. It was moved by Jeff Lovell and seconded by Bryan Brumley to sign a letter of support with these Neighborhood Associations; approved.

Stephanie Stewart will likely be relocating to Austin, Texas for six months, and is looking for people to help with land use issues during this time. Jeff Lovell and Brian & Kate Mitchell will do some of the land use work and the Neighborhood Association agendas in the interim. The Mitchells will be the snail mail contact for land use and will compile the agendas. Jeff will print out the agendas.

Other Business: Jeff Lovell suggested that MTNA review our bylaws and suggest changes to the Neighborhood Association.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, January 18, 2012, at 7:00pm at Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church, located at SE 54^th and Belmont. There will not be a meeting in Decmeber; have a good Christmas!