September 2025 Meeting Minutes
Montavilla Neighborhood Association
September Meeting Minutes
September 8th, 2025
Present Board Members:
Steph Cleary, Secretary
Elisabeth Litster
Sarah Hartzel, Treasurer
Louise Hoff
Steph called this meeting to order on September 8th at 6:36 pm.
Agenda:
1. Treasurer Report
2. Communications Committee
3. Parks and Gardens
4. Community Action
5. Land Use and Transportation
6. City Hall Update
7. PBOT Presentation
8. Pastor Heather?
9. Unfinished Business
10. New Business
I. Treasurer Report:
Deposited annual communications grant. Street Fair earned $125 in donations, lower than last year. Convenient to move from OnPoint from Riverview. Steph made a motion, Louise seconded.
II. Communications Committee:
We need a new committee chair for the SE Uplift Committee. SEUL Board Meetings are held on the 1st Monday of the month, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. There was no meeting in August.
A neighbor, Adam asked for more information. He will speak to us afterward.
III. Parks and Gardens
Louise wants to have music in the park every Sunday from 2-3, but it requires grant money. Suggested to use Chat GPT
IV. Land Use and Transportation
Scott was not present at the meeting.
V. Community Action Committee
CAC was set up to monitor Oak Street Village, with representatives from the neighborhood and the Straightway Services and residents. Not much to report. It’s been very clean and been well-controlled. The center is full and has a waiting list. The homeless camping on Ash St. has been connected to PDX Saints Love, however the camping is not connected to PDX Saints Love in any way, it has been a hot spot for years prior. There are a lot of calls going into the 311 number and it takes an average of 2.5 days for the city to respond. They send teams to assess the site and code it on a map (green, red, or yellow). Green is no person present and left tents, etc., whereas red is prostitution, drugs, etc. This August has had a large number of red dots on Ash street.
The PDX Saints Love had a listening session where they invited neighbors to listen to their experiences. Portland Solutions, the city, and the county have action items to address the many issues that were discussed. There are potential policy implementations that can address the criminal element of behaviors over the issue of camping. Spencer reported that there are challenges regarding a more acute response, because PPB needs to actually witness things with their own eyes in order to take action. The city is digging deeper to see what that process could accommodate in order to find solutions to this.
Jacob mentioned his PBO meetings that the police participate in, and a PDX Saints Love representative as well. The reports have been escalated to the police and now show up on their heat map, which helps them prioritize their calls. It’s slow going but the police that have participated are heeding the calls. There has been sexual assault in the area that have been reported and investigated.
Elisabeth mentioned that human trafficking beat only has two officers for the entire city.
VI. City Hall Update
Spencer is meeting tomorrow with Principal of McDaniel HS because human trafficking is a concern for the students at the HS as well on 82nd Ave. One of the tactics being talked about is getting the motels around the area to be labeled a “nuisance hotel” which forces a hotel to shut for 6 months after X amount of complaints. An example is the Cameo motel, this happened and it has lowered the rate of drugs and prostitution happening. They are also working with state leg. and city councilors to see what they can do to address the issue.
It used to be two patrol cars taken off dispatch just to roam between Sandy and 84/Halsey and try and establish a presence to make changes to human trafficking, particularly the people who are being trafficked. The commander of North Precinct just changed, so they are petitioning to maintain the car. There is strong evidence that crime is often driven by geography and if crime can be addressed at that spot you can resolve, move, or solve it. Tomorrow there is a community and public safety hearing on addiction and enforcement. They will be speaking to PPB to focus on midlevel suppliers to have a stronger impact on livability issues. 2:30 at City Hall, can also watch online. There is no public testimony, but will be a conversation for 2 hours long. Community and Public Safety Committee
VII. PBOT Presentation
Blair, Zef, Briana from PBOT came to speak to the MNA about upcoming projects. The section is set to be repaved: a layer of asphalt removed, and a layer put on top to keep the road updated. These are also opportunities to increase safety on each of these streets to address speeding, red light running, unsafe crossings, bike lanes, etc. in order to reduce crashes. The section of Glisan has seen numerous fatal car and pedestrian crashes.
More and more people are not going to park in the peak hour parking, and so the street is overbuilt. The capacity for peak volume has dropped since COVID, and so they are going to update the street to address the space, and space has led to unsafe and risky behaviors for drivers. Looking at 82nd avenue there was no east/west bicycle route all the way to Tillamook, and so they are using Glisan as a way to convert the outer travel lanes into buffered bike lanes. There is a small budget, so this has to be done with paint and not actual barriers. It’s slated to happen next year and so they don’t want to delay by making this a bigger renovation right now. The corner ramps will also be updated. They also are looking at grant money for a bigger project, but wouldn’t be able to build until 2030 at the earliest.
Gretchen asked a question about what happens past 80th avenue—are there no bike lanes right now and this is a future project? 80th to 82nd is being looked at right now as a minimal connection for bikes, and a neighborhood greenway (street with speed bumps and bike signs painted on the ground) is planned on 80th avenue that runs north/south that extends up to Halsey. So bikes will be able to get to the network. The other issue is going further west on 80th, and there are already a number of curb extensions that have been built so it would take a lot of construction to build that out. February will be the curb ramps, and the other updates are summer 2026.
A neighbor asked if there could be an advance bike signal at 82nd, but that would require more work. Spencer asked if there are any efforts being duplicated with all the projects happening on 82nd, and the answer from Zef was no—no work will have to be redone. The bulk of the funds will be spent east of 92nd all the way to 122nd.
Gretchen asked about the current work being done at 87th and Glisan. Zef: 87th has already been repaved. There will also be bikes and pedestrian access for flashing beacons. Additional pedestrian crossings are planned for W 84th and E of 90th avenue.
Adam asked about bus stops: will they be changing locations? No, not right now.
Briana spoke about improvements to 82nd. This project came from ODOT and was inherited when the jurisdiction changed. The signal improvement project addresses Davis (pedestrian signal), to protect the kids and families crossing to Vestal. The other piece is widening the sidewalk on 82nd avenue on the east side, adding a furnishing zone, and trees to provide an additional barrier against traffic. Median islands will also go in to manage left turns. Most fatal crashes are happening when left turns happen without a signal, so they are trying to add signals to 82nd avenue and make sure cars are turning left at designated intersections. This is already 95% designed and once the final design is accepted it will be put out to bid. Construction will happen 3-6 months after a bid. They are aiming for next summer to get the signals replaced. PBOT is talking about individual property owners to purchase right of way in order to widen the sidewalk. This is funded through federal funds (not being rescinded) and PCEF. There is no match for funds on this project because it originated with ODOT.
Sarah asked how to get a speed hump on your street: submit a request to 311 for a safety concern. Someone will come out and evaluate the need for one.
VIII. Unfinished Business
None
IX. New Business
Steph spoke on the updated District 3 “Walk with your city councilors” event, moved to September 23rd from 9-10am at Laurelhurst Park (SE Ankeny + SE Laurelhurst Place entrance)
Steph moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:51pm.
*SE Uplift mail needs to be picked up.