Buckman Community Association

BCA General Mtg. Minutes 01/15/04

BCA General Mtg. Minutes 01/15/04

In Attendance: Rose Griego (Metro Murals), Ann Bowling, Susan Lindsay,
Cathy Clemens, Ross Fortner, Cece Noel (SEUL), Jim Everden (Hinson Baptist
Church), Anne Hughes, Don MacGillivray, Dolores Dee, Joshua Bickle, Lily
Witham, Mary Ann Schwab, Cynthia Milbradt, Deborah Byrne and M‘Lou Christ.

Belmont Business Association Meeting-

Don MacGillivray attended the Belmont
Business Assoc. meeting and was asked to be the official delegate from the
BCA. Lily Witham made a motion for DM to be delegate to BBA, seconded by
M’Lou Christ. The vote was unanimous in favour of the motion. Don also
volunteered to substitute for Ani Haines on the SEUL Board when needed.

St. Francis Board Meetings-

It was brought to the board’s attention that
neither of the two members from the BCA have been attending the St.
Francis Board Meetings recently. Lily Witham offered to attend as a
substitute when possible.

City Repair Project Complaint-

Cynthia Milbradt spoke to the board about
several problems she’s had at her rental property at SE 19th & Washington,
which is the site of an Intersection Repair project completed last
summer. Cynthia feels very strongly that the problems, the most recent of
which was a 7’ tall giant snow mound, erected on the N.E. sidewalk corner
of SE 19th & Washington Streets, are caused by negligence on the part of
the site manager of that particular project. Cynthia would like to see
some sort of review process put into place which would allow neighbours
living around that intersection chance to evaluate how well the project is
working after 6 months or a year. Susan Lindsay said that she was not
convinced of a connection between the City Repair Project and the
incidents on Cynthia’s property. Joshua Bickle asked if City Repair
promises to maintain the area covered in the intersection project. No one
knew the answer. A decision was made for Lily to work with Cynthia to
produce a letter to be sent from the BCA to City Repair expressing
concerns about “management and other things”. The motion was made by Anne
Hughes and seconded by M’Lou Christ. A vote was taken and there were 5
votes in favour and one abstention.

Metro Murals-

Rose Griego from Metro Manuals spoke to the BCA about the
current status of the billboard/mural law. Murals have been erroneously
lumped into the Portland Sign Code since 1998, at which point the City was
sued by (and lost to) Clear Channel (formerly AKMedia). Mayor Katz is
working with Metro Murals on a proposal to have murals removed from the
city Sign Code. Susan Lindsay informed the group that the mural at the
Plaid Pantry at 12th & Morrison has been recently vandalized with
grafitti. There was discussion as to what it would entail to have the
mural repaired vs. having a brand new mural done. As the mural pre-dates
the sign code of 1998, it is considered “grand-fathered in” and can remain
the same size whether or not the content stays the same. After a
discussion amongst the board members, it was decided to make an attempt to
find out if the community at large has a preference as to having the mural
repaired, or an entirely new mural “commissioned”. This could be done by
volunteers through Metro Mural and interested members of the community.
Lily Witham asked about sending Mayor Katz a letter from the BCA, thanking
her for her willingness to get involved in rectifying the Sign Code issue.
Susan entertained this motion, made by Anne Hughes and seconded by Lily
Witham. A vote proved unanimous. Don MacGillivray volunteered to send out
emails to various groups and individuals in Buckman soliciting their views
about the current mural at the Plaid Pantry site.

Buckman Chili Feed--

Susan Lindsay led the group in a planning session for
the Annual Buckman Chili Feed and Fundraiser. The all-you-can-eat chili
feed will be held on Sunday, February 29th at Anne Hughes’ Kitchen Table
Caf?©, from 4-7pm. There will be many raffle prizes, which will be donated
by local businesses. Susan appointed Jack and Jarko to work on
fundraising. (Neither were at the meeting). Anne Hughes will provide the
site and the chili. Lily Witham will work on raffle prize donations, along
with anyone else who can solicit prizes from friends in the business area.
Lily is also designing the flyer for the chili feed. All Board members
are asked to bring desserts for the chili feed.

Candidate Debates-

There was some discussion in December’s meeting of the
BCA hosting a debate for all of the City Council Candidates. The BCA
decided not to go ahead with the plan as SouthEast Uplift is hosting their
own candidate debate.

WAMO-

Susan Lindsay reported that the Project Advisory Committee has
narrowed the selection of plans. This far, the PPR (Portland Parks and
Recreation) has not committed to providing the funding dollars, which must
be done by January 31st, 2003. The PPR has also changed the evaluation
points on the project. Cece Noel and Susan Lindsay will meet with Sumner
Sharpe to go over the Final Report. Susan Lindsay, Mary Ann Schwab, Donna
Milrany and Don MacGillivray all agreed that it would be advantageous to
include parts of the Buckman Neighbourhood Plan in the Final report. Susan
also asked Jim Everden if Hinson Baptist Church would send the City
Council a letter in support of a Community Center at the WAMO building.
Jim agreed to facilitate the writing of this letter.

“Launching our Community Agenda” meeting-

Cece Noel from SEUL invited
everyone present to attend the workshop “Launching Our Community Agenda”,
which will be held on Saturday, January 24, from 10Am to 3pM at the
Portland Mennonite church next door to the SEUL building at SE 35th & Main
Street. This is a follow-up meeting to the Neighbourhood Summit held on
Nov. 15th, 2003.

Holman Building Update-

M’Lou Christ reported that the Portland
Development Commission approved re-vamping the bottom floor of the Holman
Building for use by light watercraft (human powered) owners, and the
construction of a temporary dock at that site, useable by September 2004.

Lone Fir Cemetery-

A reminder that there is a public hearing meeting
scheduled for Wednesday, January 21st, 6;30PM, at the Multnomah County
Building (Se 5th and Hawthorne). This meeting is being held in order to
guage the public’s opinion about possible uses for the site of the County
Building located at the corner of Se 20th & Morrison. This property was
formerly part of the Lone Fir Cemetery and was used to inter the bodies or
remains of Portland’s Chinese population. Among the suggestions for use of
this property are: housing developments, reinstatement of property to the
cemetery, cemetery parking, “grand” entry gate and an interpretive center.

Time, Place and Manner-

Mary Ann Schwab (Sunnyside Neighbourhood
Association) came to discuss Commissioner Randy Leonard’s proposal
entitled Time Place and Manner. Mary Ann wants the BCA to support this
proposal. Susan Lindsay volunteered to email the City Council with the
BCA’s approval of this.

And on this note, the meeting was adjourned.

Submitted by Lilly Witham, BCA Secretary.