Sellwood Moreland Improvement League

October 2026 SMILE Newsletter

Upcoming SMILE Meetings!

The October SMILE General Meeting will be on October 73rd, and as usual it will be from 7:30 to 9 p.m., at SMILE Station – on the southeast corner of S.E. 13th Avenue and Tenino Street (a block south of Tacoma Street). Everyone in the neighborhoods of Sellwood and Westmoreland is always invited to attend, and to participate in these neighborhood meetings.

 

The October Board Meeting, also always open to the public, will take place on the third Wednesday evening of the month, October 21st, also always open for anyone to attend. This is the first meeting with the newly elected members of the SMILE Board.  The Board Meetings also take place at SMILE Station from 7:30 until 9 p.m.

 

 

D4 City Council candidates speak at SMILE

At its September 2nd General Meeting this year, SMILE invited the twelve candidates running for the three City Council District 4 seats in the November election to appear and meet the voters; ten accepted and were there, but two found themselves unable to make it. At this meeting, there was a structured and timed series of opportunities for each to speak briefly on key issues. (SMILE is one of four Southeast neighborhoods assigned to District 4 at present; the other three are Eastmoreland, Reed, and the Portland portion of the Ardenwald neighborhood in Milwaukie.)  The meeting was open and free to attend by any interested voter, and some fifty people attended – in addition to the ten who came to meet the voters; the meeting was also available online via ZOOM, and a number of people attended the meeting that way. SMILE opened SMILE Station an hour before the 7:30 meeting start, and also provided light refreshments. The entire meeting was entirely devoted to the candidates; no other business was done.

 

To begin the meeting, the ten candidates present were each given two minutes for opening statements, and they were introduced in this random order:

 

• John McDonald
• Olivia Clark
• Eric Zimmerman
• Jayne Cronlund
• Mitch Green
• Jamey Evenstar
• Eli Arnold
• Jeremy Beausoleil Smith
• Josh Leake
• Timothy (T.J.) Anderson

 

The remaining two official candidates for the three available District 4 seats, John J. Goldsmith and Matt Schulte, were cordially invited to the meeting as well, but were unable to appear.

 

After the opening statements, the meeting proceeded with questions posed by from the audience; each candidate was given one minute to respond to each of the questions.  The one and a half hour meeting only had time to accommodate five questions from the audience, and the candidate responses; each question and the subsequent ten answers occupied a minimum of twelve minutes each, so there was only time for the five questions and responses before the time of adjournment.

After the meeting was formally adjourned at 9 p.m., SMILE Station remained open for attendees to stay and chat with the candidates until all were ready to leave.

 

PDXReporter.org: Your #1 Resource!

 

A message from the SMILE Community Safety Committee:  We encourage residents to go online and use PDXReporter.org to reach the City of Portland for livability and non-emergency crime problems.  Report camping, graffiti, abandoned or illegally parked cars, unsafe sidewalks, and many other issues quickly and from your computer or your phone!  The city will see it. Anything you would call “311” about is handled even more efficiently this way.

 

 

Free summer fun from SMILE concludes

Free family-friendly entertainment from the Sellwood-Moreland Improvement League (SMILE) neighborhood association has helped bring live music and performances to neighborhood streets, parks, and a church parking lot.

 

The SMILE Summer Music series in July and August on Saturday evenings, in the parking lot of Moreland Presbyterian Church, at S.E. 19th Avenue and Bybee Boulevard, three blocks east of S.E. Milwaukie Avenue, concluded on August 22nd with “Johnny Franco and His Real Brother Dom” performing  “rockin’ jump jazz, “jungle folk”, and samba. The concerts all started at 6:30 p.m., and all were free.

 

SMILE also participated in the SMBA Street Fair in its second year. On August Saturday, August 1st, the Sellwood-Moreland Business Alliance (SMBA) again presented its second annual “Sellwood Street Fair”, with booths by merchants and organizations filling S.E. 13th Avenue between Lambert and Spokane Streets from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., with everyone in Southeast invited to stroll the avenue to visit 90+ vendors, including local artists, great food, shopping, games, crafts, treats, and more. There was live music there too, presented by SMILE, with a performance stage set up next to Gino’s Restaurant at Spokane Street. Music ran from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. The performers were SMURK (Sellwood Moreland Ukulele Revival Klub), Bees in a Bottle, Two Drifters (Kathryn Claire & Margot Merah), and the JT Wise Band. “With this event, we were grateful to be coordinating with Sellwood Street Fair organizer Alison Osborn of the SMBA,” SMILE’s Friscia said. “She helped make the neighborhood a live music destination this summer.”

 

On Sunday, August 2, SMILE’s annual “Sundae in the Park” added more music and entertainment to the weekend. The free family day in Sellwood Park each year on the first Sunday in August runs from noon until 5:00 p.m., featuring live performances alongside the traditional ice cream-focused festivities. This year’s bands include “Ants Ants Ants” and “Sellwood Jazz”, offering family-friendly sets that appeal to both kids and adults. Sellwood resident and celebrity Henrik Bothe returned with high-energy visual comedy.

 

And the summer of fun concluded with the PP&R “Summer Free For All” concert in Sellwood Park, with SMILE as the community partner, which featured live band “Bloco Alegria” on Saturday evening, August 15th at 6:30 p.m. At this free concert, heart??‘pumping samba from Rio de Janeiro turned the park into an open??‘air dance party, as families spread blankets in the shade of the tall trees of Sellwood Park, along S.E. 7th Avenue, just north of the famous Sellwood Pool.

 

All of this entertainment was free – an easy way to pass summer close to home. Together, these happenings each summer turn Inner Southeast Portland into a summer-long stage, and invite families to step outside, meet their neighbors, and enjoy the soundtrack of their community. (Summary courtesy of David F. Ashton)

 

 

 

    January General Meeting focus: Interactions with ICE

 

The centerpiece of the January 7th SMILE General Meeting, as per the agenda, was a talk by two neighborhood experts, as suggested by a SMILE member, on “understanding your rights in interactions with I.C.E.”  Speaking were Jonathan Pulvers and Emily Cooper, both SMILE members.

 

They began by listing local organizations that can be useful in difficult interactions, including the Portland Immigration Rights Coalition, the Immigration Law Lab, the Interfaith Movement for Immigration Justice, and “Oregon For All”.  The Portland Immigration Rights Coalition (PRC) toll-free telephone number is 1-888/622-1510, but the pair emphasized that only eyewitness reports should be reported to that number (no rumors, or third-party reports).

 

Pulvers warned, “We do not encourage any illegal activity”, in responding to any interactions with I.C.E. agents.  They also emphasized that, “no local law enforcement agency is at all involved in any activity involving I.C.E.”

 

In the following question-and-answer period, a SMILE member asked if there had been any I.C.E. activity reported in Sellwood and Westmoreland?  Pulvers said yes – I.C.E. agents have been spotted, mostly on McLoughlin Boulevard, or along S.E. Tacoma Street – although apparently no arrests or detainments have been reported to have been made by I.C.E. agents in our neighborhood, to date.

 

 

SMILE strives to serve everyone in the neighborhood

A message from the President of SMILE: Over the last several months, the SMILE Board had been meeting to create a set of beliefs and values for the organization that will guide all our efforts to engage with, support, and represent, our growing and ever-diverse Sellwood-Westmoreland neighborhood. We are grateful for the guidance and support we received from the Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Coalition in this process. We are proud to share an abridged version of our Beliefs and Values here, and we encourage you to visit us online -- http://www.sellwoodmoreland.org -- to read more.

Inclusion and Representation: At SMILE, we believe a strong and healthy community requires a diversity of voices, particularly in leadership roles, and we believe in representing all voices in our community.

Accountability: At SMILE, we believe that our policies, practices, and procedures should be consistent, transparent, and align with our values. We commit to being flexible and adaptable to community needs.

Equity: At SMILE, we believe in and are committed to being anti-racist. We recognize that our practices may have resulted in excluding some members of our community, and we pledge to learn from and correct our mistakes with humility and honesty.

Connections: We believe SMILE is only as strong as the community we represent, and the partnerships we nurture. We believe in prioritizing accessibility and fostering relationships among all residents to create a cohesive community. At SMILE we provide opportunities for our community to hear from one another and from a variety of perspectives. We commit to facilitating a safe space for respectful dialogue

Empowerment: We believe SMILE's role is to actively serve and inform the neighborhood.

Joy: At SMILE we use talents and resources, and collaborate with our community partners, to create opportunities for joy and celebration.

We hope our Sellwood and Westmoreland neighbors will join with us in these efforts.

Elaine O'Keefe, SMILE Past President
Simon Fulford, SMILE Past President

SMILE is a 501c3 nonprofit

Of the 95 recognized neighborhood associations in Portland, SMILE is one of the few to be authorized by the IRS as a nonprofit 501c3 organization. This means that donations made to SMILE are tax-deductible -- and are very welcome!

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THE 2026-27 SMILE BOARD OFFICERS (1-year terms)

President -- David Dugan  (Now serving a two-year term ending 2027, after recent bylaws update)

Vice President -- Suzanne Kruse

Treasurer -- Pat Hainley

Secretary -- Eric Norberg

 

AT-LARGE BOARD SEATS (2-year terms)

TERM EXPIRES 2027:

Scott Kelly

Eli Fabens

Jason Sturgill

Seth Caddy

 

TERM EXPIRES 2028:

Zack Duffly

Grant Huling

Michelle McCoy

Melody Valdini