Buckman Community Association

Buckman Community News Winter 2004

Dec 27, 2004

Buckman Community News
Winter 2004
Editor: Lily Witham

CCHS Holiday Food Drive
The Central Catholic High School community cordially invites our Buckman Neighbors to join us in our efforts to fill the truck and make this Holiday Season a bit brighter for the less fortunate. Central Catholic's annual food drive for St. Vincent de Paul begins on Tuesday, Dec. 7th and runs through Wednesday, Dec. 15th. Food items such as tuna fish, oatmeal, cereal, canned soups, vegetables, fruits, boxed meals, spaghetti sauce, chili, etc. will be accepted in addition to socks, gloves and hats.

Members of the Buckman neighborhood who would like to contribute to the drive may drop items off at the truck during the school day or bring them into the school office between the hours of 7am - 4pm. Neighbors needing assistance with delivering their donations can call Alisa Sinnott, Director of Community Service, 503-235-3138 ext. 131.

Thank you for helping us to help others! The Central Catholic High school community wishes all of our Buckman neighbors a Happy Holiday Season!


Buckman Elementary Happenings

The annual Season of Sharing program begins on Nov. 30th. Cards with gift suggestions for needy children (and families) are posted on the bulletin board in the school lobby, drop by and choose one or more and provide a Christmas gift to a needy child.

Book Fair-The Book Fair will take place from Dec. 6th-10th, from 9Am-7PM. Thursday 9th and Friday 10th the Fair will be open from 8:30AM-8PM for a special shopping night, with storytelling for children while you shop.

Winter Craft Night- On Dec. 15th a special winter craft night is planned. Bring your child in for a fun evening of free gift making, holiday card making, a multi-cultural festival of lights and more!

Sun Program classes- registration forms will be available on Dec. 1st, with registration beginning on Dec. 15th. An exciting line-up of classes is planned, including science and art classes, lego robotics, role-playing classes such as a Harry Potter class, medieval times, and pirates. The “Around the World” class will study a different country each week, including cooking food from each country. The Sun program will also feature an adult Spanish class, and a positive parenting class. More classes for adults are being planned and Sun Director Diane Meisenhelter welcomes your suggestions. Contact her at meissun@hotmail.com. Winter session begins January 3rd.

2 Free Jazz Nights
at Hinson Baptist Church.

On Friday, Dec. 3rd and Sat. Dec. 4th, Hinson Baptist Church will host it’s annual Jazz and Dessert nights, which are absolutely free to the public. The fun starts at 7 pm each evening, with music provided by a local jazz combo. Delicious desserts will be served It’s all happening in the dining room of Hinson Baptist, 1315 SE 20th. Call 503.232.1156 for more details.

Doggie Day Care Opens in Buckman!

Portland’s Premier Social Club for Dogs is now open! And it’s located right here in Buckman at 1515 SE Ankeny. Owners Lawrence Freese and Rebecca Hoffenberg have created a warm, inviting space for your canines to spend the day. The amenities include a large open play space, and several smaller areas for dogs who may not want to socialize with larger dogs. An indoor dog park play session is scheduled for every Thursday evening at 7:30pm, an hour of fun and lay for only $5 per dog. There are a number of classes given by trainer Lori Kirby, including Puppy Classes and Basic Manners. Lori offers a 25% discount to shelter dogs and rescued dogs.
Lawrence and Rebecca will be installing several do it yourself dog washing areas in January. Stop by and pick up a rate card, or log on to www.barka-lounge.com to register and receive a 15% discount! Lawrence and Rebecca also offer a shelter adoptee discount of 10% off the first playcare purchase. For more information call 503.236.3868.

Question and Answer Forum with OLCC Staff:
Tuesday, December 14th, 6:00 p.m., SEUL

OLCC staff members Dan McNeal and Jon Stubenvoll will be presenting an overview of and respond to questions about liquor licensing and liquor law enforcement on Tuesday, December 14th at 6:00 p.m. at SEUL. All are welcome.
City Creating Southeast Portland Walking Map, Requests Neighbor Input

As part of their commitment to encourage southeast area residents to bike, walk, take transit and carpool, the City of Portland Transportation Options is creating a Southeast Area Walking Map, and they need your help. The purpose of the map would be to encourage more people to walk in their neighborhood, take public transportation, and ride their bicycles. This new map would include the I-84 for its north border, the Willamette River on the west, I-205 on the east, and the city boundary on the south. Options will need your input and assistance to make this map very user-friendly, fun and functional.
Modeled after a successful North Portland Walking map, the City plans on including schools, parks, libraries, community centers, bus and MAX stops and routes, bike routes and many other features. The goal is to send the map to print in April 2005.

Here is where you come in. There are hundreds of interesting and important sites and amenities that could be highlighted on a southeast area map. Although there won’t be room for all of them, the City needs your help to identify amenities and destinations on the map plus help identify what important landmarks and community assets to include. If you are interested in getting involved contact Linda Ginenthal at 503-823-5266 or linda.ginenthal@pdxtrans.org

BIG BOX UPDATE
By Jim Andrews
The Portland Development Commission (PDC) has proposed a large mixed use development for the east end of the Burnside Bridge. The concept on five blocks west of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and north of Burnside Street would include retail, offices and 350 – 450 units of housing.

The most controversial element of the concept is inclusion of a large retail anchor in the development, most likely a “big box” retailer like a Costco, Target or Home Depot store. Many people have questioned whether the suburban “big box” retail model is appropriate for this location, and have felt that a Home Depot store in particular would be a direct threat to the existing local hardware and materials stores that help establish the character of the Central Eastside district. The development might require changing the approved Burnside Transportation & Urban Design Plan for connecting westbound Couch Street traffic to the Burnside Bridge.

PDC has issued a Request for Proposals from private developers for the project, which is due on November 22nd. A date for public presentation of the developers’ proposals has not been set. The proposals will be reviewed by the Urban Renewal Advisory Committee (URAC), which will make a recommendation to Don Mazziotti, Executive Director of PDC, who makes the decision.

The Buckman Community Association (BCA) is monitoring this project and process, along with many other inner southeast neighborhood associations. Both BCA chair Susan Lindsey and Kerns member Michael Whitmore serving on the URAC Board. Persons who are interested in the project should contact Buckman Community Association or Kerns Neighborhood Association, and watch for media announcements of presentations of the development proposals.

Buckman Indoor Park
Join us in planning the re-opening of the Buckman
Indoor Park, a gross-motor play space for children 0-5 yrs. After 20
years, we have lost our space and are looking for a new location in SE
Portland. Our planning group is developing site criteria, fundraising
ideas and general planning to create a family resource center for our
community. The planning group for the Buckman Indoor Park is meeting
weekly at Chance of Rain Coffeehouse, 32nd and Hawthorne, Fridays, 9:30 - 11:00 am (children are welcome to join us but please bring a quiet
sharable toy). For more information, go to www.buckmanindoorpark.org
or call Cindi at 503-232-0880.




BCA news by Susan Lindsay, BCA Chair

Board Build-up Drive
The BCA is actively seeking persons interested in serving on the Board. Board members get to practice the fine art of "community service" by becoming involved in interesting neighborhood issues. Board members serve terms of one to two years. Board requirements are as little or as great as you would want to give! The Board meets two times a month, the first and second Thursdays, 7 PM at 400 SE 12th Avenue. Absences due to vacations, illnesses and work related conflicts are easily accommodated.

Some of the types of issues that Board members may find themselves being involved in are decisions relating to determining the future of our great neighborhood, land use, liquor licensing of existing outlets, package stores and new restaurants and bars, crime prevention and community policing, as well working towards the creation and design of a brand new inner SE community center at the old Washington High School site. The neighborhood association is also a social network, whereby people come to meet their neighbors and support community ideas and projects. All interested residents or persons that work in the Buckman area are encouraged to attend a meeting or two and become a part of the Association, and even to consider Board Membership. Contact Susan Lindsay, BCA Board Chair, for further information and to find out how you can get involved. Email buckman_comm2000@hotmail.com or phone 503-236-2214.

Washington High School Community Center Update
Progress continues to finalize the sale of 4.5 acres of the Washington High School property to the City Park Bureau. This acreage will be held in trust for the future location of a community center with pool, sports fields, mini-park and lots of other space for community programs. Recently, the Salvation Army considered Washington High School as a place to build one of their "Kroc Centers" and as a metro project, the Washington High site was considered highly competitive as their studies showed this area is severely devoid in recreational opportunities. While the Army ultimately chose Salem (which has even less stuff than we do!) we appreciate their recognition and support of the need for a community center at this location. To enable this community center to be built, a bond measure would have to be put forth to the voters to raise the necessary funds. Hopefully we could accomplish this in 2007 or 2008. Your support towards making the community center a reality is most appreciated.

Liaison sought for SEUL Board
The BCA needs a community volunteer to represent our neighborhood association in the monthly district coalition meetings held at SE Uplift. This person would attend that meeting (held once a month on a Monday) as well as our general meeting, held on the second Thursday of each month, and report back to us coalition priorities and activities while working with the BCA to make sure that our message and concerns are being presented to the coalition. This would be a great position for someone interested in seeing the "bigger picture" of community activism. If interested, contact Susan Lindsay, 503-236-2214.

Holiday Potluck/General Meeting December 9th
The BCA will host its annual holiday potluck just prior to the regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, December 9th at 6:00 PM at 400 SE 12th, Anne Hughes Kitchen Table Cafe. Please join us for fun and frivolity as we share food and community spirit (s)! It should make for a lively meeting that will follow at 7 PM. See you there!


Graffiti Abatement Report

Graffiti is one of the most prevalent, but most under-reported, forms of property crime in Portland. It is vandalism. If your property is vandalized by graffiti, there are some things you should know:
* First, a property owner is responsible to remove graffiti within 10 days, or risk being identified as a “graffiti nuisance property”. To assist with graffiti removal, the City contracts with Youth Employment Institute (YEI) to remove graffiti at no cost to the property owner. In order to receive this assistance, you must sign a permission form and return it to YEI.
* Second, it is most important to file a police report for the vandalism. This may be done by calling the police non-emergency number 503-823-3333, where the call taker will record your information into the graffiti service requests (PortlandOnline website) AND will transfer you to the Telephone Report Unit to speak to an officer. When taggers (vandals) are arrested, the police and district attorney use police reports to create cases against these criminals. If the graffiti is “bias” in nature, (racial or religious epithets, swastikas, etc.) it is even more important to get documentation AND to have the graffiti removed as soon as possible!
* Third, take pictures of the graffiti. Digital photos may be attached to the online reports. Printed (hard copy) photos may be mailed to Graffiti Abatement Office - 1900 SW 4th, Room 40, Portland, OR 97201. Photos attached to police reports help law enforcement make the case against the vandal. (If the YEI crews remove the graffiti, they automatically take a photo record of the graffiti)…

Check out the Graffiti Abatement webpage at http://www.portlandonline.com/oni (Select Neighborhood Services to find the link to Graffiti). This website will provide the most current information, plus links to the Online Graffiti Reporting System, the Graffiti Abatement brochure, the Graffiti Removal Permission Form, the Graffiti Reporting worksheet, and Metro Recycled Paints.

You can join in the effort to report and track ALL graffiti in Portland, by using the online report system to report any graffiti you see, on public and/or private property. It is essential to have the exact address, if on a building, or the intersection, if on a sign, traffic box, or other property without a physical numeric address.