Category Archives: oregon

igniteportland, legionoftech, oregon, portland, user groups 2 Comments

legion of tech

I recently joined the board of a tech non-profit called Legion of Tech. Our goals are:

  • Grow and nurture the local Portland technology community through educational, not-for-profit, community-run events.
  • Make it easier for community members to organize technology events.
  • Provide resources and assistance for technology community events.

Dawn also just wrote about it. We had a great first board meeting, full of interesting ideas and energetic people.

A few of us at the board meeting talked about event calendaring and keeping in touch with all the user groups in the greater Portland area. Members of the Perl community recently volunteered some time to write some code in support of a better calendaring system. We currently have at least two Google calendars, a PBwiki, dozens of mailing lists and many individual blogs.

Have ideas for how we could all work together and make a better system? Raven suggested the hCal microformat for announcing meetings, I thought it would be cool to have a Planet Portland and someone else mentioned Drupal. What do you think?

flood, oregon, vernonia, volunteering

vernonia

wide shot of city hall

I went to Vernonia today with my husband to volunteer. We went directly to city hall, got a red work ticket, and drove out to a house that needed the garage cleared out. They were incredibly efficient, handing out tickets as fast as people were able to sign in.

one of many down fences

The folks on our red ticket needed their garage cleaned out. We found out that the person living there had been staying since the flood at a shelter with her three children. They were trying to clear out the garage to have Christmas there, instead of in the shelter.

santa!

We talked while we worked, learning that a neighbor needed help with his fence, that some stuff in the garage going to the dump was old, emotional baggage that at least one person was happy to see gone, and that these folks had all been around for the 1996 flood.

We had a free lunch from good folks who BBQ’d all day downtown. And we visited the schools.

vernonia high

All three schools – elementary, middle and high – were stripped to where the flood waters had reached. The rooms were all empty and full of drying equipment. Many rooms still had student work hanging from the walls.

DSC_0037.JPG

The high school lost most or maybe all of their computer labs. At least one lab was in a portable classroom that was completely flooded.

former computer lab

It was chilly outside, but not raining most of the day. We walked for probably half an hour, all around the schools. Then we went back to the garage to finish up the cleaning.

There was only about an hour’s worth of work left. We helped move boxes into the attic, and open up the area around a tiny wood stove in the back of the garage. A local church is coming out on Monday to get the large appliances out, and then they’ll do a final wash before bringing a Christmas tree, and a few pieces of furniture in.

Another friendly neighbor is loaning the family a trailer to live in while their home is stripped and hopefully raised a few more feet off the ground. They didn’t know how long any of that would take, but were applying for FEMA assistance.

Link to vernoniafloodinfo.blogspot.com.

flood, handsonportland, oregon, portland, volunteering

Hands On Greater Portland posts disaster response volunteer opportunities

Hands On Greater Portland has posted disaster response volunteer opportunities on their site. The partner programs are Victim Volunteer Services (Vernonia and Columbia County) as well as the American Red Cross.

The Red Cross is looking for folks to show up tomorrow morning (12/7/2007) at 8am. See the Hands On site for details. Vernonia Victim Volunteer Services is also looking for folks to just show up at their space across the street from Vernonia City Hall.

Hands On will likely be coordinating a few projects in the weeks to come. If you have some time this weekend, however, just head out to either of the locations mentioned on the Hands On website.

flood, oregon, washington

I-5 closure: chehalis & feds fought over funding, priorities

From the Oregonian Breaking News blog:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/12/reports_fix_for_flooding_probl.html

In fact, there was actually $30 million to control flooding from the river in the big nickel-a-gallon gas tax increase approved by Washington voters in 2003. But as the Times explains,Congress has failed to approve the federal share of the project while the cities of Centralia and Chehalis “have struggled to agree on needed flood controls.” While the project would have protected I-5, the cities would have still been vulnerable to flooding, so they didn’t want to assume the maintenance costs. As a result, Lewis County sent a letter to the Corps of Engineers last year rescinding its support for the project.

They go on to mention that Corps of Engineers priorities shifted funding to Katrina-related repairs and Iraq/Afghanistan, so even if Chehalis would have wanted to move foward, they couldn’t have.

I-5 is still closed, and Dept of Transportation says it will continue to be closed for several days.

From OPB:

Normally more than 50,000 cars and trucks would use that portion of I-5 daily. It’s estimated the closure is costing truckers $4 million a day.

flood, oregon

news about flooding in oregon

First off, we’re fine in Portland. A little flooding in the Johnson Creek and outer SE, but nothing like the 1996 floods that put much of “lower” Oregon City underwater, and nearly brought floodwater into downtown Portland.

Vernonia, about 45 minutes from Portland, was not so lucky.

One excellent resource for news about the flooding in Oregon has been the Oregonian Breaking News blog. They’ve done a great job posting road closures and information about the effects of flooding as it is happening. One good summary post is Coast Recovering as Flood Moves Inland.

Another great resource has been the Oregon Public Broadcasting Traffic Map. This is always useful, but during both the snow/ice warnings and the flood and storm that followed, it was quickly updated.

I’ve asked Hands On Portland about a project in one of the areas near Portland later on this month. If I hear anything back, I’ll post here.

The pictures of the flooding were pretty awful. The schools in Vernonia don’t look like they’ll be usable for the rest of the year. Vernonia residents were caught off guard because all the flood warnings had focused on the coast.

The I-5 freeway between Portland and Seattle is impassible right now. An incredible amount of truck traffic flows up and down I-5 year-round. Reports I’ve read say that traffic through I-90 and Yakima is terrible, and that I-5 will still be blocked through tomorrow.

I-5 Flooded