June 2008 Kerns NA Minutes
The following minutes were approved at the July 2008 Kerns board meeting:
KERNS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
June 18, 2008
ATTENDEES: GT Meili, Mike Whitmore, Jack Maynard, Ben Greensfelder, Sandra Bao, Christy MacAnally, Steve A. Engel, Megan O’Keefe, Karin Dibling, Blaine Betts, Adam Zucker, Angela Kirkman, Jay Harris, Lee Perlman, Jim Dewson, Carolyn Hargus, Jim Kautz, Sean Hutchinson (14 board members) Chair GT Meili called the meeting to order at 6:10 PM.
June agenda reviewed and approved.
May meeting minutes were not available for review. Kerns board plans to review and approve May and June meeting minutes next month.
TREASUREER’S REPORT: Jim Kautz reported the checking account balance as $3,368. The initial CD deposit was $1,093, and it matures in June.
PUBLIC SAFETY (Officer Andy Edgecomb)
§ Drug dealing issue at NE 29th and Couch no longer a problem
§ Officer passed out the Portland Police Bureau Offense Report. The biggest issue is larceny along Burnside and Sandy – bicycles and other property being stolen
§ Officer passed out rear view mirror sign showing that there are no valuable in the car
§ Good Neighbor Agreement between Kerns and The Standard is still being worked out
§ Officer has noticed that there has been more transient/homeless people hanging out north of Burnside
§ Next SE Precinct Policing Forum - June 27th 6pm
§ Car theft down in the neighborhood
9th AVE BIKE BOULEVARD (Adam Zucker – Buckman)
§ Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) and city are looking for bike boulevards around the city. Bike boulevards utilize existing low traffic streets for bike traffic instead of the more traditional bike lanes on major roads. The BTA has found that biking on busy streets deters some people from biking.
§ Adam is proposing a bike boulevard up 9th Avenue from SE Division to
§ The board discussed the idea of stop signs for cars only (allowing bicyclists through without stopping). Peter, the engineer from the Portland Department of Transportation mentioned that the law would need to be changed for this to happen. If interested in pursuing this idea, it would be best to contact the BTA.
CROSSWALKS ON 28th (Teresa / Peter)
§ Teresa contacted Peter (engineer from City of
§ Peter gave background about crosswalk safety and the process to get one established.
§ Peter has an open request for the crosswalk in this location so he will launch an investigation. He will forward the reports to Teresa, and Kerns will review the results. If Kerns wants to pursue, money will be needed for the project, particularly since sidewalk ramps will be needed.
LAND USE UPDATES (Mike Whitmore / Jim Kautz)
- Sam Adams told PDOT to scale back the Burnside/Couch after reviewing the budget. Since the project budget will be drastically cut back, the city no longer plans to remove the plum trees on NE Couch and 11th. PDOT is now evaluating a scaled back plan for Burnside/Couch couplet that includes keeping existing sidewalks, stop signs and adding the needed lights.
- URAC budget is only $12M for next year and goes into deficit the year after that. Part of the reason the budget is diminishing is due to the Burnside Bridgehead project not happening which would have created revenue for the URAC.
- Burnside Bridgehead – PDC is having a Burnside Bridgehead CAC (Citizens Advisory Committee) next Wednesday June 25th from 4-6pm at PDC. PDC is thinking about tearing down
BOARD POSITIONS REVIEW & Q/A
- Any questions about board positions? No one had any.
- Event Coordinator for the picnic is open. GT agreed to coordinate the effort.
KERNS ANNUAL PICNIC
- Picnic is Tuesday, Aug 5th at
- Yard signs will be pass out at the next meeting.
- Picnic meeting next Tuesday June 24th, 6pm at the Goodfoot. Meagan will get in touch with Ann from Coca Cola to come to the picnic planning meetings.
GOOD NEIGHBOR AGREEMENTS (Christy/Emily/Jim)
- Day Labor Hire Site is open and the Good Neighbor Agreement is on the ONI website and was complete before the site opened. Businesses in the area were involved, and the owner of the site is open to making improvements and revisiting the agreement as needed. Lee Perlman sited the concern that people are not utilizing the site.
- The Standard.
- There was a meeting last week with Karen Anderson (ONI), Jim Dewson, Officer Pickett, Reed Lamb (owner), some of his staff, and other concerned neighbors.
- No Good Neighbor Agreement has been worked out yet.
- Reed passed out the “hotline” number to call if neighbors have issues from 7pm-3am (503-803-3049). During other hours, or no one is responding, Reed requests that you call him directly (503-803-2641). The person manning the door between 7pm-3am is asking patrons to leave quietly, watching noisy customers to their cars, and doing a trash pickup around the intersection of NE 22nd and NE Couch. Recent incidents were discussed, as well as adding another “Please respect our neighbors” sign being added at the exit of the bar. Reed agreed to adding another sign.
EMAIL / WEBSITE UPDATE (Angela)
- No updates to the SEUL Kerns website yet
- All new board members added to the kernsna@googlegroups.com distribution list
SE UPLIFT REPORT
- Kevin Moore will be the new SEUL delegate, although he was not at tonight’s meeting.
SUSTAINABILITY (Sandra Bao)
- Sandra went to the sustainability meeting from SEUL with other neighborhood sustainability coordinators. From that meeting she learned that other SE neighborhood associations are looking into buying some Kill-A-Watt measurement devices to loan out to neighbors
- Kill-A-Watt – Kerns made a motion and approved buying 2 of them for the neighborhood. Sandra will inquire and update next month.
- Sandra lives at 31st & Couch is thinking of building a community composter. GT said there was a three bin composter (on Alder between 19th and 20th – Christine Yeun).
- Next month, members should bring their own cups to cut back on waste. Also, we will plan to use the plates from the school and wash them afterwards.
Meeting adjourned at 7:55 PM.