Editor’s note: The 2012 elections are a watershed moment in city politics. For the first time in decades, with the mayor declining to run for re-election, Randy Leonard retiring from his council seat and incumbent commissioner Amanda Fritz facing a serious challenge, there will be at least two, if not three new faces at City council. Veteran beat reporter Lee Perlman interviewed the major mayoral and city council candidates. Beginning with this issue and in upcoming editions, we publish the interviews; first up, former city Council member Charlie Hales.  

The Portland Police Bureau’s Missing Persons Unit asks for help from the public in locating 16-year-old Kalpana Wagley, a recent Bhutanese refugee, missing since last Friday.

Kalpana Wagley, left, a 16-year-old David Douglas High School student seen here at a 2010 soccer clinic, was reported missing Friday. Mid-county Memo photo/Tim Curran

Wagley is described as a female Nepalese, five feet eight inches tall, and 104 pounds, with mid-back length black hair. Kalpana was last seen wearing knee-length, cut-off blue jeans, dark brown ski-type boots, and a black vest under a white jacket.

The holiday season often brings more food, festivities and all of the waste that can go along with them. This year, area residents have a new place to scrape holiday plates and leftovers. Remember to add food scraps — including meat, bones and dairy — along with yard debris to your green roll cart for weekly pickup.

As you plan your holiday meals and family gatherings, consider a few easy ways to reduce waste and make composting food scraps easy for your guests. Mayor Sam Adams, right, uses the kitchen pail for easy transfer to the green roll cart.

Speaking from the stage in the auditorium of the East Portland Community Center last month, Commissioner Amanda Fritz told those gathered for the 2011 Spirit of Portland Awards, “It’s a coincidence that so many of our award winners are from this part of town, and yet it isn’t.” Locals were represented among the winners, including the winners of the Neighborhood of the Year and Business District of the Year awards.

Lents Association chair Nick Christensen wrote the nomination and mentioned the activities of his board members. At the ceremony, he thanked Richard Bixby, East Portland Neighborhood Office executive director, for being “always ready with a quick and easy solution,” and acknowledged the good work of “all Lentils.” (sic)

The Portland Development Commission is in the process of forming six new miniature urban renewal districts, and four of them will be in Mid-county.

In October Sokhom Tauch, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization Executive Director, spoke at the meeting at IRCO announcing east Portland areas selected for the Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative, part of the development plan for the Neighborhood Economic Development Strategy, which is a part of City Council's 2009 Economic Development Strategy. Behind him are Portland Mayor Sam Adams, Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen and Rey Espana, Director of Community Development at the Native American Youth & Family Center.

In the 18th century, author, poet and philosopher David Everett wrote “… Large streams from little mountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow.” The tall oak that is the annual Festival of Lights at The Grotto began as a small, 10-day, acorn of an event that has grown into the largest Christmas choral festival in the world. The tree continues to emerge from the acorn planted 24 years ago. Its message carries further and becomes more beautiful with each passing year.

As part of its citizen outreach, the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission held one of its three hearings on the draft Portland Plan at Parkrose High School Community Center last month. Several local residents gave testimony on issues the Plan should address.

The Portland Plan will set policies to guide the creation of a new City Comprehensive Plan, replacing one enacted in 1980. This will set zoning and other regulations to guide both public activity and private development.

Parkrose High School sophomore Max Denning, right, Metro representative of the Oregon Association of Student Councils, testifies at the Portland Plan hearing at Parkrose High School Community Center held last month. Mid-county Memo photos/Tim Curran

The Portland Police Bureau released the names of the 51 people arrested yesterday during the clearing of the Occupy Portland encampment at Chapman Square.

Ranging in age from 16 to 81, the arrested occupiers were mostly cited and released. Four protestors, Steven Herrera,; Ryan Morehead; Jessica Noland and Blair Stuwe were held and booked into the Multnomah County Jail. Three juveniles, whose names were withheld, were also arrested, cited and released.

The list of those arrested and their charges:

Jessica Dawn Noland, 20, one of four Occupy Portland protestors arrested and booked into Multnomah County Jail

Editor’s note: Welcome to Perlman’s Potpourri, news items from across the Gateway and Parkrose neighborhoods of mid-Multnomah County from veteran Beat Reporter Lee Perlman.

Portland Immigrant Statue dedication
As Joe Rossi and friends dedicated the long-anticipated Portland Immigrant Statue at the traffic island at the intersection of Northeast 99th Avenue, Sandy Boulevard and Killingsworth Street Oct. 1, the message was that it symbolized not the Rossi clan (some have speculated it is a statue of Rossi’s great-grandfather, which Rossi has consistently denied), but our common heritage.

Multnomah County Library expanded its e-book collection with 8,500 new nonfiction e-books on economics, science and technology topics recently. The e-books complement the library’s current general nonfiction e-book offerings with more in-depth nonfiction that will be especially helpful for academic and other research.

Multnomah County Library expanded its nonfiction e-book collection recently.

This new service is made available through patron-driven acquisition. This means the library pays for books only as patrons use them.

The patron-driven acquisition model is becoming widespread in large libraries across the country because it provides a cost-efficient way for libraries to offer deeper coverage on subjects that are not primarily driven by popular use, and respond to patron interests without making permanent purchases or taking shelf space.