Earlier this month, the East Portland Neighborhood Office awarded 11 neighborhood grants containing a total of $30,000 to community organizations for special projects. The awards were selected from 28 applications seeking a total of $58,611.

Courtesy BUKO.NET
EPNO awarded the Parkrose High School Alumnae Association $3,500 for a 100 years of Parkrose Music project.

The money comes from the City General Fund through the Office of Neighborhood Involvement for disbursement by EPNO and the city’s six other neighborhood offices and coalitions. According to the criteria, the grants are intended to “increase the capacity” of community groups, encourage partnerships among them, and promote participation by “under-represented communities.”

Sunday night, around 10 p.m., police responded to a report of an armed robbery at the Ha Long Cafe, 8435 S.E. Division St.

As officers were enroute to the scene, they were told at the restaurant had just been robbed at gunpoint and the gunman fled on foot into the neighborhood, according to police.

The restaurant employee told police the suspect entered the business armed with a handgun, and demanded they get down on the ground.

The suspect then went behind the counter and retrieved an undisclosed amount of money, according to the victim. The robber then left the restaurant and the employee called police.

At 3:50 a.m. Monday morning, East Precinct officers responded to the report of an armed robbery at the The Daily Planet, a nightclub/bar in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood at 11312 S.E. Powell Blvd.

When officers arrived, the bartender told police he was walking to his car after closing the bar when the suspect approached and demanded he go back and open the bar.

As the bartender struggled to open the door, the victim told police the suspect fired one shot.

When he finally got the door open, the suspect fired an additional round.

The Portland City Council last month unanimously approved the Southeast 122nd Avenue Rezone Project, an answer to long-held community complaints of too much dense housing and too few commercial services to serve it on this street.

The project, as approved, rezoned 17.5 acres of properties in or near the intersections of Southeast 122nd Avenue at Holgate Boulevard, Foster Road and Harold Street from their current multi-family residential designation to commercial. The action also changed the Portland Comprehensive Plan designation for another 4.5 acres of properties near Powell Boulevard without changing the zoning.

The Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission last month unanimously endorsed the Outer Powell Conceptual Design Plan, but not without unexpected drama.

The Plan governs improvements to Southeast Powell Boulevard between the I-205 Freeway and 174th Avenue. It calls for one travel lane in each direction, a center median with left turn refuges at major intersections, two bike lanes, and wide sidewalks with street furniture and trees west of 162nd Avenue.

Are east Portland neighborhood associations all illegal? Technically yes, says East Portland Neighborhood Office Executive Director Richard Bixby, but it is not their fault. It is his.
A handful of the City’s 95 recognized neighborhood associations are 501(c)3 non-profit corporations, able to offer tax deductions for donations. Most of the rest fall into a different non-profit status.

Because they handle relatively small amounts of money, they do not have to make yearly reports to the IRS — or did not until the year 2006, when the law was changed.

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.

Tomorrow morning, in the Southeast corner of Ed Benedict Park, help prepare the Portland Memory Garden for another season of meaningful outdoor experience for individuals and caregivers coping with memory loss disorders, and make your own memories, too.

The Portland Memory Garden is in the Southeast corner of Ed Benedict Park in outer southeast Portland.

This is a great family friendly project. Garden tasks include weeding, grooming, sweeping and general cleanup. Most tools provided. Optional: bring your own pruners or other sharps. Rain or shine, please dress for the weather.

Members of the community are invited to the Parklane Neighborhood Fair, presented in part by Portland Parks & Recreation today,  beginning at 4 p.m. at Parklane Park, Southeast 155th and Main Street.

The fair celebrates the first project in the city’s E205 Initiative, the new equipment and upgrades at Parklane Park —  and will feature family activities, a dedication and remarks by City Parks Commissioner Nick Fish and Mayor Sam Adams. The event will conclude with a tour of the future park site, live music and a  free movie in the park “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” at dusk.

Early this morning, around 1 a.m., a police officer was driving east on Division Street at about Southeast 85th when he was flagged down by a motorist who told him a bicyclist had just been hit and run by a black SUV.

The officer immediately requested medical personnel to the scene to treat the cyclist, but soon after medical help arrived, the bicyclist was pronounced dead.  The same officer was approached by a 17-year-old bicyclist who had also been struck by the SUV.  The 17-year-old was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries.