Rockwood Fred Meyer (demolished), 185th & SE Stark. Click to enlarge.

Once the 'heart' of a thriving middle-class community, Rockwood continues to remain on life-support

UPDATE: Jan 2013

Ask anyone in East County to describe Rockwood and you're likely to hear them say "slum", "trouble", or simply "stay away".

From everything to nothing
Not long ago -- or so it seems, Rockwood was a vibrant community, serving the regional needs of folks living in unincorporated East Multnomah County between the cities of Portland and Gresham. Whatever your need, Rockwood had it: grocerers, retailers, furniture, fast-food & restaurants, services, medical and more. Rockwood was buzzing with activity.

Those days are gone along with businesses like Fred Meyer, GI Joes, Girrods, Star Furniture, Rockwood Lanes, Fred's Travelrama, the laundromat, the urgent-care, Burger King, KFC, Dairy Queen, Winchell's, Skippers, and countless others.

Ignored for years by local government, Rockwood has been in decline for decades. Crime-infested, and poverty-sticken. Today Rockwood is fighting for its very survival.

Signal upgrades, ramp improvements, and pavement repairs are underway. Much needed traffic changes come to West Gresham.

Ask any rush hour commuter traveling NE 181st Ave in West Gresham and they will tell you, traffic congestion between Interstate 84 and NE Halsey St is miserable. In fact at times, it's downright unbearable.

Frustrated commuters rejoice, change is here!

According to the City of Gresham Project Manager and City Engineers the long awaited NE 181st Ave Corridor Signal Improvements project has begun.

Linda Kidby, City of Gresham spokesperson says "signal upgrades, ramp improvements, and pavements repairs are underway right now and should be completed soon" to relieve traffic congestion through this busy area.

Expect delays and weekend closures

Construction workers are currently making improvements to all of the handicap accessible sidewalk ramps at the intersection of NE San Rafael St at NE 181st Ave.

Due to the nature of the asphalt repairs and the high traffic volume along NE 181st Ave city workers will need to close several intersections in the

Hollydale Elementary students, teachers, and parents remove invasives from Nadaka Nature Park

Preserving urban habitat Great things are happening at Nadaka Nature Park

Nadaka Nature Park is a lovely 10 acre natural area of second generation Douglas Fir forest with an under-story of native plants in the Wilkes East Neighborhood. Nadaka offers a quiet, woodsy escape with it's .46 mile walking trail loop and an open meadow on the south. The Wilkes East Neighborhood Association (WENA) is actively working to restore this natural area by removing invasive blackberry, ivy, and holly with volunteer work parties. Entrance to the park is near NE 175th & NE Pacific St.

Recent events at Nadaka So far in 2009, the Friends of Nadaka group has organized over 10 invasive removal cleanups at the park including 75-90 Hollydale Elementary students, teachers & parents; and a SOLV Earth Day event April 18th with more than 30 volunteers.

SOLV Earth Day 2009 volunteers help restore Nadaka Nature Park's urban habitat

May 28th the Audubon Society of Portland organized a morning stroll to explore the natural and human history of this unique neighborhood nature park and to begin documenting the bird species inhabiting Nadaka.

Grant monies for Nadaka

WENA and Friends of Nadaka recently received a Metro 'Nature in Neighborhood' matching grant totaling $24,000 for improvements at Nadaka.

Going from bad to worse, District lays off 149 teachers, more layoffs coming. Middle School students protest planned budget cuts

Reynolds School District lays off 149 teachers

Source: The Gresham Outlook. By Rob Cullivan. May 29, 2009

The Reynolds School District is laying off 149 teachers as of Aug. 31, with the bulk of the layoffs coming among those hired in the past three years.

Faced with slashing almost $15 million from its 2009-10 budget, the district also will announce further layoffs, including among its music education staff as well as support-staff employees, according to Andrea Watson, district spokeswoman.

The teacher layoffs break down as follows: 5 teachers hired between 1996 and 2001; 42 teachers hired between 2001 and 2006; and 102 hired between 2006 and 2009.

Get ready for increased air traffic as PDX extends their runways

North Runway Extension project underway

Wilkes East residents may notice a change in aircraft flight activity as Portland International Airport begins major runway improvements starting May 1st through October 31st 2009.

During the six-month closure of the north parallel runway jet aircraft will use the south runway and will follow noise abatement procedures that direct them over the Columbia River corridor to minimize overflights of residential areas.

The south runway’s east takeoff and approach path will increase air traffic directly over the Wilkes East neighborhood -- particularly in the Sandstone area.

Pacific Drive group shown 'mapping' project. Positive real estate news presented.

Spring meeting well attended

Pacific Drive Neighborhood Watch group held a Pot Luck luncheon for their Spring meeting on Saturday the 25th of April with 10 households represented.

Meetings are open to all neighbors in the vicinity of: NE 168th Ave (between NE Pacific Dr and NE Oregon St), and NE 169th Pl (between NE Hassalo St and NE Pacific Dr). Get map!.

Member presentations

Art Abbott showed his neighborhood 'mapping' project to the group and asked the group for additional information in order to complete it.

Jim Kunkle, realtor, spoke to the group regarding real estate values in the Wilkes East area. Jim described some of the creative ideas brokers and contractors are using in our area to sell homes. He also mentioned there were no foreclosures recorded for our area.

The debacle continues. Budget overruns, poor leadership, and tough economy plague chronically delayed project in Rockwood.

Source: The Oregonian, Tuesday May 12, 2009
by Nikole Hannah-Jones

Stalled for decades, project now lacks support

Multnomah County Commissioner Diane McKeel told a crowd gathered to fight for a East County justice center in Rockwood that there's not enough board support to build the long-delayed courthouse project anywhere in Gresham because of the economy. The community should stop fighting for location and push commissioners to support building it at all, she said. Editor: Contact the commissioners here.

McKeel, County Chairman Ted Wheeler, Sheriff Bob Skipper, Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis and District Attorney Mike Schrunk sat with a panel of other government officials at a forum Tuesday night where community members were to urge the county board to reconsider building the beleagured project in Rockwood.

Original plans called for a justice center to be built in Rockwood, which has been plagued by crime and disinvestment. But Wheeler proposed the project, which has been stalled for decades, be moved to downtown Gresham because it would save about $7 million.

New sign, new plants, invasive species removal Get a litte dirty. Join us for a park cleanup!

New plants added

There is a lot going on at Nadaka Nature Park, NE 176th Ave & NE Pacific St
(Click here for a map). In addition to removing invasives at WENA's March 8th park cleanup, the entire front along NE Pacific St was cleaned up outside the fence. Also 130 native plants and trees were planted along the NE Pacific St side of the park.

Here's a list of what was planted:

New sign, barbed wire removed

The new Nadaka Park sign should be installed within a month. WENA was able to purchase the new sign along with removing the barbed wire on NE Pacific St with a grant obtained last year. This year WENA's Friends of Nadaka group has applied for a Metro Nature in Neighborhood grant for improvements to Nadaka which we should find out about in May. This is a matching grant 1:1 so we will need volunteer help as well as in-kind donations. Interested parties should contact Lee Dayfield by email at leedayfield@wilkeseastna.org.

Shamrock & Springtime Luncheon has 99.9% turnout. Near-zero crime reported

Great turnout, great entertainment

99.9% of the Capri Terrace Watch Group along with 2 new households gathered for their first quarterly meeting of 2009. 2 families had phoned indicating they were ill and couldn't make it (they missed a good time). Billy & Laurie Simmon's along with their twin daughters Alex & Andie hosted a lovely Shamrock & Springtime luncheon/dinner. 13.5 lbs of stew meat (none was left-over) was prepared for the occasion along with lots of desserts and salads. A huge display of Easter Egg cupcakes fit for an Easter Bunny King were seen brightening up a very windy, but sunny day. We also were entertained with some Irish Violin music by Laurie & Alex Simmon's.

Medical bills draw scrutiny. Complaints filed against a current and two former school district administrators

Source: The Oregonian: Saturday, March 14, 2009

The state ethics commission will investigate one current and two former Reynolds School District employees for allegedly using district money to pay for unnecessary medical procedures that included cosmetic surgery and Viagra prescriptions.

The commission is responding to complaints filed by Reynolds Superintendent Robert Fisher against former Superintendent Terry Kneisler, former Human Resources Director Wayne Travillion and current Salish Ponds Elementary Principal Ed Smith.

A factor in the budget crisis?

The complaints allege that Kneisler's bills, totaling $15,000, included massages, cosmetic dental work, Viagra prescriptions and laser eye surgery for himself and his daughter.