Senior Center
Two vans full of Center members attended the Sandy High School Grand Opening on September 7th.  Included in the group was 1936 SHS graduate Grace Reich.  Grace’s father owned a sawmill on land that is now the Nicholas Glen neighborhood, and she has remained active in the Sandy community serving on many committees.  She has coordinated the Center’s meals-on-wheels drivers for over 27 years, and a few years back won the Clackamas County Heart & Hands Volunteer of the Year Award for her efforts.  Grace was thrilled to meet Governor Kitzhaber in person. 

In anticipation of open enrollment time for Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit, representatives from Clackamas County held an informational meeting at the Center on Wednesday, the 29th.  Individual counseling sessions will be available here in November by appointment.

Parks
At the September meeting, Park Board members heard Chief Yamashita’s proposal for making Sandy River Park an alcohol-free facility, and restructuring alcohol use in other parks to a permit system only.  Follwing discussion, the majority of board members voted to support the Chief’s recommendations.  Revised code language will come before the City Council for discussion sometime in the near future. 

Recreation (Sarah Richardson)
It’s fall so it must be time for Mountain Storm Basketball. For the first time, registration forms were included in the Fall Recreation Guide in an effort to get the word out sooner and to rely less on forms making it from schools to backpacks to parents. Girls and boys, grades 3 & 4, play October-December, and Grades 5 & 6 begin open gyms in November to prepare for the start of their season in January. The popular K-2 program will be back in January as well.

The current guide features old favorites and some new classes including tips for traveling abroad on a budget and a new format for fall hikes. Learn to make mozzarella cheese and pizza dough in a cooking class offered in October.

The online system allows classes to be added ongoing. Zumba and Art & Tumbling were added after the Guide was printed, and both are proving to be popular. Email alerts are sent when new classes are added which helps get the word out.

Transit (Julie Stephens)
Total ridership this month was 19,920, representing around a 6% decrease from the same period last year.  It was a short month for days of operation and all services had about the same use.

The contractor for the transit center has made significant changes to Centennial Plaza and Hoffman Avenue.  Curbs have been removed, and the street lights and electrical will be installed next week.  Solar lighting for existing bus shelters will be delivered next week with installation completed just in time for the dark, winter months.

Delivery of the new bus for the Estacada route is expected in mid-October.   

Julie, Joyce and Harriet attended all or part of the Oregon Public Transportation Conference along with Transit Advisory Committee members Joseph Lowe and Roxy Tolva.  Joyce was awarded the Outstanding Transit Employee Award.  She was nominated along with three other employees from around the state.  Her long and exceptional career in transit secured the top honor.  The City is fortunate to have her leadership in transit operations.

Julie also attended two days of the CalAct Conference in Monterey which focused on rule changes for ADA and the new Transportation Act, MAP-21.

Staff continued work with TriMet and the other regional transit providers toward an update of the regional Elderly and Disabled Transportation Plan which will be adopted just in time for the biennial grant process.

Eight participants took the Transit Adventure to the Oregon City Farmer’s Market, then onto the Bomber Restaurant in Milwaukie for lunch.