By Amanda Milholland
Graffiti: spray-painted names and messages sprawled across business walls, dumpsters, electrical poles, and even on the sidewalk. In Eliot, the summer months bring graffiti. When not cleaned up, tagged walls encourage other taggers to stake their claim in our neighborhood.
The Portland Brownfield Program has grant funding available until September for North and Northeast Portland property owners. These funds can be used for free or low-cost or Environmental Site Assessments on brownfields or properties where previous use may have contaminated the soil or ground water with petroleum or other hazardous substances.
By Laurie Simpson
The Ivy School, a 1st – 8th grade public Montessori school with Spanish-language study, is located at NE 42nd street and Prescott. The school opened for the 2009-2010 academic year and just completed its third year. Since September 2011, the school has been operating their upper elementary classrooms (grades 4 – 6) in the Eliot neighborhood at Immaculate Heart’s classroom building across from Dawson park.
Innovative Housing, Inc. (IHI) is throwing a party to celebrate the start of its newest housing development in the Eliot Neighborhood! On Saturday, July 21, 2012, IHI will take over the vacant lot on NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between NE Cook and Fargo Streets (soon to become 50 units of new affordable housing) and fill it with friends, neighbors, musicians, food vendors, and tons of fun construction activities for kids.
Did you know water usage in the Portland Metro area can more than double and even triple during the summer months? We Oregonians work hard to keep our lawns and gardens green in hot and dry weather. Many of us have heard the advice to water our lawn about an inch a week – and more during hotter weather – but few of us actually know what that means. In fact, many people actually over-water their lawns without realizing it.
By Maegan Vidal
Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel is excited to host a free and family friendly summer street fair right outside of their new home. The community can participate in fun interactive activities designed to help children get active, eat healthy and stay safe.
By Ofc Peter Helzer
Hello, all. It looks like the nicer weather is joining us earlier than it did the last couple years. That’s great for all our outdoor activities, but brings a few perils as well. The news is good about warning everyone to block 2nd story windows at four inches so toddlers don’t open them and fall out. Putting a dowel in your 1st floor windows will allow you to get some airflow through the house without providing an easy way for burglars to get in while you are away. Try to secure them so that when the window is closed, they don’t fall out of the way and allow the window to be opened from there.
Fireworks during the Fourth of July are as American as apple-pie, but did you know that more fires are reported on that day than on any other day of the year in the United States? Nearly half of these fires are caused by fireworks. The good news is you can enjoy your holiday and the fireworks, with just a few simple safety tips.
By Signe Todd
A neighborhood block party is an excellent way to enjoy a warm summer day, socialize with your neighbors and meet new people who live on your street. When I lived in the Irvington neighborhood, my neighbor Dana Griggs taught me the nuts and bolts for planning a successful block party in 5 easy steps.
Portland Farmers Market and residents of Northeast Portland are counting the days until the opening of King Portland Farmers Market and the return of 35 vendors selling local farm-fresh produce, meats, cheeses, baked goods and other specialty foods. The King Market season begins Sunday, May 6, and will continue every Sunday until October 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at NE Wygant Street and NE 7th avenue.
By Amanda Milholland
Music and community celebration is what the Second Annual Boise-Eliot Music Festival is all about. May 11th and 12th Port City will host the Second Annual Boise-Eliot Music Festival in North Portland. This community-building event is a fundraiser for Port City’s innovative employment and skills building programs, which empower adults with developmental disabilities and engage Boise and Eliot neighbors and Portland metro residents.
By Laurie Simpson
The Ivy school will be hosting an open house in Eliot this month. On Wednesday February 22nd, the upper elementary open house for grades 4, 5 & 6 will be from 6 – 7 pm at 26 NE Morris Steet.
The City of Portland’s 25th annual Fix-It Fair season has one remaining fair on Saturday February 25th at Jefferson High School. Fix-It Fairs are free events where you can learn simple and effective ways to save money at home this winter and stay healthy.
By Shara Alexander
Yes, now it is Winter, but soon it will be Spring. Green buds will be pushing out from every plant node. You will have the urge to get outside and grow things. How will you start your vegetable growing experiment in the year 2012? Will you go alone outside to your muddy back yard (not to malign your back yard), or to the little pot on your windowsill (it’s a lovely windowsill, by the way), or to the parking strip you tore up last year (well, that’s not really a problem, the grass will grow back) and wonder “what next? Do I have to do this alone?”
Continue reading The Albina Cooperative Garden, A Local Experiment in Self-Organization
By Alexis Warwick
Some of you may be aware of the population of predatory wildlife, including Coyotes. They commute through our parks and greenways on a daily basis. This may seem like a somewhat new and exciting phenomena but they have been politely traveling our streets and parks for many years now. In fact, they were here long before we were!
Eliot Neighborhood 