April 2024 MNA Meeting Minutes

Meeting began at 6:37 pm

Present: Kat (Chair), Spencer, Elizabeth, Louise, Sarah, and Scott

Quorum is present.

• Kat opened the meeting by asking the board members if they read the prior meeting’s minutes.

• Elizabeth moved to approve the minutes with Louise seconding.

• Next the committee reports were discussed. Kat provided the communications report for Spencer which included the idea of creating a new logo and updating the website to make it easier to use.

• Kat also mentioned a program being held by the Portland Police Dept that would include an all-day training and a ride along on May 18th. If anyone is interested, please connect with her.

• Sarah read the bank balances as of the end of March and posed a question about the SE Uplift

• Communications Grant check. We will need to check w/SE Uplift on its whereabouts.

• Louise requested permission to submit a grant to Parks and to SE Uplift for a CSS Clark

• Arboretum Welcome Event on May 19. The board approved unanimously.

• Jacob Loeb, from the 82nd Ave Business Assn, was present to formally request the board to share a booth with his organization at the Montavilla Street Fair and split the cost.

• Elizabeth motioned, and Sarah seconded.

• After the board business concluded, the listening session for the JOHS and Montavilla Community Village project began. The following questions and concerns were shared by the group to be addressed in the good neighbor agreement to be drafter between JOHS and the neighborhood association:

• One participant learned the location was not permitted and had read a study published by Portland State that concluded that crime increases by 2.9% in areas after these types of sites are opened.

• Another participant wanted the agreement to include clear guidance on how it should communicate concerns and for the county’s processes to be transparent.

• How is St Peters and Paul church involved?

• How can I find information about what impacts the current SRVs (safe rest villages?) have had on the surrounding neighborhoods?

• Another neighbor that lives near Beacon Village wanted to know if a sunset date existed for these locations? Are there any legal bindings?

• A board member from WeShinePdx offered his experience as he has been a part of one (smaller scale) village build with two more in process.

• One neighbor brought up how “community walks” were discussed at the last listening session and made two suggestions:

• Can we have very specific data about those walks? She brought up using a field sheet to capture the interactions and locations walked.

• Can trees be planted in the right-of-way near the location?

• A question was asked, how can we enforce accountability?

• How are we going to account for the decline in property values that have already occurred? And, when measuring impact of the project on the neighborhood, how do we take into account other nearby service providers?

• Is there a limit on shelters on a neighborhood basis?

• One participant cautioned the group about making sweeping statements about the aggregate data while the neighborhood is large and diverse. In addition to the data, she suggested telling individual stories to capture the different experiences that are had.

• There was a discussion about zoning and why the exclusion zone was so small compared to other GNA’s.

• A neighbor suggested requesting a special exception to sweeps to increase the speed of the process for this area.

• Another neighbor raised concerns about the service provider and their unresponsiveness. She has tried calling and meeting with them with no responses.

• Have the other GNA agreements been signed?

• Related to the service provider, a neighbor raised a concern about how they responded to a question about cleaning up the site now, which is bad shape. The service provider responded, “That’s the city.”

• Has Vestal or other schools in the area been engaged?

• Will there be outreach to the streets surrounding the site?

Meeting ended at 7:40pm