my curious mind wants to know
i spin words but feel like I want to hit the ground running
so stop writing and fucking do something already!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
First Responderst: City Honors Civilian, Officers for Heroic Rescue in St. Johns Car Crash: Portland Sentinel Article 12
First responders: City honors civilian, officers for heroic rescue in St. Johns car crash
SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE
Submitted by Sentinel News Service on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 12:54pm.
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By Carolyn Neuhausen
It’s not every day that a civilian is honored for being a hero, but that’s just what happened the afternoon of Sept. 5 at North Precinct. Civilian Seth Russell and Officers Ryan Derry and Christina Hansen-Tuma of North Precinct were commended for their role in responding to a vehicle accident and fire.
At 12:35 a.m. on Aug. 30, Russell and his girlfriend, St. Johns resident Wendy Martin, were driving across the St. Johns Bridge and noticed that a car had crashed on the hillside just west of the bridge. While another civilian was attempting to pry open the passenger side door, Russell ran over and saw that a passenger was trapped in the vehicle, which was quickly filling with smoke.
“There was someone [another bystander] screaming, ‘They’re still in there!’ ” said Russell, a 45-year-old Windermere realtor.
St. Helens resident Larry Dankin, 42, was already on the scene when Russell arrived. Dankin, who served in the U.S. Navy in both Iraq wars, had approached the smoking vehicle.
“I had my hesitation that the car might explode,” said Dankin. “Then all of a sudden this guy in Bermuda shorts [Russell] came running past me and jumps up on top of the car and starts prying the door open.”
Dankin and Russell managed to get the door of the SUV open. The car was filled with smoke. As they tried to remove the front passenger, the seats of the vehicle caught fire.
“There was smoke pouring out of there,” said Russell. “We couldn’t see anything.”
When the officers reached the scene, Hansen-Tuma went to the driver’s side of the car and found that the back seat passenger had flown head-first through the windshield and died. The driver was crushed by the collapsed frame of the vehicle. Efforts shifted to extracting the front-seat passenger from
the car.
Officer Derry quickly cut the seat belt from the passenger. As the passenger was pulled from the car, the vehicle burst into flames.
Two men, Carlos Zuniga-Isais, 31, the driver, and Jorge Erazo-Banegas, 21, the rear passenger, died. The third man, Abilsai Morales-Roblero, 20, was listed in critical condition on Sept. 5 at Legacy Emanuel Hospital. At the time of this report he had been upgraded to serious condition.
Officers Hansen-Tuma and Derry and “Citizen Russell” were awarded a medal and a certificate from the Portland Police Bureau in front of North Precinct officers, their family members and Police Chief Rosie Sizer.
“This was certainly very meaningful for the person you saved,” Sizer said to the officers.
“And to the citizens, thank you for stopping [and] thank you for acting.”
Kenton Fire House Solar Panels: Portland Sentinel Article 11
Hippies to put solar panels on Kenton Fire House 
SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE
Submitted by Sentinel News Service on Wed, 10/22/2008 - 7:08pm.
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Those damned hippies are at it again! This time they're mounting solar panels ontop of the Kenton Fire House, home to the North Portland Neighborhoood Services office and other long haired racial groups. The building, long the scourge of decent god fearing folk, recently won an award for "Preservation in Action" from the Bosco-Milligan Foundation, a militant left wing group no doubt. When will President Palin come and wipe clean this liberal blight from our midst? When??!!! More on that later...until then. Carolyn Neuhausen has this report.
~Cornelius Swart
Kenton Firehouse plans to add solar panels this fall
By Carolyn Neuhausen
The Kenton Firehouse will be outfitted with solar panels this month, which will reduce the amount of energy used in the building by an estimated 50 percent.
“We’re assuming that the reduction [in energy usage] will be by 60 percent; 50 percent was a conservative estimate,” said Tom Griffin-Valade, director of North Portland Neighborhood Services.
The Firehouse, located at 8105 N Brandon St., was allotted $73,506 dollars from a community livability pot for the solar panel project, which will provide energy for lights, computers, air conditioning, and other office machines inside the Firehouse.
Funds for the solar panel renovation came from the Portland Development Commission’s Interstate Urban Renewal Area (IURA) division. Though the funds came from the PDC, it is the community volunteers who sit on a variety of committees that decided to fund the solar panel project for the Kenton Firehouse.
“It’s really local citizens who volunteer to serve on these committees and so we’re even more gratified that it’s local people seeing that this building is a priority,” said Griffin-Valade.
One of the local citizens who helped with the solar panel project is Dexter Gauntlett who works as a clean energy researcher with Green Empowerment.
“The St. Johns Neighborhood Association provided a letter of support to the application — and we’ve identified the clean energy job sector as something we would like to connect North Portland residents to since we have a large population of people who have experience in manufacturing and interest in clean energy,” said Gauntlett.
Gauntlett hopes that placement of the panels on such a public facility will build interest in the efficiency and uses of solar power and will create lasting interest in solar energy as an industry.
The solar panels will reduce the carbon footprint of the Firehouse and save North Portland Neighborhood Services money in the long run. These savings will be passed on to community members through lower rental fees of the building’s facilities, said Griffin-Valade.
If energy prices stay the same and the Firehouse is able to get pass-through tax credits for saving energy, the panels are expected to pay for themselves in 20 years.
Because the Firehouse was built in 1913 and is an historical landmark, the project underwent a design review to evaluate whether the solar panels would interfere with the building’s historical integrity.
If all goes well with the design review, the Firehouse will get permits to start the project in early October. In September, the building will be re-roofed so that once the panels are installed, there will be no need to pull them off again and retile the roof for at least another two decades.
~30~
Of Bikes and Bridges: Portland Sentinel Article 10
Of bikes and bridges SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE
Submitted by Sentinel News Service on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 11:53am.
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By Carolyn Neuhausen
Two upcoming transportation projects for the Piedmont neighborhood focus on improvements for the proposed bike lanes on Rosa Parks Way near I-5, and the Bryant Street Bridge.
Piedmont currently has funding for bike lanes on Rosa Parks Way, and designs have been created. But the Portland Department of Transportation is working out the details, said Brian Borrello, the land-use chair of the Piedmont Neighborhood Association.
PDOT and the Oregon Department of Transportation are currently coordinating efforts to explore design alternatives that take into account safety and mobility for all modes of transportation. The agency will meet in early October to finalize plans.
The Piedmont neighborhood has also been planning for improvements to the Bryant Street Bridge crossing. A few designs have been chosen as concept ideas and are posted on the Piedmont website: piedmontneighborhood.com.
$90,000 in grant funds has been awarded to the neighborhood to improve the safety of the pedestrian bridge crossing. Some of the safety recommendations include improving lighting and possibly opening up the walls.
Besides safety, Borrello said, “We want to create a project that is aesthetically pleasing and uplifting in the neighborhood.”
What makes this project unique is that local resources are being used. Instead of their usual open-bid process, ODOT will hire local contractors, craftsmen, and designers. Further developments on the Bryant Street Bridge project are expected in the coming months.
For more information go to www.portlandsentinel/northalbina
Create to the Beat of Your Own Drum: Portland Sentinel Article 9
Create to the Beat of Your Own Drum: Performance Workshop with Many Hats Collaboration SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE
Submitted by Sentinel News Service on Thu, 07/24/2008 - 11:40am.
SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE 07/26/2008 - 1:30pm
07/27/2008 - 6:00pm
--Carolyn Neuhausen
Many Hats Collaboration will be leading a two-day performance workshop intensive July 26 from 1:30p.m.-6:30p.m. and July 27 1p.m.-6p.m. The workshop will be held at Performance Works NorthWest, located at 4625 SE 67th Avenue.
Because the theater company believes in mixing different arts disciplines, the workshop will educate participants in how to use different elements like lighting, staging, story telling, acting, movement and song to create a theater piece.
"The idea behind it [the workshop] is for actors or directors or playwrights interested in original performance to go through a process where they can make something from scratch," said Jessica Wallenfels, director, choreographer and co-founder of Many Hats Collaboration.
Many Hats is a local theater group that mixes different artistic elements into its productions. The group’s play “Mutt,” which debuted fall of 2006 at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, brought dance, acting and puppetry together in a performance about racial identity. For that production, the company spoke with various groups in North and Northeast Portland communities to discuss issues on race and racial identity.
In line with Many Hats’ ethic, Wallenfels will guide participants in a variety of creative activities in timed writing exercises, movement, dance and song. She will also discuss the pillars of storytelling such as plot, rising action, conflict and resolution.
After the exercises, workshop participants will generate story ideas for their theater pieces. Participants will discuss their ideas and get feedback from the group. Saturday's workshop will end with rehearsing each participant's material.
Sunday's workshop will start with a highly structured short production exercise where the participants can show what they've created so far. After comments and feedback the performers will work more extensively on their pieces. By the end of the day they will be able to perform their acts and they are welcome to invite family and friends to view their acts.
Lava Alapai, co-founder of Many Hats Collaboration will take still photographs and video record each act. Performers will receive a still photo and a DVD of their performance, which is included in the workshop price on a sliding scale of $90-$120. The idea is for the performers to have documentation of a 2-5 minute performance; the photo and DVD will come in handy if they decide to market or expand their performance in the future.
Trammell Crow Shows Design Plans to Bridgeton Residents: Portland Sentinel Article 8
Trammell Crow shows design plans to Bridgeton residents SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE
Submitted by Sentinel News Service on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 2:36pm.
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By Carolyn Neuhausen
Trammell Crow displayed their apartment development plans to Bridgeton residents in a meeting held Wednesday night. This informational meeting, held at the Residence Inn at Anchor Way, gave residents a more concrete idea of what the proposed apartment complexes will look like, and how it will impact the area.
Representatives for the development company compared newer design plans with older design plans and discussed differences between each. The newer plans showed two buildings, each with their own wing. The wings are connected to each other through a recessed and low slung corridor.
The new designs showed that the end of each building was rounded instead of squared and the ends of the buildings will be four stories or approximately 44 feet. The main portion of the buildings will be at a height of five stories and the end portions of the roof will be pitched upward at an angle.
The discrepancy between the fourth and fifth stories will allow for terrace spaces.
Trammell Crow plans on building the new development at the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver level, and is hoping to achieve the Gold standard. The building's design will incorporate sustainable materials like cedar planks, high efficiency glazing on windows and drainage systems that route storm water into the wetlands located behind the development.
On the north side of the development, the side facing the levees and water, there will be a ped/bike way and an esplanade planted with trees. The developer wanted a private road at the south side of the main complexes and as a concession, the Portland Department of Transportation asked for the building of a ped/bike way. The main thoroughfare between Marine Drive and the private road will be a public road. Harbour Drive will also be connected to the main thoroughfare and this will allow two exit points to Marine Drive.
Aside from the main two apartment buildings, there will be two smaller (35 feet high) apartment complexes that will offer a more quiet and private style of living. There will also be a clubhouse and meeting facilities, leasing office, a business center and space for an exercise facility.
One resident made a comment that an exercise facility is needed in Bridgeton and she suggested that residents living outside Trammell Crow’s development might pay a fee to have access to the facility as well.
The developers do not have colors picked out for the building, and were soliciting opinions from the audience. Some think a blue palette might be a nice nautical tie-in, and others want more pastel colors. No decision has been made, however.
The next step is for Trammell Crow to take their plans to a staff-level design review process. The company wants to host another meeting with Bridgeton residents before September.
Notes from Piedmont: Portland Sentinel Article 7
Notes from Piedmont SENTINEL NEWS SERVICE
Submitted by Sentinel News Service on Thu, 07/24/2008 - 12:02pm.
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By Carolyn Neuhausen
In July's Piedmont Neighborhood Association meeting, board members discussed the ongoing duel they've had with Portland Parks & Recreation over plans to outfit Peninsula Park's rose garden with wheelchair ramps.
The contention revolves around the issue of design. As the first public rose garden in Portland, opened in 1913, Piedmont residents want to keep the garden's historical integrity intact. While community members are in favor of making the park more accessible to wheelchairs, they fear that PP&R will install modern ramps that will ruin the garden's lay-out and design.
Secondly, PP&R officials have announced that they will break ground in August or September for a recreational water fountain. The fountain would be something that children could play in on warm summer days.
Stay tuned to see what else is going down in Peninsula Park ...
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