President's Message to the Beaumont Wilshire n'hood
Albert Kaufman
I've been posting my President's message to the Beaumont-Wilshire neighborhood on Blue Oregon for a while. Here's my New Year's message, thought some of you might enjoy it. Albert
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You are the President of the Beaumont Wilshire Neighborhood Association. You are the Mayor of Portland. You are the President of the United States and the head of the United Nations. This is your planet, your neighborhood – your home. In some way I believe it makes sense for all of us to try this perspective out – that we are responsible for what happens in our world – beyond walking the dog and making sure that our socks are clean. And it’s a new year – a great time to think about starting something new – maybe you’ve thought about taking a class or building a raised bed for a vegetable garden. How about trying to improve our neighborhood, city, country or planet – to bring an idea you have to fruition? I’ve been involved in neighborhood and urban councils for years and it constantly amazes me to see how most projects just need one person’s committed effort to succeed.
There are so many places to plug in – the Learning Garden at Beaumont MS, the public art on Fremont discussion, our Feb. 17th Friends of Trees tree planting. And, what do you dream of? Film nights, book clubs, Flexcar on Fremont or attracting a certain business to our business district? Don’t forget that you have been given permission to start thinking about our community – I think you’ll find it’s a pretty interesting practice. One way this played out for me recently, was that I participated in a web survey of local restaurants. Just about every answer was a business on Fremont – I love walking to a nearby place and we have some great places to choose from. Something about that little action alerted me to how my thinking has recently changed about our community. I think it makes sense to be pleased with how cozy our corner of the planet it, and it’s also a good idea for each of us to take a wider view. Be the Change you envision – Gandhi
Happy New Year and I’ll see you in the hood!
Albert Kaufman
[email protected]
BWNA
PS – join our e-list at bwna.org to join the conversation
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Jan 21, '07
ARTICLE I Section 20, the “Equality of privileges and immunities of citizens” clause in the Oregon Constitution reads: “No law shall be passed granting to any citizen or class of citizens privileges, or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens.—“
Allowing Flexcar (or any other rental car agency) to have reserved parking places on public streets appears to violate the intent of this section in the Oregon Constitution. Such actions only demonstrate how far and to what extreme some political forces will go to push their individual agendas onto the public - even if it violates the intent of the law. Additionally, removing more parking in the Fremont Business District, an already parking starved community, will only lead to more vehicles parked in front of residents on side streets and have a negative impact on small businesses in the area.