News

Gresham Mayor, Shane Bemis

BREAKING In an unexpected announcement on social media Tuesday evening, June 16, Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis said he is stepping down from his role leading the city, effective 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Bemis cites difficulties balancing his personal life and business with public service.

Source: Gresham Outlook
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
By Christopher Keizur, PMG

In a post to Facebook, Bemis wrote about the difficulties trying to balance raising a family, supporting a business during the COVID-19 pandemic, and dealing with challenges within City Hall.

"At the current moment, facing a pandemic; a rising, powerful, and necessary social justice movement; and the City's budget woes, all while trying to keep my business afloat, is not tenable," Bemis wrote. "I must fight for my business to provide for my family."

The mayor's seat now will be open in the November election, and Bemis is pushing for entrepreneur and community leader Travis Stovall to run for the position.

"Travis has been intricately involved in the City of Gresham, serving on committees ranging from public safety, to affordable housing and community development," Bemis wrote.

Bemis wrote that he watched Portland Police Chief Jami Resh step aside last week in order to allow someone else to lead the organization. Stovall is a black man who has spoken about the difficulties he has faced in East Multnomah County.

"As a political leader, it is always tempting to see oneself as the solution to whatever problems we may face," Bemis wrote. "However, when I spend time in self-reflection and consider the entirety of the critical work our city and broader society must address, I need to be willing to say I am not the best solution to these specific problems."

Bemis thanked the community for supporting him during his public service in Gresham.

"I came to Gresham as a 15-year-old kid. My family had nothing, and I knew nobody. This community has given me everything," Bemis wrote. "I will never forget your generosity and I will always do everything in my power, in any capacity, to give everything I have to this community."

Read Mayor Bemis' full statement below ...

COURTESY RENDERING: CITY OF GRESHAM - The Downtown Rockwood market hall, middle, has been redesigned to lower construction costs. Click to enlarge.

Source: The Gresham Outlook
Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis voices concerns about completing long-brewing development

By Christopher Keizur

A Rockwood development project that has been brewing for more than two decades is getting a redesign to keep construction costs in line with budget constraints.

The second phase of Downtown Rockwood — originally called Rockwood Rising — was for a market hall with an international grocery marketplace, public commissary kitchen, and small business and pop-up stand opportunities.

The Gresham Redevelopment Commission heard the proposed design changes for the building that had bloated past its cost estimates during a meeting Tuesday afternoon, May 19. The new market hall looks different, and adds 3,000 square feet of restaurant/grocery/retail space; 10,000 square feet of office space; and four additional micro-restaurants.

But officials said it maintains the original intent of uplifting the diverse community of food entrepreneurs who call Rockwood home.

"The new design offers more variety of spaces," said Emily Bower, interim executive director of the Gresham Redevelopment Commission.

COURTESY RENDERING: CITY OF GRESHAM - The new market hall has more space for businesses. Click to enlarge.

The new market hall has more space for businesses.The idea behind Downtown Rockwood is to bring new construction and needed services into the heart of the neighborhood. The Catalyst Site, located between Southeast Stark Street, Southeast 185th Avenue and East Burnside Street, will be a central square with a public plaza and play structures for kids, an innovation hub with services for locals, retail stores, apartments, and the market hall.

The 5.5-acre plot of land was initially purchased by the Gresham Development Commission in 2005 with funds from the city's urban renewal district. The city spent three years, from 2014-2016, soliciting ideas and feedback from residents in the neighborhood.

The project finally broke ground last summer, marking a shift from planning to actually seeing Downtown Rockwood come to fruition. Since then the former Rockwood Community Office Building was renovated and construction of the innovation hub should be complete by July.

Bower said the market hall should be completed by Summer 2021 — a timeline Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis voiced concerns about.

"I feel like we are constantly changing the program and have had the property tied up for years with little steps being made," Bemis said during the virtual meeting. "I want to get this project done and do these things we have been talking about for the last 20-plus years. I am really concerned about hitting timelines and delivering for our community."

Bower said complications the last two years led to the redesign. Developers said the Portland area has experienced historic increases in the costs of construction. That, coupled with new federal tariffs on construction material, led to the need for a redesign. The new building has been simplified to maximize the leasable area within the building to improve finances.

"I am confident we will finish this project in the 2021-22 timeline," Bower said.

This story first appeared in The Outlook. Support community newspapers. Subscribe at http://savinglocalnews.com

2020 Spring Newsletter "Diversity, Harmony, Community - Together 'WE' can make a difference!”

Read it now!

Spring 2020 Newsletter Inside This Issue: Pining for a Parks District Albertina Kerr Housing Update Wilkes East Land-Use Update Glisan Street Lane Reduction

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

Albertina Kerr Workforce and Inclusive Housing. Entry, Gresham campus. Click to enlarge.

By: Jeff Carr
CEO, Albertina Kerr
www.albertinakerr.org/

Albertina Kerr continues to move forward and make progress on its Workforce and Inclusive Housing Project to be located on the Gresham campus at 722 NE 162 Avenue. The project will include 150 units, from studios to 3 bedrooms. Since the November Wilkes East Neighborhood meeting where a presentation was made, significant progress has been made:

• Site due diligence was completed in December 2019 (Geotech, surveying, arborist report)
• A Design Review Consult was completed with the City of Gresham Community Design Review Committee in December 2019
• 100% Schematic Design was completed in early January 2020
  Submittals were completed for land use review in early January 2020
• Albertina Kerr hit the $1 million private fundraising mark in December 2020 and only needs $200,000 more in private donations to hit the total goal of $1.2 million in private donations.

One significant change since the November meeting is that we have decided to pursue making the building “net zero” from an energy use standpoint, which means we will be adding enhancements to make the entire building more energy efficient and producing energy via solar panels to provide enough energy to operate the entire building year-round.

The current timeline for the project is as follows:

We continue to be excited about this project and what it will mean for direct care workers at Albertina Kerr and others who care for some of the most vulnerable members of our community.

Architect Images

NE 162nd Ave view. Click to enlarge

NE Holladay St view. Click to enlarge

About Albertine Kerr
For more than 100 years, Albertina Kerr has been caring for Oregon’s most vulnerable citizens. Over the decades, our services have evolved to meet the community’s needs. While these needs have changed, the values of our expert caregivers remain constant: compassion, commitment, collaboration, and advocacy.

Today, Kerr empowers people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), mental health challenges, and other social barriers to lead self-determined lives and reach their full potential. We provide comprehensive crisis and preventative mental health care for children and teens, as well as a full range of services for children and adults with IDD.

Learn more at www.albertinakerr.org

Nadaka Nature Park won't have much of a reason to celebrate the new year.

PMG PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER KEIZUR - Lee Dayfield said a parks district funding mechanism is the best option for maintaining Nadaka Nature Park, which lost its fiscal agent and programming at the end of 2019. Click to enlarge

By Christopher Keizur
Source: Gresham Outlook (Oct 18, 2019)

The beautiful green space in the heart of the Wilkes East Neighborhood will be empty after losing its fiscal agent — transforming what was once thought of as the model for future parks in Gresham into just another open area. Despite the work that has been poured into the park, residents will have less of a reason to visit than ever before.

"It almost makes me cry to walk through here and know all those kids won't be coming here to be educated," said Lee Dayfield. "This park was their backyard, playground and forest."

There is no better person to talk to about Nadaka Nature Park than Dayfield. She spearheaded the charge to transform her dream park into a reality. She overcame red tape and bureaucracy, founding Friends of Nadaka to help secure grants and other funding.

The Columbia Slough Watershed Council, a Portland-based organization, had supported the Gresham park since its inception. But with some changes to the board and executive director, the group has decided to focus on other projects.

The backing for Nadaka will end when the money runs dry, which is estimated to happen in January 2020. That means no more activities — from community cleanups to educational gatherings for local schoolchildren — that made the park so special.

"They were so strong and supportive of us for seven years," Dayfield said. "People will notice a big difference."

Click "Read more" (below) to continue reading this article.

When: Tue, Jan 21, 2020 5:30PM-8PM Where: Gresham City Hall Conference Center 1333 NW Eastman Pky Get Map!

Applicants for the Fiscal Year 2020-21 Community Enhancement Grants will present their proposals to the Community Enhancement Advisory Committee.

For more information about this event, contact Joe Walsh at 503-618-2372.

Experts Warn Cascadia Is Overdue For A 9.0 Earthquake

Be informed. Build a kit. Make a plan. Everyday you hear the warnings. Have you made a kit? Do you have a plan?

If you're like most of us - you're not ready.

If that's you, we've got some great tips and valuable resources below to help you be prepared for whenever a disaster strikes.

TICK. TOCK.
Think of Oregon geology as a clock, measuring time in earthquakes. Tick: a magnitude 8 quake. (Bigger than 1989 Bay Area quake that killed 63 people.) Tock: a magnitude 9 quake. (Same as the 2011 Japan quake that killed almost 16,000 people.) On average, a major quake happens in our area every 243 years, the last one was January 26, 1700 — 316 years ago. Yes. We are overdue.

When the next Big One does happen, a 700-mile long section of the tectonic plate known as the Juan de Fuca, stretching from British Columbia to Northern California, will slide beneath the North American plate, causing the entire Northwest coast-line to sink up to 6.6 feet. This won’t be a California-style short burst of energy quake in the earth’s upper crust. The Big One will be bigger, deeper, and last longer: 3–4 minutes, with dozens of after-shocks, some very powerful, for days, months, or later.

Cascadia Subduction Zone. Pacific Northwest. Click to Enlarge.

Hillsides will slide. Buildings will collapse. Roads will buckle. High-rises will sway. Bridges will crack. Some will fall. Pipes will snap. Within 20 minutes, the first of several 40-foot tsunami waves will wash away the Oregon Coast’s low-lying towns.

If our next “subduction zone” quake unleashes its full potential, it will be the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

Rockwood RIsing! When: Thu, Sep 12, 2019 6PM-8PM Where: Sunrise Center 18901 E. Burnside St. Get Map!

The Downtown Rockwood Market Hall is a new international grocery market and food hub in development in the heart of the Rockwood neighborhood.

Got a small business or an idea for a small business? We are looking for businesses to fill the grocery store and micro restaurant spaces.

Join us to learn about:

• Downtown Rockwood timeline
• How to get started
• Permitting help
• Lending, coaching and more

Translation services available. Contact us by Sept. 10 if you speak another language and need assistance at Elizabeth.Coffey@GreshamOregon.gov or 503-618-2247.

Free snacks.

Event flyer

For more information or to RSVP, visit downtownrockwood.com email Leasing@DowntownRockwood.com or call 503-690-2800.

Share Your Improvement Ideas! When: Mon, Aug 12, 2019 6:30PM-8PM Where: Columbia View Neighborhood Park 1000 NE 169th Avenue Get Map!

Columbia View Neighborhood Park is a 7.5-acre site located next to H.B. Lee Middle School in the Wilkes East Neighborhood. The natural area features a large, sloping, grassy field.

For more information about this event, visit the Planning for Parks page or contact Tina Osterink at 503-618-2392 or Tina.Osterink@GreshamOregon.gov.

Press Release:

Visit Rockwood Rising website
Email RockwoodRising@GreshamOregon.gov" or call 503-618-3208.