Sylvan-Highlands Neighborhood Association (SHNA)

May Newsletter

May 29, 2003

May 2003
SHNA Newsletter
Next Meeting May 13, 2003

Election
On Tuesday, May 13, the Sylvan-Highlands neighborhood will elect new officers and board members for a two-year term, serving May 2003 through May 2005. A slate of candidates will be presented at the meeting. Anyone wishing to be considered for office may contact Sally Kneuven, 226-4850, prior to the meeting. Persons may be nominated from the floor during the election as well. You must be a member of SHNA to vote. If you are not yet a member, contact Dave Malcolm, VP & Membership Chair, 221-7903 or visit the SHNA web site for an online membership form. Come and recognize the outgoing board members and welcome the incoming crew! The meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. at Fire Station 16, 1715 SW Skyline, in the community room. Park at Westgate Business Center or at the Sylvan School.

Crime
Car prowls are on the rise in our neighborhood. Most incidents seem to occur at night. Cars that are left outside in driveways and parked on the street have been vandalized. Theft of contents is the primary motive. Because of budgetary constraints, the justice system is hamstrung in its ability to prosecute property crimes ?– focusing more on personal crimes. For this reason, it is imperative that residents of Sylvan-Highlands do what they can to protect themselves against this type of rampant crime.

Identity theft is another continuing problem in our neighborhood. Recent efforts by our Crime Prevention Chair, PK Wall, have yielded a deal to purchase discounted security mailboxes from Mailbox Solutions in Wilsonville. Our neighborhood mailman, Andy, and Board member, Annie Duzik, on SW Taylor Street, have rallied to provide solutions for areas especially hard hit by crime. Thanks to their efforts, a longstanding visibility problem with clustered mailboxes that are repeatedly ransacked at either end of the street will be alleviated. After two years of haggling, the West Slope manager, John Bowman, has finally agreed to allow residents to move their boxes into more visible locations, and residents are banding together to purchase secure cluster boxes. This is a real triumph! Thanks Annie, PK, Andy, and John!

Neighborhood E-Mail List
In case you haven?’t heard about it, there is a neighborhood e-mail list that is maintained like a community hotline. The e-mail list is monitored by the President and Secretary and is used to inform residents about issues of importance to neighbors. It is a great way to notify people about lost dogs or crime waves. If you?’d like to add your name to the list of 130 neighbors, please contact a board member. The e-mail list is used exclusively for neighborhood business.

Outgoing President?’s Message
It has been my pleasure to work with all of you over the past two years. You?’ve been wonderfully receptive and participatory. You make the job worth doing. We?’ve handled some big things together during this term: updated our bylaws and membership list thanks to VP Dave Malcolm?’s leadership; skirted high density development on the Strohecker property site, thanks to an investment in the community by the Loackers and Michael Burmeister-Brown and shepherded keenly by our Land Use Chair, Chris Steinbrecher, and committee chair, Gretchen Hollands; kept incredible records of our meetings and progress thanks to Secretary Judy Filsinger?’s conscientiousness and Jenny Thome?’s tireless contributions to our web site; worked through an incredibly difficult negotiation on the Tibetan Peace Center under the leadership of Board members Jeff Brown & John Braestrup, plus Chuck Lenard and the able group of neighbors on SW 61st Drive known as ?“Sylvan Neighbors;?” maintained excellent stewardship of our neighborhood treasury with masterful guidance from John Braestrup, Treasurer; secured a senior neighborhood officer and kept the neighborhood safer under the watchful eye of PK Wall and Preston Wong; spruced up the neighborhood for four year?’s running, thanks to the leadership of Tom Barnes and the SOLV program; welcomed a new fire station to our neighborhood thanks to the long-term efforts of Liz Ohlmann and Greg Flinders; guided the neighborhood through the difficult waters of the Healthy Streams Initiative thanks to hard-working committee members under the direction of Milt Lankton; and accomplished the unimaginable feat of collecting $12,000 to fund six speed bumps on SW Barnes Road thanks to the relentless efforts of Steve and Jenny Thome. These are some of the highlights of the term of office, May 2001 ?– 2003. Many people contributed to the betterment of our community, and a great deal of good was accomplished.

Thanks to my husband, Rick, and our children for their support and patience. And, finally, special thanks to Mark, Anne, David and Preston at Neighbors West/Northwest, for their invaluable counsel and encouragement.
?–Sally Kneuven, President

Neighborhood web site
Looking for links to important city sites? Interested in an on-line forum to discuss key issues in the neighborhood? Want to join SHNA? You can get all this and more on the SHNA web site at www.neighborhoodlink.com/portland/shna

Remember: To vote at SHNA meetings, you must be a registered member of the neighborhood association. For information about how to become a member, please contact Dave Malcolm, 503-221-7903 or davem@advisoryfirm.com

Next Neighborhood Meeting: May 13, 2003, 7:00 p.m. at Fire Station 16, 1715 SW Skyline, Community room. Please park at the Westgate Business Center or at the Sylvan School.