Sellwood Moreland Improvement League

APRIL 2024 SMILE Newsletter

SMILE -- "The Neighbor"

April SMILE meetings at SMILE Station!

 The SMILE General Meeting for April will take place on Wednesday, April 3rd, 7:30-9 p.m., once again at SMILE Station, at S.E. 13 h and Tenino (one block south of Tacoma Street), in Sellwood.  SMILE Station’s upstairs repairs are completed. The meeting will focus on the upcoming May SMILE Board election. Four two-year at-large Board seats will be up for election or re-election, and all four one-year Officer seats as well.

The April SMILE Board Meeting, also open to all, takes place on Wednesday, March 20th, also 7:30-9 p.m. -- at SMILE Station. The public always invited to attend and participate. 

Those who live in, work in, or own property in, either Sellwood or Westmoreland are automatically considered “members of SMILE” (unless they specifically don’t want to be, for some reason; there is no card to carry or dues to pay) – but only SMILE members can vote on motions in General Meetings, and only SMILE members can run for seats on the SMILE Board each May.

City decrees less resident input on construction

David Schoellhamer, Chair of the SMILE Land Use Committee, reports that an issue on which SMILE has been submitting testimony recently has now been settled by vote of the Portland City Council.

He reports that the city has ended the requirements for neighborhood meetings with developers. As part of the announced desire to reduce regulations to spur housing production, the Portland City Council permanently eliminated neighborhood meeting requirements for developments of from 10,000 to 25,000 square feet, and suspended all such meetings [for larger properties] for five years. 

Neighborhood contact meetings ranked only 16th of 25 regulations the City asked developers about eliminating, and the City did not provide any estimates of whatever savings could be gained from eliminating one meeting. SMILE has hosted an average of four meetings a year. This permanently eliminates about half of the SMILE neighborhood contact meetings, and suspends the rest. SMILE testimony opposed these changes. Livability benefits, such as improved setbacks and landscaping, creating better and safer traffic flows, and modifying construction materials and design to better complement our neighborhood’s historical architectural quality, have resulted from these meetings – a benefit now potentially lost.  “Developers are, however, still required to post a sign,” he says.

For more information on the SMILE Land Use Committee and to participate, visit – http://www.sellwood.org/land-use; or email – land-use-chair@sellwood.org

SMILE Station’s ice storm repairs progress

 The ten-day unprecedented freezing and gale-whipped “arctic blast” that lingered in Portland from the evening of January 12 until January 22nd took a huge toll on homes, businesses, and public buildings across the Portland metropolitan area, and broken water pipes thawing at the end of that period caused much of the damage. A broken water pipe upstairs in SMILE Station, owned by the Sellwood-Moreland Improvement League (SMILE) neighborhood association, damaged the upstairs meeting room which was undergoing a renovation, and caused much destruction in the recently remodeled downstairs portion of the building.  Repairs are now complete in the upstairs meeting room, but rebuilding the new downstairs secondary meeting space will take months. However, meetings and events at SMILE Station have resumed in the main upstairs meeting room, subject to availability.

“Oaks Bottom photo contest”

The Friends of Oaks Bottom, a subcommittee of the SMILE “SNAC” Committee, invites you to submit your photos of Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in their photo contest this spring. Digital photos can be submitted from April 1 to May 31.  The categories are divided into adult and youth, and use of regular digital camera and smart phone cameras.  First and second place winners will have their photos printed and framed and hung at The Blue Kangaroo Coffee Roasters in Sellwood for the month of July. Friends of Oaks Bottom baseball caps will be awarded to prize winners as well as Honorable Mention entrants. Full details and entry info are online – https://friendsofoaksbottom.org – or, scan the QR code on the posters around the neighborhood.

Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge is a 163-acre complex of woods, meadows, wetlands and trails, a natural gem located in the Sellwood-Westmoreland neighborhood. People bike through it on the Springwater Corridor, run or walk on its trails, often with binoculars and/or cameras. And it is habitat to over 200 species of migratory and resident birds, mammals including deer, raccoon, beaver, mink, and otter, and hundreds of species of plants, trees, fish, and flowers. Each contestant may submit up to three photos. Get your best shot into the contest!

Friends of Oaks Bottom is a subcommittee of SMILE, and a Friends committee for Portland Parks and Recreation. It is an all-volunteer organization, dedicated to the preservation of the largest remaining natural area in the Willamette River’s lower floodplain. Its goal is to engage people in conserving this unique natural area through education and volunteer work. Regular workdays are held to plant, remove invasives, and to clean up garbage in Oaks Bottom. 

Neighborhood Response Team Officer appears at SMILE

 At the September SMILE General Meeting. A large crowd, approaching 50 people, attended. After introductory remarks, which centered on the community resources available to residents from Portland City Bureaus, and how to reach them, Central Precinct NRT (“Neighborhood Response Team”) Officer William Green opened the floor to questions.  Green – a Franklin High graduate early in this century, born and raised in Inner Southeast Portland – has been a police officer for 12 years for the Portland Police Bureau, and a NRT Officer since 2017. 

The officer began answering questions from those present, starting with how to discourage car prowls (car break-ins).  Early questions also concerned Portland Police staffing levels, and their effect on policing in the community; enforcement at critical crosswalks; and prosecution of criminals by the District Attorney.  He suggested that at any time, questions, tips, etc., could be directed to him personally by email – william.green@police.portlandoregon.gov.  Continuing to answer questions from attendees, he counseled that graffiti should be removed fast – “the sooner you get rid of it the better”.  Leaving it there encourages much more of it, very quickly.   He said the “Safe Rest Village” at Milwaukie and Gideon, just north of the Brooklyn neighborhood, has had “a major, major impact” on the homeless population in that area.

Officer Green responded to a question by pointing out that crime statistics for our own neighborhood are available through “Portland Maps”, including a breakdown for individual types of crimes.  When asked by an attendee what the number-one concern is of the Portland Police Bureau, Green replied without hesitation, “Fentanyl is the most serious thing I have ever seen.”  He said that it can even harm or kill if a little of the powder just touches the skin.  “And 92% of everything [drug-related] we test at the State Crime Lab contains fentanyl.”

At the end of Officer Green’s presentation, he received thanks from several attendees for the work of the Portland Police, and a round of applause for his appearance in person. 

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 – 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 2023-24 SMILE BOARD OFFICERS (1-year terms)

President -- David Dugan

Vice President -- Elizabeth Milner

Treasurer -- Pat Hainley

Secretary -- Eric Norberg

AT-LARGE BOARD SEATS (2-year terms):

 
TERM EXPIRES 2024

Zack Duffly

Jim Friscia

Grant Huling

Suzanne Kruse

 TERM EXPIRES 2025

Bob Burkholder

Tracy Fisher

Ayomide Nikzi

Elaine O'Keefe