April 11, 2017
Cully Association of Neighbors General Meeting, Grace Presbyterian Church, 6025 NE Prescott, Portland, Oregon
Board Members Present: Laura Young, David Sweet, Chris Browne, Stephane Neely, Oscar Moreno Gilson, Alma Velazquez, Rich Gunderson and Julie Granger.
Additional Agenda Items: Cuisine in Cully didn’t work out for April. There will be an end of year celebration in May or June. Next CAN Board Meeting will be held at Cully Grove Common Room 4779 NE Going St on Tuesday April 25th from 7 to 9 pm.
Approval of Agenda: David Sweet moved to accept the amended agenda, seconded by Dennis Karas. Motion carried.
Guests with announcements:
 Tim Campbell from KCC Tibetan Buddhism Meditation Center said they are locating in Cully at NE49th and Skidmore mid June. They want to be involved in CAN. Brooke Huffman will be their liaison with CAN. There will be an open house in the future and they will let us know about it.
 Casey Park introduced himself and his wife. They have invested in the ‘Shady Lady’ property at Cully and NE Going. They plan to make the space into a family/neighborhood friendly food and gathering space called Cully Center with indoor and out outdoor seating. They will start with 5 food carts and expand to 10. They hope to open by June 1st. Beer, wine and cider will be available. They are working with Cully Blvd Alliance. You can follow them on facebook at Cully Center.
Acceptance of General Meeting Minutes Taken March 11, 2017: Rich Gunderson moved to accept the minutes, second by Erwin Bergman. Motion carried.
Acceptance of Board Meeting Minutes taken March 21, 2017: were not available will be brought to the May meeting.
Acceptance of Treasurer’s report: Not available.
Announcements
 A member noted that the police have not attended the general meetings recently. Laura said she has contacted them but had not heard back. She will contact them again.
 Dennis Karas asked meeting participants if they would like to have the draft of the previous month’s minutes eblasted and/or on the website prior to the meeting for review. Consensus was yes so this will be done from now on.
 Starr Hogeboom noted that she has tried to use the ‘contact us’ on the CAN website but that it doesn’t seem to be working. She also stated that the information on the website for Board Meeting location was not correct. Chris Browne stated that the new website has been under construction and would be going live this evening. He thinks the ‘contact us’ should work. He will work on updating meeting location when it is changed. He asked for feedback for any issues people have with the new website.
 Cully Cleanup – volunteers are still needed. There were signup sheets on each table or people can signup on the CAN website. Marilee asked anyone who is willing to bring a crockpot of soup to let her know. It was also announced that there will be secure document shredding available this year at the cleanup between 1 and 3 pm. Volunteers will be fed, can bring one load to dump and can pick one yard sale item for free.
Elections:
People running for the various positions introduced themselves and talked about their interests in participating on the CAN board. Members voted. Mira Conklin and Dennis Karas collected and counted votes.
Grievance Committee Members – composed of 2 board members and 3 general members: The committee has never been convened. It is in place in case there is a grievance of a board decision/action that does not follow the bylaws. Cameron Browne, Isha Leinow and Bob Granger agreed to be the general members. 2 Board Members will be assigned at the next board meeting.
CENTRAL NE Neighbors Delegates: The current delegates will continue serving: Travis Neumann and Marilee Dea will continue as delegates. Dennis Karas is the alternate.
Reports:
CNN Report: Marilee passed out a document entitled “Community and City Response to Hate – Joint Statement” composed by Portland United Against Hate. All neighborhood associations have been asked to read and see if they are willing to support the statement. Many neighborhoods and organizations have supported it. Some members wanted to know more about Portland United Against Hate and whether it was necessary to give support tonight.
Noelle Studer Spevak moved to support the document after striking ‘regardless of the threats made by the Trump administration’ from the last sentence in paragraph 3, second by Alma Velazquez. A vote of the general membership was taken: majority yes, 1 nay and 4 abstentions. A vote of the board was taken: yes 6, opposed 1, abstentions. Motion carried.
Laura Young stated that the vote on the TriMet letter that was taken at the March 14, 2017 meeting did not follow our guidelines so it was not sent on to CNN.
Election results were announced: Chair: Laura Young, Vice Chair: Mac McKinlay, Secretary: Julie Granger, Treasurer: Oscar Moreno Gilson, Members at Large: Jake Antles, Stephanie Neely and David Sweet.
Land Use/Transportation: Change of date of next meeting to May 2nd at Cully Grove Common House 4779 NE Going at 7 pm. They have asked the developer of the property at the 6300 block of 42nd Ave to speak about his plans.
Outreach: Oak Leaf Mobile Home Park is being upgraded after years of neglect. There are 20 mobile homes still occupied and they will e demolished one by one and replaced. There will be a drive into the park but it will not be circular. There will be parking out front, a manager’s office, and a playground built. They are looking for volunteers for Saturday at 6th when they will be doing general cleanup and maintenance.
Noelle Studer Spevak reported that 26 children have been affected by Normandy Apt rent increase and the landlord is allowing for their families to stay through the end of the school year. Many of the families are looking for rental opportunities (under $1300) in the area so their children won’t have to change schools.
Schools: Noelle Studer Spevak has agreed to be the CAN representative for schools. She gave the following update:
Kindergarten registration is currently going on
April 12th: Scott School is hosting PBOT Safe Routes to Schools open house for families and school staff.
Community walks to bring awareness to Pedestrian Safety issues are: April 19th 2:30 pm at Scott; April 22nd 11:30 am at Rigler.
Major Community events
Rigler: Dia de los Ninos April 27th 5 pm parade
Scott: Kermes Festival May 12th 5 pm
Rigler: Carnival June 9th 4 pm
Volunteer Needs at Rigler: librarian needs help processing 1000 new books, SMART Reading Site Coordinator, Readers to work with children. Garden/Natural Area Cleanup volunteers needed on Friday 4/14 1-3 pm, Friday 5/12 1-3 pm.
CAAT (Cully Air Action Team) is recruiting new more members. Their efforts are focused on improving air quality. They are in biweekly communication with DEQ. There have communicated about the stench from the Porter Yett facility. There was an issue with the water tank on the site. DEQ responded and found a issue and Porter Yett was fined. They
have since said they are improving the technology for their smoke stake. There is an article in the current CAN newsletter.
Newsletter: Dennis is the current ad manager. He can work on this for the summer and fall issues, but needs someone for the winter and spring issues. Talk with him if you are interested.
Stephanie Neely asked for ideas for the Cuisine in Cully/celebration to be held in May or June.
Parks and Open Space: Rich Gunderson reported that K’Park will have ‘movie in the park ‘ on August 23rd . The movie will be the original Ghost Busters with a band playing beforehand.
New business: Portland Bloem NE 42nd and Alberta; Farm Store also at NE 42nd and Alberta. Chicken feed, soil amendments, tools, and tool sharpening.
Adjournment: Chris Browne made a motion to adjourn, second by Marilee Dea. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned 8:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted by Julie Granger