Super Duper Update: 2008 Edition

It's been a while since the last site update, so there's lots to report. Please continue to support our project by checking for updates and especially by stopping by a work party and sharing a your ideas or picking up a shovel to help!

• ATP Maintenance: Thanks to a dedicated crew of folks, the Arleta Triangle is looking really tidy. Special thanks go out to Mt. Scott Fuel for donating bark dust and gravel for our last few work parties.
• Adopt-A-Tree 2008: has been a huge success. From Martin to Carlton, Duke to Ramona, our trees are feeling loved and cared for by the fabulous folks who graciously offered to tend them individually through the dog days of summer. If you have a few extra minutes and some gray water to get rid of, why not stop by the Triangle and show our plants some love!
  
• Canopy Painting and Installation: The canopy fabrication is complete and as soon as we're done painting them, we'll schlep them over to the site and install them. If you're interested in helping paint, stop by the site early Saturday morning (9AM) before heading over to the neighborhood block party later that afternoon.
  
• Website Redesign: We've switched over entirely to a blog format (for easy updating), with a calendar and online donation options. Keep your eyes open for an updated link to the Mt. Scott-Arleta Neighborhood Association website soon. For added security, note the updated email address, too: project (at) arleta-triangle (dot) org
  

And be on the lookout for these coming attractions:

• Community Communications Kiosk: Once the canopies are installed (mid-August), we'll work on installing a kiosk which hosts permanent information about the project as well as current information of neighborhood interest. The design is still up in the air. If you'd like to contribute, why not stop by a work party and share your ideas?
  
• Grant Writing Parties: We need some green to keep our site green. It only takes a few interested folks to work on grant proposals in the off-season to keep the project moving forward for an entire year.
• Water Catchment and Alternative Energy Development: We've got some radical ideas about watering and lighting our site. If you're technologically inclined and interested in contributing to the project, stay tuned!
• Permaculture Redesign: Site maintenance has been onerous (to say the least) so we're exploring ways to install low maintenance plants that will keep our site looking beautiful year-round.
• The Evolving Wall: Many of you noticed and commented on our cob wall "failure". We've brainstormed many clever ways for dealing with the limits of cob for our purposes on site. Let's see where it goes...
  

SKATE PARTY FUNDRAISER

This is just a reminder that we're hosting a DISCO SKATE PARTY tonight at the Mt. Scott Community Center from 8-10PM to raise money for the VBC. There will be good food, good music, and lots of fun to be had--so come on over. (Skate rental is included in the $5 cover.)

Coming Events

There's much to do as the VBC approaches. Here's an update on the schedule of events for the VBC and let you know what we still need from volunteers.

• Saturday, May 6th-- Neighborhood Clean-up: We'll be working on the triangle from 9-12, weeding, moving some gravel around and generally gettting the site ready for the swarms of volunteers who'll be iin attendance for the VBC. At noon we'll bring our debris over to Arleta school and help them finish up there as needed. We need some strong hands to helpas Brian Borrello starts putting up the posts that will hold our canopy. Bring work gloves, wheelbarrows, debris containers, water bottles and refreshments.
• Friday, May 12th--Skate Party, 8-10PM, Mt. Scott Community Center Rink: This is our first big fundraiser for the triangle project in a while. We need to raise $750 to cover the cost of our builder for the VBC. We're looking for people to help run concessions. Also, we're thinking it would be nice to sell some homemade stuff, so if you like to bake and have something you'd like to donate to concessions, we'll happily accept it.
  
• Saturday, May 13th--Foundation Prep: We'll be working on prepping the wall for the VBC throughout the day. I'll have more info once I see what we accomplish on the 6th.
• Saturday, May 20th--VBC opening day and BLOCK PARTY!!! We need people of all shapes, ages, colors and sizes to come out to the triangle and help us kick off the day. We're looking for musicians (or any entertainers for that matter) , event organizers (help set up and break down, help put out lunch, etc.) , cob stompers, outreach people, and merry-makers to come out and help us make this thing possible.
• Sunday, May 28th--ICE CREAM SOCIAL: We're looking for someone to help us organize this event as well.

In the meantime, if you'd like to get more involved, drop us a line at 503.774.3062 or email neighborhoodrepair@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you on the Triangle and at the Skate Party!

Proposed Final Canopy Design

I know, I know. The triangle looks like a mess. The project coffers are empty. The VBC is looming and it seems like we've got so much to do. Have no fear, gentle neighbors, help is on the way. What you're seeing in the canopy design above is the result of months of design charettes, neighborhood surveys, and general community input gathering. Additionally, fun is one the way. I'll be sending out an email soon detailing upcoming fun fundraising events, the date of a quick pre-VBC clean-up on the Triangle, and other inspiring information to get you reinvigorated about the project.

Proposed Canopy Designs

Below are some designs public artist Brian Borrello has developed on our behalf after hours of working at and facilitating discussion about our site. Please take a moment to leave comments about the aspects of each that you prefer, dislike, are intrigued or incensed by etc.. If there are specific elements of the designs that you'd like further information about or that aren't clear from the illustrations, please note those here, too, and I will compile them and pass them along to Brian en masse.
Also, check in at Space Monkey Coffee and the Mt. Scott Community Center in the coming weeks if you'd prefer to leave a comment in person.

VBC Update: What is placemaking to you?

Most Mondays, a representative from our project will be attending organizational meetings for VBC6 sponsored by Portland's own City Repair Project. There are over thirty sites like ours participating in this event, which will be replete with potlucks, dances, workshops, seminars, and lectures by esteemed natural builders and community builders. (I'll post the schedule of events when I get it.)

This week we started the meeting by going around and saying what placemaking meant to us. I thought that sharing what "placemaking" means to each of us would be a nice way to begin our blog (and to give us practice leaving comments, if need be).

Our project's official line is all about connecting...creating...and a few more c-words. I noted when it was my turn to speak that, having worked on this project for more than a year now, my understanding of placemaking has changed a great deal. Most important among these changes is an understanding that placemaking--despite the artifacts left behind to the contrary--is a very temporary and ephemeral thing, a thing that exists only when there are people in a space giving it the care and attention that it needs to become a place.

Welcome, neighbors, to our new virtual space! I hope you will take the care and attention it takes to turn this into a true community place that supports and supplements our heavier material world efforts on the corner of 72nd and Woodstock.

Testing 1...2...3...

This is our new blog. Are you ready to be a part of it?