Introducing Brianna Tarnower

The first presenter in our “Exploring Brentwood-Darlington” series, Brianna Tarnower is a local artist, scholar, and activist.  With bachelor’s degrees in biology and environmental studies, and a master’s (and more) from UCLA in environmental health science, Brianna can follow any path she chooses – and she’s following them all!  

Her goals: Making more ceramic art, creating a maker-to-market business (to enable ceramics artists to produce small-batch ceramics for a local market), and developing a non-profit (“MakeBreatheLive”) devoted to researching the connection between heavy-metals air pollution and autoimmune disorders in our area. (The latter is of special interest to us because of Precision Castparts).  Brianna invites interested individuals to join her on any of her paths.   You may contact Brianna and view her unique ceramic art at https://www.thinkerceramicarts.com

Trees in the Street

With summer temperatures rising to record levels in recent years, the lack of tree canopy in BD has made a noticeable difference in how residents in our neighborhood experience heat waves.

The city has taken notice and has selected BD to pilot a tree planting program.This program aims to add trees to streets where there isn’t sufficient space behind the curb by installing bulb-outs into the parking zone.In working through issues and coming up with design standards, this project will help the city and PBOT replicate tree planting efforts elsewhere in the city. As we plan for hotter summers to come, planting trees now will create a more livable and enjoyable neighborhood and city.  

Stolen Vehicles

Officers at Portland Police Bureau’s East Precinct have devised a strategy for recognizing stolen vehicles with much greater accuracy and fewer resources.  They are using a science-based technique called “Evidence-Based Practice.”

For stolen vehicles, the officers assembled all of the clues a vehicle can radiate to say “I’m stolen!”  Once the officers had collected their data, they received help in refining their strategy from OHSU experts, including statisticians, who evaluate medical outcomes in the wake of various treatments.  A welcome result of the new East Precinct strategy is that police officers stop many fewer vehicles for low-level infractions (such as failed tail lights), which translates into less harassment of the general public.  The Portland public should soon hear from KGW, which East Precinct invited to investigate and report on its new strategy.