West Gresham

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Fall 2011 Newsletter is here. Download your copy today. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Training Center Breaks Ground Weatherization Rebates Available HB Lee MS Awarded State Grant Center Helps At-Risk Familes Cypress Park joins Nat’l Night Out Rosewood, A Community Unites Nadaka Next Step, Events & More

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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, timed to correspond with our regular meetings.
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Wilkes East residents are encouraged to submit articles for the newsletter. Articles should be limited to 300 words and may be subject to editing. Send articles by email to: info@wilkeseastna.org, or by postal mail to: PO Box 536 • Fairview, OR 97024.

STREET CLOSURE NOTICE The City of Gresham has contracted with Kerr Contractors, Inc., to repair and repave NE 162nd Ave from Hoyt to Halsey (View Map). The project originally set to start October 10th will now begin Monday, October 17th. Neighbors are advised to find alternate routes. Completion is expected Friday, October 21st -- but could last take longer as parts of the project are weather-dependent.

NE 162nd Ave will be closed to all through traffic during construction.

City of Gresham Transportation says the contractor will remove the existing asphalt in the car and bike lanes, pulverize the existing road base and rebuild it to a depth of 12", treat the road base with cement, and cover it with hot asphalt. There will be no widening of the existing road bed or bike lanes.

Detours will be in place for residents with alternate access to their homes. Residences fronting 162nd Ave and those without alternate access will be accomodated; however, they may experience delays.

The contractor will notify affected residents one week prior to starting contruction. Electronic message boards will be placed at both ends of the project annoucing the closure dates a few days before construction begins. "NO PARKING" signs will be posted as needed. Illegally parked cars will be towed at the owners' expense.

SnowCap volunteers prepare food boxes

Please, share your harvest SnowCap Community Charities 17805 SE Stark St (behind Rockwood United Methodist) Donate: Weekdays, 9AM-3PM

Neighbors helping neighbors
SnowCap faces serious reductions in the food available to feed our neighbors in need. It’s a long story, but essentially the commodities donated by the federal government to the state and from the state to the Oregon Food Bank (OFB) and then to SnowCap have been cut by almost 50%. These commodities have a cash value of $235,000 so SnowCap can’t just buy enough food to make up for this loss. One way to mitigate the suffering this will create for our low income neighbors it to ask everyone to share the harvest from their gardens. Tell your friends. Share this request with everyone.

How to donate
If you have vegetables that you’d like to share, please bring them to 17788 SE Pine St on weekdays between 9AM & 3PM. Get Map!

Bringing it home
Fact: The 2011 State of Oregon school report cards, published on the Oregonian newspaper website, showed Wilkes Elementary School served free or reduced price lunches to 85.9% of the schools 405 students last year. Enrollment at Wilkes Elementary School is almost entirely made-up of children who reside in the Wilkes East Neighborhood.

Keep the Street Clear for Sweeping.

Street Sweeping Program Transportation provides year-around, nine-times-a-year sweeping of all City streets. If weather conditions prevent sweeping a street on its scheduled day, the City will sweep it at the end of the cycle, time permitting. If not, the City will sweep it during the next cycle.

Schedule
Street Sweeping Map

View boundaries and sweep days when the street sweeper will be in your neighborhood.

Street Sweeping Brochure and 2011 Schedule

Zimmerman House, Gresham OR

Every Saturday through August When: Sat Aug 6, 2011 10AM-3PM Where: Zimmerman Park 17111 NE Sandy Blvd Gresham, OR Get Map!

A lasting vestige of East Multnomah County's agricultural roots

A delightful 1874 Victorian farmhouse
Take a step back into history at the Zimmerman House, a Victorian era farmhouse, built in 1874 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This beautiful farmhouse is a perfect reflection of typical Columbia River dairy farm life in the late 1800s. The Zimmerman Heritage Farm is a unique cultural education and recreational resource that is being created for the benefit of the public on a 5.98-acre historic site in Gresham, Oregon.

Open house and tours every Saturday through August 10AM-3PM

Zimmerman House, Gresham OR

Every Saturday through August When: Sat Aug 13, 2011 10AM-3PM Where: Zimmerman Park 17111 NE Sandy Blvd Gresham, OR Get Map!

A lasting vestige of East Multnomah County's agricultural roots

A delightful 1874 Victorian farmhouse
Take a step back into history at the Zimmerman House, a Victorian era farmhouse, built in 1874 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This beautiful farmhouse is a perfect reflection of typical Columbia River dairy farm life in the late 1800s. The Zimmerman Heritage Farm is a unique cultural education and recreational resource that is being created for the benefit of the public on a 5.98-acre historic site in Gresham, Oregon.

Open house and tours every Saturday through August 10AM-3PM

Nelson Park, Gresham OR

Nadaka Nature Park, Garden Project Petition of Community Support Show your support to seek grant funding to implement the Nelson Neighborhood Park master plan. When fully implemented the park will include community gardens, an orchard, picnic tables, a nature-based play area, and a walking loop that will connect it to Nadaka Nature Park. Sign the petition (below)

In 2009 Wilkes East Neighborhood Association and Friends of Nadaka successfully obtained a Metro Nature in Neighborhoods Capital Grant, a grant from the East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District and a donation from the Nelson Family Trust to purchase the 2.0 arce "Nelson Property" for use as a neighborhood park. This additional land, with its tall trees and open grassy area is now part of Nadaka Nature Park.

More graffiti trouble at Glen East.

Oh no, not again This past week has seen another increase in gang graffiti near 162nd & NE Glisan, and north along NE 162nd Ave in the southwest corner of the neighborhood -- an area of West Gresham that has been plagued for some time by crime and graffiti.

The latest round of graffiti begin to appear last weekend near 164nd & NE Glisan; at the Glen East apartments, and on the traffic controller in front of Walgreens at the nearby intersection. Two large 'scribbles' (above, below), one on each apartment building, were found Sunday morning. On one building, the scrawl was especially disturbing as it included the tag "RIP MOCO". By Monday evening the graffiti on both buildings had been painted over, muting the message.

Later in the week, north along NE 162nd Av between Holliday & Wasco, neighbors who have been victims of several previous graffiti strikes woke Thursday morning to find themselves once again the victim, with new gang tags on their property.

Neighbors celebrate the Nelson addition to Nadaka Nature Park. Click to enlarge

Rain didn't dampen the spirits of community festival guests Celebrating the Nelson addition On June 18th, 2011, the Wilkes East Neighborhood held a community festival at Nadaka Nature Park to celebrate the Nelson property addition which was purchased with local grants.

The new addition which added 2 acres to this wonderful nature park has allowed the opening of the south gate -- improving accessibility to all of our neighbors and visitors as well as making room for the master plan that will include community gardens and more.

Rain is our sunshine
June 18th was a very wet cloudy day, typical of Oregon spring weather. Despite the rain, 58 volunteers with SOLV arrived at 9AM at Nadaka Nature Park for a park clean-up event. Participants removed invasive plant species as well as trash and debris. Volunteers came from HB LEE Middle school, SUN Community Schools as well as GGAPP Peer group and Catholic Charities.

The festival started at 12 noon and lasted until 3PM. Constant rain didn't dampen the spirits of the several hundred guests that attended the festival.

"A tranquil place in the heart of the suburbs"

Nadaka Nature Park, Gresham OR Click to enlarge

This lovely little park feels so Oregon We received this letter from a Gresham resident expressing the uplifting effect Nadaka Nature Park has on their life and the lives of others, and we though we'd share it with you...