Meeting 6pm Friday – NEW LOCATION

The third Friday of the month is this week. We’ve got a new space for our monthly meeting: Faith Community Church, 12414 E Burnside (just East of 122nd and the Menlo Park Park and Ride – (I love that name!)). Good progress has been made on the adopt-a-station document. People are also talking about setting up some cleanups too.

What would you like to do to make your MAX Station more of a community asset? Share with the group on Friday. 

There is classical music playing on the eastbound 162nd MAX platform now and I saw in the Willamette Week that it’s happening at the Convention Center station as well. Must be yeilding results?

New Co-Chair – Progress on Adopt-a-Station Program Development

Here’s the latest batch of news:

We restarted our Adopt-a-Station program development work January 19th. CELEBRATE! The large majority of edits we suggested for the first two pages of the “guiding document” were incorporated into the document and the task of suggesting edits for the rest of the document set.

NEW CO-CHAIR: Jan. 20 MAXaction met, worked on edits to the document, and welcomed the nomination and start of service for our new CO-CHAIR, Doug Bernick! Thank you Doug for stepping up. And, everyone please express your thanks to Tom Barnes for all his great work with MAXaction. Tom, thank you! I’m glad you are still staying connected as you are able.

Doug will be supporting Kim Breckel as she gives testimony to CITY COUNCIL at their February 9th meeting. Kim is one of many East Portland Action Plan participants that will be reporting to council on all the great work happening via EPAP.

After connecting with more MAXaction participants, I’ve sent Shelly Lomax of TriMet, Katherine Anderson of Crime Prevention, and Jefferson Smith a highly edited version of the adopt-a-station “guiding document”. This is still a work in progress, so not a public document yet. We have come a long way in honing our understanding of what this program will look like, but still have work to do. We would love to connect with you and get your feedback. Comment on this post and let us know of your interest.

Blessings,

Mike Vander Veen, Co-Chair, MAXaction

6pm Friday Monthly Meeting

The day following Thursday’s Adopt-a-Station meeting is the third Friday of the month, the day we chose for our regular meeting held at Lifegate Baptist Church (208 SE 148th). We’ll have to decide if we want to continue that pattern in the future, but it seems a good time to get together and process our meeting on Thrusday and come up with next steps. See you there!

Adopt-a-Station Meeting Next Week

Happy New Year!

Our Adopt-a-Station Pilot Project planning with TriMet and many partners starts up again next week. We meet 4pmThursday January 19 at Lifegate Baptist Church (208 SE 148th). We’ve got a great group of folks working on how to make MAX stations better community assets. Join us!

More Budget Cuts — Give TriMet YOUR Input

TriMet is headed towards more difficult cuts. Here’s a link to learn more and give your input: http://trimet.org/choices/why-is-there-a-budget-shortfall.htm

6pm Meeting Friday to Discuss TriMet’s Adopt-a-Station Pilot Project

Hope you can join us at our regular meeting: 6pm on the third Friday of the month at Lifegate Baptist Church (208 SE 148th, just south of the 148th Avenue Station).

 

Last month’s meeting at the TriMet Admin Building (the second Adopt-a-Station conversation) included community members and partners looking at starting adopt-a-station groups at the Menlo Park (122nd) Station, 148th Avenue Station, and the 162nd Avenue Station. It was an open, free flowing conversation that alomost everyone in the room participated in including mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith.

 

We are building relationship (community, TriMet, law enforcement) and working together to understand what  a successful adopt-a-station group would look and feel like and how can partners best support such a group. Everyone present (22 folks) committed to continued work on this pilot project.

 

At the end of the meeting a first draft of a support document was distributed by Shelly Lomax. Our meeting Friday will focus on shaping a response to this document. This will be the first community input which is not ideal, but our institutional partners are realizing this and want to be good partners. Come join us in developing our MAX stations as community assets in everyone’s mind.

Adopt-a-Station Meeting at TriMet

All interested in helping start up local station area adopt-a-station groups are welcome to a meeting 4pm this Thursday at TriMet’s Administration building (4012 SE 17th Avenue, Portland). This is the second meeting focused on starting pilot groups that will help shape the broader program. It is being convened by Shelly Lomax, TriMet Executive Director of Operations, and focused on those who want to be engaged in a local group.

The first meeting we set a goal of starting up adopt-a-station groups for the 122nd, 148th, and 162nd station communities. If you are interested in helping start a group at any station you are welcome to participate since the work will eventually impact all station communities interested in participating in the resulting program.

Collaborative Cleanups

3 exciting opportunities to team up with several local organizations and guests from out of town to better East Portland are coming up quickly! Second Stories, a local community development group, has three groups of youth traveling to East Portland to learn about living a life of service. You and your friends and neighbors are able to join the travelers in cleaning up graffiti, litter, and more in our East Portland neighborhoods. Food will be provided by the East Portland Action Plan at two of the events, so we need you to RSVP. See below. 

 

Thursday July 28, 9am-12pm: Graffiti Clean Up 

—- Partners: Second Stories, EP Graffiti Cleanup Program, SOLV. 

—- Event start location: Second Stories Office and Training Center (5530 SE 122nd).

—- Details: We are looking to pair up 8 guests from Arlington, WA to do some graffiti clean up. The East Portland Graffiti Cleanup Program will provide clean up kits and training at 9am. Then, we will be working in pairs and trios to clean up graffiti and pick up litter along major streets in Powellhurst-Gilbert and Centennial neighborhoods. Call 503-810-8269 or email mike@secondstories.org to let us know how many are coming with you.

 

Sunday July 31, 1pm-4pm: Rosewood Lunch and Clean Up

—- Partners: Second Stories, EP Graffiti Cleanup Program, The Rosewood Initiative, SOLV, Maya’s Restaurant, Su Casa Imports, and MAXaction.

—- Event start location: Rosewood Cafe (609 SE 162nd)

—- Details: 35 out-of-town guests will be joining us, so we are guaranteed to get a lot of work done! Come help welcome these fine students to East Portland and demonstrate the pride we have in our community. We will have lunch at 1pm, will split up into two main teams: roving Graffiti abatement strike force and Rosewood area clean up and beautification.

—- Food: Maya’s Restaurant will be setting us up with yummy tacos, rice, and beans!!

—- RSVP: PLEASE let us know how many people you are bringing with you by Wednesday July 27th so we can order the right amount of food and meet any dietary needs you many have. Email: mike@secondstories.org or call 503-810-8269

 

Thursday August 4 6pm-9pm, dinner at 4:30pm: 122nd Avenue Station Area Clean Up

—- Partners: Second Stories, MAXaction, EP Graffiti Cleanup, SOLV, La Estrella

—- Start: SE 122nd and Burnside (meet at La Estrella, a taco truck just north of the NW corner next to Cricket)

—- Details: Join in when you are able. We will be working alongside 25 out-of-town guests to revisit work that we were not able to do due to the rain in June! We will start dinner at 4:30pm. Graffiti abatement training at 5:30pm, we will divide into teams, and work starts at 6pm.

—- Food: La Estrella will be setting us up with yummy tacos, rice, and beans!!

—- RSVP: PLEASE let us know how many people you are bringing with you by Monday August 1st so we can order the right amount of food and meet any dietary needs you many have. Email: mike@secondstories.org or call 503-810-8269

TriMet Makes Changes to Fare Enforcement

TriMet is making changes to how they conduct fare enforcement. Here’s a statement they sent out yesterday:

“Many riders have expressed concerns about fare enforcement on the system, particularly on MAX. We’re listening. In addition to expanding the number of staff dedicated to checking fares, we’re shifting our focus from education to enforcement. That means riders caught without a fare will now get a citation instead of a warning—even first offenders. Check for details about our policy changes.“

Read more here: http://trimet.org/news/fare-enforcement.htm

Summer Cleanup Series

5pm this Friday, July 15 we are meeting at the Rosewood Cafe space (162nd just south of Stark next door to the laundromat) to discuss three cleanup events. These events would be a partnership between MAXaction, Second Stories, The Rosewood Initiative, and East Portland Graffiti Cleanup. The Second Stories community development group has out of town guests that will be supporting each event as part of a service learning program. We hope to pair the excitement of these great folks with community members and get some great work done.

Here’s what is proposed:

 - Thursday, July 28, 9am to 12 noon. 15 folks with Second Stories.

Proposal: Establish event base at 162nd Avenue MAX Station area and work from there. I am connecting with Pat Gold of Allied Health Services to make sure they would be OK and perhaps help promote the event.

 

> – Sunday, July 31, 1pm to 4pm. 35 folks with Second Stories.
Proposal: Clean the Rosewood Cafe area (162nd between Stark and Alder) and the surrounding community. We could consider having a potluck/light lunch in the cafe space to get started.

 

> – Thursday August 4th, 6pm to 9pm. 25 folks with Second Stories.

Proposal: a “base camp” at the SE 122nd park and ride and work both directions along Burnside.