JAN 18 Initial Meeting with Joyce - Monica's Post

monicamsilva wrote:1/18 Initial meeting with Joyce

Papa’s Pizza (16321 SE Stark) 1pm-2pm

Facilitator: Ley
Recorder: Silva

1st
meeting with Joyce Ley, we reviewed maps of East Portland, discussed
area’s (relatively) higher levels of poverty/ethnic diversity

East Portland holds 42% of Portland’s population

As stated in the application, we are expected to:

· Develop a public involvement plan

· Identify key stakeholders

· Identify strategies for connecting with key stakeholders

The
purchase of the park property was announced in Feb. 2011. It was
purchased jointly through Metro (whose involvement is waning), Bureau of
Environmental Services, and Portland Parks and Recreation

Currently, an Ad-Hoc parks committee has been formed to w/in the neighborhood association, has been going for about a year

All we complete must be acceptable, feasible, and conducive to moving forward with the official Master Plan

Standing neighborhood meetings that Joyce is involved with:

1st Tuesday of every month: Neighborhood meeting held at Margaret Scott Elementary School (14700 NE Sacramento)

1st Wednesday of every month: Chairs meeting (not clear on location currently)

1st Thursday of every month: Parks coalition meeting held at EPNO Office (1117 NE 117th – off Halsey St.)

*****all meetings are open to the public, but we should e-mail Joyce in advance if we plan to go*****
Some noteworthy organizations either affiliated w/ the Wilkes Creek project, or worth looking into:

Brown Fields Program

MURP (Masters in Urban and Regional Planning)

East
Portland Action Plan (represents the many interests of East Portland,
Joyce said she’d bring us all copies for our next meeting)

Max Action (part of the East Portland Action Plan)

Friends of Wilkes Parks

Lynn Barlow is the head of City Nature East (all natural parks on city’s east side)

A
railroad bridge is proposed as a crossing over the creek. A similar
project has been completed at Whitaker Ponds Park (NE 47th and Columbia –
adjacent to the Columbia Slough Watershed Council)

Nadaka Park
(name stands for Native Day Camp) in Gresham is a good example of a
local park developed through non-traditional means (176th and
Glisan-ish)

UPCOMING MEETINGS HAVE BEEN (TENTATIVELY) SCHEDULED FOR
Friday, January 25th (noon-2pm) (Laura adds: This meeting
was cancelled today, due to key players being unable to attend.)
Friday, February 1st (noon-2pm)
These are both proposed meeting times/dates but as yet are not official.

A possible meeting location is Human Solutions (12350 SE Powell Blvd)

WILKES CREEK PARK: INITIAL WALK-THROUGH
(1/18 2-3pm)

Total land purchased is 20 acres, the plan is to reserve this 4-5 acre site for a developed park and leave the rest natural

Some old growth trees remain on the site (doug firs?) and there is a plan to plant white oaks

They
might pave a road cutting through the site to enable better traffic
flow to/around the park (as it is, Fremont St. breaks off at both ends
of the site)

The only other park in the Wilkes neighborhood is 2
blocks down and is mainly a playground. Drug activity has been a past
issue w/ the playground, and is a topic of concern when plans for a
second park get brought up

The new site will ideally not
replicate the playground-style park, and instead feature other amenities
like a dog park, community garden, jogging/walking trail, etc.

RE:
the actual creek - the plan is to remove the spring boards that are
“damming” the stream, pulling them out will increase the flow

In the Reynolds school district, the plan is to conduct outdoor lessons around the stream water

Saturday,
April 20th is planned for an Earth Day event at the site to increase
awareness and continue community involvement at the site. Joyce says
the more people involved the better, as sweat equity builds ownership

There is also a “Neighborhood Night Out” event which will be shared (I think between the 2 parks? my notes were fuzzy on this)