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Neighborhood Associations, activists and policymakers from all over the city are discussing the homelessness situation and trying to form a coalition to affect city policy. BNA Chair, Tom Hickey, feels strongly that the neighborhood associations, in alliance, can form a strong community to promote change, and that it is our duty to direct this strength towards building a more just and equitable world. Security and sanitation for those suffering from homelessness will pay dividends to the rest of us in the form of a more stable community. You can watch the recorded video at 6-16-20 Homelessness Zoom Meeting
The Bridgeton Neighborhood Association, in cooperation with other concerned NAs, invites all Portland Neighborhood Associations and other interested parties to a virtual meeting to discuss our role in taking action to fight the homelessness crisis plaguing our city.
A number of North Portland NAs have endorsed the North Portland Joint Statement on Homelessness, which at its core, recommends that NAs throughout the city should support negotiated locations for organized camps where the unsheltered can find sanitation and security, along the model of the three recently opened camps in the city. We are confident that other associations throughout the city have struggled with this question, and no doubt have constructive suggestions to bring to the conversation. Please join representatives from neighborhood associations across Portland for a conversation on how to move forward. Portland Neighborhood Associations Joint Action on Homelessness ZOOM Meeting Tuesday, June 16, 6 pm-8 pm Thesis: The Neighborhood Associations throughout Portland must take an active role in addressing the homelessness crisis in the city. Participation in the development of solutions in three-way partnership with homeless advocacy groups and with policymakers allows us to create better outcomes for neighborhoods and for victims of the crisis. Please RSVP to hickeyt+joint.action@gmail.com for Zoom Meeting information. Tom Hickey, Bridgeton Neighborhood Association, 2020 Chair May 9, 2020
Working in collaboration with the other neighborhood associations in the North Portland Neighborhood Services community, the Bridgeton Neighborhood Association has developed the North Portland Joint Statement on Homelessness to help the city move forward in our struggle with the homelessness crisis. As of May 8, Bridgeton, Arbor Lodge, University Park and Overlook NA boards have voted to support this statement. The remaining North Portland boards are still in discussion. Obviously we would all like to see an end to this social blight. Not only does it represent human suffering and despair, it creates conditions that lead to crime, disease and a degradation of humane living for all of us. We cannot wish it away - we cannot demand it take itself elsewhere and leave us to our idyllic ignorance of the crisis - we, as residents of the Portland community need to face the hard question: What, exactly, are we willing to do about it? We can donate to charity, we can demand that the city remove obstacles to getting the Bybee Lakes Hope Center up and running, but these are only partial solutions. While we fix the long-term problems of housing affordability and the gaps in our mental health policy, we need immediate solutions that bring people services and at the same time restore our streets to something resembling law and order. We need more managed camps and we need them throughout the city. The next step in this process is to ask what public spaces within the community could accommodate such a thing? A managed camp should be equipped to handle people safely and with dignity, provide basic services, sanitation, and access to public transportation, and the stable base from which to rebuild their lives. In exchange for creating an environment that respects the needs of the homeless, we gain the moral authority to demand respect for our own lives and livelihood. We will be discussing this topic at the May virtual board meeting on Tuesday 5/12. Please write to me with your thoughts. Tom Hickey 2020 Chair Bridgton Neighborhood Association hickeyt+bna.pdx@gmail.com 4/28/20 Virtual Meeting Report
With BNA Board, MCDD and USACE The Bridgeton Neighborhood Association board was invited by US Army Corps of Engineers to attend a Web-Ex presentation on the state of the Portland Metro Levee System feasibility study, resulting from the April 15 milestone meeting with their district management. We asked that the meeting be recorded and made available for public review, and are awaiting news of that. Representatives of MCDD and Portland City were also present on the call. Broadly, the report is that the proposed “Tentatively Selected Plan #5” has been approved by HQ and the design will move forward to the next phase. They have a multitude of design revisions to consider, including technical concerns, as well as the livability issues that we raised, and expect that it will be a year before a revised plan is ready for presentation. In the meantime, the board will remain in contact with the USACE to coordinate public outreach as the revised design develops. For instance, they have agreed to provide us with some “sketch” information by the beginning of June about how their thinking has evolved to accommodate our concerns. It is important to the neighborhood that we have access to their thought processes at this early stage so that we have opportunity to guide solutions favorably. Once we have this “sketch” package, we will share it with the community for feedback and comment. A follow up meeting will address those comments. Perhaps by then we can all meet in real life. The Army Corps has begun to compile the public comments we submitted in January, and to address them as a FAQ section on their webpage. It is not fully developed and it could use some clearer organization. At present it is appended at the bottom of the existing cover page for the project and requires substantial scrolling to find. https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/pmls/ Look for the heading: Clarification of concerns we have heard. The scheduled walks of the levee that were postponed due to the coronavirus have still not been rescheduled. They are aware of the need for them and are anxious to get back to that as soon as they are permitted. No matter how this goes, not everybody will be happy - we all have different tolerances for change. I am convinced at this point that the USACE wants the project to go through in a manner that leaves Bridgeton satisfied that our concerns were heard and addressed sincerely. Revised concept sketches will tell us something about that. Below are the notes that Bridget Bayer took at the meeting. Tom Hickey 2020 Chair Bridgeton Neighborhood Association BNA Special Meeting - USACE Levee Update April 28, 2020 Board members: Tom Hickey, PaulWargnier, BridgetBayer, WalterValenta, Jon Peterson, Erik Molander USACE: Laura Hicks, Valerie Ringold, ? MCDD: Mark Wilcox, Karen Carillo PEN 2: Leslie Sawyer, Val Humble AGENDA 1. Decision 2. Current Actions – Next steps 3. Public Involvement Process 4. Website 5. BNA Meeting Prep 1. Agency Decision The local chapter of USACE met their first milestone to present their Tentative Selected Plan (TSP) at the Federal NW Division Meeting (Portland, Seattle, Walla Walla, Omaha). USACE actions are funded as they reach each milestone so they can now go forward with refinement. The decision presented included concerns that need to be addressed like HTRW & neighborhood concerns. HTRW - There were 25 Hazardous Toxic and Radioactive Waste (HTRW) but only three remain to be cleaned up to date. Two of the three are petroleum based (oil spills & crude oil) so are of less concern. Neighborhood concerns were sorted into six categories; Public review process; Alternative selection; Natural resources & recreation; Design Project features; Neighborhood livability; Study authority; Other? 2. Current Actions – Next Steps They will need to secure a FONSI “Finding of No Significant Impact” through soil testing for NEPA, OR DEQ and bio-opinion from National Marine Fisheries Service. Water quality considerations are of great concern to them. They do not want to impact endangered species in any way. They must also go through several other reviews: Public, Legal, Policy, Interagency and Historic property. Refinement of design and details will lead to a report with recommended plan – approx. one year from now. They will release a sketch of refinement ideas by the end of May, beginning of June. 3. Public Involvement Process USACE were commended for the model outreach they are doing for this project. The BNA Board will continue to ask for a wide range of involvement. PEN 2 Board members are our best resource to stay informed of this detailed process. Leslie Sawyer, long-time BNA Board member, is currently serving on the PEN 2 Board. Partners from the community (40-Mile Loop, Parks & Rec, Metro) have not offered assistance or funding to help with amenities for enhanced recreation or design. USACE recommended that we ask potential partners to talk to MCDD to be involved in the process along the way. Board members stressed that it is very important that neighbors and concerned citizens want to comment and give input along the way, before decisions are made. 4. USACE Website The USACE will mainly keep the public updated on their website. It has been updated to include FAQ’s and more will be added as they come in. A full calendar on USACE website lists all public meetings available. 5. BNA Meeting Prep They are open to any kind of meeting the BNA chooses, is allowed, and safe. A meeting may occur online that is also projected on a series of YouTube streamed videos with experts explaining project details. Online meetings will be recorded and shared on the BNA website and USACE website whenever possible. Meetings to be set when information is updated and comments on specific issues are requested. We asked for “posters” or some kind of printed materials to be posted on Bridgeton Road for those neighbors not online. The BNA has asked several property owners to display on covered outside properties. Bridget Bayer, BNA Board Secretary As you may have suspected, the Bridgeton Neighborhood Association General Meeting, scheduled for April 14, is canceled in response to state-wide restrictions against public gatherings during the Coronavirus emergency.
The topics for discussion at the April 14 meeting, while of interest, were not particularly time sensitive, with the exception of a presentation from the Oregon Department of Transportation regarding the scheduled I-5 Interstate Bridge closure this summer. Beginning with that topic, and moving on to the others, the BNA board will do all that it can to assemble and share the pertinent information on that project using digital media, so please do all that YOU can to stay informed. On the topic of staying connected: As we practice our social distancing, let us not become so isolated that we do lose contact with each other. Please make the effort to check in on your neighbors — Are they healthy? Comfortable and secure? Remember that not everybody has internet access to reach out with or to stay informed. Not everybody has adequate long term savings to weather the coming economic slump without anxiety or worse. We need to support each other. Talk to your neighbor. From six feet away. posted March 19, 2020 Bridgeton, This is a CALL TO ACTION! Please attend one of these meetings and learn what the opportunities are concerning the Levees. We see this as an opportunity to upgrade some things we have dreamed about AND get safer levees at the same time!
Thursday, January 16, 2020 • 6:00 - 8:00 PM • City of Fairview Council Chambers 300 NE Village Street Fairview, OR 97024 Thursday, January 23, 2020 • 6:00 - 8:00 PM • Expo Center 2060 N Marine Drive Portland, OR 97217 If you can't make it to one of these meetings, Levee Ready Columbia will also hold a couple of drop-in sessions later in the month where you can get your questions answered and share your thoughts in a smaller group setting: Saturday, January 25, 2020 • 9:00 AM - Noon • Portland Drop In Café Eleven 435 NE Rosa Parks Way Portland, OR 97211 Saturday, February 1, 2020 • 9:00 AM - Noon • East County Drop In Stomping Ground Coffee 21825 NE Halsey Street Fairview, OR 97024 more info from Levee Ready Columbia An email and survey will be following for your opinions. We hope to have FULL neighborhood participation! If you live on or just off Bridgeton Road, this WILL affect you! A guide to the Corps' feasibility study, from the Multnomah County Drainage District, is here: https://www.leveereadycolumbia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/TSP_ReadersGuide_FINAL_online.pdf |
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