After many years of use, the playground at Harney Park is showing signs of wear. A new playground will be installed in Summer 2023. The update will expand the play area with a new swing set and will improve accessibility by using play tiles instead of bark chips as the surface.
The community has an opportunity to help select the color scheme and certain play elements to be featured at the new playground at an upcoming open house. Please join us! Kids are welcome! Possible design shown below. Stay up to date at https://www.portland.gov/parks/harney-park
The BDNA will hold a general-membership and board meeting from 6:30 to 8:30pm on Thursday, February 2, 2023. The first hour of the monthly meetings is devoted to matters of public interest, the second to board business such as planning and evaluating financial matters. All who join the meeting are welcome to attend both portions.
At this meeting, we’ll introduce local artist Brianna Tarnower, and learn about East Precinct’s new, science-based strategy for apprehending stolen vehicles and those who took them.
Also on the agenda:
A tree-planting project to be piloted in Brentwood-Darlington.
A change in the recent re-routing of Line 10
An update on the city’s local TGM planning effort.
BDNA is sponsoring OPEN CRAFT CIRCLE from 6-9pm on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month. This community event for Brentwood-Darlington residents will take place at the Brentwood Darlington Community Center (7211 SE 62nd Ave).
Please bring your projects, snacks, beverages of choice, and a joyful spirit. Sit down, set up, and connect with your neighbors! There’s no cost, although a donation container is available to help fund future community opportunities. Please be respectful of all, and remember, this is a time for crafting and connecting with neighbors – please, no sales at these circles.
The first Open Craft Circle is coming right up – on January 26th! See you at the BDCC!
A Vision for Brentwood-Darlington Community Center
Impact NW and BDNA are working together on an exciting vision for our community center. Andy Nelson, executive director of Impact NW (which manages the building), presented the three-faceted vision to the BDNA board:
The BDCC will act as a social gathering place for neighbors, a resilience hub that provides emergency information and cooling-warming during extreme weather, and a service that connects neighbors to resources, in particular assistance that keeps people from being displaced from their homes by rising rents. Impact NW will continue to offer its early childhood development programming from the building – a wonderful resource for Brentwood-Darlington families.
Board member celebrated for more than 20 years of service
Gail Kiely has been serving Brentwood-Darlington as a member of the BDNA board since early in 1990. She is the person who orders up our movies or concerts in Brentwood Park every year (Covid years excepted).
Over the years Gail has played many other roles, including publication of a BDNA newsletter. The board awarded Gail a framed certificate of appreciation, a red ribbon, and gift card. Thank you, Gail Kiely.
Crafting circle planned for BDCC in 2023
The BDNA board approved the launch of a crafting circle to be held on two Thursday evenings each month through 2023. The circle will be open to everyone who wants to knit, crochet, assemble scrap books, make greeting cards – anything and everything that can be construed as crafting. Details about opening night and hours will be shared when finalized.
Brentwood-Darlington Community Center. Please join us for a presentation about the future of the Brentwood-Darlington Community Center by Andy Nelson, executive director of Impact NW. Envisioned is a center that serves as a gathering and meet-up place for B-D neighbors, a well-stocked resource and information center, and an emergency services hub that offers cooling or heating during extreme weather events.
Other BDNA board business:
Action required: Approval of proposal to conduct an electronics recycling effort on April 1, 2023 at the Brentwood-Darlington Community Center. Approval to apply for funding from Metro’s Refresh Fund, which is available to Equity Focus Areas.
Action required: Approval of proposal to hold crafting class at the community center two or more Thursday evenings per month during 2023; class open to the community.
Black Futures Farm has wound up a 2022 growing season bountiful in produce, culture, solidarity, and influence. As a project of the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition, BFF occupies 5.5 acres in Brentwood-Darlington’s Green Thumb complex. The farmers identify as Black- Diasporic and Continental African people who “work together to grow food and community.” In 2022, their big harvest baskets overflowed with vegetables, flowers, berries, grapes, and fruit. For more information, see https://blackfutures.farm.
Electronics Recycling. On April 1, 2023, recycle your old devices, chargers, cables, computer, printers, and more at the Brentwood-Darlington Community Center. Stay for a hands-on workshop on bicycle maintenance and repair, a seed exchange, and game-playing directed by Master Recyclers. The address is 7211 SE 62ndAvenue (9:30am-12:30pm). Mark your calendar. April 1st – THIS IS NOT A JOKE.
Master Gardeners. The Multnomah County Master Gardener Demonstration Garden has also wrapped up a productive year. The garden donated 1,576 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables to local food pantries, received 345 visitors, and held an “Open Garden” in August. The Demo Garden is a teaching space open to anyone who wants to learn from or work with Master Gardener volunteers. They’re closed for the season now, but will be welcoming learners, volunteers, and visitors again on March 6, 2023. Email inquiries here.
Brentwood-Darlington Community Center. Are you aware of the community center near Lane Middle School? Impact NW and BDNA are working on a plan for BDCC’s future. Along with rehabbing the building and working out legal issues, we are envisioning a space where friends can meet up, residents can connect with resources, and people can take refuge during extreme climate-driven weather events. As planning evolves, we will be reaching out to the residents of B-D to join us in shaping BDCC’s future.
Zoning changes proposed for Brentwood-Darlington. Many Brentwood-Darlington residents desire more shops and services closer to home. However, we have seen little commercial development in B-D to date because we are low density and low income compared with other parts of Portland. City planners working on the Lower Southeast Rising Area Plan have suggested zoning changes for stretches of 52nd and 72nd avenues north and south of Flavel Street that might attract developers.
The changes would allow for taller buildings than now allowed. The buildings could contain commercial or residential space, or a mix of the two. Zoning allows land owners to build new buildings, but only if they want to.
The Lower Southeast Rising Area Plan is also concerned with transportation and displacement issues. For detail on the entire plan, consult the draft Preferred Framework Report; see especially p. 25 for the zoning map, which also proposes zoning changes along Flavel Street east of 72nd Avenue.
Please join us for presentations by Black Futures Farm and Master Gardeners, followed by lots of motions, announcements, and reports starting at 7:05pm:
Action required: Approval of proposal to conduct an electronics recycling effort at the end of March 2023. Approval to apply for funding from Metro’s Refresh Fund, which is available to Equity Focus Areas.
Action required: Approval of BDNA effort to collect more information (including resident sentiment) on routing of Line 10 through our neighborhood; development of advocacy.
Announcement: Derek Covey – TriMet needs drivers!
Report: City of Portland trash-reduction effort – walking Duke St on Nov 30, 2022.
Report: How Brentwood-Darlington voted on charter reform
Report: Gas stoves are hazardous to your health
7:30 Update on TGM (Pam Hodge, PAC representative).Review of zoning changes proposed by the TGM planners from Planning & Sustainability. What do the proposed zoning changes mean for our neighborhood’s commercial and housing development? Report on draft anti-displacement plan.
7:45 Update on BDCC (Stephenie Frederick). Report on Nov 18, 2022 meeting with Impact NW director Andy Nelson to develop a plan to recast BDCC as a resilience hub and thriving community center; resolve legal issues surrounding the title and ground lease.
Wood Smoke. Fires in backyard fire pits and indoor fireplaces poison the air with millions of tiny particles linked to asthma, Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes, preterm births, and premature death.
We residents of Brentwood-Darlington harm ourselves with our own wood burning. And the winds bring us wood smoke from people north and west of us.
Zoning for More Businesses, Apartments. When surveyed, residents of B-D spoke up strongly for a more-businesses, more-apartments scenario. The area at SE 72nd Ave and Flavel Street should be named a commercial center; SE 52nd Avenue from Duke to Flavel should become a commercial corridor.
Altered zoning would permit mixed-use and apartment buildings in those areas to be as high as 4 stories (now the zoning restricts such buildings to 2-3 stories).
You are invited to join a land-use meeting on November 10th at 7:00pm to pose questions to city planners. For example: What does “mixed use” mean? How do developers respond to zoning changes? Would our areas change quickly? What would those parts of our neighborhood look like? Can we have a say in what types of businesses elect to settle here?
Brentwood-Darlington Neighborhood Association 