Concordia Neighborhood Association | Portland, Oregon

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School doors open to first grader

Posted on by Posted in CNA, Schools

By Marsha Sandman | CNA Media Team

Ari’s first day of first grade inside Faubion Elementary School didn’t occur until seven months into the school year. With pandemic restrictions in place, she and classmates are finally studying together in person. She likes it. Photo by Marsha Sandman

Seven-year-old Ariana (Ari) now attends first grade inside Faubion Elementary School. Until April 2, all of her first grade studies were at home.

School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic had come on suddenly in March 2020 and sent Portland Public Schools students home from their classrooms. No one was prepared for such an event, so it was quite a challenge for the teachers and the school district to get everyone and everything up and running.

Ari’s online learning was a combination of video conferencing and computer lessons created by the school district. Kids learn at different levels, and addressing these needs virtually was quite the challenge.

Classes included reading, math, art, dance, science, health and problem solving.

Ari’s family helped to supplement her education with additional challenges – not an easy task for some families. The children in her class appeared eager to engage with each other and their teacher in their relatively short video windows four days each week.

Ari said she liked learning at home because she could be with her family, but she missed seeing her classmates and her teacher face to face.

She had a bit of a sleepless night before her first day inside the classroom. All those months of masks, extra hygiene, space and caution had contributed to some panic.

Ari reported she was excited and happy, but a bit nervous. When she encountered her 10 classmates, met her teacher face to face and learned the rules, she relaxed into the routine.

Pick-up and drop-off procedures, hygiene and bathroom breaks have been explained to parents, who are not permitted in the building and who meet their students at specified locations.

Stringent rules are established for absentee students and illnesses. If students have COVID-like symptoms, they are sent to the Symptom Room, screened by the health assistant and likely sent home. They remain home until the county determines it is safe to return. Class is only 135 minutes, four days a week with no recess and no lunch in the classroom.

Getting up at 7 a.m. is no fun. Only a few classes are in session from 8 to 10:15 a.m. A second group of students arrives at 12:15 p.m.

But arriving home by 10:30 a.m. with a sack lunch is not a bad deal for an active little girl.

Ari said she’s very happy to walk home from school, play and picnic outside with her new schoolmates.

After living east, south, north and west, Marsha Sandman is home at last. And she wants to hear your story. Contact her at MarshaJSandman@ gmail.com.

School: It’s good, bad and now it’s in person

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Schools

By Sophia Blankenbaker

Sophia Blankenbaker was full of questions about what school would be like when she entered Vernon Elementary School April 5 for the first time this school year. Photo by Jennifer Blankenbaker

March 2020
To me online school has been both good and bad when I reflect on this past school year.

The good parts about it is that sometimes it’s easier to do assignments on my own, and I can go at my own pace. I think that online school has been able to teach a lot more things than in person, because there are fewer disruptions.

“Office Hours” has also been a big help because I can ask questions to my teacher and work to understand it more.

The things that I disliked about remote learning was that sometimes, when I am on a video conference, there are technology issues that can take a long time to fix. Another thing is that I cannot see my friends and teacher in person, and I miss them a lot. I miss getting to play with my friends during recess and at lunch too.

I am very excited to be going back to school. Even though not everyone in my class is going back, it will still be good to see my classmates and meet new friends.

I have a few questions about going back to school as well:

  • Will the teachers take our temperature before entering the school?
  • Will everyone enter the building at the same time through the same entrance?
  • Will we go on the play structure at all?
  • Will the restrooms be available?
  • Will I be able to talk and play with my classmates?
  • Will I see other students from other classrooms?

In conclusion, I am very, very, very excited to go back to school.

April 5, 2020
Even though it was just two hours, I had a great day. There were nine kids in my class, and we were all social distancing and wearing masks.

My teacher reviewed all of the new rules that are new because of COVID. For example: One person in the restroom at a time, for a break we can only stay in a certain area, and we stay on one side of the hallway.

I am very excited to go back to school again tomorrow.

Sophia Blankenbaker is a fifth grader at Vernon Elementary School. She likes writing, and the story she submitted needed minimal editing.

PCA seeks help to monitor local air pollutants

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News

By Greg Bourget | Portland Clean Air Lead Researcher

Greg Bourget, Portland Clean Air lead researcher, prepares for a bike ride to record pollutant levels. Concordia volunteers are needed to help collect data. All it requires is a bicycle and connecting your smart phone to the 196-gram PocketLab monitor that mounts on the handlebars. Photo courtesy of
Portland Clean Air

Concordia neighborhood is near an industrial area and a busy industrial truck route. That is likely to cause dangerous industrial air pollution for neighbors because human health is not considered currently as a factor in the regulation of these industries by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

Since Gov. Kate Brown’s Cleaner Air Oregon rulemaking process started recently, DEQ has applied human-health regulation only to new industries coming to Oregon. Regulation of existing Portland-area industry has been limited so far to four of the most dangerous factories — all too far away to affect Concordia.

According to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), which measured industrial truck 24-hour counts in Concordia, industrial truck activity throughout the neighborhood is very low. Samples taken on Lombard in 2018 found just 17 or 18 trips per day. The exception is on Columbia Boulevard, which was much higher — 380 industrial truck trips per day.

Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), however, sampled at 52nd Avenue and Columbia in July 2017 and recorded 2,549 truck trips in a day. That’s the second highest industrial truck count taken in over a decade of Portland-area samples taken by both agencies. Industrial trucks are all diesel-fueled. California reported that diesel particulate causes 70% of cancer risk from all airborne carcinogens combined, and the state banned unfiltered diesel trucks.

A Portland Clean Air analysis of ODOT and Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services records found 75% of Portland area trucks are still unfiltered. Diesel particulate is unusually tiny – so small that airborne particles enter the bloodstream easily from the lungs and are transported to every organ, including the brain.

Heavy metals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) attach readily to the surface of these particles and are absorbed throughout our bodies to cause dozens of short-term and long-term symptoms.

When airborne diesel particulate concentrations are extremely high, this results in black or gray dust on doors and windows. Find more information at PortlandCleanAir.org.

Seventeen industries with relatively small quantities of industrial emissions comprise the industrial area to the north of Concordia. DEQ considers all but three of them small enough to not even need a permit. Three have lower-level air pollution permits.

If you smell industrial solvents, it could be them – or a leaking residential oil tank, tar from a roofing job or some other source.

We are working with the Concordia Neighborhood Association to monitor diesel particulate and VOC emissions using bike-mounted devices that take readings every two seconds. These require twohour-long bike rides to reach each street in the area.

The data are collected and made into a color-coded geographic information system map showing airborne concentrations of VOCs and airborne particulate one micron and smaller in diameter.

Volunteer bike riders are needed for this research. Please email Greg@PortlandCleanAir.org to volunteer for a ride – or if you have any questions about your exposure and/or what can be done about it.

Greg Bourger and Portland Clean Air works with 76 Portland neighborhood associations, churches and other local groups to assist stakeholder negotiations with the most dangerous unfiltered industrial smokestacks and diesel trucks.

Urbanism – Buildings could fit in with rich architecture

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Land Use & Transportation

By Garlynn Woodsong | CNA Board Member, SW1 CNA LUTC Chair

The concept of communitybased design standards refers to clearly-understandable regulations that govern the form of new buildings and that are developed through community-based conversations.

The Design Overlay Zone Amendments (DOZA) project is scheduled for a Portland City Council hearing May 12. It’s the first major overhaul of city design standards and guidelines in 30 years, and it would:.

  • Eliminate use standards that previously regulated certain design elements for a specific set of project types in the Concordia neighborhood
  • Rewrite zoning code language, including a new set of citywide design guidelines, for the zones that apply to Portland’s centers and corridors, like Alberta Street west of 25th Avenue, among others.

Although DOZA guidelines were shared in draft form with neighbors, the updated standards haven’t and – for that reason alone – don’t adhere to the concept of community-based design standards.

The DOZA project will leave the entire neighborhood without any sort of context-sensitive building design regulations, including the entirety of the residential zones, as well as the main streets along Alberta Street, 42nd Avenue, and at 30th Avenue and Killingsworth Street.

This is problematic and inequitable. It ignores the enormous effort developing the Albina Plan in the early 1990s to develop neighborhood design guidelines based on broad community input from what was then the physical heart of Portland’s Black community.

The Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA) heard from PDX Main Streets Design Initiative at the April board meeting. The initiative is in response to the recent skyrocketing development rates of rather bland buildings.

It offers a community-driven process to create a set of design guidelines for main streets with rich architectural heritage to be joined by new buildings that fit in with the human scale of the street.

CNA looks forward to working with nearby neighborhood associations and Alberta Main Street to develop and adopt a new set of Alberta Street Design Guidelines, based on those produced by the PDX Main Streets Design Initiative.

With the Residential Infill Project set to take effect later this year, in addition to DOZA, neighbors may wish to ask city hall to provide the opportunity to produce and adopt neighborhood-specific, context-sensitive design standards to regulate growth to support human scaled design, enhance walkability and context-sensitivity to ensure buildings are more harmonious with the existing fabric of established neighborhoods.

You may wish to weigh in now to delay DOZA adoption until the new standards can be clearly explained and feedback sought.

Garlynn Woodsong lives on 29th Avenue, serves on the CNA board and is an avid bicyclist. He also is a dad who is passionate about the city his son will inherit. He is the planning + development partner with Cascadia Partners LLC, a local urban planning firm. Contact him at LandUse@ ConcordiaPDX.org.

Concordia Art Works – Thrift store offers huge canvas for local artists

Posted on by Posted in Arts & Culture, Concordia News

By Maquette Reeverts | Alberta Art Works

Aisha Keita saw the makings for a thrift store inside the former Island Foods Market at 1436 N.E. Killingsworth St. Artist Campo, of Campographic Murals & Design, saw the exterior as a 2,500-foot canvas. Photo by Maquette Reeverts

It’s time to recharge the community, and our artists and creatives are ready to jump. For the past year there has been a void in the arts which rely heavily on an audience. Luckily a street artist’s audience is the passerby.

With a do-acracy attitude, the multi-disciplined artist Campo, of Campographic Murals & Design, stuck his head in the door and met Aisha Keita building out a thrift store in the former Island Foods Market building at 1436 N.E. Killingsworth St.

“Understanding the importance of having an approachable facade, I offered her my services to hire a team of artists to paint her building and boost her visibility,” he reported. Faced with 2,500 square feet of surface to paint, Campo turned to GoFundMe.com to raise funds to buy supplies and pay expenses for participating artists.

Local businesses GreenHAUS Gallery and OpenHAUS, the Alberta Main Street organization and others helped promote the effort to reach the target goal. The team of artists include Calm, Flash, Cead, Case 12, Bose, Rong, Heysus, Eyedrawp, @Mungala_Nao and Campo. Each artist is working on a different space on the building.

Campo is painting the largest span, which faces the intersection. Following Aisha’s suggestion, the young poet Amanda Gorman – with lines from her poem read on Inauguration Day – was chosen as the subject for his section of the mural.

With all the changes happening to the landscape, this site too is in flux. But the artists take it in stride. “Nothing is forever. For me this is OK, as it allows me to enjoy something temporarily and then release it someday.” Campo said. Their work is for you to enjoy while it remains.

Michel Reeverts, aka Maquette , holds a master of arts degree in art education, serves Alberta Art Works as director and Alberta Street Gallery as a board member. She is also a practicing artist. Contact her at Maquette@AlbertaArtWorks.org

News from the NET – NETs are about more than earthquakes

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News

By Erin E. Cooper | Concordia/Vernon/Woodlawn Neighborhood Emergency Team

In Portland, neighborhood emergency teams (NETs) are most often associated with earthquake preparedness and response.

Although that is often what draws people to volunteer and train for NET – and is a focus in training – NETs are also ready to respond to all kinds of large and small emergencies. For instance, in the past year, some of the ways NET members have volunteered include:

  • Maintaining a safe perimeter around downed power lines until power company employees arrive
  • Controlling traffic and monitoring patients at COVID-19 vaccination clinics
  • Staffing warming shelters in the winter and cooling shelters in the summer
  • Collecting donations of personal protective equipment and other supplies for first responders in the early stages of COVID-19
  • Staffing evacuation shelters during Oregon’s 2020 forest fires
  • Organizing and volunteering for mutual aid groups, including organizing and distributing food donations and other supplies
  • Assisting at the Multnomah County Emergency Coordination Center with COVID-19 operations

Team members have also participated in thousands of hours of advanced training over the last year. Many of these topics are those associated with traditional disaster preparation, such as first aid and maintaining post-earthquake sanitation.

Other types of training have been made available to NETs in response to the needs of Portland’s population and the evolving role of NETs to assist in our communities. These trainings have covered topics such as diversity and equity in leadership, coping with trauma, building community resilience and building cultural competency.

There are currently over 2,000 active NET members on 87 neighborhood teams across Portland. Joining NET is a straightforward, multi-step process that starts by visiting PortlandOregon.gov/pbem/31667 to sign up.

In-person classes are suspended for the time being, but it’s possible to do the majority of the free training online. You’ll be able to complete the final – and most fun – hands-on portion of the training when it is safe to conduct in-person classes again.

Erin E. Cooper is a marine biologist living in Woodlawn. She spends a lot of time thinking about disasters and has been a NET member for many years. Contact her at OceanListener@gmail. com.

One local gnome tree leads to many more

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Family

By Nancy Varekamp & Dan Werle | CNA Media Team

Three-year-old Adya Soasey and her father share a love for gnomes and the local trees the miniature, fictional creatures inhabit. Photo by Mark Soasey

What began as a weekly visit to a “gnome tree” on Ainsworth Street has become an activity that is now spreading across Concordia and Portland.

Mark Soasey and three-year-old daughter Adya always stop to admire the gnome-size door within a nook of the tree’s roots. It’s adorned with little treasures from other admirers. Their visits not only add some fun to their walks, but also became an interactive pastime that affords social distance.

“My daughter would always bring a gift of her own to leave for the resident gnome,” he reported. Never seeing the miniature, fictional creature who lives inside doesn’t seem to deter her.

Mark and Adya began providing housing to more gnomes, along with treasure exchanges for children. Together, they have decorated five trees so far, and have identified several other pre-existing sites.

“Because of my experience in woodworking, fashioning the wooden doors with metal knobs was a fun and relatively easy project to work on with my daughter,” Mark reported.

Behind those doors, they leave notes to the gnomes they are certain live in each tree and/or greetings to Adya’s fellow gnome tree explorers. They also fill resealable plastic bags with shells, rocks, handmade jewelry and more – items designed to be exchanged with new gifts from each explorer who discovers them.

The duo makes the effort to respect the surrounding nature during construction of the gnome trees. “We avoid any larger holes that could be used as regular habitat for animals and/or for seasonal food caches,” he pointed out.

“Instead, we attempt to select a recess only large enough to house our treasure bag and accommodate a custom-made door.”

But they didn’t stop with nearby Fernhill Park, Alberta Park and the parking strips of Concordia. Mark created PortlandGnomeTrees.com to share DIY door-building tips, invite others to create gnome trees and maintain a map that identifies their locations across the city.

He hopes to hear about existing displays and/or treasure trees to add to the map, as well as new locations created by community members.

“The gnome and faerie trees have long since been established throughout Portland and were the key inspiration behind the development of this project,” he explained. “Our goal is to continue to expand the content of the Portland Gnome Tree Map.

“This is about engaging one’s imagination while exploring nature, and reinforcing creative thinking, sharing and giving,” Mark said. “It’s a means of showing respect to the resident gnomes and fellow participants.”

From the Board – It’s tax time, again

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Volunteer Opportunities

By Peter Keller | CNA Chair

Hi neighbors. I hope everyone is enjoying the early spring weather. The occasional sun breaks and sporadic rain showers make it hard to figure out how to dress when headed outside.

Like the spring weather, life is unpredictable.

One thing that is predictable is taxes. Yes, that’s one thing we adults all have in common. Whether you don’t like paying them, preparing the forms or don’t agree with where the money goes, chances are more than likely we share a common dread about them.

Taxes are on my mind because I’m taking a break from working on mine to write this column. As a self-employed person, I manage my bookkeeping and prepare everything for my accountant.

Technology has improved the process quite a bit but it still takes time. If you’re like me, you wait until the end of the year to sort it all out. Reminds me of Travis Bickle from “Taxi Driver,” “One of these days I gotta get myself organezized.” He’s a creepy character, but it’s a memorable line and movie.

Obviously some people really enjoy working with numbers and spreadsheets and make careers of this, namely bookkeepers and accountants. I’m sure we have a few living in the neighborhood.

I know bookkeepers and accountants are busy right now, but I hope they see this column because the Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA) also has to file tax forms. While we have a volunteer treasurer who works very hard to manage our finances, we could use a little help with our taxes and bookkeeping.

Speaking of numbers, we could also use some help with our ones and zeros. CNA had a volunteer IT person, Will Goubert, who managed our modest IT needs for several years. Will is retiring and also retiring from his volunteer IT work. We’d like to thank Will for all of his help over the years.

If you or someone you know has bookkeeping, accounting or IT skills and is interested in volunteering, we would love to hear from you. You can email me directly at Chair@ConcordiaPDX.org.

In other news, we had a great turnout at our March general meeting, where we heard from the city about some of the programs and ongoing planning to address the housing emergency.

We really appreciate the participation and I want to remind neighbors that you are encouraged and welcome to join our monthly meetings (CNA Board of Directors, Land Use & Transportation Committee, Media Team and Finance Committee). Find details about those meetings to the right on this page. Happy Spring!

Native Portlander Peter Keller has lived in Concordia since 1997. He runs a small marketing agency with partner Max, out of their home studio. He loves exploring outdoors with and without his dogs.

What is camping like?

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News

By Tara Williams | CNA Media Team

Chris Gibbons

When Oregon native Chris Gibbons was a child, he often stayed with his grandparents who lived at 32nd Avenue and Killingsworth Street. Since last August, Chris has been living in a homeless camp at 33rd and Dekum Street.

“A couple friends of mine were staying here. They told me ‘Hey, we got a spot open down here if you need it.’ I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I was thinking to myself, ‘Wow, how ironic is this?’”

Concordians may have passed Chris’ camp and noted its whimsical touches – holiday lights and the outfits of the day displayed by Manny the mannequin. Neighbors who frequent Nextdoor.com may know Chris from his posts that offer snow shoveling and handyman services.

Some have contributed to his GoFundMe.com requests, which he started in November to raise money to clean up piles of trash left in the camp by previous residents. “It looks so much better,” Chris observed.

Challenges facing the houseless include taking care of basic needs. “When I first got here, I was trying to figure out, ‘Where does everyone use the bathroom at?’” He and his campmates take turns walking to a nearby gas station, store or restaurant, or they use the compost toilet they made.

“That’s one of our biggest challenges. A bathroom would be just awesome, and that would be a big step. I heard they put a lot of port-apotties out last summer. But a lot of them got destroyed or vandalized, and those people kind of ruined it for the rest of us.”

Chris said the camp could use a generator to provide electricity. “It gets so dark here,” he said. “There’s no outdoor lighting in this area.”

Food storage is also a problem. “We get a lot of rats here.” One of his campmates’ cat kills several per night. And Chris now has a device placed in the ground outside his tent that keeps the rats from digging under and up.

In March, Chris’s 1994 red Mustang was stolen . “You gotta watch your stuff 24/7. It’s not a good situation.”

He could also use a more durable tent, and he is very interested in tiny homes. A friend of his in another camp was offered a job building tiny homes on Powell Boulevard and received housing when the project was completed.

Tara Williams is new to Concordia and loving life on Liberty Street. She’s a writer and English professor, not always in that order. Contact her at Eudaimonia.Dr.Williams@gmail. com.

This is what led to one man’s houselessness

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News

By Tara Williams | CNA Media Team

Whimsical touches – like the outfits of the day worn by Manny the mannequin – can make campsites more homey, according to Chris Gibbons. He and the mannequin live at 33rd Avenue and Dekum Street. Photo by Tara Williams

Chris Gibbons became unhoused last August, six months after being released from prison. An attempt to make hash oil in his apartment kitchen had ended in an explosion and three years in prison.

“I wasn’t out burning anyone or anything up. It was due to me doing something stupid, and it blew up in my face,” Chris said. “I got burned up really bad. I was nine days in Emanuel’s intensive care burn unit.”

He had been out of the hospital for a week. “The police came at 2 a.m. I was still all bandaged up and looked like a Q-tip, but they handcuffed me anyway. I was terrified.

“I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t talk to anybody. The court declared my wife and two daughters victims because they were there. I had no contact with any of them until I was sentenced and placed into prison.”

Chris pled guilty to the arson charge, which reduced his sentence. His marriage did not survive his prison term.

Recently an organization that had denied him housing in the past notified Chris he is eligible for a grant to pay for two years of housing.

“They said the problem now is finding a place that is suitable and will accept me. Some places won’t accept me because of my arson charge. That’s my biggest barrier. That’s why I’m still here at the camp.

“I know someone who had an arson charge, and it took him four years.”

Chris acknowledged not all campers would rather be housed. Some are happy with how they’re living. “They’re content being here. I’m not trying to sound rude, but it’s like they don’t care. That kind of threw me for a loop.

“They don’t care that they might have to move spontaneously, so they just create these big giant messes. Then they leave it for people like us, and we get stereotyped because we’re stuck with it.

“It’s kind of sad, you know? I guess I’m trying to emphasize that we’re not the type that don’t care.

“A lot of people come up to us and ask, ‘Hey, do you mind if I post a tent up over here?’ At this camp, we’re really selective about who we’re going to have here,” he said. “We don’t want trouble.”

Chris shares camp space at 33rd Avenue and Dekum Street with a couple who live in another tent. “We talk a lot. We want to change. We do care. We know that this is just a step we have to take in order to move up or to improve. “Unfortunately we’re here. We’re going to try to make the best of it.”

Tara Williams is new to Concordia and loving life on Liberty Street. She’s a writer and English professor, not always in that order. Contact her at Eudaimonia.Dr.Williams@gmail.com.