Category Archives: Concordia News

By Astrid Furstner | CNA Chair

Resilience is defined as having the ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity or the like. In Concordia, the place we call home, resilience is being able to recover from the news that left us reeling – the closure of Concordia University.

At our March general meeting, we had asked Julie Dodge, doctor of ministry, to speak to us about resilience – something that she deals with and helps others to deal with on a daily basis. The university associate professor was invited as a speaker for our March event prior to the university’s announcement about closing.

The strength and courage she showed in still coming to our meeting was amazing. As a matter of fact, there were several other staff/faculty members in attendance that night – not as representatives of the school, but as members of the community, neighbors and as people whose lives have also been changed.

The school is closing. The students will no longer be on campus. The faculty and staff are losing their jobs. This is what we have to contend with as a community.

There will soon be a void. There is uncertainty. How will we, as a community, come together and fill that void?

Let us begin with our children. Karmin Williams, Ed.D., Faubion School principal, attended. She alleviated some fears by reporting the Faubion building is owned by Portland Public Schools (PPS) – not the university.

Faubion is not closing. She also said the university was providing 40% of funding along with volunteers and teaching students, in addition to a full-time employee who coordinated community activities. So Faubion will face a shortfall, both in finances and assistance.

What can we, as a community, do to help? Volunteer. Any neighbor who wishes to volunteer must go through a PPS background check and application process. Learn more at PPS.net. How much time do you have?

The university provided our community with the use of its library. That’s closing. But, did you know that we have six other public libraries that we can also use – for free?

They are: Kenton Library on north Denver Avenue, North Portland Library on north Killingsworth Street, St. Johns Library on north Charleston Avenue, Albina Library on northeast 15th Avenue and the Hollywood Library on northeast Tillamook Street. We also have several free little libraries in our community. Leave a book – take a book.

The closing of the university does have an impact on our community, but it does not have to destroy us. Change is here, how do we face it?

Personally, I say we face it together.

Why not work together to continue to make Concordia our home – a place where our children can live out their lives and create memories? A place where we care for our neighbors. A place where we thrive as a community.

Astrid Furstner is a mother, a wife, an immigrant, a local artist and an artisan. She lives with her luthier husband, Brent, and her artist-in-the-making daughter, Luciana. Together, they call Concordia their home.

By Marsha Sandman | CNA Media Team

Congenial and engaging, Zoe Dawson is the garden coordinator at Vernon IB World School at 2044 N.E. Killingsworth St.

Zoe is passionate about the beautiful garden that’s vibrant and mature with blueberry bushes, grape vines, strawberries, apple and Asian pear trees, 30 raised vegetable beds and vermicomposting worm bins.

The garden was created in spring 2007 by more than 600 volunteers from the neighborhood, local churches, PTA, student body, families of staff members, Home Depot employees, Northwest Natural employees, SMART readers and people involved with Hands On Portland.

The garden was expanded in 2009 to include a native garden on the east side of the school. That garden has a mature alder tree, evergreen huckleberries, bachelor buttons, mock orange, goldenrod and lupine, among various other plants. Both gardens provide the perfect opportunity for hands-on experiential student learning in an outdoor environment.

The Vernon garden vision states, “It is our hope that children will become more connected with the natural world, and find a lifelong source of enjoyment by experiencing the pleasure of working in the school garden.

“We find value in green areas, fresh food, and taking responsibility for other living things. We are delighted that so many members of the community support us in this vision.”

Zoe keeps the students engaged with half hour classes two days per week. The kids experience gardening, cooking, science experiments, biology, ecology and nutrition. Last year Whole Foods offered a grant so the kids could develop their own cookbook.

There is a robust garden program before and after school when the students can get friendly with the plants and the little red wiggler worms that keep the garden healthy.

The kids are invited to come on weekends, and families are welcome to harvest all year. The garden greens are often used for salads at various school events.

The garden is supported by the PTA, which has an annual auction in February and a fun run. The garden always needs volunteers to fill a variety of roles. Contact Zoe at ZDawson@PPS.net to learn more.

Monthly garden work parties occur generally the second Saturday of the month from 9 a.m. to noon. Donations of supplies – like seeds, seed starter soil, containers, gardening gloves, small hand tools, hoses and more – are always appreciated.

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.

By Nancy Varekamp | CNews Editor

A project that will benefit the environment plus the watershed and habitat – as well as the community – drew plenty of neighborhood interest and effort in February.

About 60 neighbors and nearby residents came out for three hours to turn the two blocks of the Ainsworth Street median – between 22nd and 24th avenues – into an attractive, self-sustaining habitat corridor.

The Columbia Slough Watershed Council organized the Stewardship Saturday in this pilot project. Eventually, it will connect Alberta Park’s nature trail that’s due for expansion and one planned for Fernhill Park. (See 2017 CNews report on Alberta Park.)

“We bit off a chunk we knew we could finish,” reported Max Samuelson, interim stewardship director. The dynamics worked well, so the next event will move east to the next two blocks. That’s planned for early next year after the first effort is assessed to determine if plantings thrived and/or if tweaks to the plan are needed.

The 15-block, 25-foot-wide median receives tending only at the mercy of neighbors, and its grass and weeds aren’t always attractive. They also don’t stop storm runoff that picks up pollutants to flood and send sewer overflows into basements and streets and/or flow into the Columbia watershed.

Native shrubs, trees, grasses and rushes comprised the 1,700 plants chosen for their low maintenance and deep rooting abilities – as well as their habitat for birds, wildlife and pollinators.

The project is a partnership between the watershed council, Portland bureaus of environmental services and transportation, Audubon Society of Portland and Wisdom of the Elders.

Enthusiasm for the project wasn’t limited to the volunteers Feb. 8. “People were sticking their hands out of the cars, honking their horns and cheering us on as we were planting,” Max reported.

He hopes community interest continues for future plantings, and especially this summer for the first two blocks.

“We’re looking to the same and more neighborhood heroes,” he said. “Although the native plants we installed are intended to sustain themselves, they’ll need watering, weeding and probably mulching to get them through their first year.

For details, contact Rachel.Walsh@ColumbiaSlough.org.

Nancy Varekamp is semiretired from her career in journalism, public relations and – her favorite work engagement – writing and editing targeted newsletters

By Steve Elder | CNA Media Team

Pacific Power began reconstruction of its dormant Kennedy Substation last September. But the utility neglected to advise neighbors in advance of its expansion plans to fill the growing energy needs of northeast Portland.

.So the plans and the lack of notice have continued to be the talk of the neighborhood for months.

According to Tom Gauntt, Pacific Power spokesman, the utility is installing one transformer and three distribution voltage circuit breakers. Efforts include associated steel structures and wires on 41st Avenue to tap into the existing northeast Portland transmission system and provide three new sources to serve the neighborhood.

“We are not removing any facilities, but are replacing some existing distribution and transmission wood poles with a mixture of wood and steel poles to make the new connection,” he said.

Neighbors reported they were surprised and dismayed when the substation reconstruction began, including a 52-foot structure. “We are developing a better protocol for providing notice to the neighborhood before work commences again,” the utility spokesman said.

A letter responding to their questions and concerns was sent by Pacific Power, following a meeting of those neighbors.

It addresses noise, landscaping, street repairs and more. Under consideration is building a wall between the substation and adjacent houses to buffer light and sound.

The letter goes into such details as the fate of the existing cherry tree on Emerson and removal of the dead tree on 42nd Avenue.

Pacific Power submitted a draft of a “good neighbor agreement” at a Feb. 27 meeting with neighbors. It calls for monitoring noise and electromagnetic fields, a commitment to consider constructing a shell around the site, solar storage at St. Charles Church and a $25,000 annual grant for energy related projects in the area.

The utility also offered to pave the section of Emerson Street between 42nd and 41st avenues, but neighbors declined, saying their property taxes would be impacted.

Those commitments are not enough for neighbor Rebecca Marshall.

“My concern all along has been the enormity of this ‘upgrade,’” she pointed out. “This substation is a major change to the way our neighborhood looks, and we are also concerned about our health and loss of property value.

“We are also concerned about the noise this will make when it is fully energized.”

Other potentially impacted residents expressed concern about noise and lights left on all night. So the utility pledged to contain noise to levels governed by city code and to install motion sensors for security lighting.

Steve Elder, East2@ ConcordiaPDX.org, is an inactive lawyer, a developer, activist and old grouch.