[BWNA] Fwd: [City Repair] City Repair End of the Year Letter

Fri Dec 29 12:10:52 PST 2006

since I am hoping that our community embraces some collaborative projects
with City Repair this year, I encourage you to join the City Repair e-mail
list and see what they are up to.

Happy New Year!

Albert Kaufman

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hindi Iserhott <hindi at cityrepair.org>
Date: Dec 27, 2006 11:55 AM
Subject: [City Repair] City Repair End of the Year Letter
To: theword at mailman.cityrepair.org

December 27, 2006

Dear City Repairers,

This has been a very busy year for City Repair. We remain focused on
reclaiming public space and continue to build capacity for participation by
expanding our volunteer base and project sphere. Our phone rings regularly
with requests for information on how to initiate projects that build
community in neighborhoods around the nation and into Canada.

This coming year promises to provide renewed energy for community driven
natural building, permaculture design, and welcoming localization projects
throughout Portland and beyond. We cannot do this work without you, and are
asking for kind-hearted financial help to keep our core operations up and
running. With sustained energy and dedication from supporters like you, the
vision of community-focused Portland will prevail.

*Village Building Convergence 2006*

This year's wildly successful VBC continued to support the tradition of
renewal, participation, and celebration. Neighbors and volunteers from
Portland and across the country converged at 26 sites daily, expanding our
placemaking work into all four quadrants of the city. The evenings were
filled with joy-filled communal dinners featuring locally sourced and
prepared foods. The evening activites progressed into rich realms of
experiential learning, where visionaires in the fields of permaculture,
natural building, food systems, and social justice entralled and educated
the participants. If you missed Jon Young's inspiring presentation about
cultural mentoring, The Spiral Dance with Starhawk, or the delicious dinners
prepared on site, we hope to see you at VBC 2007 because it will be even
better.

Some of the projects we hope to support in the coming year include community
collaborations in all parts of the city, multi-cultural gathering places,
reclaiming the public right of way via Intersection Repair, local watershed
maps and restoration with native plants, small lot permaculture design,
edible and medicinal gardens, use of alternative energy, ecological public
art, and the continued participation of established sites. We are also
strengthening our focus on fundraising to empower the financial autonomy of
neighborhood placemaking projects. No vibrant vision of community will be
overlooked.

Intersection Repair

Our Intersection Repair projects continue to multiply and thrive, especially
in the annual Village Building Convergence cycle. This year we helped
facilitate 2 Intersection Repairs in North Portland, the first time this has
ever occurred! Neighbors came together once again to paint Share-It-Square
and Sunnyside Piazza, demonstrating how community ties are built and
strengthened through this process. In November, Share-It-Square was the site
of Portland's first village wedding! The Mt. Scott-Arleta Neighborhood group
continued their work on one the most ambitious intersection repair efforts
to date, their revitalization project at SE 72nd and Woodstock Ave. The VBC7
organizing committee is again offering grants up to $500 in paint for
communities seeking to reclaim and transform their public space into
community place.

*Earth Day Celebration 2006*

Sellwood Park in SE Portland was host to our annual Earth Day Celebration,
which featured over 130 sustainable businesses and organizations, a Kid's
Village organized by SCRAP, and. a full effort to recycle all materials.
Over 4,000 people listened to three stages of live music, soaked up the
sunshine.and engaged in the kick-off for City Repair's involvement with
VisionPDX. We also partnered with the City of Portland and SOLV to help
remove invasive plants in Oaks Bottom, adjacent to Sellwood Park.. We are
honored to share this framework for a large, non-corporate,
ecologically-sustainable community event with other organizations in
Portland and across the nation!

*City Riparian*

The first annual Village Planting Convergence occurred this autumn. It
included learning about sheet composting, guilds, and basket-weaving.
Building on the VBC tradition, many went on to participate in eveing
potlucks and presentations on the practice of permaculture design.

*The Cathedral*

This massive Mississippi Street warehouse space temporarily houses our
materials, provides a venue for community engagement, and creates an
opportunity to expand our faciltation skills. We are grateful to Randy
Rapaport for the use of this exciting space, providing us with a place to
host fundraisers and to interact with the Boise Neighborhood.

*
*
OUTREACH

*VisionPDX/T-Horse*

The City Repair Project obtained a grant of $13,200 from the City of
Portland for community work on the March-September 2006 phase of VisionPDX.
We collected over 2,000 documented responses from 7,000 participants, who
voiced their visions for Portland during Earth Day, VBC, and 15 smaller
events utilizing the T-Horse. Our participation in this citywide visioning
process has energized, expanded, and reinforced the social networks that
support our transformative work. We were also thrilled to host the premier
performance of "If I Were The Queen of the Forest", Melinda Pittman's
VisionPDX funded interactive theater piece, which exhorted the audience to
make their opinions on our wonderful city's future known.
Tours

In the last twelve months, Mark Lakeman, Lydia Doleman, Hindi Iserhott,
Katrina Zavahlney, and other volunteers and board members have given
inspiring presentations about City Repair across the continent. Some of the
tours have included a multi-day workshop with the Army Corps of Engineers, a
three week tour up and down the coast of California, collaboration with
activists in the Los Angeles area in creating their own City Repair Project,
and several speaking engagements in Canada.

Publications

The comprehensive "*Placemaking Guidebook"* was re-written this year by
founding member Jenny Leis. The resulting book is much improved: Larger,
full of colorful pictures and more lively essays. *"Transforming Space into
Place",* our 15-minute documentary about The City Repair Project and the
2003 Village Building Convergence continues to gain audience attention. The
DVD has sold over 500 copies across the continent, and was awarded 'Best
Documentary' at the Forest Film Festival. In November 2006 it was broadcast
on the national cable access show "Democracy Now!". The City Repair Project
was also featured in the Permaculture Activist, Communities Magazine, the
Oregonian, and many other publications.
ORGANIZATION

*Staff Changes*

After years of remarkable dedication, Saskia Dreshler and Daniel Lerch ended
their board membership. Their excellent contributions continue to support
our health and resiliency. Toby Hememway provided a year of insightful
guidance, resigning in September to focus on his permaculture and teaching
work more fully. Jan Semenza is currently on sabbatical in Sweden and will
re-join us next year. Sarah Stacey Iannarone, Courtney Dillard and Bruce
Podobnick have assumed board duties with gusto. Kathleen Walsh was
designated President, Mark Lakeman became Treasurer, and Sarah has gamely
committed to secretarial duties. With increased activity in the community,
we have felt the need to increase our presence in the office. We welcomed
Melinda Pittman as our Financial Manager, Erica Ritter as our Office
Manager, Bob New transitioned to Bookkeeper, Elliot Rasenick joined the team
as our Community Events Organizer, Hindi Iserhott came aboard in the newly
developed Program Coordinator position, and Yveline Wilnau became the first
paid VBC Coordinator with the support of a Lee Larson Legacy grant..

In order to continue our work, we ask you to consider supporting us directly
with a tax-exempt contribution. We are looking forward with gratitude and
excitement to the promise of 2007: Upwards of 50 VBC sites! An Earth Day
celebration hosted in North Porland's Woodlawn Park! Partnering with
Guerilla Theater featuring KRS-ONE, January 27th at the Cathedral!

We thank you for your continuing support and wish you the warmest of holiday
cheer and goodwill. Thank you for helping us to transform the world, one
intersection at a time.  Please support us monetarily in whatever amount you
can give.  It is possible to donate through our website
http://www.cityrepair.org/wiki.php/about/support
or you can send a check to through the mail.  Our mailing address is PO Box
42615 Portland, OR 97242

Love,

The City Repair Project staff and volunteers

If mailing in your tax-exempt donation, please use the form below.

Name:____________________________________________________ The City Repair
Project

Email address:___________________________________________ www.cityrepair.org

Address:__________________________________________________ t: 503-235-8946

City, State, Zip:___________________________________________ f: 503-235-1046

O  I am choosing to double my gift by enclosing a matching grants form from
my employer.

O  I am interested in becoming a Friends Of City Repair and am pledging
$_______/month

_______________________________________________
Theword mailing list
Theword at cityrepair.org
http://mailman.cityrepair.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/theword

-- 

Albert Kaufman
3244 NE 44th Ave.
Portland, OR 97213
503-358-0029
albertkaufman at gmail.com
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