Hundreds of supporters joined to celebrate the groundbreaking

HAP Chair Jeff Bachrach

Commissioner Fish

TPI Executive Director Doreen Binder

Commissioner Fish was joined by Mayor Adams, County Chair Wheeler and Commissioners Shiprack and Kafoury, HAP Chair Jeff Bachrach, PDC Chair Scott Andrews, Portland Housing Bureau Director Margaret Van Vliet, and hundreds of supporters to break ground on the Resource Access Center (RAC) at NW Broadway and Hoyt this morning.

"This groundbreaking marks the culmination of a tremendous amount of work by many dedicated partners," the Commissioner said.

A cornerstone of the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, a joint program of the City and the County, the RAC will offer a day center with housing, employment, and addiction counseling, hot showers,storage, and voicemail boxes; a men's shelter with temporary housing for 90 men; and 130 units of permanent housing.

As quoted by Matt Davis on the Mercury's blog this afternoon, the Commissioner closed his remarks by noting that "this is our day. This is our time. And people throughout Portland are counting on us to seize this moment."

Dear Friends,

Yesterday, on the eve of today's groundbreaking of the Resource Access Center, the Portland Tribune published an editorial supporting our collective efforts to end homelessness - and challenging us to do more.

I urge you to read it.

Nick 

The Springwater Corridor Trail, running South from OMSI all the way to Boring, is a model multi-use non-motorized trail system. The path offers 14 miles of developed trail for recreation, exercise, commuting, wildlife viewing, and more.

In this morning's Oregonian, Allan Brettman shines a light on efforts to bring a similarly sophisticated network of trails to more northern stretches of the Willamette River.

For years, supporters have pushed for development of the North Portland Willamette River Greenway. npGreenway has been the most vocal advocate - check out its website,www.npgreenway.com, for more about the groups's efforts.

The Greenway concept has support from a number of government documents, Brettman writes, including the Metro Regional Trail Plan, the St. Johns/Lombard Plan, the Portland COmprehensive Plan, and the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030. What it doesn't have is solid funding. But Francie Royce, co-chairwoman of npGreenway, is optimistic; the group recently applied for a grant from Metro to support a public outreach campaign.

Commissioner Fish is an enthusiastic supporter of the npGreenway project and others underway to increase trail access for hikers and bikers in Portland. These trails will serve Portlanders and visitors from across the region and will move Portland Parks and Recreation toward its goal of providing the City with a world-class system of parks, trails, and natural areas.

Nick is honored to be presenting the 6th annual Skidmore Prize to four local non-profit leaders this Friday at a City Club Friday Forum. The annual prize is presented by Willamette Week, organized byCity Club, and sponsored by Momentum Market Intelligence.

Winners Amy Sacks, Fowzia Abdulle, Brandi Tuck, and Jennifer Gilmore will be recognized for their service to our communities. Check out Willamette Week's "Give Guide" for more on the winners and their organizations.

Named after 19th-century Portland businessman Stephen Skidmore, whose generous donation funded downtown's Skidmore Fountain, the prize honors our past while looking ahead to a new generation of leaders.

Thanks to Flickr user hansenfotos.com for the photo of Skidmore Fountain.

Daniel Ledezma, NAYA Executive Director Nichole Maher, and Nick

Nick was pleased to attend the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) 5th anniversary benefit gala last Friday. He joined Mayor Adams, Commissioner Fritz, County Commissioners Shiprack and Cogen, and County Chair Wheeler to celebrate more than three successful decades for the organization. 

Since 1974, NAYA has served tens of thousands of people, working to reduce poverty, homelessness, and transience for the Native population in our tri-county area.

This year's gala was a resounding success. Themed "Uniting Our Children & Families, Supporting Our Native Foster Children," it highlighted the over-representation of Native children in foster care and the need to devote more resources to support Native families in our community.

Nick was honored to speak at the premiere of "Imagining Home" last Saturday at the Portland Art Museum. The film, from Portlanders Sue Arbuthnot and Richard Wilhelm, chronicles the six-year demolition and rebuilding of the New Columbia housing project in North Portland.

In Saturday's Oregonian, Anna Griffin calls the New Columbia  a "grand social experiment, an attempt to both provide decent housing for people in need and prove that folks from different classes and races can live together and get along."

The redesigned development replaces barracks-style buildings with townhouses, garden-style apartments, and single-

Click here for a larger image.

Two weeks ago, Portland City Council passed a Resolution supporting the Housing Authority of Portland (HAP) in applying for a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to redevelop the Hillsdale Terrace housing development in SW Portland. The grant will come from the federal HOPE VI program, which provides funds to revitalize physicall distressed public housing properties.

Hillsdale Terrace, built in 1968, has been on HAP's top-three priority list for complete redevelopment since HOPE VI began. Following the successful redevelopment of New Columbia and Humboldt Gardens, it is time to focus on addressing the needs of Hillsdale Terrace.

In a letter to the Oregonian, Jennifer Brownell writes that "With the HOPE VI Grant, eradicating barriers of race, class and language will be possible at a level never before possible. Creating community while providing opportunities for our neighbors to get out of poverty by learning language, finding employment and receiving job training can only be a blessing to the neighborhood and the city."

In this morning's Oregonian, guest columnist Michael Willis, President of Michael Willis Architects and chief architect for the Hillsdale Terrace redesign, writes of his own experience living in the Pruitt-Igoe Homes in St. Louis. That project has since been demolished, but the experience of living there has shaped Willis' vision as an architect.

"We are most proud," Willis writes of his architectural firm, "of the work we've done for HAP in Portland, reconnecting former public housing communities into the surrounding neighborhood fabric in ways that value both the residents of the newly built housing and their neighbors."

This preliminary concept includes sustainable features, community garden space, a community center for resident and neighborhood activities, and Head Start classrooms.

Grant notification will begin in February of next year, and if successful, HAP will begin construction in 2011 and residents will move back in August of 2012. This redevelopment project will increase our affordable housing stock in southwest Portland, correct physical problems with the site, reduce operating costs, improve available services, and enhance partnerships in the community.

"Every citizen," Willis concludes, "should be proud of its exemplary Housing Authority, which is a national model for how to get it done."

After suffering millions of dollars in damages last Tuesday, Marysville School has found a new home at Rose City Park Elementary School.

Nick and his wife joined more than 200 volunteers Saturday morning at a Hands on Greater Portland event preparing Rose City Park for the arrival of the 500 Maryville students and teachers who arrived this morning and will spend the rest of the school year at this new location.

There's still plenty of work ahead, though, and many supplies are still needed at the new location.

Thanks to Flickr user gregaisman for the photo!

The Oregon PTA and Portland Council PTA are asking for coats and jackets, sweaters, backpacks, lunch boxes, art supplies, books for the library, tissue boxes, construction paper, and photocopy paper. Donations are being collected at Marshall High School, 3905 SE 91st, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

"The school feels wonderful, really welcoming for kids," Superintendent Carole Smith said of the new place. "The outpouring from the community to be ready to open today has been phenomenal."

Congratulations to Daniel Ledezma, our Senior Policy Director and winner of the 2009 Spirit of Portland Award for Public Involvement!

Daniel was born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where her parents instilled a commitment to service and community involvement. She is passionate about social justice and working with communities of color. Since moving to Portland, Daniel has been active in our community in a variety of ways: she is Vice-Chair of the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, on the Board of Directors of the Latino Network, and is Co-Chair of JustPortland, a group of young professionals of color committed to strengthening relationships among Portland’s communities of color.

Daniel volunteers for the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) and serves on the Youth and Elders Council, working to reduce poverty in Portland’s urban Indian community. She is also involved with the Coalition of Communities of Color and the Housing Organizations of Color Coalition, helping organizations build their capacity to expand housing opportunities for low income communities of color. 

Thanks to David Ashton for this great photo!

Nick was honored to march in the 35th Annual Veteran's Day Parade, sponsored by the Ross Hollywood Chapel, in Portland's Hollywood neighborhood.

Following the parade, he joined Mayor Adams and Chiefs Klum and Sizer, of the Fire and Police Bureaus, in speaking. He told the story of his grandfather, Hamilton Fish, who acted as Regimental Commander of the 369th, the first African-American Regiment during World War I, and went on to author the resolution honoring an unknown soldier in Arlington Cemetery.

Cutting the ribbon on the East Portland Community Center earlier this year

Portland Parks & Recreation was among the top-ranked bureaus in the City Auditor's 2009 Resident Survey, released today.

More than three-quarters of respondents felt good or very good about Portland's recreation services, and 86% rated our parks good or very good.

Those results "confirm how much the public values their park system, especially in these tough economic times when more people are taking advantage of free or low-cost activities close to home," said Nick. "They recognize the vital role our parks and natural areas, as well as our community centers and recreation programs, play in the quality of life we enjoy here in Portland." 

Portlanders' satisfaction with Parks services has increased steadily year by year, although results did show that across Portland, certain neighborhoods rate their parks and services they receive more highly than others.

The survey also reinforced the need to focus on certain areas for park development. East Portland, for example, is a priority area for Nick and the Parks team - compared to 11% citywide, 26% of East Portland residents report having never visiting a park near their home.

Earlier this year, Council approved three master plans for East Portland parks- Parklane, Beech, and Clatsop Butte - and this week Parks announced the acquisition of property to make these plans a reality. The Parks 2020 Vision includes the goal of ensuring a park within half a mile of every Portlander, and these three parks will help make bring this Vision to life.

Congratulations to Director Zari Santner and the incredible team at the Parks Bureau for this recognition of all the great work they're doing!

"Imagining Home," a documentary from local directors Sue Arbuthnot and Richard Wilhelm, is showing this Saturday at the Portland Art Museum's Whitsell Auditorium, part of the 36th Annual NW Film & Video Festival.

"When Columbia Villa, a troubled and dilapidated Portland public housing neighborhood originally built to house WWII shipyard workers and later ravaged by gangs and drugs, was demolished, 1,300 residents were displaced. In its place, New Columbia, a federal HOPE VI urban redevelopment project, was created as a model for progressive community building. This socio-economically mixed neighborhood has provided new homes, a school, work opportunities, store, and other amenities for about 3,000 residents. Many of the