Category Archives: Uncategorized

North Precinct Commander Addresses King Residents

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At the last meeting of the KNA, Portland Police North Precinct Commander James Ferraris came to respond in person to the letter KNA had drafted and sent to the mayor and police chief. In that letter, KNA urged that King be staffed with a 24 hour police presence. Currently, the patrol distict that coincides with the King Neighborhood is not assigned an officer from 1:00 am to 7:00 am. Concerns about response times came after an incident at the end of the summer where a fight broke out, was quieted, flared back up again and shots were fired.

He presented statistics on police response times and numbers of police calls initiated by calls to dispatch as compared to calls that were officer initiated. The ratio of officer initiated calls was said to indicate that officers are adequately covering the area and are not having to be dispatched in for every incident. Since the North Precinct is in this patrol district, PPB relies on officers who transit in and out to provide some coverage. When a patrol district doesn’t have an officer assigned specifically, neighboring distict officers cover them. Crime stats drive where officer patrol and at what times. The average response times were from 3 to 4 minutes.

Read the whole story with the statistics attached in the meeting minutes by clicking here.

SCRAP’s 9th Annual Holiday Bazaar

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How will you redefine (re)gift this holiday season? Find out at SCRAP’s Holiday Bazaar 2010! Come check out local craft vendors, a volunteer craft table, live music, food carts, a killer raffle, and gift wrapping by SCRAP!

When: Saturday, Nov. 20 and Sunday, Nov. 21, 10am – 6pm
Where: SCRAP, 2915 NE MLK Blvd, Portland, OR 97212

Music:
Paul Silveria
Celtic harpist Tyger Bailey
Raised by Television
Angela & Aubrey Webber
DJ AM Gold
Bece Kidder
Ryan Furhman & Friends

Food carts:
Hot dogs from Little Mama’s Kitchen
Chic’s Coffee, Etc.
Thai Mama Eggrolls

SCRAP
2915 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
scrapaction.org

Report Issues via iPhone, Android Phones

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The City of Portland is pleased to announce the release of PDX Reporter, an application (app) for Android based smart phones. Now residents who use Android phones can report and request service calls to City assets and publicly maintained infrastructure. The decision to create an open sourced Android app follows the successful release of a similar iPhone app in February 2010, and is aimed at increasing transparency through open data and improving communications with Portland residents.

“This is a way to instantly connect with your City. If you see a problem in your neighborhood, you don’t have to wait to report it. You can make a report instantly. I encourage Portlanders to download the PDX Reporter app and send us information on the issues you see around your community,” says Mayor Sam Adams.

Continue reading →

Support King School and Get Your Books!

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Don’t dread the holiday shopping season–it can be for a good cause! King School is holding its second-annual bookfair fundraiser at the Lloyd Center Barnes and Noble store on the 27th. That’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving from noon to 5:00pm. There will be performances by one of Cleveland High School’s choral groups; King students will read their stories; volunteers will lead fun activities for the kids; and PTA volunteers will be gift wrapping all day–open to close. All you need to do is bring your shopping list and print out a voucher to give to the cashier. The vouchers are at: www.pps.k12.or.us/schools/king/.

Every purchase you make, including the in-store cafe and e-readers, will support King’s ongoing programs that raise student achievement and enrichment. Even if you don’t have shopping to do, stop by and meet the PTA and enjoy the entertainment. Find out about how parents are striving to build bridges between the school and the larger community.

PCRI Addresses KNA, Pledges Cooperation with Neighbors

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A PCRI home in King gets painted

A PCRI home in King being painted

Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives Executive Director, Maxine Fitzpatrick, Melvin Oden-Orr, PCRI Board President, Karen Gibson, PCRI Board Member, Ben Loftis, PCRI Housing Developer and Cyndi Natalello, PCRI Manager of Property Management all came to KNA’s November meeting to discuss their organization and to address community concerns outlined in our blog post in September. An informational video was shown about the organization that owns 88 properties in the King neighborhood and about 700 in total.

Ms. Fitzpatrick said that PCRI staff felt the organization was unduly negatively represented in the blog and that the attention went beyond what was pertinent to the interest of the neighborhood association. PCRI Board Chair, Melvin Oden-Orr outlined the many competing financial responsibilities of PCRI as it strives to meet mandates by city agencies and provide housing as its portfolio increases. He pledged that PCRI is doing its best to serve the residents of our community and urged patience.

The attendees discussed the issues and it was resolved that KNA and PCRI should work more closely to resolve misunderstandings and any issues that arise with PCRI properties or tenants. PCRI was recognized for providing a vital service in a city that has insufficient affordable housing. PCRI will come to KNA meetings quarterly, will be more responsive to complaints or concerns by residents, and will work strategically instead of reactively to problems.

Concerns about PCRI properties can be referred to PCRI Manager of Property Management, Cyndi Natalello at (503) 288-2923 or cyndi@pcrihome.org.

Read the meeting minutes here.

Visit the PCRI website here.