The Publisher
Kenton Library Grand Opening packs shelves with locals, officials, books
Posted by: The Publisher on Mar 13, 2010
SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE 
The Kenton Library opened at last today, officially and ceremoniously. The place has been packed all day as residents pore over the library's shiny bookish bling. The library is around the corner from the Sentinel's office and I literally stopped in this afternoon only because I had to return some Terry Pratchett audio books. Today was a great day for the neighborhood and North Portland, and one that will be well covered by the mainstream press. If you as a resident have photos you'd like us to post here or link to, please comment below or email them to pub@portlandsentinel.com. -Cornelius Swart
UPDATE: I stopped in as well, and it was packed to the gills with people - and, of course, books. City Council candidate Ed Garren was there, as was Multnomah County Commissioner candidate Karol Collymore and a host of other local luminaries. In the storytelling space, women read and used puppets to act out Dr. Seuss stories as enraptured children looked on. People perused the shelves, marveled at the extensive DVD collection (which pulls out, file cabinet-style, from the wall) and noshed on mini-cupcakes and lemonade provided by nearby Posies Cafe. The library is shiny, spacious and state-of-the-art (well, at least by Kenton standards), and brings Kenton one step closer to being a gentrified destination neighborhood. YEAH literacy! -Rebecca Robinson
Rose Quarter visions narrow to three
Posted by: The Publisher on Feb 25, 2010FOUND IN:
SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE Rose Quarter advisory group forwards three for Memorial Coliseum makeover
By Janie Har, The Oregonian
February 23, 2010, 8:15PM
The 32-member Rose Quarter advisory group voted tonight to forward three concepts to the Portland City Council for the full ‘request for proposal’ treatment.
To no one’s surprise, the three include the Trail Blazers’ plan for a JumpTown entertainment district and developer Doug Obletz’s proposal for a community athletic center. The third is the Veterans Memorial Arts and Athletic Center, which would carve up Memorial Coliseum for use by arts groups, nonprofits, as well as sports.
The council also voted to forward two alternate proposals should any of the three decline to go ahead: the multicultural Rose Quarter Community Crossroads project and the Portland Action Sports Complex.
The Portland City Council will formally take up the advisory group’s recommendation on March 11.
Oregonian calls for the State to open St. Johns' derelict Wapato jail, not build new ones
Posted by: The Publisher on Feb 24, 2010FOUND IN:
SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE 
From today's Oregonian: a call to convert St Johns's long-dormant and fully servicable Wapato Jail, owned by Multnomah County, into a state prison. North Portland's county Commissioner Jeff Cogen and newly installed State Representative Lew Frederick have both promised to get the albatross that is Wapato off the ground, so far with no results. The jail has been a national joke for years. Now, the Oregonian weighs in.
[Image right, from OregonLive]
Turn Wapato into Oregon's next prison
By The Oregonian Editorial Board
February 23, 2010, 5:36PMIn 2004, we wrote that it would be short-sighted -- the word we actually used was "nuts" -- for the state of Oregon to build any new prisons while Wapato was sitting empty.
Six years later, the $58 million jail still has never been opened. And the state is still looking, primarily, in other directions. Since 2004, in fact, the state has opened prisons in Lakeview and Madras, and expanded two in North Bend and Wilsonville. But, admittedly, these plans were already in the pipeline.
A few weeks ago, however, the state Department of Corrections made a new decision with the net effect of steering away from Wapato, at least until the 2011 legislative session, and ultimately pointing more perhaps toward Junction City.
And that doesn't make much sense. Few prisons are sited, of course, strictly for reasons of sense or efficiency. If they were, most would wind up in the metro area, because that is where most prisoners are from (and where they will return).
No, the reality is that prisons equate to jobs, and small towns in Oregon are hungrier for state jobs than the metro area seems to be. The result, thus, is a farflung state prison system -- from Tillamook to Ontario -- that imposes cruel hardships on inmates' families if they hope to visit. (It's "a nightmare," several corrections officials privately acknowledged this week.)
The InBox: Life ruined by Meth?
Posted by: The Publisher on Feb 19, 2010FOUND IN:
SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE 
Northeast Portland businessman and community activist Gary Marschke is looking for people who can help a former St. Johns resident. The email below and photos above were submitted to Marschke by someone who claims her life has been ruined by a meth-addicted family member. The names in the email below have been changed to protect the individuals involved. If you wish to help the woman in question, contact Gary Marschke gmarschke@comcast.net
EMAIL BELOW THE CUT
The InBox: Metro looking for a Santa Claus in Cathedral Park
Posted by: The Publisher on Feb 19, 2010SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE Want to do a good deed for a day? Want to help improve your neighborhood? Want to hold the power to give away money? Well, now's your chance. Metro ( Portland's world famous, one-of-a-kind wonky regional government) is recruiting a volunteer from the Cathedral Park Neighborhood to sit on the North Portland Enhancement Grant committee. Committee members get to award money from the North Portland Trust Fund. The fund was set up as a give-back to the community after Metro located a landfill in St Johns. The landfill is now closed, but the cash keeps flowing. Good for you, North Portland! Over the last 22 years the fund has given out an average of $1000 a year to neighborhood improvement projects such as tree plants, farmer's markets and the region's pioneering new "underwear exchange program" Projects benefit residents, businesses and...ok...I made that last one up... there's no such thing as an underwear exchange program (shudder)... But the money goes to good things. Read more below.
News stump: Rivergate path connects Kelley Point to Rivergate Blvd
Posted by: The Publisher on Feb 15, 2010FOUND IN:
SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE 
The photo here is of sidewalk construction along North Lombard Street south of Kelley Point Park. I happened upon it on a Saturday dog walk. The multi-use path that runs along North Marine Drive connects Smith & Bybee Lakes with Kelley Point very nicely. According to ODOT signs, the construction of an extention headed south to North Rivergate Boulevard will be completed this summer.
Happy Valentine's Day North/Northeast Portland
Posted by: The Publisher on Feb 14, 2010FOUND IN:
SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE 
We love you!
2008 St. Johns Bridge car crash hero receives Carnegie Award
Posted by: The Publisher on Feb 11, 2010SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE 
[ABOVE PHOTOS TAKEN AT A POLICE COMMENDATION CEREMONY AT OLD NORTH PRECINCT IN 2008 by Jason E Kaplan]
When North Portland resident Seth Russell learned he would receive this year’s Carnegie Award for Heroism, he was floored.
“It really took me aback,” said Russell, who found himself on the short list of honorees with Portland Police Officer Ryan Derry.
Mr. Russell and Officer Derry were nationally recognized for their heroic efforts after being locally honored, along with Portland Police Officer Christina Hansen-Tuma, by Police Chief Rosie Sizer for their 2008 rescue of a man from a burning car in St. Johns. [See Sentinel Sept. 2008]
Established in 1904 by Andrew Carnegie, the Carnegie Award “recognizes persons who perform acts of heroism in civilian life in the United States and Canada.” Since its inception, the 21-member board has awarded 9,000 medals to those who “voluntarily risk his or her life to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the life of another person.”
In the early morning hours of August 30, 2008, Russell and Derry did just that.
CRC protest set for Friday
Posted by: The Publisher on Dec 02, 2009SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE 
COMMUNITY CONTENTWhen:
12/04/2009 - 9:45am
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA ADVISORY
Stop the CRC Coalition prepares action for December 4 Project Sponsors Council meeting
WHERE: Oregon Department of Transportation, Region 1 Office, 121 NW Everett Street, Portland
WHEN: Friday, December 4, 9:45 a.m.
VISUALS: giant wrapped gift box containing the 'new' CRC with banners and signs
The InBox: St. Johns Neighborhood rescinds opposition to self-storage unit
Posted by: The Publisher on Nov 29, 2009FOUND IN:
SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE From an email from new St. Johns Neighborhood Association Chair Babs Adamski: SJNA is apparently rescinding its former opposition to the self-storage complex proposed for the old Rose City Chevrolet lot at North Lombard and Richmond in St. Johns. SJNA apparently feels that the developers have significantly improved the design of the project so that the group's reticence is no longer appropriate.
For immediate release:
The board of the St. Johns Neighborhood Association (SJNA) voted on November 23, 2009 to withdraw their appeal of the approval of the commercial development proposed at the former Rose City Chevrolet/Sterling Auto site at 8150 N. Lombard Street. In early November, the City of Portland Bureau of Development Services (BDS) approved the development proposed by a partnership headed by developer Kevin Howard at the site for a three-story mini storage facility with several retail storefronts on Lombard and Richmond streets. Had it not been withdrawn, the appeal would have challenged BDS' decision before the city's Design Commission.
Howard and his colleagues approached the St. Johns Neighborhood Association in February to solicit community feedback before submitting a preliminary development proposal to BDS, and have continued active discussions with the Neighborhood Association through several progressively improved designs. The Neighborhood Association appealed the approval of the proposed development because it lacked clear commitment to gateway public art features to which Howard had previously agreed and because it included lower quality finish materials than those of other retail storefronts in St. Johns.
In subsequent conversations, Howard clarified his commitment to make available the Lombard-facing wall of the storage building and a courtyard space at Lombard and Richmond streets for public art installations to enhance the gateway treatment at the site. He also pledged financial support to the planning and acquisition of the art.
The board of the St. Johns Neighborhood Association did not believe that continuation of the appeal would win additional site improvements and voted unanimously to withdraw the appeal.
The St. Johns Neighborhood Association board of directors looks forward to development at this site that has been vacant for the last three years, and to continuing what has been a very positive relationship with the developer. The proposed development is at least the third that has been suggested since Sterling Auto vacated the site and it comes closest of any of the suggested developments to meeting the development envisioned for this site in the St. Johns/Lombard Plan. SJNA is excited to continue to work with the developer to create plans for the public art component of the project, and will solicit input from general membership and community members in that process.
For more information, contact
Babs Adamski, Chair, St. Johns Neighborhood Associaton
babsia@gmail.com, 503-421-5934
or
Ryan Deibert, Co-chair for land use
rdeibert@comcast.net, 503-484-6037
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