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

Although it’s still early in the summer season, 2021 is shaping up as a year with the potential for wildfires similar to those in 2020. Low precipitation levels have dried out the soil and vegetation, and high winds can spread fire quickly.

Fortunately, there are some basic steps you can take to minimize the risk of fires and things everyone can do to prepare for rapid evacuations.

Vegetation near the exterior of the house can spread a fire to your house. Remove it or consider replacing it with fire-resistant plants. Oregon State University Extension Service identifies those plants at Bit.ly/CNA-USDA.

Keep trees trimmed back at least 10 feet from the house, and don’t lean or pile flammable material such as firewood against the house. For more information, visit Portland.gov/fire/your-safety/reducing-risk-wildfire.

It’s important to gather supplies and pack a go-bag before the time comes to evacuate. Your bag should include three days of food and water for each member of the family, a change of clothes, personal hygiene items and any essential medications.

If you have babies or small children, don’t forget to pack diapers, formula and other items to keep them comfortable. Don’t forget water, food, litter and travel crates for pets.

Follow the evacuation notices and wildfire warnings from reputable sources, such as the county, city and Portland Fire & Rescue. There are three levels of warning:

• Get ready
• Be set
• GO!

As with all disasters, do not wait for official notice if you are in immediate danger. To avoid traffic jams, take only one car per family and plan several potential evacuation routes.

Wildfires have much in common with other disasters. By planning ahead and communicating with families and neighbors, you can minimize the damage and help the community recover.

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

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

What if we were to allow retail on the neighborhood greenway system? Bicyclists wouldn’t need to leave the safety of bicycle infrastructure to visit a bicycle shop, go to a grocery store or visit a restaurant, cafe or pub.

Unfortunately for bicyclists seeking to not get hit by cars while going shopping, Portland’s neighborhood greenway system exists largely within a single-family zoning context, and these zones explicitly ban any sort of retail activities.

Given that single-family zoning was born out of a desire to practice racial exclusion through economic segregation, it’s certainly worth re-examining every aspect of this zoning. That includes its ban on commercial activities beyond home-based businesses that do not receive a significant volume of customers.

There are many existing examples – within our current single-dwelling zones – of buildings built prior to the imposition of the current zoning paradigm that included a retail component originally. They may be in the form of ground floor retail with apartments above, or street-facing retail with a residence adjacent.

Portland was built originally with a mix of the retail destinations people needed, with the residences where they lived in very close proximity. Within Concordia, there are a number of examples of buildings that featured commercial businesses originally, but are currently residential only. Most of these are in the oldest part of the neighborhood – west of 33rd Avenue and south of Killingsworth Street – which was built prior to the automobile boom of the 1920s.

In the racist fever of the 1940s and 1950s, zoning codes were used to separate white from Black populations within cities nationwide. Retail was also deemed to be a blight upon the purity of white-occupied, single-family zones, and they were segregated to retail-focused zones on main streets.

In the same way that accessory dwelling units (ADUs) have been used as the first baby step toward re-legalizing multi-family dwelling to single-family zones, accessory commercial units (ACUs) could be used to re-introduce retail to residential zones.

Accessory dwelling units – at least here in Portland – are confined to back yards, attics, basements and interior areas of houses where they are more difficult to see from the street. ACUs, however, depend on being visible from the street for their commercial success.

They therefore belong naturally within the front setback, taking over area currently allocated to driveways and front lawns. They repurpose the spaces for use as neighborhood-serving destinations that cater to clientele that arrives primarily by foot or bicycle.

The form of ACUs could be similar to that of ADUs: a maximum of 800 square feet and either separated from the main home by sufficient fire separation to satisfy the building code or attached.

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.

By Maquette Reeverts | Alberta Art Works

Started in 1997, Last Thursday was a people-powered solution to bring patrons to the Alberta district. Never advertised, the event grew in popularity and prompted community members to plead with the city to close Alberta Street for safety as crowds started to pour off the sidewalks.

It took several nonfunctioning cars and brazen artists to push them into the street to stop the traffic flow before the city took note.

Alberta arts community was charged with reigning in the event that happened five summer nights, and Friends of Last Thursday was born. The volunteer group raised funds to pay for toilets and security, built street barricades to close off the 15 blocks, met monthly with city stakeholders, recruited volunteers to become community liaisons and got the first permit for the event.

It was mayor Charlie Hales who took the handling of the event away from the community and gave it to his aide to run, and it was later handed to the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) when mayor Ted Wheeler stepped in. Currently Greg Raisman, PBOT Livable Street Program specialist, is working with local leaders and groups to bring the management back into the community.

Last year the pandemic sent Last Thursday events to the internet.

This summer, Lizzy Caston is leading Alberta Main Street and, together with the community, will be guiding the direction of the event. Until the pandemic has passed, Alberta Street will not close. Instead, you will find live performances, community art projects and a few pop-up vendors as the galleries hold their openings on the last Thursdays of each month.

Find out more information and downstream videos of performances at LastThursdayPortland.org.

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

By Alex Cruz | AmeriCorps

A year ago as a senior in high school, I never would have imagined myself being where I am today. I wouldn’t have seen myself traveling all the way across the country, living with complete strangers, and learning skills far outside my comfort zone to do hands-on service work.

Yet this is exactly what I undertook as a member of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. AmeriCorps NCCC is a service program run by the federal government. Members are ages 18-26, and they spend 10 months serving nonprofits across the country.

I am on a team of nine who have completed three service projects. We cleaned up after a wildfire in California, built affordable housing in Montana, and now we are here serving this community.

Our project entails working primarily with Sabin Community Development Corporation (CDC), a nonprofit that provides low-income housing in northeast Portland. We are beautifying Sabin CDC’s properties by painting and landscaping their exteriors.

We are also assisting with maintenance on the interiors of the properties. This work advances the CDC’s mission of social equity and livability, particularly for the disenfranchised Black population.

We also work with The City Repair Project, a nonprofit that fosters thriving communities in the Portland metro area through placemaking. City Repair facilitates a variety of projects to bring communities together, including street paintings and landscaping.

Through our connections with City Repair, we have had the opportunity to create street paintings, assist houseless villages and learn more about the diverse communities here in northeast Portland.

Additionally, we have helped Portland artist Bobby Fouther – known as “Mr. Bobby” – display his artwork. Born and raised in Portland, Mr. Bobby has an extensive legacy closely intertwined with local history, and he tells this legacy through his artwork.

We greatly appreciated the opportunity to help him with an exhibit that was displayed in the former Albina Arts Center.

I decided to join NCCC to take myself outside my comfort zone by living outside my hometown for the first time. It has developed my independence and, as a result, I feel more prepared for college. It also gave me opportunities to learn more about other cultures while providing valuable service to the national community.

My work with Sabin CDC and City Repair has been nothing but rewarding. It’s always very fulfilling to interact with the residents of the properties the team is working on, and to hear people’s gratitude or comments on our work.

Alex Cruz, from Exton, Pennsylvania, continues his passion for community service with AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.

By Lew Frederick | State Senator, District 22

House Bill 2168 designates June 19 as an Oregon state holiday commemorating the arrival on horseback of the news of the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 to the cheers of African Americans then enslaved.

The Emancipation Proclamation news arrived in waves to the enslaved Black women and men of my family in Mississippi. Family stories say “joy” was the first emotion. Next “skepticism.” Active and often deadly reactions followed against freed African Americans by whites fearful that they might be treated the way they treated their former slaves.

“Hope” stood at the center of a possible future for my family.

Hope continues to this day. So does the skepticism.

The two dance together in our time. We need to understand how they fit together, and how they create a new world.

My family traveled the country attending science conventions and visiting relatives, conscious of but not bowing to the Jim Crow laws that kept us from staying in motels in the North and South; not bothering with restaurants that might not serve us.

We stopped at every historic marker along the way. I suspect that it was also a way for Dad to rest. He made it a point to read out loud every marker so that we had in our memory his voice, the words on the marker, and a sense of being in a certain place at a certain time.

Celebrating Juneteenth is not just a legal historical marker. It is a memory that lives on in each of us.

Especially now.

This year we faced the racism of the past and the racism of the present.

The murder of George Floyd in front of us, all of us, focused clearly the issues of racism and lack of personal safety. It was no longer a myth of “victimhood.”

The pandemic exposed huge holes in the fabric of our safety net for African Americans and other minority/marginalized groups, while pointing out the essential worker role praised but not compensated.

The year gave us a marker, a touchpoint, on other times. We now, via this bill, this proclamation, can learn from another time. And dedicate to changing the future in real-time without waiting for the news of equality to arrive on horseback.

I recognize efforts to resist the arc of history bending toward justice will always be there. This new holiday recognizes that the people of the State of Oregon, despite our past, can take the veil of ignorance away and each year celebrate Hope on Juneteenth. A marker to read and remember.

Lew Frederick has served in the Oregon Legislature since 2009, first representing House District 43 and now Senate District 22. Professionally, he is a strategic communications consultant, and he worked previously as public information director for Portland Public Schools and as a reporter for KGW TV.