Author: Beth Blenz-Clucas

“Portland has a transportation crisis. There are potholes everywhere, our streets are deteriorating, our bridges are aging and we can’t afford the safety improvements our community needs. The cost of construction has gone up, and funding has not increased to pay for it. The longer we wait to repair our streets, the more expensive and expansive the problems get”
–Portland City Council Member Olivia Clark – District 4

Councilor Clark has introduced a resolution to Portland City Council to consider how to solve these problems. The Council needs feedback from SW Portland community members. Portland Bureau of Transportation is hosting this and other open houses for the community to weigh in on issues including:

• the options to raise more money
• the kinds of things that the city would spend the money on
• ways to review and monitor the spending

Join the conversation on Thursday, February 19, 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Rieke Elementary School Gym (1405 SW Vermont Street).

Hundreds of Hayhurst residents turned up for the Transportation Conversation relating to the Alpenrose site back in summer 2024. Let’s continue the advocacy for improvements to SW Shattuck, SW Vermont and other streets in our neighborhood!

Learn how to leverage Census data to support neighborhood initiatives, grant opportunities and other data-mining activities with three free online workshops led by Brian Berman, Data Dissemination Specialist with the Census Bureau. The informative and useful workshops are free and use the latest US Census data for our area and neighborhoods.

The Hayhurst and Hillsdale neighborhood associations are co-sponsoring the four-workshop series beginning on Wednesday, January 21, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm and continuing the third Wednesday of the month through April.

Advance registration is required, click here to register. The free workshops are open to all neighborhoods.

The classes are somewhat focused on the data for the sponsoring neighborhoods, but the basic information and tools apply to any neighborhood.

Topics to be covered in each one-hour workshop are:

January 21 at 6:30 pm: Census Tools for Grant Writing and Fundraising
Learn how to quickly create tables, graphs, and maps from census data from dozens of topics that can be pasted into grant and fundraising documents.

February 18 at 6:30 pm: Population and Migration Data Tools
How to most easily find the most recent population estimates as of July 2024, along with four data sources to view migration data.

March 18 at 6:30 pm: Census Tools for Emergency Planning and Response
Demonstrates how to access data on OnTheMap for Emergency Management, OnTheMap and maps on data.census.gov to help with response and planning.

These tools can be used not only for emergency planning, but to better understand commuting patterns and demographics.

April 15th: Census Business Builder
A training showing small businesses how to leverage the Census Bureau’s first cloud-based data tool combining economic, business, demographic and consumer spending data from nine different censuses and surveys. Learn how to build 2-variable maps and comprehensive reports showing job/wage/revenue data by industry.