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Tree Planting Leadership Training and Neighborhood Plantings
Friends of Trees invites all who are interested in leading other volunteers in planting trees to attend a crew leader training on Saturday, November 15, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The training begins at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, 2727 N.E. 54th Ave., and includes the planting of 80 large shade trees along Northeast 72nd Avenue in the Roseway neighborhood.
Participants will learn about city trees and shrubs, tree planting, volunteer management, and Friends of Trees’ programs. They will also gain skills and knowledge to lead other volunteers at upcoming Neighborhood Trees and School Trees planting events. Crew leaders in the Neighborhood Trees program will be asked to lead volunteers at four planting events between November 2003 and April 2004. To register for the training, contact Rachel Sanchez at 503-282-8846 ext. 12.
To order a tree to plant in your parking strip or yard during an upcoming planting, please call your neighborhood coordinator. Coordinator names and phone numbers are listed at www.friendsoftrees.org. Just click on the “planting schedule” link, then on the name of your neighborhood. Photographs and information about the kinds of trees you can plant, sorted by width of parking strip, can be found on the web-site by clicking on the “tree resources” and “tree database.” links.
According to a Portland State University study released this fall, unlike most cities in the United States, Portland has more trees today than it had three decades ago. “The study would strongly support the idea that Friends of Trees is having an impact,” said the study’s co-author Joe Poracsky.
Planting trees improves our air and water quality, reduces combined sewer overflows into the Willamette River, and creates habitat for endangered fish and other wildlife.
Friends of Trees promotes community partnerships to plant, care for, and educate about urban trees in order to strengthen neighborhoods, create an ecologically healthy environment and enhance the quality of urban life. To learn more about Friends of Trees and upcoming training and planting events, call 503-284-TREE (8733) or visit the web site at www.friendsoftrees.org.
Festival of Lights volunteers needed
Over 600 volunteers are needed to help staff the 2003 Christmas Festival of Lights at The Grotto, Northeast Sandy Boulevard at 85th Avenue. The sixteenth annual celebration, “Season of Hope,” opens Friday, November 28, and continues nightly through December 30 (closed Christmas Day). Individuals, families neighborhood groups and community service organizations willing to volunteer as little as three hours one evening during the holidays are needed to carry out this month-long presentation. Volunteers assist as greeters, hospitality hosts, ticket sellers, gift shop attendants, parking patrol, food booth helpers, petting zoo helpers and office assistants. All shifts are three hours with two shifts available each evening.
The Christmas Festival of Lights includes the largest holiday choral festival in the Pacific Northwest. This year The Grotto expects to welcome 60,000 visitors and present 140 indoor music concerts. The success of this Christmas celebration is heavily dependent on volunteer support. Lat year, over 560 individuals volunteered to help staff the festival, contributing over 5,500 hours of volunteer service.
To volunteer of for more information, please call Gayle Diehl, The Grotto Volunteer Coordinator, at 503-261-2408.
Food and fun
Cherry Blossom Loaves & Fishes has immediate openings for volunteers to assist in the Center Kitchen located at 740 S.E. 106th Ave. Hours needed are between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on weekdays. The volunteers will be assisting with getting Meals-on-Wheels ready to be distributed and helping with the senior lunch program located at the site.
For more information call 503-256-2381 and ask for Diane or Steele Lou.
Designs for 102nd Avenue considered
City transportation planner Dan Layden presented four alternative plans for the redesign of Northeast and Southeast 102nd Avenue, roughly between Southeast Washington and Northeast Glisan Streets to the Opportunity Gateway Program Advisory Committee, (PAC) last month. All four proposals included bicycle lanes on both sides of the street, and a 10 to12-foot wide planted median in the center replacing many, but not all left-turn refuges. One of the alternatives called for no on-street parking on the street (Alternative 3), and another would reduce travel lanes from the current four to two (Alternative 4).
The width of the sidewalks varied from eight feet to 15. The total right of way varied from a maximum of 112 feet (with all elements included) to 85 feet (with two travel lanes and 12-foot sidewalks). The street is currently 80 feet wide, and the additional width would be purchased from adjacent properties.
There was little enthusiasm for the two-lane alternative at the meeting. Aleta Woodruff of Madison South Neighborhood Association said, “If you took a survey right here and now, I don’t think you’d get any supporters.” Hazelwood Neighborhood Association’s Linda Robinson added that 102nd and 122nd avenues were the only through routes in Mid-Multnomah County that crossed the I-84 Freeway. Committee chair Dick Cooley replied, “I’d like people to keep an open mind about one lane between Stark and Glisan. 99th is truly an alternative.”
Layden said that the alternatives were intended to spark public discussion. “I wouldn’t frame this as what I or PDOT (Portland Office of Transportation) wants,” he said. “We want you to help develop this. It’s your street.”
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| Alternate 3 |
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| Alternate 4 |
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