Information on Illegal Dumping from Metro

Our friends at SE Uplift recently forwarded us a message from Metro regarding the dumping of furniture, large appliances, and other items on our neighborhood curbs. Timely stuff, considering the upcoming Kerns/Buckman Neighborhood Cleanup event taking place on Saturday, April 19th from 9am-12:00pm in the parking lot of Hinson Baptist Church at SE 20th Avenue & Salmon! Read on for details on Metro policies regarding this practice…

Crowd-sourced map of Portland surveillance cameras

We recently received an e-mail from a company called VideoSurveillance.com, which sells (perhaps unsurprisingly) video surveillance equipment. They recently launched a web application that provides an interactive map of surveillance cameras in and around Portland. The idea is that residents who have been the victims of crime could use this information to determine if the activity was possibly caught on tape. Here’s their e-mail:

I wanted to pass along the message regarding a new Portland-based camera project that our company recently unleashed.  This new community-driven project called CommunityCam provides a map of the locations of public/private security cameras across Portland and its outlying areas. The map is crowd-sourced, meaning any resident, business owner, association, neighborhood group, or government organization, can add locations of surveillance cameras to help their neighbors.  People who experience crime can use the map to locate cameras that may have captured the activity and ask their neighbors for help.   It’s also good information for the public to have.

To date, we’ve mapped about 2,000 cameras in the Pacific NW (all physically seen), and believe it’ll be a great tool for local residents & businesses. We thought this might make for an interesting piece on BCA’s blog or social media pages. Please check out the project website: http://www.videosurveillance.com/communitycam.  It’s also optimized for iPhone/iPad devices. Anyone can view the locations of cameras; just use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in on various neighborhoods. To add cameras, use the “+” balloon marker or type in the actual address in the search bar. It’s super easy to use, and free obviously.

Ellen Arndt
Communications Manager
PO Box 231299
Portland, OR 97281
Direct: (503) 597-0961
Fax: (503) 726-4407
Email: earndt@videosurveillance.com
Website: http://www.VideoSurveillance.com

 

Submit your feedback on a pedestrian crossing at Burnside & 16th

The Kerns Bicycle & Pedestrian Project is a new group that working to have a crossing created at the intersection of East Burnside Street and SE 16th Avenue. As part of their effort, they are initiating a survey to:

1. Collect the feelings of our community regarding the bike & pedestrian needs
2. Demonstrate support for bike & pedestrian improvements
3. Prioritize bike & pedestrian needs to guide advocacy

You can help with this important effort by taking the survey at the link below. It’s short and should take you no more than a few minutes:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KernsBikePedSurvey

A street party is tentatively planned for Burnside and SE 16th on Friday, June 1st, during the morning and afternoon commute times. The purpose is to highlight the need for a safe crossing at this location for pedestrians & cyclists, including residents and students of Buckman Elementary, Central Catholic High School, Da Vinci Middle School, & Benson Polytechnic High School. Crossing enhancements are planned by the city in the next two years, but highlighting the need can help ensure there is follow through on the plan.

Prescription Drug Turn-in

The Office of Neighborhood Involvement Crime Prevention Program and the Portland Police Bureau will hold a Prescription Drug Turn-In event on Saturday, April 28th from 10:00AM to 2:00PM at three locations in the City of Portland.

Event: Prescription Drug Turn In. This is a free event.
When: Saturday, April 28, 2012
Where: Fred Meyer – Gateway, 1111 NE 102nd Avenue
Contact: Katherine Anderson Crime Prevention Coordinator 503-823-3432

Look for the Portland Police Bureau mobile precinct in the parking lot next to NE 102nd Avenue.

If you can’t make the East Portland location, there are two other events being held in Portland on Saturday, April 28th from 10am to 2pm:

• Fred Meyer-North Interstate 7404 N Interstate Avenue
• Mirabella Retirement Community, 3550 Southwest Bond Avenue

Portland Police Officers and Crime Prevention staff will be onsite for the anonymous turn in of unused or expired prescription medications, to share information about the dangers of prescription drug abuse, and to answer community and media questions regarding this issue. All medications will be incinerated.

Please consolidate all pills by putting them into a sealed sandwich baggy if you have a large amount to dispose of. Make sure that liquids are in a tightly sealed, leak proof container. NO SHARPS!

Acceptable items for disposal: Prescription medications and samples, all over the counter medications, vitamins, pet medications, medicated ointments, and liquid medication in leak proof containers.

Items not accepted: Thermometers/Sharps/Syringes, IV bags, bloody or infectious waste, hydrogen peroxide, aerosol cans, inhalers, EpiPens.

City Council Meeting on Proposed Changes to Time Place and Manner Regulations

Sorry for the late notice on this one, but we wanted to let you know that this Wednesday, September 7th, the Portland City Council will be discussing proposed changes to the city’s Time, Place and Manner regulations. These regulations provide avenue for neighbors and local enforcement agencies to address licensed liquor establishments that pose problems to the surrounding neighborhood. Read on for details.

August 24, 2011

CONTACT: Theresa Marchetti, Liquor Program Specialist

Office of Neighborhood Involvement
503-823-3092 (ph), 503-823-3050 (fx)
Theresa.Marchetti@portlandoregon.gov

PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL AGENDA:
Proposed Changes to City Code Time Place and Manner Regulations of Alcohol Licensed Establishments (PCC 14B.120)

What: Portland City Council will hear presentation and testimony regarding proposed changes to local regulations of liquor licensed establishments.

When: September 7th, 2011 – 2pm

Where: City Hall – Council Chambers – 2nd Floor
1221 SW 4th Ave, Portland OR 97204

Why:
The Office of Neighborhood Involvement Liquor Licensing, overseen by Commissioner Amanda Fritz, will be proposing changes to the city code that allows local regulation of liquor licensed establishments. Enacted in 2004 as an avenue for neighbors and local enforcement agencies to address problem establishments, the Time Place and Manner code has been effective in addressing many livability and public safety issues that arise out of the sale of alcohol. The goal is to work with the licensee to address the issues before they become egregious.  However, there are several areas that the City’s authority is insufficient to address problems. The proposed changes will expand the authority slightly to allow:

• Drug activity, prostitution, and incidents involving death or the risk of death to be considered nuisance activities for the purpose of this code
• A violation and abatement process if three nuisance incidents occur in 60 days (rather than 30 days currently allowed)
• A violation and abatement process in the event that a single serious incident occurs at an establishment

The proposed changes have been reviewed and supported by the Time Place and Manner Oversight Committee, which includes community and industry representation. Two public hearings were held in the summer of 2011 in which the City of Portland accepted both verbal and written feedback. Changes to the language were made based on the feedback received.

Time Place and Manner is a reasonable process to a responsive licensee and has been effective in mitigating harm. These changes will help to better serve the communities of Portland, and ensure that licensed establishments do not act irresponsibly or negligently at the cost of the community. It will also allow the City of Portland to take intervening steps with a premise earlier and avoid more serious problems from occurring. This is the only avenue to address problems at licensed establishments at the local level. All other regulatory authority is held by the state Oregon Liquor Control Commission.

The proposed changes are viewable online at http://www.portlandonline.com/oni/index.cfm?c=32419&a=362076.

Shelters & Warming Centers

This information came to us recently in a SE Uplift mailing. We thought it worth passing on.

 

As we transition from the freeze of winter to the thaw of spring, we invite you to share this shelter and warming center information with friends and neighbors in need.

Anyone seeking shelter should contact 211info, reached by dialing 2-1-1. In addition to existing year-round and winter shelter facilities, the following warming center facilities are available:

Family Winter Warming Center:
12505 NE Halsey Street, Portland Oregon

Women’s Winter Warming Center:
Call to make reservation 24 hours per day or stop by the Transition Projects office at NW 5th & Glisan. Call 503-823-4930

Men’s Expanded Shelter:
Located at Salvation Army Harbor Light, SW 2nd and Ankeny, between 7:30pm and 7:30am. Call 503-239-1259.

Severe Weather Emergency Warming Center
Red Cross Severe Weather Emergency Warming Center at the Imago Dei Church
1302 Ankeny Street, (near 13th Avenue in Inner SE)
Dates:  evenings 2/22/2011 – 02/23/2011
Hours: 9:00 PM – 7:00 AM, check-in on site
Serves: Families, single adults, and youths; Pets allowed; some space for carts; accessible location (main floor)

Union Gospel Mission
3 NW 3rd Avenue, 503-274-4483
Dates:  evenings 2/23/2010 – 02/26/2011
Hours: 9:30 PM – 6:00 AM
Serves: Up to 50 people

Gun Turn-in: Saturday, December 18th

(Information provided by Mary Tompkins, Crime Prevention Coordinator)

PORTLAND, Ore. – The City of Portland is partnering with the Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation to host a Gun Turn-In event on December 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Memorial Coliseum in the North Benton Parking Lot. All guns, operable or inoperable, will be accepted with no questions asked.

The event will provide an opportunity for those in possession of unwanted guns to dispose of those firearms. In a letter of support, District Attorney Michael D. Schrunk confirms that anyone “who voluntarily and peaceably delivers and abandons a firearm to a sworn law enforcement officer” will not be prosecuted.  “Gun turn-ins are happening in communities across the country, and are a safe, anonymous way for people to dispose of unwanted guns,” said Portland Mayor Sam Adams.

Participants will receive a $50 Fred Meyer gift certificate per working gun (limit of three working guns to receive three gift certificates) and a $5 Burgerville gift certificate for each non-working gun, BB or pellet gun. The turn-in will help raise awareness of the responsibilities and risks of gun ownership, including the importance of safe storage.

“Many casual gun owners – those who are not strongly attached to their firearms for ideological or other reasons – will relinquish them when offered something of equal or greater value,” said Shawn Alford, President of the Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation. “This has extraordinary implications when you consider that the first and fifth leading causes of injury deaths in Oregon are suicide and homicide, and, in both instances, more than 50 percent of the deaths are caused by firearms.”

With the exception of 2009, Ceasefire Oregon has facilitated gun turn-ins every year since 1994, collecting a total of more than 7,000 guns.

“Gun turn-in programs allow for individuals to dispose of unwanted guns with no questions asked,” said Portland Police Chief Mike Reese. “Disposing of these guns reduces the likelihood they will end up in the wrong hands — such as criminals or youth — and used for a violent and illegal act.”

For more information, contact Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation at 503-220-1669.