Brooklyn Neighborhood, Portland, Oregon

Dear Neighbors:

Please make a point to attend the BAC General Meeting tomorrow, Wednesday January 25, at 7PM at the Loaves and Fishes center at 3925 SE Milwaukie Avenue.

Highlights:

• Portland-Milwaukie light rail update from Tri-Met
• Community policing update from Jacob Brostoff
• News on the Portland Skatepark Plan from Colin Sharp
• Community Garden update from Lee Kamrass
• Nonconforming Sewers update from Mike O’Connor
• News on a possible neighborhood Octoberfest and Criterium Bike Race with Tom Rousculp
• Portland Harbor Superfund Site update from Von Summers of the Portland Partnership

…and our annual neighborhood action public brainstorming session!

Please bring all of your project/grant ideas, complaints, wishes, etc to the meeting and be ready to discuss!

SEE YOU TOMORROW NIGHT!

-The BAC

The BAC would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to Rainbow Painting and Bob Puzis. Bob offered to provide DISCOUNTED LABOR to spray a protective clearcoat over our entire mural which our artist Lew Jones painted on the SE 9th Ave pedestrian bridge last summer. The mural was made possible by a $2,046 grant from Portland’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement.

Dear Neighbors,

You’ll all be receiving the Brooklyn Neighborhood News on your doorstep soon, and we’ve included the following message to him on a BRIGHT YELLOW POSTCARD that will probably fall out of the newsletter in your lap. Please read it, sign it, stamp it, and mail it, (or drop it off at City Hall).

You can send an email of the postcard by cutting and pasting some of the message below, along with some personal comments, into an email and sending it to Mayor Adams at: Samadams@portlandoregon.gov

REGARDING INCREASED TRUCK TRAFFIC ON SE 26^TH AVENUE

Dear Mayor Sam Adams,

Over the past several months, representatives from the Brooklyn Neighborhood have contacted both the city and the railroad about the increased heavy truck traffic using the stretch SE 26^th Avenue between SE Powell and SE Holgate Boulevard to access Brooklyn Yards. The increase in noise and safety problems has greatly impacted the livability of our neighborhood. The street is designated a “Safe Routes to School”/bicycle route for Cleveland High School and Creston Elementary, and having these trucks rumbling down SE 26^th Avenue instead of SE McLoughlin and 17^th Avenue violates the residential designation of the street.

Our communications with the railroad thus far have convinced us that UP’s management does not feel it has a legal or moral obligation to ensure that their facility complies with the freight plan and residential street use guidelines.

We would like the City of Portland to enforce its own freight plan by increasing police presence in the area, installing “Trucks Prohibited” signs, and informing UP that they must obey the freight plan or face enforcement actions. We need to prioritize our safety and livability over convenience for trucks and the railroad.

Signed

ADUs are small, standalone houses, sometimes converted from old garages, and sometimes built as new construction, are called Accessory Dwelling Units, or “ADUs”. Building an ADU on a property is neither cheap nor simple, but if you’re a homeowner with an inclination to have an ADU on your property, NOW is a great time to think about building one. Not only does Portland’s zoning code allow ADUs to be developed on most residential lots, but in an attempt to promote more ADUs within city limits, Portland has temporarily waived System Development Charges (which typically cost $7-12K) through June, 2013. Given that we’re now starting our way in 2012, many homeowners are thinking more seriously about building an ADU on their property. [Read more →]

Dear Neighbors,

The first BAC Board Meeting of 2012 will be held at 6:30 PM on January 11 at the Thelma Skelton Loaves and Fishes center at SE Milwaukie Boulevard and Center Street. At this meeting the board will be discussing a request by the Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association for a letter of support regarding moving the proposed location of a cellular telephone antenna tower that is slated to be installed a few yards from a residence. We’ll also be discussing which movie to show at our Movie in the Park this summer, as well as planning our General Meeting to be held on January 25. [Read more →]

Download our latest newsletter!

The November/December Brooklyn Neighborhood Newsletter can be downloaded at this link.

Hello Neighbors,

Please attend the upcoming meeting about the Brooklyn Community
Garden. Major decisions need to be made before we move forward,
including partnership options. I would like to communicate information
I’ve gathered from ODOT, the Portland Water Bureau, Portland Parks &
Rec Community Gardens, and Grow Portland, and then hear your feedback.
These are choices that will affect the short and long-term viability
of the garden.

DATE: Monday, November 7
TIME: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
PLACE: Loaves & Fishes Center at the corner of SE Milwaukie Ave. and SE Center St.

I hope you can be there.

Lee Kamrass
Brooklyn Community Garden Coordinator
503 230 1064

Dear Neighbors, we wanted to let you know about some construction scheduled at SE 17th & Holgate over the next few weeks which may have some traffic impacts, mostly on Holgate. TriMet’s contractor won’t begin work here until early next year, but I wanted to let you know about this underground utility work currently scheduled by others.

–Starting Monday, October 31, continuing for a few weeks, Northwest Natural Gas plans to work on the north side of Holgate, on both sides of 17th Ave. This will include closing the sidewalk on Holgate adjacent to the TriMet bus garage for a few days.

– Starting November 7, continuing for a couple days, Portland Water Bureau plans to work at the southeast corner of 17th & Holgate. They also plan to work in the intersection during the weekend of November 12 and on November 21.

– November 14-18 there may be more traffic on 17th Ave. ODOT plans to close the exit from eastbound Ross Island Bridge to southbound McLoughlin, and will direct this traffic to 17th Ave. (This is unrelated to light rail construction; I’m not sure what project is prompting it.)

Of course, construction schedules are always subject to change, but this is what we’ve heard is currently scheduled. There will be more private utility construction in January, followed by TriMet’s contractor beginning work on sewer pipes in the intersection, probably in early March.