Wilkes East Neighborhood Association Community Picnic When: Mon Aug 10, 2026 6PM-7PM (followed by the public meeting at 7pm.) Where: The Moose Lodge parking lot 16411 NE Halsey St Get Map!

The Wilkes East Neighborhood Association invites all residents to attend our upcoming Community Picnic. This first annual event is a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow neighbors and meet the association board members. The picnic will be followed by the public meeting at 7PM.

Please join us for this special neighborhood gathering!

Event Details
To show our appreciation for this wonderful community, this event is free of charge for all Wilkes East residents. WENA board will provide catered taco bar and soft drinks. Residents do not need to bring any food or refreshments.

Whether you are a longtime resident or new to the neighborhood, we look forward to welcoming you. We hope you will join us for an evening of good food and great company as we celebrate our community.

For any questions regarding the event, please contact the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association Board at info@wilkeseastna.org

Mark Your Calendar! Wilkes East Neighborhood, 2026 Summer Meeting: Mon Aug 10, 2026 7PM-9PM

Summer Meeting Notice When: Mon Aug 10, 2026 7PM-9PM Where: Moose Lodge 16411 NE Halsey St Get Map!

Everyone's Invited

Join Your Neighbors. Get involved. Make a difference!

Save the date
Be sure to save Monday Aug 10th at 7PM for the Wilkes East Neighborhood 2026 Summer Meeting being held at the Moose Lodge, 16411 NE Halsey St

Agenda

Download the Summer 2026 meeting agenda here!

• Neighborhood Survey
• New Wilkes East Bylaws (proposed)
• Ted Van Beek
  City of Gresham
  WENA Neighborhood Police Liason
• Carol Rulla
  What a Neighborhood Association
  can do for you!
• Neighborhood news and more!

Download the Spring 2026 meeting minutes here!

Who should attend?
Participation is open to all residents who live, own property or a business, organization, church or government agency within our boundaries

Be Part Of Your Community. Plan To Attend.

Watch for these red & white Meeting Signs the week before our meeting. The signs were purchased with assistance of the City of Gresham Neighborhood Grant Program, and with volunteer hours to set them out and retrieve them. Signs Now NW also made a generous contribution to this project.

Mark your calendar. See you there!

Questions or comments?
Contact Wilkes East Neighborhood by email at info@wilkeseastna.org

Summer 2026 Newsletter "Diversity, Harmony, Community - Together 'WE' Can Make a Difference!”

Read it now!

Summer 2026 Newsletter Inside This Issue: WENA Community Picnic - Aug 10 6PM WENA Summer Meeting - Aug 10 7PM Meet Gresham's New City Manager What Matter to You? Take Our Survey! Join the WENA Board. Make a Differencce

Download your copy here. (includes active web links)

¡Descargue nuestro boletín en español aquí!. (incluye enlaces web activos)

Newsletters are a regular publication of the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association. They are hand-delivered to over 1,500 residences and businesses in our area 3 times per year, timed to correspond with our general meetings.

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NE 169th & NE San Rafeal St

By Candee Layton Sandstone neighbor I volunteer with Adopt One Block. As a Block Ambassador, you’ll clean up the block(s) you’ve adopted when and how you want, with litter removal supplies they deliver to you for free.

They supply grabbers, gloves, trash bags or buckets. I walk all over, more than my block. Even if you are not a volunteer with Adopt One Block you can report dumps of garbage, furniture and other items by emailing ridpatrol@oregonmetro.gov

First- A big thank you to Mike Penner and his crew for cleaning up the walkway down San Rafael, taking donations, and spreading barkdust; also for cleaning up the tree branches that came down on NE 162nd & NE Russell St.

Next- Thank you to Albertson’s for cleaning up the berm along NE169th Ave. It took a week of trimming, pruning, sawing, raking, picking up garbage, and hauling it all away!

To learn more about Adopt One Block, or to sign-up to adopt your block visit https://www. adoptoneblock.org

By Janet Unruh, WENA Board Member Most of the coverage of Teresa Carr's appointment as Gresham's city manager has focused on the announcement. A closer look at her background reveals an accomplished executive with extensive management experience and a high level of professionalism—and one aspect that I found unexpected and especially interesting.

Carr was chosen after a nationwide search and became Gresham’s city manager in June. As you may know, the city manager oversees the day-to-day operations of Gresham and plays a major role in implementing City Council policies, preparing the budget, and directing city departments.
Before coming to Gresham, Carr spent more than 26 years with the Port of Portland, where she held increasingly responsible leadership positions. Her positions included development project manager, business development manager, director of commercial properties, and director of business development and properties. Ultimately, she led a team managing five business parks, three marine terminals, and over 300 active leases, supporting over 300 companies, 32,000 jobs, and generating $177M in state and local tax revenue[1].

One indication of Carr's professional standing is her membership on an Urban Land Institute (ULI) Product Council. ULI is the world's oldest and largest global network of cross-disciplinary real estate and land use experts. ULI Product Councils are exclusive, peer-to-peer forums designed for senior industry leaders to share confidential information, debate trends, and exchange best practices in specific sectors of real estate development and land use. These councils operate on a "closed-door" basis, fostering a candid environment where competitors and colleagues can discuss the "state of the art" in their respective fields without public scrutiny. Membership is highly selective, typically capped at 50 members per council, and is available only to ULI Full Members by application or invitation[2].

Carr also serves on the board of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) and is a member of the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Future Leaders Committee.

Here's what I found interesting and unexpected: aside her commercial real estate experience, Carr has also become involved in affordable housing policy. “The Homelessness and Housing Committee on January 13 voted to send the Gresham-nominated appointment of Teresa Carr to the Home Forward Board of Commissioners to the full Portland City Council for confirmation[3].” Home Forward, formerly the Housing Authority, manages low-income housing in Multnomah County. (Cathy Keathley, City of Gresham city councilor, is also on the Home Forward Board of Commissioners.)

Carr submitted the following acceptance statement highlighting her interest in housing issues:
Housing affordability and access are among the most urgent challenges facing communities across the region, including the City of Gresham and Multnomah County. I am honored to serve on the Home Forward Board on behalf of the City of Gresham, bringing both a regional perspective and a deep appreciation for the role stable housing plays in creating opportunity, dignity, and long-term well-being. Having grown up with very limited resources and experienced supported housing firsthand, this work is both personal and meaningful to me.

I am grateful for the opportunity to support Home Forward’s mission and strategic goals, including expanding access to housing, strengthening resident stability, and stewarding public resources responsibly. I believe that everyone, regardless of background, deserves a safe and stable place to call home, and I am committed to contributing my experience and perspective in service of outcomes that strengthen individuals, families, and the broader community[4].

Her education includes a bachelor’s degree in public relations, advertising, and applied communication. She also earned a master’s degree in public administration (MPA), with a focus on organizational leadership, and personnel management.

As Gresham's city manager, Carr will play a key role in shaping the city's approach to real estate development and affordable housing. Her background suggests she recognizes that these issues are interconnected and require a comprehensive approach. Cuts to budgets and programs at the federal, state, and county levels threaten Gresham's ability to serve low-income constituents. I hope Carr's combination of executive experience and personal understanding of housing challenges will serve Gresham well in the years ahead.

(Footnotes below this break)

By Janet Unruh, WENA Board Member

Note: The name of Sara's former employer has been changed.

The humane approach
When Sara led a site remediation team to evict homeless camp residents and remove the debris, she believed she was doing necessary work. Less than a year later, she had quit that job, and was instead helping the people she had once evicted.

The encampment was in the Thousand Acres Park, a forested area northeast of Troutdale on the Sandy River Delta, not far from the Wilkes East neighborhood. The park includes 50 acres of land owned by the Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL), next to 1,500 acres owned by the U.S. Forest Service.

The residents had been living in camps on the DSL land—some of them, for as long as 25 years. In 2025, DSL decided to evict them. It was necessary because, according to DSL, the land is not suitable for habitation because of wildfire risk, flooding, and environmental degradation. So, in June 2025, DSL sent hazmat contractors to force the residents out and clean up the area.

This brute-force approach failed because the camp residents and their sympathizers erected barriers and trenches, and fought the contractors. Several activists were pepper-sprayed, including one who was there to video the proceedings. The governor suspended the cleanup efforts while the incident was being investigated.

DSL then decided to take a more humane approach. They hired Egret Site Remediation, Inc. (ESR) because it was a company that would work with the residents to gain their trust and persuade them to pack up and leave.

Sara (last name withheld) worked for ESR. She told me she believed camps should be removed because of biohazards, human waste, unsafe living conditions, and environmental damage. But she also believes removals should be carried out with dignity, transparency, and respect for the people affected.

Sara had worked on several large cleanups before she led the cleanup crew at Thousand Acres. However, Thousand Acres turned out to be different from other cleanups because people had lived there in the woods for many years and they had an established community that they regarded as family. Thus, the humanity of the situation was much more emotional than the other cleanups.

What can I do to help?
I met Sara on NextDoor after the camps at Thousand Acres had been removed. At that point, she had resigned from ESR because of a change in the company culture. When she began working for ESR, part of the company’s mission was to bring an empathetic approach to the work, and to do so they hired people who have lived experience. But over time, management became less humane and more profit-oriented.

Sara herself had had a tough life, and she had a gift for defusing tense situations. This was to serve her well.

Sara had connections in the activist community, and before she began the work on Thousand Acres, she contacted someone she knew, and he got a few of the residents to agree to meet with her. Then, when she went in to the camps, she attended a “council meeting” of the residents. These meetings were held every two weeks to coordinate efforts, discuss problems, and help each other.

At the meeting, Sara told them, “Listen, somebody's going to clean this place up. And I'm telling you guys, I have a couple of weeks to convince you guys that you want it to be me and the company that I represent, because other people would be coming in here and spraying you with mace.” She told them other people wouldn’t care about their things. Other people wouldn’t hold value to their property. Other people, like the contractors that came last time, would come in with a chip on their shoulder. They would be nervous and scared because of what they heard about how the residents fought back in June. They would come in ready to tear down homes. Only they would not view them as homes. She told them, “We’re not like that. We’re respectful.” Then she said, “What can I do to help?”

As one resident told KATU, "I mean, she's a good person. She has a shitty job to do. Nowhere are you ever gonna go throw people out of their homes and be received well. She's done a hell of a job of getting our respect and understanding, and she has got a thing to do, so she's going to do it.”

Winning trust
Sara organized weekly meetings with people at the camps, and they cooperated with her. They showed her some camps that had been abandoned and the ESR team cleaned those up first. Then, she began working with the residents, helping them sort their things, get packed up, and throw away trash.

Sara got to know the residents. Her background was like theirs and they respected that. The experience of working with the residents of Thousand Acres affected her much more deeply than anything she had done for ESR until then. As time went on, she began to feel like a mercenary who betrayed her people. She felt empathy for them; so much so that she called them “her tribe.”

During this time, Sara began to have conflicts with others on the ESR management team. She felt that the company culture had become harsher in its approach to cleaning up camps. It was not the same company that she had respected in the past. After several escalating disagreements, she accepted a mutual separation with severance—which she hasn’t received.

Sara’s husband had been terminated from ESR because of conflicts with management earlier in the year.

Eviction day
From August until late in September, while Sara worked with the residents to help them pack up, social workers tried to find housing for them. Residents knew they had to leave, and the cleanup efforts moved along, but no deadline had been given.

Suddenly, on September 26, DSL announced that the residents had to vacate immediately. Legal notices were posted informing residents that the area would be closed on October 1st—five days later. By that time, some residents had been placed in housing—about 14 people—but 35 others had turned down temporary housing that offered bunk beds and no privacy. They had nowhere to go.

The task of packing up and moving on short notice was overwhelming, and there was a sense of panic. Sara and her husband both have trucks, and they had already been helping residents move their belongings to storage, but they sped up their efforts, even making trips from the camps to storage at night. Still, they couldn’t help everyone, and many ran out of time.

On October 1, 2025, DSL, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, and more than 100 law enforcement officers, carried out the closure of the Thousand Acres encampment. They allowed Sara to go in and give everyone a one-hour warning. It was a cold, rainy day. The remaining 35 residents gathered up what they could and left the place that had been their home.

When the officers swept the camp sites, residents’ possessions were transported to a warehouse. Residents were told to get their belongings in a month. But the rules required an address for the delivery of belongings. Sara offered her address for deliveries, but that wasn’t acceptable. Because of this, most of the former residents lost their belongings. When this happens to homeless people, they often lose their medications, IDs, papers needed for social services, contact information for friends and family, letters, photos, and keepsakes. There was no follow up from the Homeless Services Department. All outreach ended.

I won’t let them fail
“We’ve just been running from one place to the next. ‘You can’t be here, you can’t be here, you can’t be here,’ [they say]. Well, where can we be? That’s the question no one seems to be able to answer,” said one of the former residents. There were no good options, only the streets.

And then, quietly, many returned to Thousand Acres. Only this time, they encamped on Forest Service land, which is outside DSL’s jurisdiction, and therefore they aren’t threatened by another DSL eviction. Sara knows where they are and continues to visit them—not to prepare them for eviction, but to collaborate on plans for the future.

Why did the former residents return? Sara put it this way: that pain brought them together, and no matter what their stories may have been, they were welcomed into the family. Once again, they live together and help each other—and this is more important than shelter and a normal life. For them, Thousand Acres is a place to heal.

And what about Sara? Over the course of less than a year, Sara quit a job that she had believed was beneficial to society, and became an advocate for the Thousand Acres residents. Today, Sara and her husband operate their own cleanup company, but they no longer remove homeless encampments.

Sara told me she has no regrets and believes that everything happened for a reason. She believes the Thousand Acres residents could live on land somewhere legally and govern themselves. Right now, she doesn’t see how they can get there, but she believes it’s possible and she has confidence in them.

“I won’t let them fail,” she told me.

(References below this break

Wilkes East neighbors Robyn and Eric El Kay

By: Robyn El Kay Neighbor, WENA Board member Hello, neighbors! My name is Robyn, and my family moved into the neighborhood in Spring 2023. In the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association, our motto is "Diversity, Harmony, Community - Together WE Can Make a Difference!”

One of the great things about having a neighborhood association is knowing that there is a group of people advocating for you, your home, and your local community right where you live. Our neighborhood association (WENA) is no exception. This group of dedicated individuals meets every month to discuss upcoming and pertinent matters affecting our neighborhood - you may be surprised to know some of the impact this group has had!

Since moving into the Wilkes East neighborhood, this committed group has:

• Worked to get our beloved Nadaka Park otter, “Slider” back after it was stolen in 2024.
• Ensured that we (your neighbors) are up to date on how land is being used around our area.Take for example, the new Habitat for Humanity project happening near 176th and Glisan.
• Submitted grant proposals to ensure we are able to continue supporting our community.
• Brought awareness to matters affecting our neighborhood, such as the removal of our elder Douglas Firs.

And perhaps most significantly, our WENA has hosted neighborhood clean-ups allowing all of us to dispose of our unsightly and often hidden rubbish from behind our homes and beside our garages free of charge! Be sure to mark your calendars for this year's clean-up - and get your rubbish ready!

WENA is a group of your neighbors that cares deeply about the overall wellness of our community. My family and I have seen that firsthand. Since the day we moved into the neighborhood, we have been welcomed by warmth, kindness, and generosity - even through my pregnancy, and the welcoming of our first child, August. If you see us, please say hi!

As the neighborhood continues to grow and change, this group will also continue to evolve. We want to make sure you know that WENA is here for all of us. We hope that each of you will learn more about your neighborhood association, and consider contributing your voice and expertise. It’s vital that our neighborhood association continues to thrive. Come join us. Share your ideas.

Visit our website any time at wilkeseastna.org or reach out to us at info@wilkeseastna.org - we look forward to seeing you around!

Public Invited Celebration of Life When: Fri Apr 10, 2026 11AM Where: Holy Family Catholic Church 7525 SE Cesar E Chavez Blvd Portland, OR Get Map!

Donate to Kris Freiermuth memorial bench here!

Kris Freiermuth, 86, President of the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association, passed away on March 4, 2026, at home surrounded by family. She was born December 15, 1939, in San Francisco, California to Gordon Lee Scoggin and Elizabeth Ava (Souza) Scoggin. As a small girl Kris spent much time in Hawaii with family and was present with her Grandmother and Mother and witnessed the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In 1948 the family moved to the Portland area where she attended both Beaverton and Franklin High Schools, graduating in 1957. Following high school Kris would attend Willamette University majoring in Law. In February 1958, she married Robert Bushor and they would have a son Jeff, born in 1959. They would later divorce.

In late 1972, Kris met her "Eternity Dance Partner" Leo J Freiermuth. They were married July 11, 1973, and this was the start of many antique car tours. They both shared a love of travel and saw much of the world together.

In the late 1980's the grandkids started showing up. Eventually, the "Grands" as she called them would number 13. As the years went by there would be another "Baker's Dozen" of 13 Great-Grandchildren. Kris was a 63-year member of both the Multnomah Athletic Club and the Horseless Carriage Club of America, a founding member and past president of the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association, a member of the Northwest Clock Collectors Club, and participated in Gresham city government.

Kris was preceded in death by her beloved husband Leo, stepson Ross Freiermuth (Thea), and her granddaughter Morgan Freiermuth. She is survived by her son Jeff Bushor (Keri), stepson Lee Freiermuth (Rebecca), stepson Kirk Freiermuth (Cynthia), grandchildren Stacy Martini, Melissa Park, Corey Haley, Jared Freiermuth, Olivia Bushor, Laura Freiermuth, Maura Freiermuth, Sarah Bushor, Sabrina Freiermuth, Lea Freiermuth, Mitchell Freiermuth, Malia Bushor and 13 Great Grandchildren. She also leaves many friends and family members around the world with an imprint of wonderful shared memories and good times.

A celebration of life will be held Friday April 10, 2026, at 11:00am at Holy Family Catholic Church (7525 SE Cesar E Chavez Blvd) with a reception to follow.

A GofundMe (Kris Freiermuth) account has been set up to honor Kris with a memorial bench to be placed in her beloved Nadaka Park in Gresham.