Buckman Community Association

BCA Planning Retreat; 2-8-03 & 10-20-01

Planning Retreat Notes; B. C. A. 2-8-03

The morning began with board members relating their personal histories, and
their views of the role of neighborhood Associations. Elizabeth noted NAs
used to dictate to the city what they needed. Now the city uses NAs for
justifying spending, bringing NAs 90%-finished projects for approval.

Don shared some history of the Eastside and Buckman. (see the history of Buckman on this website)

Susan talked about past retreats, noting that she had high hopes for the current board, which was not just a "two meetings a month" group.

The group reviewed accomplishments from the past year. The list included:
- cleanups,
- the August community meeting,
- work towards a Buckman Comm. Center,
- chili feed,
- Washington High site organization,
- St. Francis facilitation,
- CEID vision plan,
- work on Central Catholic neigh. issue, - East Burnside planning.

Board members reported on what they thought had contributed to the year's
successes:
- VISTA support,
- networking,
- active community members,
- good board leadership,
- taking advantage of circumstances.

Some negative factors from the past year included insufficient planning, and
overly grandiose projects, as well as some missed opportunities to
capitalize on pockets of community energy. Members also felt that public
relations could be improved, citing bad press from the various newspapers.

Next, the board formulated a list of priority projects and assigned
leadership to each:

* WaMo/Comm. Center - Susan, Jack & Don
* CEID -- Susan, Kevin
* Liquor -- discussion delayed for now
* St. Francis -- Ani, Josh
* NA Reorganization -- Don
* Farmers' Market -- Jarkko, Jack, Ann
* Chili Feed -- Kevin, Jim
* Village Bldg. Convergence - Ani, Josh
* Cleanup -- Ann, Jim

The group discussed plans for a newsletter. It was pointed out that
distribution is a great, simple job that can get volunteers in the door.

Ani will layout newsletter and get to the printer by the 20th -- text must
be to her by the 15th. Josh will talk to Stumptown Printers about a good price, etc. Jarkko will take newsletters from printer to the Examiner office. Susan will call Nancy and discuss fees, etc.

Attending the meeting were:
Susan Lindsay, co-chair
Jarkko Cain,
Josh Bickel,
Jack Maynard,
Ann Bowling,
Ani Haines,
Jim Evernden,
Don McGillivray, &
Elizabeth Kennedy facilitator from SEUL.


Minutes submitted by: Jarkko Cain, Secretary

Text of Easel Notes: 2-8-03

Agenda:

I. Intro
II. Goals for Today
III. History and Overview
IV. Roles of NA/SEUL/ONI
V. Break
VI. Looking Forward
VII. Goals for Next Year
VIII. Planning


GOALS

* Plan for follow-up responsibility
* Role of NA
* Evaluate/understand past experience/success


ROLE of NA

* Help people get along. Work out problems in inclusive ways.
* A tool for community building
* Help represent citizens; bring attention to community issues
-Work with city/county gov'ts
-Vision for neigh. improvement
-Grassroots effort
* Gathering points for community
* Defend turf from the "greater good"
* Using issues to bring community together for projects
* Show people how to use/work system
* Grassroots activism-connections & info


WHAT DID WE DO LAST YEAR?

- August community meeting
- Addressed OLCC
- Bulky waste cleanup
- Chili feed
- WaMo community center -- setting stage
- Negotiating St. Francis issues
- Burnside plan
- Communication movement w/ Delta Clinic


POSITIVE FACTORS

- VISTA support
- Networking
- Active community members
- Good board leadership
- Taking advantage of circumstances.
- Partnership with Kerns


NEGATIVE FACTORS

- Insufficient planning
- Missed opportunities re: BANG, etc.
- Public relations
- High # renters in Buckman


PROJECTS AND LEADERS

* WaMo/Community Ctr.- Susan, Jack & Don
* CEID - Susan, Kevin
* Liquor - discussion delayed for now
* St. Francis - Ani, Josh
* NA Reorganization - Don
* Farmers' Market - Jarkko, Jack, Ann
* Chili Feed - Kevin, Jim
* Village Bldg. Convergence - Ani, Josh
* Cleanup - Ann, Jim


NEWSLETTER DISTRIBUTION

Ann - 3 Friends
Ani - Mojo's
Susan - Morrison and 17th/18th
Jim - 16th/Hawthorne to 20th/Salmon
Kevin - REACH
Don - Yamhill- 20th/26th
Jarkko - area around 28th/Burnside

Planning Retreat Notes; B. C. A. 10-20-01

The Retreat began at 9:00 a.m. in the meeting room of the Ritzdorf Apartments at South East 12th and Belmont. Shaun Sieren, KERNS Target Area Co-ordinator, served as meeting facilitator. Board members present were Tom Baker, Kevin Kraus, Paul Iarrobino, Don MacGillivary, Ann Bowling, Randall Howington and Jim Sutherland. Jenny Leis, Vista Volunteer was also present.

The first activity was an "icebreaker" called Fantasy Tag, conducted by Jenny Leis. Board members wrote their "fantasy" for future BCA projects on strips of paper which were put into a hat. Each Board member drew someone elses "fantasy" and read it. Everyone tried to guess who wrote the "fantasy" and there was a short discussion about each one.

Next, Shawn asked the group to discuss what we saw as the BCAs accomplishments in the last year. The following points came out of this discussion.

The BCA maintained a less adversarial role in the past year as compared to prior years.

More networking was done with other entities around OLCC matters.

Creation and maintenance of the BCA web-site.

Consistent appearance of news about the BCA in the "Neighborhood Notes" which appear in The SE Examiner.

Successful Clean-Up Campaign in April.

The BCA was more proactive and less reactive in the past year.

The BCA was more active in receiving, disseminating and staying active in issues as they developed in the newly opened Esplanade.

More consistent representation at SEUL by the BCA

Kept on top of OLCC related items that had potential to affect the neighborhood.

Shifting the meetings to the Ritzfdorf Court Apartments seen as a good move.

Relationship with SEUL still seen as "distant." There is potential for improvement by getting more involved with the "Healthy Neighborhood" project.

We did not follow through on some of last years projected projects, such participation at the Hinson Neighborhood Picnic in August.

Some regret about losing our office space in the Weatherly Building, but agreed that it was not well used and with everyone being connected by e-mail now, maybe a separate office is no longer necessary.

E-mail use is up as a means of keeping the Board members connected between meetings.

Kevin keeping connected to the CEIC by being active on their Board.

Susan networking with land use reps from HAND and KERNS neighborhoods.

Next, we discussed what we saw as the organizations goals for the coming year. Some of the points which came out of this discussion were:

Make the BCA and its meetings more interesting.

More outreach to residents in the neighborhood

Stability

More socialization; bring the neighbors together.

Build more ties with the businesses in Buckman.

Recruitment of new people to serve on committees and on the Board.

Better advocacy with the City and other governmental agencies.

Next, discussion centered around specific goals of the neighborhood. The object of this discussion was to come up with a set of projects that we could move forward with in the coming year. We began with a general brainstorming with Shawn listing the ideas on the board. Some of the ideas from the general brainstorming were as follows:

Recruitment for people to write and publish a newsletter.

Continue with the spring Clean-up Campaign.

BCA more involved with local events, i.e. summer picnic, street fairs, etc.

Chili Feed as a fund raiser.

Art auction.

Collaborate with Buckman School and the SUNN program.

(At this point, Jenny told the group that she had met with representatives of the SUNN school program and they were interested in working with the neighborhood in various projects. Since we were in the middle of brainstorming, it was decided to find out more about Jennys meeting at later in the meeting).

Have a recruitment drive.

Hold special meetings, i.e. like a quarterly meeting with special speakers, events.

Get historic street signs and banners for the neighborhood.

Create a Historical Walk program through Buckman.

Get a historical designation for parts of Buckman.

Social activities, such as a "Stitch and Bitch" knitting get-together.

Yearly plant sale in the fall as a fund raiser.

Neighborhood Yard/Garage sale event.

Schedule a neighborhood event for the "Neighborhood Night Out" in August.

Help neighbors set up Block Watch programs. Also Block Homes

Get more community policing.

Asset mapping of Buckman.

Create a Survey of Buckman residents to get their opinions.

Next, we took the above items and by pared them down and/or combined them into groups. This was the "first cut." Our goal was to come up with a list of projects that the Board would be more realistically able to accomplish given our size a present. The results of this "first cut" were:

Continue the Clean-up Campaign. This was unanimous due to last years success.

The BCA have a presence at summer events and create an informational display.

Fund Rasing.

Recruitment

Newsletter.

Collaboration with the public schools.

Improvements to Col. Summers Park.

We then had a discussion about the above items and came up with Final list which was as follows:

Recruitment


Fund-raising

BCA involvement

Committee Structure

The next part of the discussion was about how does the Board focus on the above four items it wants to accomplish. Some of the ideas we discussed are as follows:

Fund raising - could be a method of recruitment also, i.e. a Chili Feed brings new people to a fun, socializing event where they can learn about the BCA at the same time. At the same time the BCA must have a reason for raising the funds as people will want to know "where is the money going?" for any fund raising event that is held.

The spring Clean-Up has more potential as a fund-raiser again next year.

Public Awareness Project - A mass mailing of an invitation to come to an interesting event/program to be held by the BCA. We need a good reason to get people to come to the event and then we need to have "attactors" to make them want to come back to the next meeting. Topics that generate public debate are possible subjects that we could build special meetings around.

Advocacy campaign to work with the SUNN School and with the Public Involvement Project regarding the future development of Washington High School, so that we have a voice in any plans including the possible creation of a community center for our neighborhood.

At the end of the Retreat, we had narrowed our discussion down to the following items as projects for the BCA to work on in the coming year.

Fund-raising

Collaborating with the public schools

A recruitment drive

Public awareness project

Creation of a BCA information packet/presentation.

Finally, there was a short discussion among the Board members about setting the agendas at future meetings. We agreed that when approached by any group wanting to do a presentation, that they do not dictate to us how long they will need. We need to tell them how long they can have. Susan and Don, as co-chairs will communicate with each other about potential presenters and then inform the Board. Susan is also going to create a List Server through PSU for the Board members.

At about 12:30 p.m. we adjourned and regrouped at Madisons Grill for lunch. There was a continued discussion at the lunch about the need to set the agenda so that we had time for all of our own business before turning over the meetings to others who might have a lengthy presentation. We discussed the need to let neighbors who might just show up with a "problem" to be allowed to be heard, even though they were not on the agenda.

Susan discussed her idea of a post card "invitation" to a special meeting. This special meeting is tentatively the General Meeting in January and we will invite the "Good Government" group who is trying to revamp the way in which citizens are represented at City Hall through a ballot measure to have District Elections. This topic is going to generate a lot of interest throughout the City and it could be a good "draw" for getting a lot of people to a meeting. We will discuss Susans idea further at our November Board meeting.

There was also a short discussion about updating the stationery and business cards which Paul and Kevin are going to work on. Susan will also inform all printed media who carry our notices of meetings, that our location has changed from Buckman School to the Ritzdorf. At about this point, lunch was served.