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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 North Portland Tool Library began in the basement of the Kenton Firehouse, oh so many years ago. The volunteer group dedicated to loaning out tools so you can save a little cash and shed space inspired an offshoot—the Northeast Portland Tool Library—which opened about a year and a half ago. Now it looks like the NEPTL is moving up in life and has a new space (a basement of its very own) at Redeemer Lutheran Church across from Alberta Park on Northeast Killingsworth Street. See below:

Below is the agenda for the St. Johns Neighborhood Association meeting to be held tonight at the St. Johns Community Center. County Commissioner Jeff Cogen will be on hand for a Q&A, (ask him what the heck ever happened to that jail in St Johns he said he'd open?), and there will be some discussion of new liquor license applications.  Word is that Randy Plew has some big plans to gussy up Plew's Market.  He'll soon be carrying some more high end items and perhaps beer and wine.  Lastly, there will be some talk about the potential closure of a North Portland High School in accordance with PPS's plan to close at least two District high schools. See details below for agenda:

Email to info@portlandsentinel.com about Measure 66, which would raise taxes for households making over $250,000. [Ed. Note: 2000 census data indicated at that time that North/Northeast Portland households earned on average between $32,000 to $120,000 a year.]

Dear Editor,

A first-ever event for the 'Lower Albina' section of the Eliot Neighborhood (aka Widmer Brewing, the White Eagle Saloon, and the commerical clusters along Interstate Avenue under the Fremont Bridge). From email:

It's almost time!
Next Saturday, December 5, from 12:00-8:00 pm, Icon Tattoo presents the first ever Russell Street Holiday Festival!
Come make merry for a good cause! There will be no better place this season to find presents or festive fun!

-Handmade bazaar featuring dozens of local artisans. Jewelry, designer clothes, small label records, letterpress cards, hula hoops, jams, chocolates, prints, and so much more!
-benefit for p:ear with loads of ways to benefit p:ear--cakewalk sponsored by Grand Central and Chef Boysarwee pies; pictures with Santa; silent auction for p:ear (preview it here)

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

 

 

Heads up to all you local cafes and resturants who would like a little extra outdoor sidewalk seating next year when the weather gets good.  Whether you are trying to create that 'Paris' effect, or simply want to increase your table volume it looks like that deadline for fee waivers for sidewalk seating has been extended to January 1. From city email.

City waives $150 fee for sidewalk cafes until Jan. 1. The Portland Bureau of Transportation sent a letter this week encouraging restaurant owners to apply for a sidewalk café permit before January 1 to save more than $150.

"The Transportation Bureau issues sidewalk café permits to help ensure that all users have safe, equitable access to the public sidewalk," said Rich Eisenhauer, program manager at PBOT. A Sidewalk Café permit allows, and is required for, a business to serve food and beverage to patrons seated at tables located within the public sidewalk area adjacent to the business.

This letter also notified business owners of recent changes to the permit program, including the new fee structure. The application fee is $150 plus $4.50 per linear foot of sidewalk café. The annual permit fee is $75 plus $1.50 per linear foot of sidewalk café. The application fee will be waived if café owners apply before the January 1 cutoff, saving a minimum of $150 per business.

It appears that a rash of commerical burglaries is now moving through North Portland. This comes in the wake of a series of buglaries in Kenton reported last month.

Business Owners and Employees:

There has been a recent spree of commercial burglaries in the inner Northeast Portland area and yesterday on 11/23,  in the Overlook area.  These burglaries share many similarities and may be connected.  The majority of the victims are restaurants and they are reporting that the burglars are physically removing safes along with cutting phone lines to the business prior to gaining access to disable security systems. 

Please review the following prevention tips to reduce or minimize your business from becoming a victim.

-Ensure your building is property locked and secured each night.  Replace any damaged doors or windows and upgrade locks if they are not operating property.

This in from Mike Verbout, RHS advocate, who's concerned about Roosevelt High and the coming high school closures.

Dear Neighbors and Friends:
This is a pivotal time in Portland’s history.  Parks, open-spaces, and strong public schools have been the cornerstone of the strength and quality of the city for a century.  And High Schools have been a defining, essential element of Portland’s distinctive neighborhoods.

Portland Public Schools will visit Roosevelt HS on Wednesday, December 2nd at 6:30 p.m. Elected officials and professional staff from PPS will outline plans for the next generation of Portland’s High Schools.  What schools will look like in the future and the critrea used to identify the 2 to 3 high schools that will be closed will likely be the main discussion points.

An email notice about tomorrow's meeting on the North Portland Harbor Superfund site. The area includes the large, lovely and rarely used riverfront green space south of Cathedral Park and the St Johns Bridge. The green space was purchased by Metro over a decade ago and is essentially fallow land. However, it is part of Portland Harbor, which has a number of pollution issues (see text of email below). Worth a visit if you are interested in the waterfront, wildlife, salmon habitat, the North Portland Greenway trail, and all that good stuff. See below for details: