Concordia Neighborhood Association | Portland, Oregon

All the carts in this pod offer vegan cuisine

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Local Businesses

By Tara Williams | CNA Media Team

A meat-eater, a vegan and an ovo-lacto-pescatarian walk into a food cart pod. Start of a joke?

Not at Shady Pines, 5240 N.E. 42nd Ave., where all dietary lifestyles can enjoy satisfying food choices with a free side of environmental sustainability.

Founded by Lukah Churchill, Christine Neary, and Lindsey and Ashley Butler, the all-vegan pod opened last March.

Currently, three of the six carts are open Thursdays-Sundays. Dirty Lettuce – recently nominated for Food Cart of the Year by Veg Times – was due to reopen Jan. 20.

Lukah, aka “Uncle Squatchy,” looks forward to relaunching Fatsquatch and its vegan comfort food soon. It’s owned by the Shady Pines founders, and you can track its re-opening plans at FatsquatchPDX.com.

Ramblin’ Rose will be serving up vegan, coconut-milk-based frozen treats upon return from winter renovations Stay tuned at RamblinRose.express.

“All of the carts here are women-, BIPOC- and/or LGBTQ-owned,” Lukah said. “We’re excited about creating a presence of intersectionality and using food to bring people together.”

Details about the pod are available at @ShadyPinesVeganFoodCourt and Facebook.com/shadypinesveganfoodcourt.

Dirty Lettuce
DirtyLettuce.square.site

Alkebulan Moroski’s college studies in environmental science convinced him industrial meat is unsustainable. So he learned to cook vegan. Photo courtesy of
Dirty Lettuce

Dirty Lettuce, started as a family business in Mississippi, focused on burgers and fries.

“I’m a picky eater who doesn’t like vegan food much,” said Alkebulan Moroski. “Then I learned to cook.” He strives to appeal to – and convert – meateaters with authentic Cajun and Creole dishes.

“If you can get the look and texture of meat, the mental half of the battle is won,” he reported. Study of environmental science in college convinced him industrial meat is unsustainable.

Why the move from the deep South to the Northwest? Customers and ingredients. “It allowed us to fully veganize the menu,” Moroski said.

Sushi Love
SushiLovePDX.com

SushiLove founders Diandra Totten and Ashley Craemer hope vegan sushi – like that served at the women-owned and staffed food cart – can slow the consumption of sea life by providing satisfying alternatives. “

When people eat a spicy tuna roll, it’s not just tuna they are consuming,” Diandra said. “Large fishing nets can destroy habitats and species. While catching fish, they destroy coral reefs and larger mammals as ‘by-kill.’ A dead ocean is a dead Earth. The ocean is vital to keep our planet thriving.”

Safframen
Safframen.square.site

Zoe Lichlyter, Safframen co-owner, helps staff the food cart Thursdays through Sundays at the nearly one-year-old Shady Pines all-vegan food cart pod. Photo by Tara Williams

Armon Paktel and Zoe Lichlyter started Safframen as a weekly pop-up in 2019. “We took our immigrant parents’ Persian and Japanese backgrounds and fused those cuisines into a bastard hybrid concept that ended up working somehow,” Armon explained.

The small, hyper-focused menu hides a vegan pun at its core. “In Japanese, Tonkotsu is the style of ramen usually made from pork bones. ‘Ton’ means pig, and ‘kon’ means corn. So Konkotsu ramen is corn-kotsu ramen,” he revealed.

Avocadamama
Avocadamama.square.site

Avocadamama co-founder Taylor Solomon calls the cart’s menu items the creamiest, most flavorful mac and cheese you’ll find. She and partner Nathaniel Perales launched as a YouTube channel in 2017, then found themselves wanting to do more than teach people how to cook.

“I wanted to cook for them. Mac and cheese is such a staple,” Taylor said. “We wanted to provide the vegan scene with the best.”

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.

Find flavors of Yucatan just down the road

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News, Local Businesses

By Carrie Wenninger | CNA Media Team

Fredi Castillo and Manuela Interian offer the tastes of the Yucatan at their food cart in Cully. Photo by Garlynn Woodsong

Gloomy Portland winter weather got you down? Visiting Loncheria Los Mayas offers a quick trip to the Yucatan, no air travel or reservations required.

Here in the parking lot in front of Alder Commons at 4212 N.E. Prescott St., you’ll find a charming food cart offering Mexican specialties from the home state of proprietors Manuela Interian and Fredi Castillo.

Although for the moment their warm and sunny smiles are hidden behind COVID-safe masks, their culinary offerings are sure to communicate a deep love of food and a sense of place.

“The poc chuc – citrus-marinated, grilled pork – is quite unusual and people love it,” Manuela shared. “Try new things, one at a time, like the panuchos – stuffed tortillas – and salbutes – crisp-fried tortillas with toppings. And come back to explore other items when you can.”

Their intention is to build relationships with the community, and they encourage customers to return to try new dishes, depending on the season, the weather and one’s appetite.

Anything can be made vegetarian, and there are vegan options, too. Just inquire.

The couple came to the United States 20 years ago with a dream to build a business for themselves and their family. By working diligently, their objective was realized through sharing the food of their home country.

Other banks denied them loans despite having known them for years. Point West Credit Union stepped in, believed their vision was worth investing in and assisted them with the hefty expense of securing their cart and equipment.

To say they are grateful for the opportunity may be an understatement.

Originally opened in 2017 in the Cully neighborhood, Loncheria Los Mayas has been at this new location since July. Matt Faunt and Edy Martinez – of Native American Youth and Family Center and Our 42nd Avenue – assisted in finding the space.

Manuela and Fredi also expressed their appreciation to community members for their support, and to Karl Keefer and Rachel Munzig at Alder Commons.

The community space provides a storage area and assists with logistics, while all the food – including the handmade tortillas – is made in-house in the cart’s tiny kitchen.

Dine socially-distanced at outside tables, order to go or inquire about catering at 503.754.3059 or LoncheriaLosMayas@gmail.com. It’s open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays.

Carrie Wenninger lives on 29th Avenue in Concordia. She is a freelance writer, a mom, a world traveler and a small business marketing consultant. Contact her at WurdGurl@gmail.com.

Her advocacy makes a difference

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News

By Marsha Sandman | CNA Media Team

Annette Pronk resolved her own housing instability with a move to Cully, so housing issues rate high among the several community issues for which she advocates. The former Sugar Shack strip club property pictured behind her is on track to become a 141-unit affordable
housing project. Photo by Nancy Varekamp

When Annette Pronk arrived in Portland from the upper Midwest in 1997, she spread her wings and planted her roots.

She was no stranger to the housing pressures many Portlanders experience. In fact, she moved between three Concordia properties – while she strived to find affordable housing – before she discovered housing stability in Cully.

With this burden lifted, Annette began to explore her new community.

She connected with her new neighbors, attended meetings in people’s homes and listened to stories of others facing housing insecurity as she once had.

“Sharing our stories and our lived experiences opens us up to take the next step, together,” Annette explained.

“I’m a big believer in creating space for community conversation, whether it be about racial justice, community resiliency, housing stability or root causes to houselessness.”

In an effort to pay it forward, she developed her skills as a community leader with the Cully Housing Action Team (CHAT). “This grassroots community-led group became a source of inspiration to me,” she said. “It lifts up the collective power to improve the common good through campaigns such as ‘Save the Oak Leaf.’” That mobile home park preservation effort prevented several families’ displacement at the hands of developers.

CHAT also campaigned to bring funding to the 141-unit Las Adelitas housing project underway at the former Sugar Shack property.

Resilient and resourceful, Annette also serves on the boards of the Cully Association of Neighbors and Verde. The latter is a Cully-based nonprofit that serves low-income communities of color by building environmental wealth and assets such as the Thomas Cully Park.

She is a lover of nature, holds a platinum level Backyard Habitat certification and is a Master Recycler.

As a solo parent and cancer survivor, Annette is quick to identify with the silver lining in any situation. That skill serves her well while she leans into building community resiliency against pending disasters. One effort is advocating for the Cully Neighborhood Emergency Team to broaden its capacity to work alongside the Latinx community.

“I see myself as a conduit of resources and information,” she noted. “How can I remove barriers to help folks feel prepared, feel connected?

“You do not have to sit on a panel or be an expert. All you have to do is be yourself. Try to offer a kind hello to someone,” Annette added.

“Be willing to listen with an open heart and mind. Be willing to share resources – one day at a time.”

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.

Let’s make 2021 the year of climate action

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

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

We are emerging from not just four lost years, years during which our country made no national commitment to meaningful action in response to the threat posed by climate change. We are also emerging from a lost decade that saw us fail to achieve our emissions reductions goals for 2020 that were set at state, regional and local levels of government.

We must make 2021 the year we begin taking meaningful climate action.

There has been some discussion globally about 2021 being the year for sustainable energy. Indeed, sustainable energy is a policy focus at the state and local levels this year as well.

With passage of Ballot Measure 26-201 in 2018, the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) will soon begin paying for weatherization, clean energy installation projects, workforce and contractor development, green infrastructure, and regenerative agriculture. Its focus is on serving historically marginalized community members.

This will allow more neighbors to also begin to focus on sustainable energy at our own homes and businesses, with funding supplied through this program. Those folks who may not have sufficient income or assets to qualify for the Clean Energy Works Oregon (CEWO) program will especially benefit from the new PCEF program.

What does this all mean?
It means that buildings are a big chunk of the problem when it comes to climate emissions. It’s not just the petroleum-powered cars most of us drive around. Our homes and business buildings depend on electricity that comes from a grid that still includes a sizable amount of fossil fuel-sourced power. Buildings also may directly burn fossil fuels in the form of natural gas to heat water and our interior air.

The more we insulate our buildings, install double-pane windows and plant trees to shade our buildings during the hottest days of the year, the less energy it will ultimately take to heat and cool them.

Through PCEF and CEWO, a combination of loans and grants should be available for most residents and businesses to retrofit buildings. We can make buildings more efficient by installing electric room heating/cooling systems, such as heat pumps and mini-split systems. We can retrofit them with hybrid electric water heating systems, and renewable energy generation and storage equipment.

There’s at least one promising way to meet the moment locally when it comes to coordinated community responses to the need to transition our buildings off fossil fuels. That’s to form local sustainable energy cooperatives to hire and train local residents to retrofit buildings.

Work would focus on:

  • Increasing energy efficiency
  • Switching heating, cooling, water heating and lighting systems over to the most efficient options available today • Installing renewable energy generation and storage equipment
  • Installing grey water systems so trees planted in the yard to help cool the building receive water during summer droughts, even during outdoor watering curtailments

If you are or would like to be involved in such efforts, please contact me at LandUse@ConcordiaPDX.org.

—
Correction
The piece headlined “Let’s make 2021 the year of climate action” in the February CNews referenced the Clean Energy Works Oregon program, which is no longer available. CNews regrets the error.
—

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.

Draft CNA LUTC Agenda: Wed, Feb 17, 2021

Posted on by Posted in Uncategorized
Here’s a draft agenda for next week’s LUTC meeting.
WHAT:
Concordia Land Use & Transportation Committee (LUTC)
WHEN:
Wednesday, February 17th, 2021
WHAT TIME:
7pm
WHO:
Concordia neighbors interested in improving the neighborhood through safer streets, more housing opportunities, and more local business
HOW:
It’s virtual.
Login online at this link:
https://meet.google.com/ocg-wgut-iki
Or call in by phone:
316-512-3077 PIN: 417604919#
WHY:
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” -Jane Jacobs
See you there!
cheers,
~Garlynn

::-::-::-::-::-::-::-::-::-::
Garlynn G. Woodsong (he/him)
Vice Chair and Board Member, Position Southwest 1
Land Use & Transportation Committee Chair
Concordia Neighborhood Association

Concordia Art Works – You can help renew splashes of public art

Posted on by Posted in Arts & Culture, Concordia News

By Maquette Reeverts | Alberta Art Works

The bench in front of Just Bob’s on Alberta Street at 24th Avenue receives an artistic, colorful renewal by artist Chelsea Rose. Photo by Maquette Reeverts

In 1997, the Alberta Streetscape plan was hatched as an attempt to rejuvenate Alberta Street. The main street had lost its luster and the city finally invested in the district via the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

Aligned with the community, the plan included a focus on the aesthetics of the strip. Curbs were extended, trees planted, the iconic kinetic street lighting added and eight bus benches installed.

The idea was to make the street more functional and aesthetically pleasing for both pedestrians and cars.

By 2016, those bus benches had been forgotten. They were covered in tags and were in utter disrepair. Alberta Art Works negotiated an Adopt a Landscape agreement to do something about the eyesores that ranged from 7th to 24th avenues.

By creating a sponsorship program, businesses or individuals pay local artists to paint benches. The benches are repainted every two years. The artists thank the sponsor(s) on the backs of the benches, and they sign the fronts.

This spring several benches will be repainted and – with all the changes in the landscape of Alberta Street – it will be a welcome splash of public art in our shared space in time for summer.

Want to sponsor a local artist and contribute to our Alberta arts legacy? See AlbertaArtWorks.org to find out more.

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.

CNA respects the views and beliefs of all Concordians, and their cultures and faiths. The views expressed by this writer do not necessarily reflect the views of CNA.

Concordians fill final two board positions

Posted on by Posted in CNA, Concordia News

At its January meeting, the Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA) Board of Directors voted to appoint Matt Boyd to the Southwest 2 position. No one had been nominated to fill that seat during the November annual meeting election. Matt served a two-year term previously in an at-large position.

Also at the January meeting, Joseph Fraley was elected by CNA membership to the East 2 position. His term is two years.

CNA Board of Directors

Chair | Chair@ConcordiaPDX.org Peter Keller
East 1 | East1@ConcordiaPDX.org Heather Pashley
East 2 | East2@ConcordiaPDX.org Joseph Fraley
Northwest 1 | NW1@ConcordiaPDX.org Isham “Ike” Harris
Northwest 2 | NW2@ConcordiaPDX.org Amelie Marian
Southwest 1 | SW1@ConcordiaPDX.org Garlynn Woodsong
Southwest 2 | SW2@ConcordiaPDX.org Matt Boyd
At Large 1 | AL1@ConcordiaPDX.org Robert Bowles
At Large 2 | AL2@ConcordiaPDX.org John Fitzgerald
At Large 3 | AL3@ConcordiaPDX.org John McSherry
At Large 4 | AL4@ConcordiaPDX.org Sonia Fornoni
At Large 5 | AL5@ConcordiaPDX.org Truls Neal
At Large 6 | AL6@ConcordiaPDX.org Brittany van der Salm

Chair’s Corner – This is all about we

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News

By Peter Keller | CNA Chair

Hello neighbors. I’m writing this as we just slammed the door on 2020 — like a scary monster was chasing us! 2021 is off to a frightening start too, but I think we can see the light. There’s so much to say about 2020, but let’s move on to 2021 and focus on our corner of Portland, Concordia.

You might be asking why I volunteered to be the CNA board chair. Well, I’ve enjoyed reading the CNews since 1997 when I bought my first home in Concordia and I’ve always found it to be informative, interesting and a great way to feel connected to the neighborhood.

Over the years I’ve often considered getting involved but didn’t feel like I had the time. Like many of you, I found that I have some extra time… and I decided it’s time to get involved.

The CNA chair position could have gone to anyone in the neighborhood who met the qualifications.

If you’re interested in getting involved with the board, visit ConcordiaPDX.org/2020/11/chairscorner-dont-forget-to-also-vote-in-cna-election, where outgoing chair Astrid Furstner outlined the process and qualifications in her column.

We have filled all positions for 2021 as of our Jan. 7 board meeting and special election. I’d like to welcome Joseph Fraley to the East 2 position and Matt Boyd to the Southwest 2 position! I look forward to serving with the 2021 CNA board, and we look forward to serving you.

While I am charged with writing this column, it’s not about me. It’s about we, Concordians. My plan for this column is to cover topics that come before the CNA board and other neighborhood topics of interest. I also plan to have other board members pen this column periodically so you can hear some other perspectives.

I’d like to thank Astrid Furstner, our departing chair. She has made this transition seamless and has worked tirelessly as CNA chair for the past year in addition to her full-time job and full-time job as a mom. I’d also like to thank Ali Novak, Donn Dennis and Steve Elder for their service on the CNA board.

I’m excited to take on this challenge, and I look forward to serving the neighborhood and the opportunity to meet and interact with more of you, my neighbors.

“There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.”
– Leonard Cohen

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.

Election adds new faces to CNA board

Posted on by Posted in Concordia News

The Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA) Board of Directors has three new members, joining three re-elected directors and six at mid-term.

Leading the board for a one-year term beginning in January is Peter Keller as chair. John Fitzgerald and Brittany van der Salm were elected to two-year terms. Re-elected to two-year terms were Amelie Marian and Sonia Fornoni.

The two-year Southwest 2 position was not filled during the election, and plans call for the CNA board to appoint a Concordian to fill it at the Jan. 6 meeting. The only criteria is that you are 14 years or older and that you live, work or own property between 22nd and 33rd avenues and between Killingsworth Street and Alameda.

If you’re interested, contact Chair@ ConcordiaPDX.org.