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By Sophia 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:
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.
By Greg Bourget | Portland Clean Air Lead Researcher
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.
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:.
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.
By Maquette Reeverts | Alberta Art Works
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
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:
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.
By Nancy Varekamp & Dan Werle | CNA Media Team
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.”
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.
By Tara Williams | CNA Media Team
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.