The following supporters made the SHNA Fall Cleanup and Beautification Event possible:
Neighbors West Northwest Coalition – supporting our efforts with a Small Grant award City of Portland Office of Civic Life
Waste Management – Carlton Paulmier, Sr. District Mgr Oregon and John Thering district Ops Mgr Oregon- donated 20-yard dumpster
Sylvan Westgate Business Park – AMERICAN Property Management, Paula Neal – donated the space for the dumpster, parking, and set up
Starbucks on Skyline – Managers Eyra and Gina donated coffee and bathrooms.
- Oregon Kickball League – event volunteers
- NectarPDX – event volunteers
- Abby and Hugh Maier – headed up the median flowerbed effort
- Raquel Lenker, Gabriela Downey & Michael Canarella – sign-in table and photography
- Steve, Sarah & Hildi Harrington – graffiti team leaders and photography
- Dave Malcolm and Rick Kneuven – brush removal team leaders
- Aubrey Russell – neighbor from across the freeway on Hewett – brought plants and assisted in planting them on the Sylvan median
- Mike – Plaid Pantry employee — head cheerleader during our projects
- Michele Shea-han – donated her tent in case of rain and trash bags
- Sally Kneuven – SOLVE event organizer
I hope I haven’t left anyone out!
Thanks for everything, SOLVE staff! – Emily Berend, in particular.
Summary of Sylvan Highlands Neighborhood Association Fall Cleanup and Beautification Project
In association with SOLVE Oregon
The event, held on Saturday, October 9, 2021, was a huge success. Thanks to SOLVE, we registered our event on the site in advance, and a healthy number of volunteers signed up. In addition to neighbors from Sylvan Highlands and elsewhere, volunteers from Oregon Kickball League and a corporate entity, NectarPDX, assisted.
We obtained permission from the Sylvan Westgate Business Park to set up a sign-in table and deposit a 20-yard dumpster on their site. Volunteers parked their cars on-site. The nearby Starbucks allowed volunteers to use the restrooms, and the manager donated coffee for volunteers.
We approached Waste Management for help months in advance of the event. The corporate office of Waste Management donated a 20-yard dumpster and delivered it to the site. Without that dumpster, the scope of our project would have been considerably smaller.
Another volunteer and I took inventory of the tasks before the event. I prepared laminated maps and lists of the tasks under each heading: trash, brush, and graffiti.
Volunteers collected 40 bags of trash and filled the 20-yard dumpster with mounds of landscape debris removed from sidewalks and bikeways where brush and blackberry bushes had encroached on the paths. Typical trash included bottles, cups, paper, plastic, and wrappers found on the side of the road—some of the unusual items included a metal desk, bedding, and a garage door track complete with the motor assembly. One team of volunteers removed graffiti from seven signs and mirrors around the neighborhood. Another small team dead-headed flowers and planted some new plants in our perennial flower bed at the entrance to the neighborhood.
Volunteers de-trashed the following areas: Canyon Road, Canyon Court, the Sylvan Westgate commercial areas, bike and pedestrian paths on Canyon Court and Canyon Road, the Sylvan overpass, the Sylvan median flowerbed, the area just south of the Sylvan overpass on Scholl’s Ferry Road, the bus stop area south of the Sylvan overpass, and the entrance and exit ramps on the north and south sides of Highway 26 at the Sylvan overpass.
Volunteers spent three hours, from 9:00 a.m. to noon, helping with the project. Four volunteers, including myself, my husband, and Dave and Ian Malcolm, worked until 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and for another three hours on 10/10 to load and haul the remaining landscape debris piles over to the dumpster on a borrowed flatbed trailer.
Many hands made light work for this project. We appreciated the support we received from SOLVE to coordinate a well-organized and well-staffed event.
Any questions, contact Sally Kneuven
503-805-8268
vp@sylvanhighlands.org
