News

Andrew Speer, Candidate for MHCC Zone 3 Director

Building awareness, Increasing enrollment Andrew Speer is a long-time resident to Argay Terrace, Parkrose and East County where he lives with his wife and two children. He was raised as a life-long resident of the East side, who grew up in a family of small business owners where he learned the value of hard work and determination.

After high school, Andrew joined the U.S. Marines and while serving, he gained valuable leadership experience and insights that he values highly and applies across his life. After returning from his military service, Andrew picked up where he had left off at MHCC prior to his military enlistment; and went on to graduate from MHCC with his associate degree, and went onto earn his bachelor and master’s degrees in economics from Portland State University.

Professionally, Andrew works as an economist for a local utility where he works in rates & regulatory affairs. He works with policy makers and customer advocacy groups to ensure fair and equitable customer prices.

Andrew is running for the MHCC board position because he believes in the community college model and sees (and has experienced) the value it brings to students and communities. He is passionate about balancing affordable tuition rates with the needs of the college and is driven towards building awareness and increasing enrollment of minority and low-income students. Andrew sees MHCC as a focal point for economic change in East County and is dedicated to bringing strong leadership, strategic direction, and sound decision making to the MHCC board!

For more information please visit: www.AndrewJSpeer.com or www.Facebook.com/Andrew.MHCC

DISCLAIMER OF ENDORSEMENT
The views expressed are those of the candidate and not necessarily those of the Wilkes East Neighborhood Association or its directors. Any reference in this website to any person, or organization, or activities, products, or services related to such person or organization, or any linkages from this web site to the web site of another party, do not constitute or imply an endorsement or recommendation.

Vandalism, theft, broken windows, fights and stolen vehicles By Greg Hartung Gresham area businesses along a stretch of NE Sandy Blvd had recently experienced an alarming uptick in criminal activities.

From NE 162th to NE 181st, reports of vandalism, theft, breaking of glass windows and doors, fences cut, harassment of employees, fights and stolen vehicles now have businesses on high alert. Many of these activities are thought to be contributed by the increased population of campers within the Big Four Corners wetlands area.

Big Four Corners is an area of about 165 acres of fragile wetlands located north of Gresham that is owned and managed by Portland Parks and Recreation. Some sources say as many as 250 people are currently camping in this area. It is an important habitat for deer, coyote, river otter as well as a variety of birds and amphibians.

Gresham police can do very little as jurisdiction ends along Gresham’s northern border. The Union Pacific rail line divides Gresham from East Portland and the Big Four Corners wetlands. It is just beyond the reach of Gresham Police where many of these campers reside, however they are still within yards of the businesses on the south side of the border. While Union Pacific does conduct its own law enforcement patrols, they are limited to about 50 feet on each side of the tracks. Portland Parks and Recreation has park rangers who patrol the area.

On April 5th, 2019, a meeting at Gresham City Hall was conducted by the City of Gresham’s Economic Development, Gresham Police and Gresham’s Homeless Services departments and was well attended by many of those businesses affected by these recent activities. Representatives from SEKO Logistics, Cedar Source, Royal Bearing, Northwest Handling, Teeny Foods, Portland Bakery as well as Wilkes East and North Gresham neighborhood associations expressed very similar concerns to the City of Gresham. The crime has been costly to these businesses. Some businesses have gone to great expense to shore up security, such as replacing windows with reinforced glass, fences and hiring security patrol at night.

City of Gresham will be working more closely with the City of Portland and other agencies, but it is feared to get worse before it gets better. Word of mouth and sweeps of campers from other areas are bringing more campers to the Big Four Corners wetlands.

Get involved, Make a difference When: Mon, Mar 25, 2019 6:30PM- Where: Gresham City Hall Council Chambers 1333 NW Eastman Pky Get Map!

The Planning Commission advises City Council on long-range, comprehensive planning and land use issues within the city.

For more information about this event contact Tammy Richardson, Planning Technician at 503-618-2401 or Tammy.Richardson@GreshamOregon.gov.

On the Agenda: Approval of the Rockwood 10 Project

Click to enlarge

Rockwood 10 is a proposed 5 building workforce housing project located in the heart of the Rockwood neighborhood at SE 184th & SE Yamhill, in Gresham, Oregon.

"As the diverse Rockwood population continues to increase, the supply of high quality and attainable housing becomes even more scarce. While Rockwood 10 will be the largest new housing community in the Rockwood neighborhood of Gresham with its 224 units, Rockwood 10 is still just a small reprieve to this housing crisis. This project is designed to not only meet the needs of the general workforce community, but also of the population demographic that tends to be larger families. This site includes five, 4-story buildings, plus a stand-alone community building. All units are a mix of 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4- bedrooms." according to the info here www.communitydevpartners.com/rockwood10

The Wilkes East Neighborhood Association supports the Rockwood Neighborhood Association in their objection to the approval of this 7.4 acre 224 unit workforce housing project due to the overwhelming number of affordable housing units already located in Rockwood, lack of parking, and land-locked infill design. The proposed site is located approximately SE 184th & SE Yamhill, in the undeveloped area between SE Yamhill St and the East County Courthouse on SE Stark St. Please attend this meeting and show your support for not approving this project.

Migration Brewing, Gresham. Click to enlarge

Focus on Community Migration Brewing started as a neighborhood brewpub in NE Portland in 2010. They grew that business with a focus on making a great product and supporting the community and clientele.

After 9 years serving the community with a venue to call home for reunions, birthdays, weddings, baby showers and all life events in between it was time to grow their brand and find a second home.

After searching all the cities surrounding Portland, Gresham proved to be especially attractive. In particular, the City's capacity to get a large project permitted and complete on time, a building that suited their needs, and a location that still maintains the feel and engagement of a small town. "Gresham is one of the friendliest and tight knit communities you could imagine and that is exactly what spoke to our brand" said Colin Rath of Migration Brewing. "For a company that prides itself on being community oriented we felt Gresham was the perfect fit".

The 3,000-square foot pub with plenty of open seating has been host to multiple Gresham high school reunions, fundraiser's supporting Gresham nonprofit's, and community causes. Plus all Gresham teachers get a discount simply by showing their id badge. "We didn't choose Gresham simply because we found a building that suited our needs, we chose Gresham because it's a community we wanted to be a part of." said Rath.

Migration Brewing serves a large selection of house brewed beers, wine, appetizers, soups, salads, pizza and calzone. Open daily. Sun-Thur 11AM-9PM, Fri-Sat 11AM-10PM. 18188 NE Wilkes Rd, Gresham.

Rockwood Rising, Gresham. Click to enlarge

A New Urban Hub By Robyn Stower Sr. Urban Renewal Project Coordinator, City of Gresham

Rockwood Rising is a Gresham urban renewal project that will transform a 5.8 acre dilapidated lot into a thriving community hub. The development will include four buildings surrounding a public plaza that will focus on workforce development, job training, healthcare, education, food accessibility, small business development, and housing.

Rockwood Rising is located at 18535 SE Stark Street, in the heart of the Rockwood neighborhood. Rockwood has the youngest median age, greatest diversity, and highest concentration of poverty of any town center in the Portland metropolitan region. For decades the community struggled with disinvestment, lack of public infrastructure and limited access of community services.

In 2003, a citywide vote established the Rockwood-West Gresham Urban Renewal Area, which is governed by the Gresham Redevelopment Commission (GRDC), to empower the disadvantaged community. Urban renewal plan goals emphasized community engagement, the creation of a town center to provide a mix of high-quality housing, jobs, shopping and community services, the development of parks, and the creation and retention of family-wage jobs.

Beginning in 2013, the GRDC in partnerships with community-based organizations performed extensive outreach to develop Rockwood Rising. The development site, which was previously home to a Fred Meyer grocery store, had been vacant for almost ten years and despite neighborhood mural and park initiatives was slowly becoming an attractive nuisance where families did not feel safe to bring their children.
 Thousands of local stakeholders participated in the visioning for Rockwood Rising which identified access to healthy, affordable food and economic opportunities as the highest priorities.

The community also participated in the design of Rockwood Rising which consists of four buildings (Building A, B, C, and D) surrounding a public plaza. Building A is a newly constructed four-story structure containing approximately 52,824 square feet of commercial space.

Rockwood Rising. Click to enlarge

It will house education, workforce and business development services such as WorkSource Oregon, Mt Hood Community College Small Business Development Center and MetroEast Community Media. Building B is a newly constructed mixed-use structure that will provide approximately 27, 913 square feet of commercial space and 104 workforce housing units, twenty percent of which will be income restricted. Building C is the newly constructed Market Hall which will include two commercial kitchens, eight small restaurants, office space and up to twenty-four vendor booths. Building D is a significant renovation of an existing 7,000 square feet facility which will house a community maker space and construction and manufacturing apprentice program operated by Oregon Tradeswomen and Portland Opportunities and Industrial Center. The public plaza is a place the whole community can come and enjoy. The plaza will feature three age-specific playgrounds, interactive water feature, public art, including the recreation of the iconic Plaza del Sol mural, and will incorporate free Wi-Fi and amenities to support festivals and farmers markets. All these services promote Rockwood Rising’s mission to create an economic engine that will break the generational cycle of poverty and build family and community prosperity.

The GRDC recruited and selected, RKm Development, Inc. (RKm) through a transparent Request for Proposal developer search. RKm’s commitment to community and exceptional track record of equitable and quality management and development, such as Bethany Village, made them the ideal candidate to manage the project. As developer RKm will own and manage all the buildings on the property while the GRDC will own the property. This arrangement gives the GRDC the ability to repossess the property if the development agreements are not met.

Groundbreaking for Rockwood Rising is TBD 2019

UPDATE: Rockwood Rising timeline updated again; groundbreaking could happen in April
The Gresham Outlook, March 26, 2019 (Read more)
The timeline for the Rockwood Rising project has been updated after a Gresham Redevelopment Commission meeting Tuesday afternoon, March 19, meaning the project could break ground in the next month. The project groundbreaking has been delayed several times, at one point being planned in the spring of 2018. Now it is supposed to happen in April, with construction being completed in early 2021.

“A place that nurtures nature, food, and families” Turned leaves are falling, the mornings are cool, and our plants are drinking up the first rains of the season as we settle into a beautiful autumn here at Nadaka Nature Park.

By Monica McAllister & Grace Graham

After a summer buzzing with community celebrations and gatherings, gardeners tending their bountiful harvests, and many educational workshops and volunteering events, we at Friends of Nadaka (FON) are looking forward to our winter programming and have already begun planning for next year’s events. Over the next several months, we will be offering indoor gardening workshops, forest restoration projects, and other community engagement events that we encourage all of our neighbors to attend. Before diving into information about our upcoming park activities, however, we would like to take a moment to reflect on the past season’s successes and thank our community members and partners who helped make them possible.

This year’s 8th Annual Nadaka Community Festival was a huge success! We had over 350 participants, 3 performances, and 34 partnering organizations & businesses. We were thrilled to have The Aztec Dancers, Ukrainian Folk Singer Natalia Hougan, and the NW Panmen Terry Baber and Brad Hirsch on the Steel Drums perform again at this year’s festival. The Audubon Society of Portland education birds and handlers, City of Gresham Police Cadets and Fire Department had a ton of fun connecting with the community and teaching them about the amazing work they do. Environmental education activities, crafts, and face painting were led by our Nadaka Interns, East County Nature Crew, Centennial Park High School, Gresham High School Key Club, and TALON Apprentices from Audubon Society of Portland while the Boys & Girls Club kept the fun going with games and activities at the picnic shelter! We extend a big thank you to our Festival Committee, volunteers, partners, and everyone else who made the festival a marvelous success! Our Festival sponsors and donors included: Owens Corning, City of Gresham, and St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, as well as Albertsons, Starbucks, and Rockwood PUD who donated hot dogs & chips, coffee, and water respectively. We are extremely grateful for their support!

Friends of Nadaka would like to recognize the amazing work of our two Nadaka SummerWorks Interns and nine East County Nature Crew who helped lead and teach bilingual events for the Human Solutions apartment complexes and lead nature activities for the SKIP Program (City of Gresham’s Summer Kids In the Park Program, which includes free lunch and family-friendly activities) hosted at Nadaka with the Boys & Girls Club this summer. This year, Lilia from the SummerWorks Intern Program joined the ranks of the Nadaka Ambassadors, and Trey has returned as an Ambassador after his internship with the East County Nature Crew to continue working at the park year-round. We also want to recognize the amazing work of our year-round Ambassadors who have been working to engage the community, lead events, and keep the park safe and clean!

For the fall season, volunteers from the neighborhood showed their love for Nadaka at our SOLVE Beach and Riverside Cleanup in September and the No Ivy Day event in October. For this year’s No Ivy Day event, Friends of Nadaka was awarded a $2,000 SPACE Grant from East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District. This grant enabled us to purchase native plants and tools, and help support the Nadaka Park Coordinator and Nadaka Ambassadors in running the event. We were lucky to have “College Possible” high school youth and community members come together to prep the garden for winter. Another great annual event was our Fall Bird Walk with Audubon Society of Portland, where we cataloged the number and variety of species passing through the park during fall migration. In the garden, we finished up our free hands-on gardening workshop series with Outgrowing Hunger, and did an end-of-the-season cleanup. For those who are interested in gardening at the park, new garden registration for Nadaka begins February 1st. Contact Adam Kohl of Outgrowing Hunger (adam@outgrowinghunger.org) for more information and how to register for a garden plot.

New to our team at Nadaka Nature Park this fall is AmeriCorps Member Grace Graham, who recently started an 11-month term of service as the Events & Outreach Specialist for both Nadaka Nature Park & Garden and the Columbia Slough Watershed Council. Grace was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, and graduated from Willamette University in Salem, OR last May with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science and degree emphasis in Social Sciences. During her time in school, Grace managed her university’s Outdoor Program, assisted her academic advisor in climate research, and spent a semester studying biodiversity and the local social impacts of ecotourism in Bocas del Toro, Panama. After graduating, she worked for a diversified organic farm in Salem before moving to Portland to begin her service with AmeriCorps.

Grace is thrilled to have the opportunity to bring her passions for environmental conservation and social justice together through her position as the Events & Outreach Specialist. At Nadaka, she has begun facilitating and leading environmental stewardship programming with the SUN Program at HB Lee Middle School and students from Centennial Park Alternative High School. She is also looking forward to becoming more involved with communities and organizations in the Wilkes East neighborhood. At the Columbia Slough Watershed Council, she assists with outreach and communication efforts, and provides logistic and administrative support for community events. She is excited about becoming more engaged in diversity, equity, and inclusion work in the environmental field, and looks forward to building many more relationships with the communities she serves! If you have questions about Grace's role, the AmeriCorps program, or opportunities to collaborate, please contact her at grace.graham@columbiaslough.org.

Even though winter weather will be upon us shortly, Friends of Nadaka will still have many fun events coming up rain or shine! Join us for our Urban Weeds Workshop with EMSWCD on Thursday 11/8 from 6-8:30 PM in the community hall at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church. MLK Day of Service will be at the park on Monday, January 21st, and the Community Planting Event will follow on February 9th. Starting in March, we will be offering our Annual Free Indoor Gardening Workshop Series with Oregon Food Bank in English, Spanish, and Russian. Another event to keep an eye out for is our Spring Bird and Nature Walk Day with Audubon Society of Portland.

These are just a few of the activities we have in store for the community at Nadaka. For more information and opportunities to get involved and help create a positive social and environmental change in the Wilkes East and Rockwood community, visit www.friendsofnadaka.org, “Friends of Nadaka” group and Nadaka Nature Park page on Facebook, or contact Monica at monica@friendsofnadaka.org or 503-956-8558.

We look forward to seeing everyone at the park!

Line-74 Is All About Connections  Line 74-162nd Ave is the new connection for East Portland and Gresham. The 6.5-mile bus line which launched in Spring 2018 offers weekday service between Wilkes, Glenfair, Rockwood and Centennial.

Line 74 runs north-south primarily along 162nd Ave between SE Powell and NE Airport Way between 7AM and 7PM Monday through Friday. Buses arrive about every 30 minutes for improved access to family-wage employment, grocery stores, healthcare and various social services in the Columbia Corridor and offers transfers to TriMet bus lines 4, 9, 20, 21, 25, 77, 82 and 87 as well as the MAX Blue Line.

“This bus line is about connections,” said TriMet Interim General Manager Shelley Devine. “It is a reflection of TriMet’s commitment to the region, to provide more and better bus service, to invest in communities like East Portland and Gresham and to bring faster, more reliable service to areas where people need it most.”

Thanks to new transportation funds, TriMet plans to expand service on Line 74 beginning in the fall 2019 with more frequent buses during rush hour and service later during weekdays and on the weekend.

TriMet is also making improvements to some of its oldest MAX stations along the Blue Line by installing larger windscreens, new shelter roofs, updated lighting and security cameras, new signs and TransitTracker™ displays. The E 162nd Ave stations will reopen in late-October early-November 2018, and work will begin on E 148th Ave stations in spring 2019.

Visit www.trimet.org for routes, schedules, news and more.

Click to enlarge		Save the Date! When: Tue Oct 23, 2018 6:30PM-9:00PM Where: Gresham City Hall Conference Center 1333 NW Eastman Pkwy Get Map!

Meeting the Council Candidates
Come hear from the candidates running for Gresham City Council! The Coalition of Gresham Neighborhood Associations is hosting a candidate forum.

The schedule will be:

This is a non-partisan event, organized by volunteers from the Coalition of Gresham Neighborhood Associations.

In each section, the candidates will first give brief intros, then answer a few questions that the Coalition is providing in advance of the forum, followed by audience questions which will be submitted on notecards at the forum.

Please join us to meet your neighbors & become a more informed voter!

2018 Summer Newsletter "Diversity, Harmony, Community - Together 'WE' can make a difference!”

Read it now!

Inside This Issue:   Walgreen’s 162nd Has A New Purpose Wilkes Elementary Grand Opening 8/21 Diaz Named New Superintendent RSD Happenings at Nadaka Nature Park First Day of School Schedules Old School Furniture - Where It Went

Download your copy here. (includes active web links)

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 regular meetings.

View archive   |   Policy & Ad Rates

2018 Spring Newsletter "Diversity, Harmony, Community - Together 'WE' can make a difference!”

Read it now!

Inside This Issue:   Rick’s Fencing moving to Wilkes East What Are You Most Concerned About? TriMet Safe Travel Tips Happenings at Nadaka Nature Park Local Business Spotlight Earth Day Recycling: Apr 28, 9AM-2PM

Download your copy here. (includes active web links)

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 regular meetings.

View archive   |   Policy & Ad Rates