As the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission continued their review of the draft document last month, Mid-Multnomah County had a prominent place in the draft Portland Plan.

Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission members, from left, Chris Smith, vice-chair Howard Shapiro and Mike Houck listen to testimony at the Portland Plan hearing held at Parkrose High School Community Center in November.

At their January 24 meeting, after praising Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and other bureaus’ staff work, they approved the Plan unanimously and forwarded it to City Council. Accoring to BPS staff, Council is expected to act on the Plan in April.

Thanks to the Parkrose High choir, pink flamingos are showing up in yards all around Parkrose. This whimsical fundraiser will continue throughout most of the school year as the choir works to raise funds for a trip to New York this spring.

Here’s how it works: Pay a fee of either $10 or $15 and under cover of darkness, a Parkrose choir parent will sneak into your friend’s yard with a flock of 10 or 15 plastic pink flamingos where they will stay for about 24 hours.

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

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.

After two years of outreach, planners have a draft version of the Portland Plan — which will set policy for city action and private development — and the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission has set a series of public hearings to hear feedback.

City officials care ... Let them know at the Portland Plan meeting, Tuesday, Nov. 15 at Parkrose High School Community Center.

The meetings are set for Tuesday, Nov. 8 at Jefferson High School, 520 N. Kerby Ave.; Tuesday, Nov. 15 at Parkrose High School Community Center, 12003 N.E. Shaver St.; and Tuesday, Nov. 29 at the Portland Building, 1900 S.W. Fourth Ave. All three hearings are 5:30 to 9 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 27 is the annual Parkrose Community Clean Up from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at all Parkrose schools.

Grab your gloves and drop by your local school to help tidy things up in advance of the new school year. Many hands make short work, so the more people that show up the faster the work can be completed. A supervisor will be on site at each school to organize work crews.

Православни икониOn Saturday, Aug. 27  from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the annual Parkrose Community Clean Up event at every Parkrose School District school takes place.

District staff will be stationed at each of the six schools so volunteers can have access to bathrooms and water.

Volunteers from Concordia University will be on hand other community groups have offered their help too.

If you’d like to volunteer, contact the district office at 503-408-2100 or show up at any of the six—Prescott, Shaver, Sacramento and Russell Academy elementary schools, Parkrose Middle and High Schools—and get to work.

What City Commissioner in attendance at the Parkrose Educational Foundation Auction last night undercut the special appeals bid (for Parkrose High School athletics this year) by having it announced, during the live solicitation for athletics and equipment that an extra $100,000 was being made available by the City for soccer field construction?

Nice, but completely unrelated to what the live auction appeal  was for.

“When people heard that, it killed it,” auctioneer Pat Brothers said afterward. “People figured … ‘Yeah, they got all that money from the City, they don’t need my help.’ ”

Your April issue of the Mid-county Memo is posted online. The re-cap of its online content follows …

This month’s edition has stories about: the Senior Prom held at Care Center East; the Parkrose High School bond vote in May; a round up of east Portland high school winter activities; Bradford’s Sports Lounge — formerly the Candy Store; the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission meeting where activists demanded action on the many plans to make life better in east Portland; the Portland Plan Fair held last month at Mid-county’s Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization and the Portland Airport Master Plan’s final approval from the city .

March 2011 Mid-county Memo online edition re-cap

The March issue of the Mid-county Memo was posted online last week. This month’s issue has stories about Portland City Council’s Citywide Tree Project hearing; an interview with Don Grotting, new David Douglas School District Superintendent; Fir Ridge Campus’ African American Family Night; CherryWood Village’s ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating Oregon’s largest senior retirement community solar array; Mid-county Memo founder Tom Pry’s obituary and photos of last month’s one-day snow event Thursday, Feb. 24.

And, as always, the informative departments: Memo Calendar, Memo Pad, Business Memos, Memorable Menus, Letters to the Editor and Loaves & Fishes’ monthly menu.

Oh, and for your (additional) information, the online Memo Calendar has listings unpublished in the regular newspaper edition.