April 2025 mna meeting minutes

Montavilla Neighborhood Association Meeting Minutes

I. Meeting Details

Date: Monday, April 14
Time: 6:30pm
Location: MUMC   

II. Attendance

Present Board Members:

Laura Mulligan, President

Kristina Perry, Vice President

Elisabeth Litster

Steph Cleary, Secretary

Colleen Howard, SE Uplift

Louise Hoff

Sarah Hartzel, Treasurer

Agenda:

- CAC initial meeting

- Report on upcoming Community meetings: JOHS 1818 Site Community Meeting, Budget Town Hall, and SE Uplift Houselessness Action Committee

- Report on meeting with Montavilla Church

 - I believe Kristina added someone to talk (sorry, hazy on those details but I had asked her to set that up)

- And possibly one other person to speak about Parks and Rec tree volunteers.

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by Laura Mulligan, President, after confirming that a quorum was present.

I. Land Use and Transportation

Street cleanup in may with METBA, May 3rd starting at the plaza on se 79th and stark from 9am to 12pm, spend a few hours with materials provided, start walking in the neighborhood

Jacob added there is a METBA sign up link, will send to Steph

METBA is discussing having an armed security guard, Security proposal for armed security guard to patrol downtown Montavilla

            Funded by private businesses

            Cost is very high

            TBD on the actual hours and what the patrol boundaries are

Meeting on proposed shelter site on Thursday, April 17th from 6:30 to 8pm

Open house on FX transit for 82nd avenue: April 23rd at PCC, 2305 82nd Avenue

II. Parks and Rec

No updates

III.  SE Uplift

District 3 came to the last meeting, holding three extra information sessions for people in District 3, next one is Monday, April 28th 7-8:30 (zoom), Saturday May 10th from 11-12:30pm

-Mayor will do budget on May 5th-

IV.  Communications Committee

Steph received the $3,000 grant for the communications committee from SE Uplift. Updates on the website--- writing copy

V. CAC Meeting for Oak Street Village   

They will reach full capacity in the next week or two. They are vetting 3 or 4 people at a time. Once they have full capacity they will be able to choose residents to be part of the committee.

Daniel and Elisabeth will be part of the committee.

Meetings will happen on the first Wednesday of every month as Google meetings (currently). With concerns, questions, and comments: send to the neighborhood association first, JOHS was going to set up separate emails for the CAC but that’s forthcoming

VI. Tree Steward Presentation

Lisa Wickle spoke as a tree steward, looking for volunteers for Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon for a few hours to pull away mulch from trees in Montavilla park , materials provided by Urban Forestry

·      Don’t mulch around your trees

·      Heritage trees: there is a new nomination forthcoming, if anyone has a street tree they love and think should be a heritage tree, contact Lisa (who will reach out with contact information)

VII. Unfinished Business

A community member asked about why the trees were cut down on 82nd in front of Fubonn Jacob spoke about the city’s line is they were diseased trees that wouldn’t survive the construction, the type of tree also wasn’t a great street tree. They will be widening sidewalks and improving walkability and the trees wouldn’t survive the construction.

Jacob Loeb spoke about cleanups: Jade District Clean Up on April 19th from 10-12, all over the jade district with focus on 82nd avenue because the 82nd avenue parade is happening.

82nd Avenue of Roses Parade: April 26, 2025

Is there anything we can do to change where the parade ends?

A community member spoke about potential dedicated bus lanes on 82nd avenue. There is potential widening of intersections for buses. They will share the link for the online open house.

Laura and Kristina met with Pastor Travis at Montavilla Church

These events are open to everyone in the community

An upcoming festival of free chamber music concerts: May 6th next one

VIII. Treasurer Report:

Sarah deposited the communications grant and the grant from SE Uplift.

She brought up the idea to spend some of our money for a more permanent meeting space.

IX. City Hall Update:

Spencer spoke to the budget cuts. He suggested emailing the councilors and especially the mayor to tell them how important our community center is.

There is a .33% increase on the Portland clean energy fund tax, which will raise about 63 million dollars a year will stave off a lot of the cuts we’ve been talking about as a city. This tax is companies that are not based in Oregon, and based on research those increases are not increased to consumers. Increases will be spread nationwide for national retailers, and not just to Portland residents.

There will be consolidation at the city level. They are cutting at least 275 positions in government.

Laura called for the meeting to be adjourned at 7:30pm, Steph seconded.