SW Trails PDX August 23, 2012
Attendance: Don Baack, Sharon Fekety, Cole Trusty, Lee Buhler, Michael Harrison, Barbara Stedman, Diane Mays, Chris Mays, Craig Christy, Peter DeCrescenzo
Don called the meeting to order at 7:02
The agenda was approved with the addition of a discussion of the ivy on Terwilliger Blvd.
Walks: Sharon said Pete will lead a hike to Council Crest on September 8. Sharon will lead the October hike, probably on Marquam trails. Craig said he could post the hikes on the Umpqua Bank site. Red Electric
Red Electric Brochure: Cole said the brochure is done at least until there is some more building on the trail. Don said he will get some printing quotes. We will spend the rest of the money available from the grant. We may put in some SW Trails money if printing a slightly large amount as it will cost much less per piece.
Peter talked about the video on the Red Electric Trail and showed his interview with congressman Earl Bluemenhaur. Everyone was impressed with the interview and how articulate the congressman was. Peter said it was very easy to do the interview as Congressman Bluemenhaur was so supportive and knowledgeable on trails.
Don said TriMet has been doing some modeling on the Red Electric Trail. They are estimating an annual use of 40,000 people. Barbara pointed out that the trail would make a good safe route to school route to Hayhurst school.
Peter thanked SW Trails for the participation at the Terwilliger Centennial Celebration.
Don said there will be a work party at Wilson High School next Saturday from 9:00am to 1:00pm Lunch will be served.
Don said the Mayor is pushing the Street by Street program, we had a SWTrails presentation on this during the summer. Don has been attending the meetings. He said it was important to lower speeds. He said people in the program want to design speed bumps to get the speed down to 15mph. He said one issue is the width of the street and how it applies to designated speeds. Don said the city is looking at ways for businesses to use a portion of the street in front of their business. They can get a permit to use one or more parking spaces for outside seating.
Lee said we have about 90 memberships and Don said he had six more. Peter said a member was not receiving email. Don said people could go to the web site to sign up for email.
Treasurer’s Report: Chris said there is $1306 in the bank and Don has another $170 to deposit.
Sharon talked about ivy growing into the bike lane on Terwilliger. It covers about ¾ of the lane. Don said he is trying to get the asphalt repaired at the same location. Don suggests a letter to the city about the issue. (Ivy has been trimmed) Don said people could also call 823-SAFE. Don said asking for a report would help the caller know what happened. Chris said he called about a similar issue and it was cleaned up after people called 823-SAFE. Don said it is sometimes complicated on which city bureau is responsible. Don said Mark Lear might be able to help with the issue and explaining the rules to us. Don said this issue, vegetation blocking sight distances is especially bad for people with disabilities.
Don said Parks has not named the trail from Terwilliger to Barbur. Parks say they are coming up with a new procedure for naming trails. They now say they have stopped naming anything because their naming process is so complicated and burdensome.
We decided to send all membership forms and money to Chris and Diane. They will then forward the information to Lee to record. We need to develop a letter to thank people for their memberships and donations.
Don said Fred Faveluke gave a tool to SW Trails and we also need to develop a letter to acknowledge gifts. Don suggested asking people to correct any inaccuracies in their memberships and notify us about changes.
Don said we should get a response from the IRS on our 501c3 application soon.
Don asked what other events we should be involved in. Michael said there is a regional trails count event that might make sense. Don said this was a good program and encouraged people to get involved. The task is to count walkers on different trails. Barbara said Hayhurst school got a bike shelter. Don said he requested some repairs of light fixtures at Wilson High for the walkway between the pool and the track and those were fixed by the Portland Public Schools. He said there is a broken drinking fountain at Wilson that will be repaired in September, the school needs to fix a key supply line. He said there is also a bad walking area near Rieke School on the sidewalk, PPS is working on this one, it will take some time due to drainage issues.
Don said Grant Humphreys with TriMet has almost digitized all the trails in SW Portland. They will bring it to us to check out at the October 2012 meeting. It will then go to google maps.
Don said he met with Mark Lear about un-built right-of-ways and the permit process. They will write up a preliminary draft on the process. They will then come back to us for our ideas. Nothing back from them as of Sep 23rd.
The meeting was adjourned at: 8:27
Respectfully submitted
Lee Buhler
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