By Dina Sage | Concordia New Editor

Last year, Javier Puga-Phillips approached the Portland Pride Association (PPA) with a fresh idea – hosting an official Portland Pride event right here in Concordia. PPA, who has been running the waterfront event since 1975 and who hosts satellite events in other neighborhoods, was amenable. “I told them that pride is about making people welcome right where they live,” says Javier, a realtor who moved to Concordia from West Hollywood, California in 2020 with his husband.

After getting permission, Javier began planning the party and connected with Take Two General Manager Dennis Lindsey to reestablish the Concordia Neighborhood Pride Association, an organization that hasn’t been active since two years ago when Javier was the Chair of the CNA Social Committee.

The event is slated for Sunday July 19th and will take place at Concordia Commons after the Portland Pride Parade Downtown. The city of Portland has also agreed to shut down traffic on the adjacent block between NE Emerson and Killingsworth for the event. Drag performers, DJs and dancers will be performing at the party and Javier himself will be emceeing alongside cohost Meesha Peru. Ms. Peru is one of Portland’s most celebrated drag queens, a former Miss International and the city’s first Miss Gay Latino. There will be drinks from Take Two who recently announced its upcoming closure, and food from both Gabiano’s and Gabi’s. There will also be booths representing LGBTQ+ organizations and other community resources.

One such resource is Educate Ya, a Portland-based non-profit organization geared towards helping Hispanics and Latinos with cultural integration through bilingual health, leadership and education programs. In organizing the event, it is important to Javier to be able to support both gay and Latino communities. “I know a little something about those things,” says Javier, who was born in Mexico. Javier sits on the board of Educate Ya and 5% of the money that the event makes will be going to support it.

Why should you attend? Javier says, “Pride celebration should be about connecting with community and raising our voices. We are not a community that is going to step down; we’re going to step up, be loud and we want to be seen. Concordia’s 2026 Pride celebration is a way to support queer Latinos in the community who are in need of help. It is at the heart of Concordia. NE Pride started right here.” Learn more at tinyurl.com/2599h8ts.

Dina Sage loves engaging in the arts and being outdoors. She has been in Portland since 2011 and lives with her husband, daughter and their pets.

By Keith K. Daellenbach | Contributing Writer

For all the parks in Portland’s metropolitan area, one large open space flies below the radar as if it were a secret, the Columbia Slough. This watershed is 32,700 acres in size and supports a large wetland habitat stretching from Troutdale to North Portland. It looms large in our neighborhood’s collective consciousness, always present but largely unknown and seemingly impenetrable.

At its heart is a slow-moving stream corridor that flows east-towest and parallel to the Columbia River connecting neighborhoods, natural areas, and industrial lands. It is a vital part of the Lower Columbia Estuary as one of 28 estuaries in the EPA’s National Estuary Program.

170,000 people including those in the Concordia neighborhood, or four percent of all Oregonians, call the watershed home. However, 95 percent of these residents live upland of the slough and are, in a way, separated from the slough itself by N.E. Columbia Boulevard. The slough connects to multiple segments of the 40-mile loop and regional trail system, now 70 percent completed, for pedestrians and bicyclists linking parks, open space, and vehicle-free trails.

The Urban Flood Safety and Water Quality District (UFSWQD) is a special district under the Oregon statute that operates and maintains the 27 miles of levees, including the primary levee along the northern boundary of the slough along Marine Drive and 12 pump stations. According to UFSWQD, the slough has 40 miles of slough and stream waterways.

According to the 40-Mile Loop Land Trust compilation, which does not account for riparian habitat immediately adjacent to primary and secondary streams, the Columbia Slough contains 2,560-acres of natural habitat in no less than 12 publicly owned open spaces. If the slough were a park, it would be the second largest park in metropolitan Portland behind Forest Park (5,200 acres) and ahead of Tryon Creek State Natural Area (658 acres).

In the slough, although not adjacent to the primary waterway, is the delightful City of Portland’s 27-acre Columbia Children’s Arboretum (10040 N.E. 6th Drive). This article series seeks to connect residents to the slough, reveal historical, cultural, and natural history perspectives, as well as how to access, recreate in, and, ultimately, protect the slough.

Keith Daellenbach is a mechanical engineer and outdoor enthusiast who loves mountain climbing, skiing, biking, canoeing, and beekeeping with his wife Amy and son Micah.

By Dina Sage | Concordia News Managing Editor

The Concordia Neighborhood Association board is a group of 13 volunteers who all live in, work in or own property in Concordia. They are dedicated to helping the community and meet once a month to discuss neighborhood issues and plan events.

How did you come to get involved with the CNA board?

I met the Land Use and Transportation (LUTC) Committee chair, Rich Burton, at Extracto. I was chatting with someone I met who was from Texas (like me) and he introduced me to Rich. I knew the board existed but I thought they just did social events. I didn’t know there was also a Land Use Committee and I didn’t know they did advocacy for the neighborhood. Rich told me was resigning. A month later I went to a meeting and got nominated for the LUTC chair position.

What are you hoping to accomplish on the board?

I grew up in Houston and not having zoning there had a strong impact on what happened to a neighborhood, so I have a lot of interest in government structures. I would like to learn more about what the neighborhood wants and I want to be a voice for the community.

I’m hoping to reinvigorate the Land Use and Transportation committee. I changed the monthly meeting time from Wednesdays to the second Tuesday of the month, which is the Tuesday right before the board meeting. I would love to invite anyone from the neighborhood to join us.

Where do you live?

I live right on Killingsworth between NE 36th and 37th. My partner and I bought the house in April 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic. We moved here from Dallas and nature is what brought us here. We wanted to live close to the gorge but within the city.

At that time, we didn’t know it would be a loud street. Our home is gated and my dogs have a great time meeting people on the street and at the bus stop, but it is hard to back out my car.

What is your favorite thing about Concordia?

I love the walkability; there’s so many coff ee shops. I’m kind of a nerd and we looked at statistics for the neighborhood- this one met all the criteria in terms of safety, diversity, and ratio of owners to renters. The safety stats are divided into violent and non-violent crimes.

We wanted to avoid living in an area with violent crimes and Concordia fi t the bill. We are a young couple and we are not planning to have kids so we wanted a place that was family-friendly but not family-focused.

What are your favorite hobbies / past times?

I enjoy hiking, I have a thing for waterfalls and I try to go to waterfalls weekly on Waterfall Wednesday. I like to garden. I started a giant vegetable garden and I’ve been fi guring out how to add aesthetically-pleasing native plants.

My partner is working on getting his Master’s in Stats and Data Science at PSU. I like spending time with my two border collies, a 9-year old male named Jura and a 1 ½ year old female named Talisker. They both have Scottish names.

How has the neighborhood changed since you moved here?

We were nervous about how the pandemic would impact small businesses and we were happy that the neighborhood didn’t change too much. The things we loved about Concordia then are still true now.

By Dina Sage | Concordia News Managing Editor

The Concordia Neighborhood Association board is a group of 13 volunteers who all live in, work in or own property in Concordia. They are dedicated to helping the community and meet once a month to discuss neighborhood issues and plan events.

How did you come to get involved with the CNA board?

I’ve been on the board for at least two years and I’ve been in Portland for 3 ½ years, in Concordia the whole time. In 2023 my daughter and her husband moved to Portland and so my husband and I moved here to be with them.

Early on, I joined the Concordia Walkers and I met Michelle Fitzgerald. She introduced me to lots of other people and encouraged me to get involved.

What positions have you held / committees have you served on?

I worked first on the social committee and the Commons committee was forming, so I joined the Commons committee as a member. When Megan retired, I became the board rep. I initially ran for the AL6 position because at that time, I lived with my daughter, my son-inlaw and my two grandchildren.

Where do you live?

I moved to 25th and Killingsworth so now I’m SW2 and I love my home now. There are some things in it from my mother and my grandmother that I cherish. Also, my home is convenient and low maintenance (it’s a condo.)

How was your move to Portland?

Initially, moving to Portland was devastating.

All my family is in St. Louis. I’m the second of nine children, six of which were from my mother and father, and three of which were stepchildren. When my mother died, my father remarried a woman who already had three children. At one point, there were 28 total with all of our children, so I left my entire family and all my friends.

Before we moved, my husband and I had built a log home in the Ozarks on ten acres in the woods. We raised chickens, rabbits, and bees. We literally sold and gave away everything we owned. I cried before I moved, I cried after I moved.

How do you feel now?

Now I don’t want to leave Concordia! In my older years here, I have learned some important lessons: when I had to sell my possessions and start over, I learned that I didn’t really need all those things. I’ve also learned that you’re born into family but then there’s family that you make. I’ve made some wonderful friends here.

I have never lived anywhere where the people were as friendly as they are here. My lives intersect with my neighbors all the time. They’ll stop and talk to you and you can always fi nd something in common.

What is your favorite thing about Concordia?

Aside from the people, I like being close to everything and being able to walk. I have a walking buddy and I like doing a circuit around Concordia. I like to say hi to people and dogs. We walk from 25th and Jerrett, through Alberta Park, up to 18th, up to Liberty, then turn towards the U of O, walk through campus, then down to 30th and take 30th up through the Commons and back to Killingsworth.

What are your favorite hobbies / past times?

Aside from walking, I love birdwatching and reading. I also enjoy the creative process and making things with my hands. I majored in fashion design at Washington University in St. Louis and I sewed professionally. We had a custom drapery business.

I realized recently that I haven’t created anything since I moved here, so I started embroidering phrases in cursive on sweatshirts. I made one that says, “Educate girls and change the world.” I think education for girls is extremely important because there are places where girls are still not educated and we take that for granted.

Next I’m thinking about making a denim quilted jacket.

By Caprice Lawless | Contributing Writer

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but eventually I hung up the bucket and its accompanying list of things to do, places to go and goals to achieve. For a while, as my career closed, I was focused furiously on the stuff; selling and giving away a lifetime of books I had already read, sporting equipment I could no longer use, and finally a house that was way too big for my needs.

One day, I stood in my driveway and wept as a moving van took away the piano I had owned my whole life; arthritis rendering me incapable of playing it. It was equally tough to sell my backpack, camp stove, mountain bike, road bike, ice skates and skis. But it had to be done. Another day, I stood with a stack of familiar cardboard boxes near the county’s massive recycling bins, dropping the daily journals I had kept for years into them as I tore up their pages. I thought I would reread them but the thought of doing so had lost all appeal. Similarly, I shredded years of paperwork I no longer needed. I noticed that each of those u n n a me d , u n s h a r e d r it u a l s imparted a sense of buoyancy along with the loss, though. I could feel something new opening with every ending. What would fill my mind, what would occupy my time, when familiar responsibilities no longer pressed on me? Even more unsettling (and a little exciting) was to wonder what would occupy me once familiar surroundings disappeared in my rear-view mirror as I drove to a new life in a new state.

Once I got into Portland, though, and was busy with new endeavors, those nagging feelings of doubt lifted. Nowadays I keep only a thimble list of small delights I hope to find in a day or a week. And so, alas, that trek on the legendary Camino de Santiago through Spain, France, and Portugal is out of the question, now. I won’t be tracing, one winter in my own skates, even a few spots on the Netherlands’ Eleven Cities Tour. Unlikely now are several days hiking the British Cotswolds, or even a day hiking the Great Smoky Mountains along the Appalachian Trail. A few months of grieving over such losses was requisite.

Happily, since then though, I have chosen to release broken dreams and to embrace the present. I had to trade fulfilling far-away adventures for an appreciation of the nearby, even the ordinary. It’s easy to enjoy extraordinary beauty wrapped in ordinary chores here in Portland. A drive to the laundromat, for example, offers a shower of pink and white petals from flowering fruit trees. The lilting birdsong of neighborhood wrens and sparrows here can often sound transcendent. Light flickering through trees across the path as I stroll to “run” errands is captivating, especially because I am never in a hurry to complete said errands. A day’s drive to the coast, to Mt. Hood, to wine country, or to the many natural wonders here offers a bounty of experience.

The only trouble with a thimble list is how its size requires frequent filling. Fortunately, that is easy to do in a setting like Portland, in a neighborhood like Concordia.

I wonder if the poet Blake and I share the same viewpoint:

“To see a World in a grain
of sand
And a Heaven in a wild
flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of
your hand
And Eternity in an hour”
-William Blake, The Auguries of Innocence, 1803

The Concordia Neighborhood Association board is a group of 13 volunteers who all live in, work in or own property in Concordia. They are dedicated to helping the community and meet once a month to discuss neighborhood issues and plan events.

I caught up with John on a Saturday morning, while he was helping clean up from the Teacher Appreciation Breakfast.

How did you come to get involved with the CNA board?

I moved here from the gorge and bought my Concordia house in 2009. I’ve always been active in the communities I’ve lived in. In the gorge, I was on the Chamber of Commerce, the City Council, and the Business Association. I was involved with planning social events like music festivals, car shows and chili cook-off s.

My first exposure to CNA was a concert in the park in 2017. I went to one of their meetings and someone nominated me and next thing you know, I was on the board. I didn’t even know what was happening to me!

Over the years, what positions have you held / committees have you served on?

One of the first things I did was run an alley clean-up in the neighborhood. I’ve helped run the Egg Hunt and concerts in the park. I’ve also been the CNews liaison for a while. And last year, I was the vice chair.

Where do you live?

I live on 29th right off of Ainsworth, between Fernhill and Alberta Park.

How has the neighborhood changed since you moved here?

The biggest thing has been the switch from Concordia to U of O. When Concordia University closed in 2020, there was a big question John with his English cream retriever, Zoe. as to what would happen with that space but the change has been really good. We couldn’t have had a better outcome.

What is your favorite thing about Concordia?

My favorite thing is that it’s walkable and easy to get to all the coffee shops and bars, but what makes Concordia different from other Portland neighborhoods is its alleys. There are 13 miles of alleys in Concordia.

I really love walking in the alleys. They’re not crowded so there’s plenty of room to walk side by side with other people or with your dog. It’s fun to see peoples’ backyards – it’s sort of a diff erent side of the neighborhood. I’ve even been invited into peoples’ homes before!

What are your favorite hobbies / past times?

I play bass in an Americana band and we like to jam it out. We practice once a month and then do a gig once a month.

I also have a treat library for neighboring dogs at my house. I restock it once a week. Based on the attrition, I estimate that 18 dogs a day frequent the treat library. People also put dog treats in the library for my dog. One year I went from January to August without having to buy any dog treats. One time, someone left me some ravioli with a Thank You note!