Mt. Tabor Park threatened by proposed budget cuts

Mary Kinnick, chair of the Friends of Mt. Tabor Park, is leading an effort to save essential services in the 196-acre park.  Cuts now under consideration could lead to reduced garbage pick-ups in the park and closing of the restroom, which would be replaced by portable toilets. There would no longer be a park technician on duty fulll-time in the park. The park tech has a critical role in  habitat restoration work, in adition to helping keep the park clean.If the tech's hours are reduced, restoration efforts by volunteers will be undermined. Neighbors are rallying to save the park's funding.  Here is a link to access the budget recommendation package and Comment Forms: 

St. Andrews Care Center opens its doors
(From the Southeast Examiner)

At noon on the fourth Thursday of every month Susan Danielski rings the bell topping St. Andrews (standrewscarecenter.com) to herald a mass presided over by a priest from the nearby Ascension Church. Anyone who cares to attend is welcome at the monthly service in the center’s 120-year-old chapel. It’s  one of the ways St. Andrews, located on the eastern border of the Mt. Tabor neighborhood, has opened up to the outside world.

St. Andrews, which has been opening its doors to the public since Premier Senior Living took over management in May 2009, is owned by Christopher Place Senior Communities. Up to 85 older adults with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia are cared for at the center, founded 120 years ago as a monastery and chapel.

(Click here to continue reading this dispatch.)

NE/SE 50s Bikeway Project approved by City Council

For a thorough explanation of the project, considerations pro and con, click here

The vote was 4-0 in favor of the project at the council's Sept. 29 meeting.  Thirty-nine people signed up to testify before the vote. Most supported the project. Opposition centered on the Transportation Bureau's plan to install a "semi-diverter" on SE 52 Ave. at Divison Street. Some residents of the streets parallaling 52nd feared cars diverted from 52nd would take their streets as alternate routes to pass through the neighborhood

Work on the project is expected to begin in about a year.  Whatever is done will be scrutinized during two four-month testing periods. If the diverter unduly impacts the parallel streets, it will be removed, trasnportation officials have promised. The 4.5 mile north-south bike route would extend from NE Thompson Street and 57th Avenue south to SE Woodstock Boulevard and 52nd Avenue

Bruce Treat, former president of the MYNA, and current board members Mike Shaver and John McLaren spoke in favor of the project including the diverter at the council meeting.

The only neighorhood group along the roure to oppose the bikeway was the MTNA. At its June 15 meeting, the association voted 56-55 against the staff plan. A revised staff proposal presented two weeks later incorporated a new and softer "regulatory approach" to get northbound traffic on 52nd to turn right or left at Division instead of crossing it.

Thrughout the extended discussion, project managers Rich Newlands and Sarah Figliozzi have bee continously available to all sides of the diverter issue, in attemtping to work out a compromise agreement.

 Click here to see Stephanie Stewart's letter to  Newlands and Figiliozzi, explaining how the neighborhood reacted to the plan on three key votes at the June 15 meeting..

And while you're visiting us, click here to read our current MTNA newsletter
(Previous editions of the newsletter can be read in the "About MTNA" Section of the website)

Visitors Center planned for Mt. Mt. Tabor Park

Dave Hillman, a longtime park activist and a founder of the Friends of Mt. Tabor Park, wants folks to know more about the 196-acre park that is the crowning jewel or our neighborhood. Read about his plans.

City Commissioner Amanda Fritz urges residents to stay informed

Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz was an actively participant at our October meeting. She said that to some extent the city’s "hands are tied" by federal regulations in regulating noisy cell towers, which many neighbors find objectionable. Fritz, the public utilities commissioner, suggested audience members contact their congressional representatives to share their concerns. Federal law dictates that cities may regulate the unsightly towers on the basis of possibly adverse health effects, and so must turn to other arguments, such as diminished property values.

Fritz urged the MTNA to stay ahead of the game as far as the Portland government is concerned, by "knowing what’s coming down the pike...If you wait until the council meets, don’t expect to change minds in three minutes."

Click here to check out Fritz’s Coming Down the Pike page for tips on what's coming up.

Café au Play grand opening was a grand success

Hundreds of people turned out on a beautiful day July 17 to celebrate the grand opening of Café au Play at Tabor Commons, at 5633 SE Division St. Games, musical performances, BJ the Clown, a variety of ethnic foods for purchase, a bike parade, and other events were all crowd pleasers. A former drug house, the brightly painted coffee shop was created over four years of hard work by 150 volunteers, and the MTNA  was one of the sponsoring organizations. MTNA board member Paul Leistner helped acquire the site and was a leader in the restoration. He is shown in photo at right addressing the crowd. To learn more, go to www.cafeauplay.org.

MTNA tidies up 50th Avenue entryway

From left, Greg Snider, Dawn Smallman and John Rutherford were among about a dozen neighbors who spent about 90 minutes Aug. 29 pulling weeds and otherwise cleaning up the neighborhood entryway, at SE 50th Avenue and Hawthorne Blvd.

As of late November, it appeared a professional landscaper would be retained by the MTNA to maintain the site for about $650 per year.

The site, developed by the MTNA on a curb extension, features a two-sided monument welcoming visitors to the neighborhood.

Neighborhood Clean-up nets $2,500

MTNA asks City to spare Graffiti Abatement program

President Bruce Treat has written city officials to urge continued funding of the one employee responsible for graffiti control. The position is threatened with elimination by a budget cut. "I can tell you that I now notice much more graffiti driving around our beautiful city and can't imagine what it would be like without Ms. Dennis' contributions," Treat said in his message to Mayor Sam Adams and Commissioner Amanda Fritz. Click here to read Treat's appeal and Fritz's response.

(Click here to read more)

MTNA members key in fight to save open reservoirs

From the Southeast Examiner

Open reservoir backers are regrouping for a vigorous campaign to keep the reservoirs as they are, safe and scenic repositories for much of Portland’s drinking water. Two advocacy groups, the longstanding Friends of the Reservoirs (FOR) and the recently formed Citizens for Portland's Water (CPW) have joined to work on behalf of the reservoirs.

Besides influencing state and local lawmakers and rallying the public, advocates also hope to gain the attention of the news media, which they feel have been more inclined to listen to fatuous claims that the open reservoirs pose a health hazard. Rate payers are sufficiently burdened, they say, without having to pick up an expected near billion-dollar tab for shifting drinking water storage from the reservoirs to underground tanks and building an unneeded treatment plant, as required by the federal LT2 rule.
(Click here to read more)

(And click here to see an MTNA message urging the City Council to "press on" in the fight to keep the reservoirs as they are and here for a lucid historical look at the controversy by MTNA board member Paul Leistner.)

MTNA throws cold water on gun-toting guard proposal

Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard has proposed arming the guards at the Mt. Tabor reservoirs and other sites to protect the area's drinking water. The plan is opposed by many who say sufficient protection already, and few can recall incidents at the reservoirs justifying armed intervention. See MTNA President Bruce Treat's letter to the Mayor and City Council opposing the scheme.