Concordia Neighborhood Association | Portland, Oregon

From the Board – What would YOU do with the CU property?

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News

By Peter Keller | CNA Chair

I hope you enjoyed Mother’s Day like I did and were able to spend time with extended (vaccinated) family without masks. It’s only a matter of time, I hope, before we can start meeting together for various events in public again, such as our monthly CNA board meetings.

May was a busy meeting for the CNA board. We approved two letters to send to the mayor and Portland city commissioners.

One asks the city to provide more time and resources for public input into the new Design Overlay Zone Amendments (DOZA) standards being proposed. Garlynn Woodsong wrote about the proposed DOZA standards in his column last month. Our letter is here.

The second letter we agreed to sign on behalf of CNA was presented to us in the May meeting by James Ofsink, of the Police Accountability Network. It asks the mayor and city council to consider several changes to the contract that the council is currently negotiating with the Portland Police Association. You can see it at UniteOregon.org/policing.

The other major item discussed in the meeting was the public auction of the Concordia University (CU) campus and facilities at 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 29, at the Multnomah County Courthouse, 1200 S.W. 1st Avenue.

We decided to take an informal poll of the neighborhood to find out what neighbors would like to see the 24-acre site used for in the future.

As of press time, CNA has learned neither any definitive word on potential buyers, nor any wouldbe buyer’s plans for the CU property.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Code for “Campus Institutional Zones” – in which the campus is located – governs what uses are permitted. Language in the code points out, “The zones are for institutions such as medical centers … and colleges that have been developed as campuses, and for other uses that are compatible with surrounding neighborhoods.”

Any buyer who intends to put the property to a different use would be required to seek a zone change. That process assures neighbors’ input at both the Portland Bureau of Development Services and the Portland City Council.

In the meantime, the CNA Board of Directors wants to hear from you about what use(s) of the campus you’d like to see. Knowing the preferences of the majority of neighborhood participants, if only informally, will help CNA lobby the city government and whomever the new owner becomes.

So, before June 15, visit the CNA poll at ConcordiaPDX.org/CUPoll and offer your opinion. CNews and the CNA Facebook page will report the findings (and hopefully the identity of the new owner).

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.

Survivor embraced civics early on

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, History

By Nancy Varekamp | CNews Editor

Ed Washington’s childhood experiences in Vanport – and after escaping flood waters – molded his passion for community engagement. Photo by Travis Spencer, Office of Global Diversity & Inclusion, Portland State University

Vanport isn’t history to Ed Washington. The 84-year-old Concordian’s four years there helped lay his foundation for embracing education, civil rights and civic engagement.

In 1944, when he was seven, Ed’s family moved from Alabama to Vanport to join his father who was employed at Henry J. Kaiser’s Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation. Oregon’s second largest city was filled with apartments, schools, community centers and clinics.

“What I remember most about it was just the number of people there, though it wasn’t like we were all crawling all over each other. There were so many activities in Vanport, particularly in summer. There was never a lack of things to do.

“The schools were so wonderful.” One vivid memory was his class planting gourd seeds in early May 1948, in preparation for September harvesting, drying and painting. The flood took the garden, the entire city, most personal belongings and the lives of at least a dozen people.

From one of many evacuation buses on Denver Avenue, he witnessed the berm give way to the wall of water.

His family slept that night in a school cafeteria, then two weeks in a church before a longer stay in converted Army barracks on Swan Island.

Ed attributes much of his commitment to community to his mother. She raised seven children in those uncertain times. And she taught him the importance of family and community. While in Vanport – and even after the family’s stay on Swan Island – George H. Oberteuffer served as Boy Scout mentor to Ed.

Obie told him, “Things are not what they should be for you and for people that look like you and your brothers. But Eddie, I don’t want you to ever get discouraged, because things are going to change. When those changes start, I want you and your brothers to be prepared.’”

Two moves later, Ed attended Irvington Elementary School, where his teacher led field trips to the Legislature, county courthouse, city hall and elsewhere.

“I learned how government worked from Mrs. [Hazel] Hill. I used to take kids on trips like the ones she took us on to experience much of what I had.”

Ed began practicing what she taught him during his successful campaigns for Grant High School class president, and much later to the Metro Council.

His dedication to civic involvement and civil rights – including presidency of the local NAACP – grew over the years. He’s still going strong, serving as director of Community Outreach and Engagement for the Portland State University Office of Global Diversity & Inclusion, among a flurry of other commitments.

Editor’s note: Space here doesn’t allow for many of Ed’s memories. For additional details, visit ConcordiaPDX.org/EdWashington. For oral histories from him and fellow Vanport survivors, visit VanportMosaic.org/the-living-archive/ category/Oral+History. 

Urbanism – Architecture’s ‘language’ can span decades

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

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

We in the Concordia neighborhood live in a streetcar-era neighborhood – platted and built out during the first two decades of the 20th century – around streetcar service that connected it to downtown Portland.

Lines traversed from Union Avenue (now Martin Luther King) up Alberta Street to a wye – or junction – leading to a terminus at Alberta and 32nd Avenue, and another at Ainsworth Street and 30th Avenue, as well as a line on Dekum Street to 24th Avenue.

Each of these areas was the focus of neighborhood main streets, surrounded by the homes sold by real estate developers to finance the construction of our original neighborhood. The streetcar lines were paved over in the 1950s as a part of a nationwide conspiracy to boost rubber, petroleum and automobile sales. However, the bones of our neighborhood from this era remain: the streets, sidewalks, alleys and buildings.

Regardless of style, the buildings from that era all speak the same design language. Just like with a spoken language, a design language has a certain structure and defining elements that allow for design conversations between different elements of the built environment. The results are mutual design understanding.

For instance, the main street buildings of the streetcar era all have certain characteristics in common:

  • A base-middle-top pattern is evident, in which the building has certain characteristics that it presents at the ground floor level, another set at the upper floor level and a third along the roofline.
  • At the base level, the pattern consists of typical store fronts, including raised sills, recessed entries, large storefront display windows and clerestory windows at the ceiling.
  • At the middle level, vertical recessed windows are aligned horizontally and vertically in paired groupings. • At the top level, articulated rooflines feature elements such as cornices, towers, curves, chevrons, gables or columns amongst many other roofline elements common to that era.
  • Within the building, all of the levels feature aligned floorplates with stacked openings, an age-old solution that results in affordable, long-lasting buildings.
  • The exterior skin of buildings from this era is made of natural materials, including brick, wood, metal, stucco or stone.
  • Consistent materials are used across the entire facade, if not the entire building.
  • Subtle ornamentation is applied at the facade – the face the building presents to the street. That includes brick detail work, cornice lines and wood trim details that are much less costly than the structural gymnastic and graphic approaches chosen by recent development stylistics trends.
  • At corners, chamfers – the cut aways – and recessed entries prevent people from running into one another.
  • A rhythm of recessed entries is created for the pedestrian who walks down the sidewalk past a series of businesses.

These characteristics form the timeless approach to add distinct individual characteristics affordably. They also:

  • Increase pedestrian interest in the public realm through the use of building texture
  • Enhance the joy factor of the community experience of the built environment through the beauty and craft of each building as expressed in simple ways
  • Provide opportunities to highlight local cultural representations and reflections of the surrounding community

For a Main Street Minute, you can watch the Main Street Patterns video, here: tinyurl.com/mainstpatterns.

Register here to join us for a walking tour of Alberta Street at 6pm on July 15th, to help the CNA Board and LUTC learn about the design features of our unprotected historic main street. Attendees will learn how to identify local area patterns, and participate in a community dialogue about design priorities and goals for future development and/or preservation.

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 – Keep an eye out for tap master MC Shoehorn

Posted on by Posted in Arts & Culture, Concordia News

By Maquette Reeverts | Alberta Art Works

Michael Conley, AKA MC Shoehorn, plays 12 instruments to the rhythm of his tapping feet. A world traveler and local mainstay, he performed in the very first Last Thursday in 1997. Photo by Maquette Reeverts

Tap dance is an indigenous American dance genre that evolved over 300 years. In the 1700s, the Irish jig fused with the West African gioube to become “jigging.”

When slave owners took away traditional African percussion instruments, slaves turned to percussive dancing to express themselves and retain their cultural identities. Jigging was later refined for public entertainment and called tap.

The form of entertainment is honored with “National Tap Dance Day” on May 25, signed into law in 1989 by George H.W. Bush.

Twenty-eight-year neighbor Michael Conley, known as MC Shoehorn, is our very own tap master. As an exchange student in Peru his Peruvian “brother” played banjo and guitar while he played harmonica.

“I always listened to my footsteps when I would practice.” That led him to purchase an old pair of shoes at a thrift store and add taps.

MC Shoehorn now plays 12 instruments, has recorded 10 CDs and invented an electronic instrument that allows him to play additional instruments with his feet while he plays his saxophone and taps.

Performing spontaneously with no set routine, he improvises through blues, jazz, rock, world music and his own compositions.

MC Shoehorn started out busking on the streets of New Orleans and performed at Alberta Street’s very first Last Thursday in 1997. He plays at festivals and fairs, with local bands, school assemblies and other events, and he has toured Russia and Austria to share his passion for rhythms.

MC Shoehorn teaches his craft and is planning outdoor lessons for all ages this summer. Find out more at ShoehornMusic.com.

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 – Shake Alert technology comes to Oregon soon

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News

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

What could you do with three to 10 seconds of warning before an earthquake?

Those seconds could be enough to take steps to prevent injury or even save your life.

Oregon’s new ShakeAlert system receives information from seismic detectors across the West Coast and sends a warning to cell phones in areas that will be affected by shaking. The system is not predicting earthquakes, but is sensing earthquakes that have already begun and alerting users before the shaking starts.

It’s not necessary to sign up for alerts, since they’ll come through the Wireless Emergency Alerts system, similar to Amber Alerts or other imminent threats, such as tornadoes.

These alerts will start when your location is expected to experience “light” shaking or stronger. It’s also possible, but not required, to download the MyShake App on Google and Android phones, which will alert you when “weak” or stronger shaking is expected.

What should you do with your seconds of warning about an impending earthquake?

The ShakeAlert will remind you to drop, cover and hold on. Rather than spending the first few seconds of the earthquake trying to identify the unique sensation, you’ll be ready to act. Get off that ladder or move away from the glass window, and the probability of getting through with no or minimal injuries is much better.

In the future, ShakeAlert will also connect to more than just individuals. By shutting off gas, water and the electric grid in the moments before shaking starts, ShakeAlert could save critical infrastructure, making it both faster and cheaper to get services back up and running.

Although ShakeAlert may save lives and minimize injuries, it’s not an infallible system. If you feel shaking, take action immediately, without waiting for your phone to alert you.

For more information on what to during an earthquake, including for those with limited mobility, visit Ready.gov/earthquakes.

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.

On/off job, she helps immigrants

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News

By Nancy Varekamp | CNews Editor

Beth Ronk, left, and Kelsey Rairigh provide for many needs of immigrant families. Since September they have helped with distribution of food and other necessities every two or three weeks to families affected by wildfires and the pandemic. Pictured here, the two staff a diaper drive. Photo courtesy of Immigrant Mutual Aid Coalition

Beth Ronk serves immigrant communities as not only a teacher, but also as a volunteer.

All 11 years she has lived in the Concordia and Cully neighborhoods, Beth has taught English as an additional language – first in public schools and now for individual children and/or their parents in their homes.

“It just kind of naturally goes with your work,” she explained. Beth is in a position to identify needs being underserved by available programs, especially in Clackamas County.

“With the pandemic, I lost a few students and had some extra time. It’s easy to fill it with work, even though it’s volunteer work.”

Last September – with the pandemic raging and fires destroying homes – she and others in immigrant rights and social justice groups formed a partnership they dubbed Immigrant Mutual Aid Coalition (IMAC). Those organizations include:

  • Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice
  • American Friends Service Committee
  • Causa
  • Never Again Action
  • Pineros Y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste
  • Familias en Acción

“We had all worked together in other volunteer efforts, and we realized we needed to shift our concerns to response, together,” Beth said.

Each organization has connections to the community and to each other. “It didn’t take a lot of promotion,” she recalled. Within two days, IMAC launched its first distribution of food, household goods and hygiene necessities.

Every two or three weeks since, there have been other distributions at a Clackamas County church that draw 300 to 400 families from the Portland area and elsewhere in the state.

“We are seeing more and more families from east and northeast Portland as the weeks go,” Beth said. And IMAC was prompt to help residents displaced by the January Villa de Clara Vista fire on Cully Boulevard. That included several hundred dollars in gift cards.

IMAC clients are largely Latinx, and Beth appreciates help from the Oregon Food Bank to provide culturally appropriate food products. “It’s important to provide people with food that they would purchase themselves, especially during stressful times,” Beth said.

Due to the nature of the organizations in the coalition, IMAC is also able to help families improve their access to resources like healthcare and unemployment benefits.

Although the needs of IMAC’s clients have not subsided substantially, the volunteers and member organizations are already looking forward.

“What do our efforts look like post pandemic, once people can get back inside a building?” Beth asked.

“We’re thinking about what other opportunities can be created to have the community participate even more.”

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

Supernova blasts into Concordia vegan scene

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Local Businesses

by Tara Williams | CNA Media Team

Lindsay Knight Sligh opened a brick-and-mortar version of her two popular Supernova food carts in the midst of the pandemic. It hasn’t been easy, but she’s glad she did. Find her menu and order at SupernovaVegan.com and @SupernovaVeganPDX, or call 503.462.7910. Photo by Tara Williams

In the midst of the pandemic, Lindsay Knight Sligh created a brick-and-mortar version of her popular Supernova food cart in Back to Eden’s former space at 2215 N.E. Alberta St.

Lindsay said the year has been a doozy. “It was just one thing after another. August through December of last year was probably the hardest time of my life. I learned some really beautiful lessons and some really hard ones.”

Letting go of her staff and closing for several months was devastating. “And it came in conjunction with a significant loss of a family member at the end of the year. We thought we were done for good.”

But Lindsay has faced many challenges since starting Supernova as a food cart in Woodstock in 2017.

“The part I have been able to share in the vegan community has been very important to me. We pushed through, we pulled together some resources, and we’re still here.”

Reopened in April, Supernova’s Alberta location includes menu offerings of favorites developed at the Woodstock and Sellwood carts. The Space Cowboy, what she calls a “messy, decadent BBQ sandwich,” surprised Lindsay by becoming a signature item.

“I thought to myself, well, wouldn’t you want it all wrapped up inside a warm flour tortilla? You get all the same flavor profiles, but it’s handheld, and you can take it on the go,” she said. “Hence the play on the (Steve Miller Band) lyrics: Space Cowboy and Midnight Toker.”

A single mom and daughter of a single mom, Lindsay isn’t new to the food industry. “My family owns a bar and restaurant. I’ve been working my whole life to get to this place where I could open my own business.

“I wanted my kids to be able to come work with me and share in a family business.” Her oldest child now works weekends at the Sellwood location. Another will soon be working at Alberta.

“As a queer-identified female, I feel exceptionally fortunate. We have such a strong community here that lifts us and inspires us and reminds us of who we are, to keep pushing forward, to be seen and to be heard. I love this area and this part of town.”

Coming in May, Supernova plans to introduce a new brunch menu and vegan frozen desserts this summer.

“We’re excited to settle in and connect with the other businesses and people, get to know the names and faces and start to figure out what our place is.

“We hope we can contribute here in a real way.”

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.

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.

Draft CNA LUTC Agenda: Wednesday, May 19th, 2021

Posted on by Posted in Uncategorized
Hi folks,
Here’s the draft agenda for next week’s LUTC meeting.
You can join the meeting here:
Phone:
(US) +1 316-512-3077
PIN: 417604919#
Look forward to seeing you there!
BTW, If anybody would like to help be a part of citywide cleanup efforts, here’s a link to participate:
Pick It Up, Portland!
Finally, you can see CNA’s DOZA testimony published, here:
Unfortunately, I was quite busy that afternoon and was, unfortunately unable to testify in-person or take questions from council.
cheers,
~Garlynn

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.