March 14, 2016

Last Tuesday, the Portland Water Bureau took part in an extraordinary event called the Children’s Clean Water Festival.

The Children’s Clean Water Festival is an annual one-day environmental education event that brings fourth and fifth grade students, from around the Portland Metro area, to learn about water and how it relates to our world.

This year, more than 1,500 children from over than 20 schools attended the Water Festival.

The Festival provided interactive water-focused classroom presentations, exhibits, and stage shows reinforced by STEM, Common Core, and Next Generation Science. Staff from the Water Bureau also taught classes on topics such as groundwater, how to build a water main, and water testing.

To learn more about this event, visit www.cleanwaterfestival.org and read more about it on the Bureau’s Water Blog.

March 14, 2016

The Portland Art Museum has a beautiful exhibition featuring a blend of modern Native American photographs with older, idealized photographs of Native Americans called, Contemporary Native Photographers and the Edward Curtis Legacy: Zig Jackson, Wendy Red Star, Will Wilson.

Talented Native American photographers, Jackson, Red Star, and Wilson, provide a modern and contemporary interpretation of Native Americans through photography. Edward Sheriff Curtis’ photographs are also featured, from his stunning publication, The North American Indian.

His publication includes over 1,500 photos of more than 80 Native American tribes, taken from 1907-1930. Curtis, a non-Native, believed in highlighting and preserving Native cultures through photos. His work received both praise and criticism, as many photos were romanticized representations of Native culture.

The exhibit is a response to the dialogue surrounding Curtis’ controversial photos. It showcases Native American photographs alongside Curtis’ photographs, providing a unique look into non-Native and Native perspectives of the portrayal of Native Americans in photography.

Check out the Portland Art Museum's website for more information.

Photo courtesy of Portland Art Museum.

March 14, 2016

This week is Fix A Leak Week, a national awareness week organized by the EPA to encourage people to find and fix water leaks.

The Portland Water Bureau provides free Water Audit Kits to Portlanders. The kits simply explain how to locate and fix leaks, helps you save money and water. Kits include a bag to measure shower and faucet flow rate, toilet leak detection tablets, a drip gauge to measure leak rate and instructions for use.

Identifying and fixing leaks can be done with the whole family. Check out these games and activities for children.

Check out the Water Bureau’s website for more information.

Portland Approves $2.75 Million for Homeless Services

Amelia Templeton in the OPB

The City is Going to Pay For Homeless People’s Bus Tickets Out of Town

Dirk VanderHart in the Portland Mercury

The City Has a New Front In the Fight Against Homelessness

Dirk VanderHart in the Portland Mercury

Council spends money to prevent more Portlanders from becoming homeless

Jim Redden in the Portland Tribune

Helping cash-strapped homeowners prepare for an earthquake is the right thing to do (OPINION)

Steve Novick in The Oregonian

Will Portland mayor’s race go to runoff?
Jim Redden in the Portland Tribune

Portland to Join Suit Against Monsanto

Amelia Templeton in the OPB

Equity Contracting Panel: No Confidence in City

Lisa Loving in The Skanner

March 21, 2016

Love planting? This Friday, join Rose Community Development in the Lents neighborhood for the Beyer Court Planting Party.

Last summer, volunteers from Depave and Rose Community Development worked hard to remove a section of concrete from the Beyer Court Apartments parking lot, to make way for a new rain garden.

Now with spring upon us, it’s time for planting. The new rain garden will clean stormwater runoff and add lovely landscaping to the neighborhood. It’ll also function as a mini-habitat for pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

The project is funded by the Bureau of Environmental Services’ (BES) Community Watershed Stewardship Program. The program provides grants to innovative projects that help improve Portland’s neighborhoods and communities, as well as watershed health.

Anyone is welcome to help out! Rose Community Development will provide gardening tools.

Contact Eden at eden@rosecdc.org or (503) 788.8052 x 19 for more information.

Beyer Court Planting Party

Friday, March 25, 1 pm – 5 pm

Beyer Court Apartments

9305 SE Harold St.