Hosford-Abernethy Neighborhood Development
Board Meeting: Tuesday, January 15, 2008
St. Phillip Neri Church Paulist Center ,2408 SE 16th Avenue (and Division)
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Acting Chair Linda Nettekoven (LN), Secretary Carolyn Brock (CB), Treasurer Holli Ballestrem (HB), Liz Gatti (LG), Matthew Masini(MM), Wendy Kunkel(WK), Amy Lewin(AL), Jack Spadaro(JS), Marilee Tillstrom(MT), Lindsey McBride(LM), Dave Kaplan(DK), Sue Pearce (SP), Frank Dufay(FD), Sean McCusker(SM), Ethan Timm (ET)**
**Ethan Timm was elected during the meeting to fill Joe Hagedorn’s spot on the board.
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Alex Bassos (AB)
Hand Board Meeting:
Hand Board Meeting came to order at 7:05PM.
Crime and Safety Report:
Officer Letter from the Portland Police Bureau was on hand to give a report on the neighborhood crime scene. LG mentioned the recent graffiti incident at the Abernethy School. Officer Letter mentioned that the police had apprehended a prolific graffiti artist recently and they hope to see a decline in these incidents. LG brought up that the graffiti at the school looked amateurish and not the work of normal graffitists. No progress has been made on finding the perpetrators in this case. LN mentioned an incident between her neighbor and some citizens around the Palio store. It is hoped that there can be some intervention in that situation. The police have seen a rise in stripping of catalytic converters on cars in the area. The converters have platinum in them that make them valuable when sold on the open market. Finally, Officer Letter asked anybody with questions about specific crimes in our neighborhood, etc to contact Officer Mirau at PPB at 503-823-2143. He is our neighborhood response officer.
Approval of the January Agenda:
Agenda approved without comments.
Approval of November Minutes:
LG noted a discrepancy in the November minutes in relation to the specific wording of comments from Bruce Woods. SP noted that although Bruce may have been quoted correctly, his comments do not accurately reflect the situation.
 The minutes were accepted as corrected.
Treasurers Report:
HB gave the monthly report. HAND currently has $29,957.24 in bank account. MT asked what the plan was re: check written to Cleveland HS from ’06 Cleanup event. After some discussion, it was decided that there would be one more attempt to contact Cleveland and see if they haven’t found the check somewhere and if not, send one more check. LG also asked at this point whether it would be okay to contact St. Phillip Neri re: storage space for all HAND property. That request was approved.
Southeast Area Artwalk:
Laurie Vail from Southeast Area Artwalk came to present the annual request from the group for funding. The event will be held this year on March 1st and 2nd. The major expenses for the event are in advertising, publicity, posters and maps. To compound matters, the group received a $4000 grant last year that was not given this year. In the past, HAND has donated $250, which has ensured a placement of the HAND logo on the program front page.
 CB moved to give $250 this year, MT seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.
Donation Approval Process:
HB mentioned that it seems it would be a good idea to get a system in place to deal with all the donation requests that HAND gets on a monthly basis. The main issue is that HAND was left with a large bequest that came without any directions on how it was to be used. Oftentimes, the board is given a presentation on a subject and then asked to act within the same night with very little discussion. JS suggested that maybe it would be a good idea to put a cap in same night presentation donation amounts. LM chimed in that it would be a good idea for all board members to get a better idea of the organization’s operating budget, expenses, etc. SP suggested that this was an issue that the Exec committee should look at, develop proposals, and return to the board. LG wanted to make sure that all members who had ideas made sure to mention them to people on the Exec committee.
Business Association Membership Renewals:
LN noted that it is time to renew our memberships in Division Clinton Business Association and the Hawthorne Boulevard Business Association.
 SP moved to renew, DK seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.
SP also mentioned that HAND has a presence on the Central Eastside Industrial District Board, but they are not looking for a monetary membership. They see us as an honorary member.
New Chair:
With the resignation of Joe Hagedorn, the board is looking for a chair. LN noted that Richmond and other neighborhood associations are having a hard time filling the position. With the question hanging, the room fell silent. SP noted that LN has already assumed a wide swath of responsibility. LN responded that she’s happy to take the bulk of the responsibility, but is taking care of a friend and doesn’t feel that she can be here all the time and therefore, doesn’t feel comfortable taking on total control. With nobody feeling up to the task, SP said she would be willing to take on the title of co-chair with LN. AL mentioned that it would be possible to make it so that all the emails, etc wouldn’t fall on just one of the co-chairs.
 LG moved and WK seconded the motion to make LN and SP co-chairs. The motion was approved unanimously. LN and SP agreed to meet and return to the board with a detailed division of responsibility between the two.
New Board Member
During the New Chair discussion, LG asked if it was possible to appoint a board member to fill Joe Hagedorns’ spot. LN said that was possible.
 Ethan Timm gave a quick synopsis of why he’d like to be a board member and was elected unanimously.
Routes to the River:
SP is a member of the CES URAC. Members of the public (HAND) are always welcome at meetings. She is hoping for support and attendance by more HAND members at a workshop now being planned to explore how best to use URA funds set aside for routes to the river. SP has been working on a southern route to connect Clinton from 11th, 12th and RR tracks to Caruthers at the river (the south end of the Eastbank Esplanade Trail);
Work has begun to turn Clay Street into a green street. The Clay Street Advisory Committee has put a request in for a HAND representative. ET and SM agreet to take this on.
Letter of Support BES Green Street Grant App:
This issue arose last year and a letter was written. The group intends to write another application and asked for a letter of support.
 LG moved to submit the same letter from last year with updated dates. CB seconded the motion. It was approved unanimously.
Insurance Coverage (Save our Elms):
DK spoke on behalf of Save our Elms. They are having two events: a tree-planting on March 15th, and an Inoculation Day on June 28th. SP mentioned that she hoped that Save our Elms would spend more effort with trees in all areas, not just the richer areas. DK responded that Save our Elms is willing to go into any area as long as the area is able to come up with some type of funding.
 CB moved and JS seconded the motion to approve this request.
Liquor Application (Press Club):
Press Club (26th and Clinton) has requested a full liquor license. Presently, they are allowed to serve wine and beer. LM asked if they have a Good Neighbor Agreement. They don’t at present as these are no longer being done by HAND. SP stated she sees a need to begin the GNAs again. LN noted that AB is willing to become our OLCC contact. The owner of Press Club is willing to do a GNA as he was involved with Genies when they completed a Good Neighbor Agreement.
 SP moved and SM seconded a motion to support the application assuming that the operating hours remain the same as they are presently.
Antique Car Show:
The Antique Car Show is scheduled for May of this year. The HAND board has approved of this event for years.
 DK moved and WK seconded a motion to support this years’ event. It was approved unanimously.
Community Connect:
This topic was rescheduled for discussion in February.
Safe, Sound, and Green Streets (Endorsement):
LN told a funny story about our actual HAND endorsement of this project. She sat down at a roundtable and thought she was signing in as present only to find out that it was construed as an endorsement by our committee of the project.
 SP moved, WK seconded approval of endorsement. DK respectfully objected due to concerns over trucking subsidies among other issues. JS and ET joined DK in his opposition vote. FD, HB, and LM abstained in the vote.
CLEAN UP ‘08
MT has confirmed 4/26/08 with Cleveland HS for use of their parking lot as well as the hauler we use annually.
PARK SDCs:
This topic was rescheduled for discussion in February.
Division Street Process:
LN noted that there is hope of restarting the Division Street process. There is a new project manager by the name of Art Pearce. There will be a meeting in January with Robert Liberty. There is a real need to track the $2,000,000 for the Green Street main plan.
Communication Committee Meeting:
After some discussion, it was decided this meeting would take place on 2/6/08 from 9:15AM-11:15AM at the house of LG.
Triathalon Guidelines:
CB will be taking the lead on this subject re: reminding OMSI, etc on the agreed upon regulations.
Portland Comprehensive Plan:
This is the overall plan for the next 50 years of Portland. It will be developed in coordination with the Planning Bureau. Lots of questions as to what was important during the last plan. What should we be looking at now? Specifically, LM wanted to know what is going on with a community center for us.
Thank you Note to Robert Pamplin:
SP is writing a letter to Robert Pamplin to thank him for his donation of a piece of Ross Island. She will compose and then send out the letter for approval to HAND.
Meeting adjourned at 9:10PM
Submitted by:
Matthew Masini, Note-taker
Carolyn Brock, Secretary