Free Lead Poisoning, Weatherization Workshops

Free Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshop:
Living in an older home? Participants learn how to prevent lead exposure while living in homes older than 1978. Participants receive a free safety kit worth $30. Contact Community Energy Project at 503.284.6827 x110 to register.

Thursday, September 30
6:00pm – 7:30pm

Free Weatherization Workshop
Is your home drafty? Participants learn how to conduct small-scale draft-stopping measures using simple tools such as a screwdriver and scissors. Great for renters and homeowners alike. Qualified participants receive a free weatherization kit worth $150. Call Community Energy Project at 503.284.6827 x108 to register.

Thursday, September 16
6:00pm – 8:00pm

Workshops held at: Community Energy Project, 422 NE Alberta Street

Safeway to Present Remodel Plans at KNA Meeting

Due to concerns expressed by King residents that the King Safeway remodel will fall short of community expectations and City landscaping code, Safeway representatives plan to attend Wednesday’s meeting to explain the proposal. Interested parties are encouraged to provide input that may be included in KNA’s comments to the Bureau of Planning and Sustainabilty.

Safeway to Remodel King Store

An interior remodel of the Safeway at Ainsworth and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd is planned and permitting is underway. As a requirement of the permit, upgrades to the landscaping around the store and in the parking lot are required. While intending to upgrade the plantings, replace missing trees, and install a low wall along Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Safeway is applying for a variance to avoid increasing the planted areas and reducing parking. To maintain the existing number of spaces, Safeway wants the landscaping requirement reduced from 4,455 sq. ft to 1,800.

Read the land use notice at: PortlandOnline or peruse all the King land use notices here on this page

Green Features Grant for Interstate Corridor URA

Portland Development Commission Green Features Grant Program

An open house to introduce the Portland Development Commission’s (PDC) Green Features Grant Program is scheduled for June 3, 2010 from 6:00-7:30 p.m. at the Shaver Green Community Room located at 375 NE Shaver St.

PDC is seeking proposals from businesses in the Interstate Urban Renewal Area (map at: http://pdc.us/pdf/ura/interstate_ura.pdf) that are interested in implementing creative sustainable business practices and “green” building features. Grants are available for up to $25,000 for eligible businesses for property redevelopment, historical rehabilitation and applying creative means of implementing sustainable property improvements. Funding is through tax increment financing, and therefore is limited to real property improvements.

This grant is intended to generate interest in sustainable design and practice in Portland’s neighborhoods. The grant is being targeted to small, emerging businesses that typically may not think about sustainable options or have the ability to cover the incremental costs associated with emerging technologies. The grant seeks both need based applicants looking to cover the incremental costs associated with sustainable building and those desiring to adopt more sustainable practices.

A total of $200,000 is available for fiscal year 2009 – 2010. Grants will be dispersed on a reimbursement basis. Reimbursements will occur after agreement between PDC and applicant as to work to be performed and verification.

Green Features Program Goals

The Green Features Grant is intended to encourage neighborhood-based business and small to medium-sized wholesalers and manufactures to implement creative sustainable business practices and green building features. Program goals are to encourage small to medium-size businesses to:

Think innovatively and strategically how sustainable features can be included in their business model; Introduce sustainable features to demonstrate cost-savings or reduce environmental impact; Demonstrate the potential of sustainable features to increase productivity; Integrate conservation and efficiency into business operations; Contribute to Portland’s environmental, economic and social goals.

Preference will be given to those projects that, in addition to meeting the eligibility requirements:

Have a high likelihood of implementation Demonstrable energy savings or resource conservation Use local or recycled products Increase neighborhood livability Can demonstrate increased productivity Show cost-savings Have a measurable environmental impact Leverage private resources Have high-visibility Lead to job creation or retention

For more information contact Stephen Green, Project Manager Portland Development Commission at (503) 823-3231 or GreenS@pdc.us

Joleen Jensen-Classen
Public Participation Manager
Portland Development Commission
222 NW Fifth Ave.
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 823-3352 desk
(503) 823-8057 cell
jensen-classenj@pdc.us

Follow on Twitter: @PDCJoleen

http://www.pdc.us/pdf/ura/interstate/greenfeatures/Green-Features-For-Business-Guidelines.pdf

NECN Endorses Scrapping CRC Project

The board of the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods, of which King is a part, has endorsed stopping the Columbia River Crossing bridge project in favor of a smaller project with less environmental impact along the lines of what is proposed by the Coalition for a Livable Future.

The position, arrived at after a number of public forums on the project, was sent in a letter to mayor Sam Adams. That letter is attached below. If you have any questions or comments on the process, contact Shoshana Cohen at shoshana@necoalition.org

CRC Letter to Sam Adams