Dear Sabin neighbors,
What a colorful mix of topics this April edition of our newsletter holds! An invitation to meet NE Portland’s local activist legend Richard Brown coupled with our General Meeting and Elections – yes, coming up. The opportunity to clean your garage, basement and cupboards, to turn them into money at a fun community event – this year’s Yard Sale has got you covered. Some hands-down safety advice for drinking water? A wrap-up of Sabin’s historic homes? It’s all in here…
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Community Conversation with Local Activist Richard Brown // SCA General Meeting & Elections // May 9th at 7pm
The Sabin Community Association is pleased to host local activist, author, and photographer Richard Brown for a community conversation. Richard’s 2021 book, This Is Not For You, talks about the decades of activism working to better the community included, but not limited to, advocating for changes to policing and police training. Richard was the chair of the Hope and Hard Work committee which met weekly to address community issues in NE Portland. He led the eighteen month long Beech Street community watch in which 7 days a week for 5 hours per day community members walked Beech Street between MLK and Albina to build community and promote safety.
Following our program with Richard Brown, from 8:30-9:00pm, Sabin Community Association members are invited to stay for our Annual General Meeting where elections will be held for the SCA board.
Where: Allen Temple, 4236 NE 8th Ave. Portland
When: May 9th, 7 pm, refreshments at 6:30
Please RSVP by May 7th
Questions? Contact Sean Green at 971-998-7376 or green@aforma.co
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Community Yard Sale on June 4th
Is your garage full of unused items? The second Community Yard Sale in Sabin help you find a new home for your too-good-to-throw-away items – and it’ll be a lot of fun, too. Please join us on June 4th, 9 am – 1 pm and put out items for sale that you’d like to move along to a new home at a fair price. This is not a fundraiser! You keep the money!
All Sabinites who would like to participate please get in touch with the organizer Ben Foote by emailing sabinyardsale@bnf.net. He’ll make sure that your home will be added to the map and that you'll get a lawn sign delivered. For more information visit the Yard Sale on sabinpdx.com.
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Orchard Schedule
Who does not admire the lovely orchard on 1801-1899 Mason St.? If you wish to get your hands dirty these are their upcoming events.
May 15: Pest & disease management, weeding
June 19 (Father’s Day): Fruit thinning, pest & disease monitoring, irrigation preparation
July 17: Weeding, pruning, watering
Aug. 21: Weeding, watering, fallen fruit cleanup, some harvesting
For the full calendar please visit portlandfruit.org.
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Justen Harn Takes Up Role of NECN Executive Director
The Board of Directors for the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods (NECN) recently selected Justen Harn to serve as executive director. Justen, who started the position in January, has a long history of service to non-profit organizations in NE Portland. Most recently, Justen served as executive director for Open Signal, working to create organizational and financial sustainability while creating programs to serve the local community and promote racial equity. Before Open Signal, Justen served as the Director of Programs and Community Engagement for the beloved Hollywood Theater. He advocates for an equitable, transparent, adaptive and learning-centered approach to leadership and problem solving. Justen has been getting to know the NECN community while working with the Board of Directors to collaborate on a vision for the future. Please join us in welcoming Justen Harn to NECN, an organization which supports the Sabin Community Association and other neighborhood and community organizations that serve NE Portland.
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Make Sure Your Drinking Water Is Safe and Lead-Free
About one in ten of Portland households have too much lead in their water. Especially houses built or remodeled in the 1970s and 1980s, which are known to have commonly used lead solder to join pipes. Lead exposure can lead to brain and kidney damage, among other health issues. Infants, young children and pregnant people are most at risk. If you suspect your water might be contaminated with lead, the water bureau encourages you to flush out your pipes by running your water for 30 seconds to two minutes and to use cold water for cooking.
You can order a free water testing kit for your home here or call 503-988-4000. After sending in your water sample you’ll receive your results after a few weeks. For more information on lead exposure visit Multnomah County’s lead prevention website.
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Sabin Has 672 Century Homes
When you travel South of our neighborhood, into the Irvington community, you may have noticed some interesting signage. There are homes with signs in the front yard designating them as “Century Homes”. That simply means they were originally built one hundred plus years ago. We wondered if Sabin also has any “century homes”. Board-member-at-large, Kermit McCarthy, offered to survey the community. Using a combination of data from portlandmaps.com and “feet on the ground”, he searched every Sabin address for the age of construction and then confirmed actual street addresses by walking up and down the blocks in our neighborhood. His efforts uncovered some quirks. Houses that have been basically torn down and rebuilt from the foundation up may have an original build date even if the house is essentially a new building. He also discovered several discrepancies in portlandmaps.com data thanks to the proliferation of accessory dwelling units that have actually added addresses to our area. In the end he was surprised to find that 672 of our homes, or 38%, are “century homes”, meaning they were built 100 years or more dating back from 2021. This includes a few of the older multi-family dwellings like some of the duplexes and fourplexes in our neighborhood.
Several SCA Board members wondered if Sabin owners of “century homes” would like to post that status with a yard sign similar to those used in the Irvington neighborhood. We are currently researching the cost of the signs and availability. If you are curious about the age of your home go to portlandmaps.com and put the address of your home in the search box in the upper right hand corner. If you might be interested in posting a “century home” sign in your yard, please email us at sabinpdx@gmail.com. We will contact you when we have information about the cost and availability of the signs.
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Opposition against the I-5 Rose Quarter Project
The SCA has developed a letter to send to Governor Brown outlining our community's concerns with the I-5 Rose Quarter project. The SCA Land Use and Transportation Committee (LUTC) and neighborhood community member met with the project team in September 2021. Following that meeting, the LUTC had substantial follow-up conversations to understand the project as best they could. Based on this research, the LUTC drafted a letter for the SCA outlining the main concerns for why they fundamentally oppose the project. The primary concerns included: 1) a lack of coordination with the I-5 Bridge Replacement project; 2) unanswered questions related to the relocation of Harriet Tubman Middle School; 3) a need for stronger engagement with Albina Vision Trust on how the covers will integrate into the long-term vision for the historic Albina area; and 4) an inadequate consideration of induced demand from the project. The SCA Board approved the letter in late 2021 and plans to send it to the Governor's Office.
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Harbor Collective // Cleanup of the Lower Willamette River
Decades of industrial use have contaminated the Lower Willamette River. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is leading the Portland Harbor Superfund Site cleanup aiming to remove hazardous substances in the river and on its shores. The Superfund Site is currently in the final investigation and cleanup design phase. It is crucial for community engagement to help inform the final cleanup, while ensuring environmental justice concerns are heard. There are a number of ways to get involved in the cleanup process, including participating in quarterly meetings led by members of the public in coordination with EPA (Portland Harbor Collaborative) and through engagement in the Community Advisory Group, which meets regularly. If you are interested in attending a meeting to learn more or would like to actively engage in the cleanup of the Willamette River, please contact Laura Knudsen (knudsen.laura@epa.gov, 206-553-1838) to get added to EPA's mailing list or to ask specific questions. For more information visit EPA’s Portland Harbor Superfund Site.
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Join Sabin’s Land Use and Transportation Committee (LUTC) and Updates
After the resignation of its wonderful long time chair Rachel Lee the LUTC has developed a plan to move forward. Duties that Rachel covered so well as one individual were divided up between various committee members for the time being. Maria Hein will, for now, serve as "Acting Chair" in order to be a conduit for communications to and from the Committee. During its most recent meeting on 04/06/2022 the committee members discussed two letters authored by the Committee; one addressing traffic concerns on NE Prescott and the other a letter to the Governor, Oregon Department of Transportation, and appropriate other agencies/individuals noting our concerns about the Rose Quarter/I-5 widening project. There was brief discussion about a proposed commercial/residential development currently planned for the southwest corner of NE Prescott and NE 15th Avenue. A committee member will invite the developer to meet with the Committee at a future date. Another topic was a large tree on a property on NE 19th, north of Prescott, where a proposed demolition notice has been received by the LUTC and nearby residents. A neighbor of the tree originally brought her concerns to the Sabin Community Association Board. It was then passed along to the LUTC. The lot in question is owned by Everett Custom Homes and given the placement and size of the tree, the resident is concerned about the likely loss of it. A member of the LUTC who lives near the property agreed to follow the planning and permitting process closely and keep us informed. The LUTC meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 7:00-8:30 PM and is an open meeting. For the present we continue to meet by Zoom. If you would like to have your name added to the mailing list for notice of upcoming meetings, please email Maria Hein at maria.hein@gmail.com. We welcome anyone with interests in land use and transportation issues in our Sabin neighborhood to join us.
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