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Concordia Tree Team – Group seeks volunteers for spring pruning

Posted on March 27, 2023 by Web Manager Posted in Concordia News, Trees, Volunteer Opportunities

By Mallory Pratt | Concordia Tree Team

A Zelkova tree before the Concordia Tree Team pruned it. Photo by Mallory Pratt

I’m sure you’ve noticed that it’s been a tough winter for our trees with heavy winds and an ice storm. Did you know that good structural pruning can help protect them from catastrophic damage from wind and ice and lengthen their healthy lifespan? Your Concordia Tree Team was on the job this past fall doing that very thing for 56 street trees. And we’ll be doing it again this spring, including a special Earth Day event along 42nd Avenue.

What does good pruning look like? The improvement in health can be significant even if the change in appearance is subtle. The photos accompanying this article show a “before” and “after” for a Zelkova where branches that were likely to break or were rubbing against each other were removed to open the canopy for movement and new growth.

To see more examples of what pruning can do, check out the What’s New page on the Ainsworth Linear Arboretum website at AinsworthLinearArboretum.org/new-roots.

Spring pruning

Our team is preparing for Spring Street Tree Pruning right now. We’ll be knocking on doors in late March and pruning during the month of April. If you live west of 33rd Avenue and north of Alberta Street, you are in our target area for this spring.

If you or your neighbors are interested in this free service and/or joining the team, go to the Ainsworth Linear Arboretum website and click the “Get Involved” button to contact us.

The same Zelkova tree after the Concordia Tree Team pruned it. Photo by Mallory Pratt

We are also looking for tree enthusiasts to help with our Earth Day 2023 pruning and community event on Saturday, April 22. We are pleased to announce a joint venture with the Cully Tree Team and 42nd Avenue businesses to prune the street trees along the length of 42nd Avenue, which is our border with the Cully neighborhood.

We’d love help with getting sponsors, contacting businesses and planning the community activities. Please contact the team through the Ainsworth Linear Arboretum website using the Get Involved button and let us know you’d like to help.

If pruning is not your passion, we also work to protect older trees, plant big trees for the future and create equity of access to trees throughout the neighborhood. Come join us at our monthly meeting, the first Tuesday of the month from 6:30 to 7:30. Check the ALA website for location since it changes each month.

Mallory Pratt is the convener/facilitator for the Concordia Tree Team.

Social Column – Upcoming year packed with events

Posted on March 24, 2023 by Javier Puga-Phillips Posted in Concordia News, Events

Get ready for an exciting year filled with community events and initiatives! We are continuing last year’s efforts to keep Concordia clean. The neighborhood cleanups are back. This year we have scheduled three cleanups, on March 4, June 3 and Oct 7. We are meeting at Alberta Park each date at 9 a.m. sharp. The committee invites all community members to join in and help keep our neighborhood clean.

Makers Market

On Saturday, March 18, the community room at Kennedy School will host the Makers Market from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. This is a great opportunity for local artists and the public to connect. The gathering features local residents showcasing and selling their handmade items such as music instruments, wood art, glass art, and more. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to participate.

Coming up

The Concordia Neighborhood Association will also host a range of exciting events, including the annual Spring Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 8, at 10 a.m. (location to be determined).

We are coming together as a neighborhood to fill the eggs at 4 p.m. Friday, April 7, in the community room at McMenamins Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd Ave. The committee invites all community members and local businesses to participate or donate.

Year ahead

For the first time ever, CNA will host an official Pride event in June at Bonne Chance, 2209 NE Alberta St. More details to follow in the upcoming months. The committee is also bringing back National Night Out, Yard Sale (likely over Labor Day weekend), Halloween and a Holiday Party. We do need volunteers for all of these events.

The new initiative “Partners in Concordia” aims to bring volunteers and community members together to tackle small tasks such as gardening, painting fences and changing bulbs. The committee is collecting names of volunteers and tasks they prefer to do and hopes to match them up with community members in need of help. The date for this initiative is set for some time in the summer.

Numerous Northeast Portland residents, including Concordia neighbors, attended a traffic safety discussion at Sabin Elementary School in early February. Photo by Javier Puga Phillips

Sabin meeting

On Feb. 8, the Sabin Community Association invited CNA board members as well as Concordia neighbors to attend one of their meetings at Sabin Elementary School, where Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) representatives addressed a recent fatal crash involving a single vehicle, on Dec. 5, that drove into a utility pole. The automobile was speeding on Prescott at 90 mph at the corner of NE 14th Avenue and Prescott Street, lost control and crashed. The meeting was an opportunity for the community to voice their concerns and thoughts on the issue of traffic safety in the neighborhood.

During the meeting, a large number of neighbors shared their concerns about the use of Prescott as a “speed track” and how drivers, even though it’s a two-way street, illegally pass cars. It was brought to our attention that the speed limit on Prescott is 25 mph, but some drivers ignore this, putting themselves and others in danger.

In light of these concerns, PBOT shared that the more letters the community sends the bureau, the faster it can respond to the issue. I would like to invite all Concordia neighbors to write a letter addressing any and all concerns about traffic safety in the neighborhood. These letters can be sent to me at Social@ConcordiaPDX.org or to our Land Use and Transportation Committee at LandUse@ConcordiaPDX.org.

I would also like to take a moment to thank Rachel Lee, the chair of Sabin Land Use and Transportation Committee, for the invitation to the meeting and for her efforts in ensuring that the community’s voice is heard.

Let’s work together to make Concordia a safer and more peaceful place for all, let’s come together and make Concordia a stronger and more vibrant community! If you own a business in Concordia or want to give a shoutout, please tag us @CNAPDX and use #SocialConcordiaPDX.

Javier Puga-Phillips holds the Southwest 1 position on the Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA) Board of Directors, manages rentals of the McMenamins Kennedy School Community Room and chairs the CNA Social Committee. He is a real estate professional locally, and he is a published author and motivational speaker in Latin America and Spain.

Group discusses potential NE center

Posted on March 20, 2023 by Web Manager Posted in Concordia News

By Rob Cullivan | CNews Editor

Pastor Philip Brandt of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church discusses a possible community center in Concordia with other residents, on Feb. 13. Photo by Rob Cullivan

A group of Concordia residents discussed working to create a community center, at a Feb. 13 meeting at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, 6700 NE 29th Ave.

Hosted by Pastor Ike Harris, a Concordia Neighborhood Association board member, the group of nine folks engaged in a wide-ranging discussion with Portland Public School District and Family Liaison Jeff Wiser about possible uses for a plot of land on Northeast 42nd Avenue, next to Fernhill Park, where both John Adams High School, then Whitaker Middle School, once stood.

Wiser stressed he attended the meeting in an informal capacity to help attendees discuss their concerns and was not formally representing the school district.

Questions to be answered include how a possible center would fit in with the school district’s proposed use for it as an athletic hub. In 2021, the district issued its Long Range Facility Plan and designated the Whitaker-Adams site, as it’s called, a potential site for athletic facilities for area schools.

Harris noted his vision for a center could include services for both area seniors and youngsters. He added that he would like to work with Clarence Larkins, a longtime Cully activist, who has also proposed building a community center on the site. Larkins’ proposal for P.O. Black Family Village, a multiuse center, was detailed in the February 2023 edition of CNews.

Larkins was unable to attend the meeting. “I feel if we join forces … it could be a perfect fit,” Harris said of Larkins’ vision.

Ideas discussed at the Feb. 13 meeting included surveying area residents and civic groups in the various neighborhoods around the site about what they would like to see happen. Wiser noted that if the attendees create a formal proposal, interested residents could schedule a time to speak before the Portland school board, both at a public meeting as well as in one specifically set up to discuss their concerns.

On a related note, the Concordia Neighborhood Association is currently drafting a letter on behalf of itself and other area organizations to discuss the future of the site. CNews plans on covering the progress of the letter, as well as other efforts related to a possible community center, in an upcoming issue.

The group plans to hold another public meeting at St. Michael’s at 5:30 p.m., Monday, March 13.

From the Board – Association welcomes input from residents

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Web Manager Posted in Concordia News

By Kieran Lee |CNA Chair

Hello again fellow Concordians! Whether you’re prepping your garden for spring, making trips to the snowy mountains or staying cozy at home waiting for longer days, I hope this edition of Concordia News finds you well.

As we begin to emerge from our darkest Portland winter months, the neighborhood is certainly buzzing with upcoming events. Our volunteers are putting together quite the setlist of opportunities to get to know your neighbors better, so keep up with each month’s publication to stay on top of what’s going on in Concordia.

I’ve started to hear from a few of you via email since our last publication (thank you!). I would like to continue emphasizing that no comment or concern is too small, and our CNA Board is here to listen.

All board meetings and committee meetings are open to the public, and attendance from the neighborhood is highly encouraged. We are here representing Concordia; you can help us relay your priorities by attending a committee meeting in person or virtually. If a certain committee sparks your interest, join and become a member! We are only as good as our connection to the neighborhood.

2023 budget

To my knowledge, the Concordia Neighborhood Association has not published a calendar year budget in recent history. During the February Board meeting, the board voted on and approved a 2023 budget.

Why does t his matter? Well, this allows us to better forecast spending for our neighborhood events and enables our Social Committee to plan ahead and secure resources.

With the past few years being a little less predictable, 2023 is an appropriate time to solidify standard yearly activities and also welcome in a few new ones, so stay tuned.

See you around the neighborhood and don’t forget to say hello!

Kieran Lee works as an automotive engineer and has volunteered in youth development. He particularly enjoys living in Concordia for a variety of reasons, including its diversity, accessibility, and local business community.

New Seasons – Grocery store workers join union

Posted on March 12, 2023 by Leigh Shelton Posted in Concordia News, Local Businesses

By Leigh Shelton | CNews Advertising Representative

From left: New Seasons Concordia workers Ollie, Ava and Joseph pose in front of a New Seasons Labor Union banner. Neighborhood store workers voted 94–16 in favor of joining the newly-formed union in December of last year.

Since he was a child, Joseph Mohrmann has survived off discarded food from New Seasons.

“It was essentially ‘Blue Slips,’” Mohrmann said, using the store term for edible-but-unsellable food up for grabs for employees. What employees don’t take is donated to community groups.

“We went to a church that got food donations from New Seasons,” Mohrmann said. “I remember packing paper bags for others in need, but it was for us, too. We needed them too.”

Now, at age 24, a five-year grocery clerk at New Seasons Concordia, 5320 NE 33rd Ave, Mohrmann still relies on the discarded food to get by. At $18.80 an hour, after rent and bills are paid, he said he has about $200 left to spend on food and anything else he may need or want in the two weeks before he gets paid again.

“I’m very frugal,” Mohrmann said, who shares an apartment in Cully with his sister. “We don’t heat the apartment much. I shop at thrift stores.”

For about a year, Mohrmann and his co-workers have been meeting after hours to figure out what they can do to improve conditions in their workplace. In December, they filed for a union election and voted 94–16 in favor of joining the New Seasons Labor Union, a new independent union the workers formed themselves in 2022. Seven other Portland-area New Seasons stores have voted to join them, totaling 800 newly unionized workers.

“It took a lot of energy and time to cultivate our working-class solidarity,” said Raël Adkerson, a seven-year New Seasons employee and Concordia resident. “In a time when people are very polarized, we have to get back to understanding that our labor is something that brings us all together.”

Adkerson said the progressive language the company touts no longer matches his day-to-day experience. “The things this company was built on, we want to see some of that back,” Adkerson said.

Negotiations are underway for the workers’ first contract.

Progressive label

New Seasons is a 19-store grocery chain founded here in Portland in 1999. In 2009, New Seasons’ founding members sold off a majority stake of the company to Endeavour Capital, a private equity firm. In 2019, Endeavour sold New Seasons, along with a suite of similar West Coast grocers, to E-mart Inc, South Korea’s largest retailer.

New Seasons markets heavily its Certified B Corporation label. Awarded by global nonprofit B-Lab to achieve the “B Corp” label, a for-profit business is supposed to meet certain criteria in areas of sustainability, worker standards, and accounting transparency. When New Seasons first won the award in 2013, it did so with a score of 120 points. In its most recent survey, its points slipped to 80, the minimum required to hold the label.

In an email, a New Seasons spokesperson said, “From the time our company was founded in 1999, we have been rooted in taking care of our staff first and foremost, and B Corp certification is a recognition of the great work we’ve done. We’re proud of our legacy as a progressive employer that offers industry-leading wages, a 30 percent discount, and generous benefits, including paid parental leave, paid time off, paid adoption benefits, 401K matching, twice-a-year automatic wage increases and so much more.”

Informing customers

On a rainy Saturday afternoon in early February, New Seasons employee Dan Morrissey gathered with co-workers at the edge of the parking lot and approached customers as they came and went from the store. It was the first time the workers brought their struggle to customers’ attention. “Once people understand that we work here, and just want to talk to them about what’s going on in the store, they’re incredibly supportive,” Morrissey said.

Morrissey said he joined the union hoping for better pay, but most importantly, he’s seeking respect from the management.

For Joe Meyers, a 15-year New Seasons employee, who currently works in produce, respect is top on his list as well. “‘Patronizing’ is a word I keep coming back to when I think of how the company treats its workers: like high school kids who need a parent figure instead of full adult humans, critical to their success and contributing members of society,” wrote Meyers in an email.

Meyers said as the company has grown, he’s seen an explosion of middle management positions, while his job gets narrower and more mindless.

“We used to problem solve,” he said. “It’s not just pay, but training, resources and respect are all in short supply. In my view, the company had maybe a very small opportunity in the beginning to ‘create good jobs in the community’ as all businesses like to promote, but they chose money instead and now seem hell-bent on not listening and creating a desperate transient workforce.”

Leigh Shelton is the ad rep for Concordia News. She loves getting to know her Concordia neighbors and exploring ways we can better support each other. Reach out and say hi at CNewsBusiness@ConcordiaPDX.org.

Flour Market Café – Bakery offers array of tasty goods

Posted on February 27, 2023 by Web Manager Posted in Concordia News, Local Businesses

By Kathryn Crabtree | CNA Media Team

Lisa Belt, proprietor of Flour Market Café, will mark one year at her current location next month. Photo by Kathryn Crabtree

Walking into the Flour Market Cafe, 5507 NE 30th Ave., on a late Sunday morning is an adventure in sensory delight. The array of multiple breads makes it challenging to choose an item, which include country levain, multigrain, caraway rye, baguettes or challah packaged to go.

The café also features a variety of home-made jams, as well as fruits, veggies and fresh produce from local markets. Whether you want a breakfast, snack or lunch, Flour Market has pastries, biscuits and croissants for you to choose, along with coffee, soda and decaf pour-overs to sip with your treats.

The culinary outpost also offers a variety of cookies, vegan and gluten-free items, as well as Panforte, which resembles a flattened fruitcake and is an Italian combination of dried fruit and whole hazelnuts. A distinctive treat, it makes a delightful hostess gift.

Another unique approach to breakfast is the croissant loaf, buttery and flakey, which makes a perfect base for a Sunday brunch French toast. These items will provide patrons with savory or sweet pastries they can share with their Valentines this month.

The proprietor, Lisa Belt, enjoys helping her customers make informed purchases. She gladly explains the ingredients, spices and options to the dog walkers, children looking for midmorning treats, or the ladies from across the street who go to The People’s Yoga Studio. Belt will even offer to heat up the ham-and-cheese or red-pepperand-gruyere-cheese croissants in her standard oven.

Belt also sells several varieties of granola. One such granola is a classic fruit-and-nut combination joined by a crystalized Ginger Granola, full of toasted cashews and pepitas and topped off with Oregon grown Vincent Family dried cranberries.

Not a fan of ginger? Cocoa Nib Granola contains scoops of high antioxidant cocoa nibs added to toasted flakes of coconut and sliced almonds. The touch of cinnamon, brown sugar and cocoa added to the oats provides an irresistibly flavorful crunch—not just for breakfast but for the perfect trail mix as well.

Outdoor covered seasonal seating is provided by the restaurants, coffee shops and other near-by purveyors of food and services, as well as several tables and chairs in front of the cafe. Inside, comfortable seating for couples, or for groups utilizing a lengthy library table, is available. The rear door exits to a deck with umbrella tables that provide a pleasant sense of intimacy.

Opening last March, Belt is looking forward to marking her anniversary in the brick-and-mortar cafe, supplied by her wholesale bakery division.

The Flour Market Café is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. To order online, visit FlourMarketPDX.com every Tuesday for pickup on Saturdays at Belt’s bakery, located at 2523 SE 9th Ave.

Kathryn is a recent transplant from the Midwest and, as she reports in CNews, things are a lot different here.

Social Column – Restaurants honored; Egg Hunt needs volunteers

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Javier Puga-Phillips Posted in Concordia News, Local Businesses, Volunteer Opportunities

Hello Concordia! This is our first publication of 2023, and I’d like to wish a happy new year to all of our neighbors.

First, a little recap of our holiday party. We celebrated at Teote Mezcaleria, 2700 NE Alberta St. Thank you Teote for the hospitality, food, and great service. We are lucky to have you in Concordia and for your kindness toward our community.

Musicians and neighbors Robin Jackson, Lewis Child and James Villa were phenomenal entertainers for the night. We sang and danced to their rhythm, and we are looking forward to having them back at future events. If music is of interest to you, connect with Robin, who hosts songwriter soirées, creative and joyful events for inspiration. You can reach Robin on Instagram @RobinJackson.

During the party, we had a silent auction, and I would like to thank the donors: Teote, Peter Keller, Atrum Arte (Brent, Astrid, and Luciana Fustner), Mandy Allen, and Alberta Street Art Gallery.

Congratulations to the winners: Scott V., Hannah W., Barbara R., Margaret R Brittany V., Shannah P., and Trey L. We raised $264, which will be helpful in supporting our community.

Best restaurants

Next, I’d like to congratulate the four restaurants in Concordia (and adjacent neighborhoods) that made the list of the best new restaurants according to Dining Out. The local winners are:

  • Bar Cala, 2703 NE Alberta St. This Latin-inspired, pink building hosted our Halloween party.
  • Cafe Olli, 3925 NE Martin Luther King Jr. This is a great place to grab breakfast and/or pizza, open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
  • Gabbiano’s, 5411 NE 30th Ave. Delicious comfort food in the heart of Concordia.
  • Mis Tacones, 1670 NE Killingsworth St. This vegan/Mexican food fusion is reinventing Mexican cuisine and adapting it to vegan taste.

Year ahead

Moving on to 2023, we are almost done planning our calendar for the year, and we’d like to hear what you’d like to see from Concordia Neighborhood Association this year. We may not be able to accommodate all requests, but all feedback is welcome as we continue to grow together.

I’m currently looking for volunteers to help with the April 8 Egg Hunt. Please email me at Social@ConcordiaPDX.org if you are available to help. We need all hands on deck to stuff the eggs, set up, hide the eggs, and pick up after this event.

In addition to my role as the chair of the CNA Social Committee, I’m also the manager of the community room at the Kennedy School, so I’m excited to share that we’ve rolled out our new community partnership program. This will allow certain groups who use our community room to be reimbursed, making the room free of use.

To do this, groups can apply to use the room for free by filing an application for CNA board approval. Groups can then go online, book a time slot and pay in advance. If the board approves free use of the room, the fee will be refunded. The guidelines are posted on the CNA website.

Follow us on Instagram @CNAPDX, and use #SocialConcordiaPDX for shoutouts. We also have a Facebook group page, @ConcordiaPDX, for updates.

Javier Puga-Phillips holds the Southwest 1 position on the Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA) Board of Directors, manages rentals of the McMenamins Kennedy School Community Room and chairs the CNA Social Committee. He is a real estate professional locally, and he is a published author and motivational speaker in Latin America and Spain.

Trimet updates plans for Line 17 to downtown

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Shawn Mihalik Posted in Concordia News
Photo by Jon Dickman

After considering community feedback, TriMet has announced further changes to its Forward Together initiative that may positively affect Concordia residents. The first version of TriMet’s Draft Service Concept (see story on Page 3 of the Dec. 2022 issue of CNews) included plans to drop service for bus line 17 at the north end of its current route at NE Broadway Street due to low ridership.

However, at a meeting with TriMet’s board of directors in December, the Service Concept Committee presented its Revised Service Concept, which now indicates that line 17 would serve NE 33rd Avenue from Broadway.

This is good news for residents of the Concordia Neighborhood, since line 17 remains the only direct route from Concordia to Downtown Portland.

Other previously proposed updates to line 17 remain unchanged, including an increase in frequency to every 20 minutes from the route’s current frequency of every 30 minutes.

In another welcome change, under the Revised Service Concept, line 8 would serve NE Dekum Street to NE 27th Avenue and Saratoga Street. This would be especially helpful for those traveling to or from the new University of Oregon campus, located on the grounds of the former Concordia University.

It’s worth noting that the Revised Service Concept is only the current draft of TriMet’s Forward Together initiative, and no changes will take effect until Sept. 2023 at the earliest.

In addition, there will be further opportunities for community members to provide feedback. To learn more, visit TriMet.org/forward.

Shawn Mihalik is a novelist, photographer, martial artist, and the Concordia Neighborhood Association’s media team lead.

P.O. Black Family Village – Organizer envisions center on 42nd

Posted on February 17, 2023 by Web Manager Posted in Concordia News

By Rob Cullivan | CNA Editor

Clarence Larkins, a longtime community activist, points to the empty field adjacent to Fernhill Park where he and others hope to establish P.O. Black Family Village. Photo by Rob Cullivan

When most people walk up 42nd Avenue toward Killingsworth Street next to the track and field that graces Fernhill Park, they see an empty grassy lot where both John Adams High School, then Whitaker Middle School, once stood.

When Clarence Larkins, however, looks at that lot, he envisions a vibrant community center that creates dozens of new jobs and where recreation and education can be offered.

Someday, Larkins wants to see P.O. Black Family Village on the site of the lot, and notes the “P.O.” stands for Portland, Oregon. He adds that “Black” in the village title doesn’t mean it exists solely to serve the African American community, but rather to honor Portland’s Black residents, many of whom have historically called Northeast Portland home.

“It’s for everyone,” he says of the proposed center, adding the name highlights the fact both the former schools and the Cully/Concordia area itself was— and still is—home to a large number of Black residents, even after many were displaced by gentrification in recent decades. “I just want African Americans to be represented in a way that we haven’t been,” Larkins said.

The empty lot has been considered for other purposes since the WhitakerAdams site was demolished, including a safe rest village for houseless people that eventually was rejected. Larkins believes in the wake of heightened social consciousness created by the Black Lives Matter movement, now is the time to seek both private and public funding for the village.

On Jan. 18, Larkins said he and other project leaders got good news when Prosper Portland, an economic and urban development agency, indicated it was interested in P.O. Black Family Village. Larkins added that he also has to discuss any plans for the site with the Portland Public School District, its owner. He welcomes any community support for the project, and urged possible donors to learn more about the proposal at StraightPathInc.org/po-black-familyvillage.

Abundant activities

As Larkins sees it, P.O. Black Family Village would serve the Concordia and Cully neighborhoods and particularly serve the area’s growing population of younger people. He noted, for example, that Las Adelitas, a 142-multi-family affordable housing structure, opened last fall in Cully, and he wants its residents, as well as other Cully and Concordia families, to have options for their growing children.

“Our people need some place where the kids can be off the streets,” he said. “Already I’m seeing them gather on the streets with no place to land.”

Among the amenities at the center would be a trade school—possibly operating in conjunction with alreadyestablished construction education programs—a recreation/community center, a performing arts center, a library and retail outlets.

“Every building in our plan is named after local African Americans who have made significant contributions to the livability of the Portland community,” the site plan states.

Long time coming

Larkins is a longtime Portland resident and former president of the 42nd Avenue Business Association. His office is located right across from Fernhill Park, next door to MeRae’s, a hair salon operated by his wife, Marie.

Since 2009, Larkins has directed Straight Path, Inc., an organization that works with businesses and other service providers to offer ex-offenders and other marginalized adults job placement, ongoing training and support, and career advancement.

Straight Path holds job fairs and offers support not just to folks with criminal records but also to people experiencing homelessness and looking to stabilize their lives, people undergoing or who have completed drug rehabilitation, at-risk high school juniors and seniors, and underserved veterans.

As Larkins sees it, P.O. Black Family Village is simply expanding on his overall vision of a Cully/Concordia community that looks after its residents.

“The work that we do is about love of families and a positive future for our children,” he says.

CNews Editor Rob Cullivan is a veteran journalist, publicist and grant writer who has written about everything from rock ‘n’ roll to religion. He possesses a deep affection for writers and photographers who hit deadline.

From the board – Another door opens

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Web Manager Posted in Concordia News

By Kieran Lee, CNA Chair

Hey Concordians! I’ve had the opportunity to meet a few of you during our holiday party in December, as well as at board meetings and other events over the past year. My name is Kieran Lee [keer-ahn], and I am your Concordia Neighborhood Association Board Chair for 2023. My pronouns are he/him/his. We’ll get to know each other better throughout the year, but nice to meet you in our community’s two-dimensional space.

In my first column entry, I’d like to start by thanking Peter Keller for leading CNA over the past two years as chair. Under his leadership, we worked through the pandemic, started our relationship with the new University of Oregon Portland campus, and achieved internal approval for the Concordia Community Partner agreement, to name a few accomplishments. Thank you, Peter!

I’ll do my best to carry an open mind and open ears into 2023. In the past year while on the board, I’ve observed engagement that is motivating. We have a community of passionate neighbors, and I encourage you to continue to use the CNA as a forum to initiate important discussions impacting our neighborhood. Personally, I have set my primary goal as chair in these first months: to establish a 2023 budget and use it as an opportunity to discuss where CNA can expand its impact over the next years.

As always, feel free to send me a direct message via email if there is an opportunity for the CNA Board to be your megaphone. Our volunteer-based group is here to serve the neighborhood, and we start with listening.

Meeting notes

The 2023 CNA Board met in January with a few fresh faces to get our year started. We began by running our yearly officer elections, which are voted on by the board after nomination and majority approval. I’d like to congratulate the following board members and also thank them for taking on these additional duties!

  • Vice Chair – Brittany van der Salm
  • Treasurer – Heather Pashley
  • Secretary – Matt Roberts

We also had a vacancy on the CNA Board for our At-Large 5 position, for which we held an election. With out-of-sequence vacancies, the CNA Board may nominate any person that meets the CNA bylaws guidelines. I am happy to announce that Michelle Fitzgerald was nominated and approved by unanimous vote to fill this position. Welcome to the team, Michelle!

Lastly, CNA Board “freshman” Rich Burton was appointed Land Use & Transportation Committee chair—thank you for stepping into the role, Rich! Rich wants to hear your concerns for land use and transportation within Concordia and will begin holding regular monthly meetings soon.

Kieran Lee works as an automotive engineer and has volunteered in youth development. He particularly enjoys living in Concordia for a variety of reasons, including its diversity, accessibility, and local business community.

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