Minutes Eliot Neighborhood Association October 21, 2019

Posted on by Eliot Neighborhood

General Assembly Meeting and Board Directors Election

Board members present: Jere Fitterman, Jimmy Wilson, Pat Montgomery, Darren Holcomb, Sue Stringer, Brad Baker, Jonathan Konkol, Shireen Hasan, Jim Hlava

Board members absent: Johnny Engleheart Noel, Julio Mendoza, Maggie Gardener

21 additional guests/residents in attendance

Meeting begins 6:35pm

Minutes from September approved unanimously as corrected. Sue Stringer motions to approve, Pat Montgomery 2nds

Portland Clean Air (PCA) presentation by Greg Bourget

  • 41 neighborhood associations and 60 churches and synagogues endorsing the Portland Clean Air effort to require diesel trucks have their diesel engines filtered
  •  ¾ of the short haul trucks have unfiltered diesel engines
  • XPO logistics has 8000 unfiltered trucks
  • PCA has applied for a $20K grant 
  • A stake holder is needed in NE Portland and ENA is a key potential stake holder. 
  • Committee needed to determine action items, get endorsements, fund raise for more testing equipment, contact offending companies with unfiltered truck fleets
  • Sign up for committee – contact Allan Rudwick who will chair the committee

Treasurer report:

  • $5420 Check to Friends of Trees for tree planting and watering this summer
  • No money from the Blazers yet for 2019 – per Jere Fitterman, Karla Gostnell will check on this year’s money and the new contact person at the Blazers
  • Total in checking account as of today is 15266.08

Co-Chair report: 

  • Annual report of Eliot Neighborhood Association Actions for 2019 was handed out at meeting:

Jimmy is attending quarterly Public Safety Act\on Committee (PSAC) meetings and has been working to reinstate monthly meetings to discuss police presence. He set up Chief Outlaw coming to Emmanuel Church to meet with the community to discuss her vision for the city. 

ENA and Boise Neighborhood Associations agreed to take out the dotted border lines between our neighborhoods. The border will now run along the alley between Fremont and Kerby between houses and businesses that face N. Vancouver, then along N. Vancouver to Cook Street west to the 405 freeway and following the 405 freeway to the river. 

ENA subsidized tree planting of 20 large trees in the neighborhood which was conducted by Friends of Trees. Toyota paid for its own street trees ($2K) led by the ENA Livability Team 

ENA Board took dinner to Walnut Park shelter dinner once a month during the winter and spring. 

South Eliot Action Team organized a neighborhood watch training and worked with PBOT to canvas for a parking zone. The parking initiative did not pass. The group is still working on neighborhood watch. 

We welcomed many businesses in the neighborhood. Some reached out to meet us. Several are new advertisers in the Eliot News which is now making a profit and has increased distribution to 3700 with:

• PICA, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art 

• Gained Meyer Memorial Trust and Earthquake Tech as new advertisers for a full year 

• Green Drop Garage also wants to get involved 

• Oasis of Change (Kathryn and Dov) announced their new community based urban farm, restaurant, teaching kitchen, community center, live music … relax and enjoy. 

Livability Team— Litter pickup on April 20 (Earth Day), with starting point at BreadWinner Cafe, was very successful. Event was posted on SOLV’s website. Jodi Guth is the new Block Adopt lead. They will reorganize over the winter. 

7th avenue Greenway–PBOT announced 7the greenway will be on 9th, with no road improvements there. Cyclists will ride through Irving Park, no redirect. City will make improvements on 7th adding speed bumps, crosswalks, stop signs, etc. Decision made by the city because major destinations better served by 9th greenway. 

ENA supported Albina cooperative garden by supporting subscriptions for Eliot neighbors. Additionally,  funding was provided for the Diversity Community Gardening Co-Op at St Philips Church led by Shireen Hasan.

Black Parent Initiative sponsored and organized movie in the park, ENA donated to this event and also ran a very successful Domino Tournament moderated by Jimmy, with the support of Jere and Sue. 

Eliot Neighborhood Association’s Eliot Advocacy for Clean Air Team, eACT was formed to work with other neighborhoods and community groups on an initiative to decrease air pollution.

Elections were held with the help of Anjala Ehalebe from NECN. Vote to elect the following board of directors:

  • Jimmy Wilson
  • Jere Fitterman
  • Shireen Hasan
  • Susan Stringer
  • Jim Hlava
  • Sherry Staggs
  • Jennifer Wilcox
  • Darren Holcomb
  • Patricia Montgomery
  • Jonathan Konkol
  • Allan Rudwick

Executive board positions will be voted on by new board at the November 18 board meeting. New board members need to attend this meeting to vote.

Meeting adjourned 7:55pm

ENA Board Meeting minutes Sept 16, 2019

Posted on by Maggie Gardner

St. Philip Deacon Episcopal Church

NE 120 Knott St.

Meeting called to order at 6:45pm. 

Introductions.

Motion to accept the minutes from June (Jere, Jonathan 2nds.) Board votes to approve.

NEW BUSINESS

  1. Presentation: Save Columbia Pool! Mary Margaret Wheeler-Weber, Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Chair, portsmouthchair@gmail.com
    1. No presentation. Jere to follow up with Mary.
  2. Civic Life code update: Jonathan has written a letter to voice the opinion of ENA that the best solution is for the city to work with neighborhoods, not to pretend they don’t exist/can’t add value.
    1. Jonathan will send the letter out to the board once again. He will incorporate feedback and send along to the city asap.
  3. Welcome Rules: Suggestion to start each meeting with Purpose Statement and Welcome Rules, to have all in attendance on the same page about why we are here and how we should act.
    1. Pat suggests maybe board members sign one at the beginning of each term
    2. Jimmy wants to resolve the details of the welcome rules and other verbiage in the executive committee before presenting again to the board.
  4. Boise Land border: resolution and agreement
    1. Jimmy wants to have the bylaws officially changed, not wait until Civic Life situation is resolved. Jonathan will email vocabulary to the board to suggest what the bylaw change will be. 
  5. Annual Meeting in October: Portland Clean Air presenting on air polution and dirty diesel. Also, we hold our general elections. 
    1. We should advertise! Thursday will make a tweet template for board members and others to share. Thursday and Shireen will walk and knock on doors (residential or business) to invite people to come, closer to the actual meeting date. Might make a handout, will save receipts for reimbursement if needed.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  1. From Thursday: NET (Neighborhood Emergency Response Teams) will be doing a lot of testing in the neighborhood this month. Heads-up
  2. From Sue: we received a neighbor email about trash from Popeyes. They would like to meet with management to have them help take responsibility, have ENA support. Jere will see if Livability committee has already reached out to them.
  3. From Darren – At meeting for Albina yards, an Eliot resident brought a letter from a different resident, regarding garbage trucks being loud in the middle of the night. These neighbors have been trying to contact the garbage company to get them to change their route, stop using Rodney as a through-street even when it’s not being serviced. Would like to see if ENA will write her a letter of support. Darren will follow up with resident to get more details.

OLD BUSINESS – Committee Reports

  1. LUTC – Jonathan
    1. they are meeting with developers for spot next to green drop garage on MLK. 
  2. Treasurer Report – Jim 
    1. We have an overall balance of $15,258.40.  $12,358.40 of that amount is the NLP Balance
  3. Newsletter – Susan
    1. Population has increased in our neighborhood. As of 9/16/19 it is 3382. Circulation of the newsletter is 3700, with bulk copies being placed at grocery stores and coffee shops, etc.
  4. Livability – Jere 
    1. Karla is leaving the neighborhood. As she is the chair, they need to re-org
  5. NECN – Jere 
    1. shared their calendar: Each month will have a guest speaker. Thursday will share calendar on website.
  6. Community Relations – Jimmy and Shireen
    1.  Domino tournament was a hit! 

Adjourn at 8:35

Board Attendance: Jere Fitterman,  Jimmy Wilson, Jonathan Konkol, Maggie Gardner, Pat Montgomery, Darren Holcomb, Sue Stringer, Shireen Hasan 
Guests: Thursday Graham, Joey (and Val) Fishman

ENA Board Meeting minutes June 17, 2019

Posted on by Maggie Gardner

St. Philip Deacon Episcopal Church

NE 120 Knott St.

Meeting called to order at 6:36pm. 

Motion to accept the minutes for March (Sue, Jonathan 2nds.) Board votes to approve.

NEW BUSINESS:

Civic Life – Change in Code

  • Presentation about change in organization structure and bylaws
    • Intention is for greater diversity and inclusivity. How to get there?
  • There is not a lot figured out already. They know they want a change, but not exactly how to structure what they want to change it to.
  • Seems in-line with the Police Department’s Strategic Plan
  • Plan to present new code to City Council in August – if they’re ready. 
  • We still have questions about our own structure, if we can stay a non-profit, where our insurance will come from, etc.
  • NW neighborhood is putting together an art show, to showcase what neighborhood associations have accomplished. Jonathan volunteers to reach out to see how we can be involved (Jere has contact info). 
  • Sue volunteers to reach out to Steve Kohl (Irvington Neighborhood Assn) to see what alliance we can build.
  • We would like to be on the record in support of neighborhood associations (geographic representation enfranchised in city code, under auspices of city government). We can do this through:
    • Show and tell (art show)
    • Testify before city council after the code is released (NECN will announce)
    • Letter to city council (Sue to organize/invite contributions)
  • We would like to continue to be viable. We will continue to track this as it evolves.

Environmental Center in Linnton

  • Trying to save the historic Mill site. Would like to establish a central office for superfund 
  • Jere will upload this (as well as 10 other requests for support!) and share with the board so we can comment and help craft letter of support
  • Underlying desire for us to support our fellow neighborhood associations and their efforts

Portland Clean Air donation

  • Clean Air needs money to support the salary for the secretary (work ~ 2 days a week for the next few months)
  • They will get some financial support from NECN, looking for support from neighborhoods also
  • Motion to send $200 to Portland Clean Air to support the role of Executive Assistant (Brad, Sue to 2nd.) Board votes to approve.

Domino Tournament

  • Organization has already been outlined (by Jessica) for this to be on Friday Aug 16th
    • They have dominoes, and rules to run the tournament
  • We need to take the next steps of renting tables and chairs (40 chairs, 10 4-tops)
    • We need to collect prizes – gift cards
      • New Seasons or Natural Grocers (Jere)
      • Starbucks (Shireen)
      • Walgreens, Pizza Schmizza, Jersey Mikes (Sue)
      • NIKE (Jonathan)
      • Pine State and Sizzle Pie (Brad)
    • Ask around to organizations that might have enough
      • Churches (Jere to follow up with Jimmy and Pat)
      • PICA (Sue)
      • Open Signal (Jere)
      • Board members as plan B

Black Parent Initiative – movie in the park

  • Motion for good neighbor support of $300 for the movie in the park (Brad, Jonathan to 2nd.) Board votes to approve

 Equity Training

  • Goal to have equity training before the next election cycle. Hopefully by August 19th meeting
  • Small group will meet with and vet prospective resources to lead the training. Shireen, Thursday, Maggie, Jere. We can take prospectives out to coffee, to meet and get vibe.
    • Thursday’s referral
    • Angela’s referral
    • Sharif (visited board previously)

Walnut Park – serve dinner

  • We would like to serve again – identify June 28th (5:30-7) as a day that works. Jere, Sue, Jonathan, Shireen, Maggie will participate.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Treasurer

  • The Beginning Balance on May 1 was $13,700.23
  • The month end balance was $12,028.27
  • The net loss for May was $1,671.96
  • In addition, the balance on the ledger for the Neighborhood Livability Projects fund is $12,125.70
  • Given these figures, I just want to point out that in reality, the only money we have left in our account is essentially NLP Funds
  • The only sources of income for this year have been interest on our account, Eliot News advertising, and a refund to the NLP Find earlier this year and that’s it.
    • Why no Blazer money? (Jere will follow up with Karla about that)
    • Let’s discuss further bat the July meeting.
  • Other items to note:
    • We need to make a decision about reimbursement to Friends of Trees for  the work they did in the neighborhood. The issue at hand is that their costs exceeded the amount they requested. Have misplaced the summary of the costs were proposed. Does anyone have that summary for reference?
      • Motion to send FOT the original amount of money we voted for last april (
    • The CT-12 annual report has been submitted recently to maintain our non-profit status. There are a couple other organizational documents to be filed soon.

Community Involvement (Shireen)

  • Frog Ferry 
    • Ferry for Transit connect people targeting downtown Vancouver to downtown Portland
    • Looking for ENA to tell the city that we support funding the investment in the planning phase ($200,000)
    • ENA discussion: is this the best allocation of public money? When community centers have been defunded?
  • Police Strategic Planning meeting
    • Officer interested in submitting articles to newsletter
    • Shireen proposed that they also give presentations at schools
    • Jimmy concerned about lack of progress with questions from last meeting. Reiterate that plan that was outlined previously will not work.
  • General outreach about urban development 
    • Shireen talked to a number of African Americans with historical context and interest in the development and gentrification of this neighborhood
      • There is a feeling that it’s more of the same: same power brokers, same people at disadvantage.
      • Methods are being used to take homes and push African Americans out

Newsletter

  • Next issue has been sent to the printer!
  • Always welcome more advertisers

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Next meeting: have an executive board meeting to define agenda for next meeting. Jere to call meeting. 

Adjourn 8:33 

—-

Board Attendance: Jere Fitterman,  Shireen Hasan, Jonathan Konkol, Sue Stringer, Brad Baker, Maggie Gardner

Guests: none

ENA Board Meeting Minutes — May 20

Posted on by Maggie Gardner

ENA Board Meeting minutes May 20, 2019

St. Philip Deacon Episcopal Church

NE 120 Knott St.

Meeting called to order at 6:30pm sharp. Introductions to follow.

Motion to accept the minutes for March (Jere, Sue 2nds with one change: Ricky’s announcements for lunch is at 11am, not 1pm.) Board votes to approve.

NEW BUSINESS:

EMSWDC – no-show

Urban Design Workshop. 

  • Jonathan introduces the topic and the main presenter, Rick Potestio. Miles contributes. Goal of the initiative is for growth with intention. Neighbors should gather in workshops to define how growth looks in their own neighborhoods. Their aim is to give control to residents by empowering them to make recommendations to the city. This is a grassroots movement, not to become part of the planning department
  • They have been auditing neighborhoods around the city to take stock of the current environment, see what’s working, what’s not. They plan to hold charettes to gain insights and create enthusiasm and involvement.
  • They want to use Eliot as a neighborhood to test their processes and approach, and hope to use ENA as a springboard to reach the rest of the community
  • Our questions center on process and inclusion. Invitation and support for a broad group of attendees. Broad support around goal to have outreach so that workshop includes more than just the board. That outreach needs to be done by the Urban Design Team before we approve or agree to be a part of it — IF we approve or agree to be a part of it.
  • Motion to make Jonathan the liason from this group to the board, and any requests this group has of the board. (Maggie, Sue 2nds the motion.) Board votes to approve.

Environmental Advocacy for Clean Air

  • Jere speaks to how to address clean air in our neighborhood, especially as new research is published. The Diesel Bill has money that is supposed to go to help offset negative effects, or help businesses transition to newer, more efficient equipment.
  • Clean Air is hoping to build and arm grass-roots, neighbor volunteers to go to local businesses and ask them to do something about their fleets. 
  • Between 4-9 businesses in the neighborhood are eligible to get reimbursement dollars
  • Jere would like to start a subcommittee called Eliot E-ACT for all clean air topics, in general. First action will be this Diesel Bill focus, second action is for Metro involvement. Ongoing topics will inevitably arise.
  • Motion that Jere will reach out to neighbors to find interest for involvement and dedication to be on subcommittee, then allow them to vote within for their own leadership. (Sue, Johnny 2nds). Board votes to approve.

Linnton Environmental Advocacy for Clean Air Team

  • Group wants to obtain building to be the center of education for Clean Air
  • They want ENA to sign letter of support for the building
  • Jere will send letter around for all to read, we will vote later, after everyone has had a chance to read.

Treasurer:

  • $81 expense for food
  • $1.21 interest paid, income
  • Albina Garden’s treasurer has been in touch with Jim about how the money will be spent. They will send quarterly reports to us, so we can understand how it is being used.
    • Jimmy wants a receipt from them, on their letterhead, that they received the check from us. Record that they received a grant check from ENA at the board meeting (05.20.19) in the amount of $1,750.00 from Ena. It was cashed on 06.07.19, per Jim Hvala.

Livability

  • Trees are being planted  – 48 trees w/in Boise and Eliot!! 20 were from our livability committee.

Outreach

  • Chief Outlaw meeting. 50-60 Leaders of people of color attended. 
  • 100 sworn officers retiring, 100 non sworn-in officer’s position that are open and available… Many are curious about the real reason. Why are they retiring in such large numbers? They say it’s because they do not feel supported, wages are low
  • The meeting was a good conversation about how to move forward. One person can’t fix everything. Needs to be group effort. Good intro/liason between Jimmy and Cheif Outlaw
  • Police Strategic Plan Community Loopback meetings will cover police strategic planning process and framework, and get input through small group discussions
    • Date: Saturday, May 25th
      Time: 10:00 am – 11:30 am
      Location: East Portland Community Center, 740 SE 106th Ave, Portland, OR 97216
    • Date: Thursday, May 30th
      Time: 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
      Location: Terrell Hall Rm 206, PCC Cascade Campus, 5624 N Borthwick Ave, Portland, OR 97217
  • Jimmy, Jonathan, Sue and Quanita went and fed  40-60 people at the walnut park shelter. 

Newsletter

  • We have new advertisers! We’re now running at a profit!
  • Discussion about the newsletter article that sparked comments from neighbors. Article used words that were offensive to some.
    • Comments and corrections have been posted online
    • Comments will be included in the next newsletter as a letter to the editor

Equity Training

  • Agreement we want to keep the initiative going
  • Angela Kremer offered to help us find a moderator so we can talk about what we need
  • Further discussion at June meeting

LUTC

  • Sending a letter to PBOT about pedestrian death and goal for zero pedestrian deaths
  • Two new members to LUTC, Monique and Zach. Board approves

NECN

  • Code changes are underway
  • ENA can’t remain a 501c-3 under new arrangement. We will need to re-write bylaws. While we’re at it, we should 
    • review article 4 re: general membership
    • Review article 5 re: definition of officer’s roles
    • Boundary will be re-written

Communication/website:

  • Thursday has audited the website and found that we may need to adjust our plan with wordpress to better optimize the site and experience
  • She plans to do a training on how to use wordpress
  • She plans to do a content review, audit for sensitivity, clarity, thoroughness
  • She would like approval to accomplish “low hanging fruit”
    • Upgrade where she can, for accessibility of content
  • She needs new payment info (from Jim)

Adjourn 8:27 

—-

Board Attendance: Jere Fitterman,  Shireen Hasan, Jonathan Konkol, Sue Stringer, Brad Baker, Jim Hlava,  Maggie Gardner, Jimmy Wilson, Johnny Engleheart, Patricia Montgomery

Guests: Thursday Bram, Rick Potestio and Miles, Ricky, Angela Kremer