Senior Center (Nancy Ream Enabnit)
July means pies at the Sandy Senior Center. Many folks pitched in to mix, roll, fill and bake 240 pies to sell at Sandy Mountain Festival. Over 1000 cookies were baked and sold as well. Profits from the annual fundraiser (around $3,000) benefit the Sandy/Boring meals-on-wheels.
Julie Stephens has taken the lead on developing a graphics package for the new senior center van. She developed a general concept, solicited quotes, and is following through on selection of a provider and finalizing the design. Thanks Julie!
Parks
Construction on Bornstedt Park continues as paths and sidewalks go in. Much of the grading is complete, the irrigation system is in, and the playground perimeter is being formed. Splash pad construction will begin soon. It’s exciting!
Once again Katie Murphy has come up with a fabulous line-up of artists for Sandy Summer Sounds. Wine in the Woods kicked off the acoustic series and Brewgrass led the way for the main stage series. The first two weeks of Sandy Cinema have been popular for families from Sandy and surrounding area.
Recreation (Sarah Richardson)
July was busy as usual with Mountain Festival events, Adult Softball and a variety of camps and classes.
Mountain Festival Kids’ activities were very well attended. The pet show, bike derby and kids’ parade filled the week with fun, family-friendly events.
There was a decline in adult softball participation due in large part to the increase in facility use fees. In order to cover costs the recreation department had to double participation fees. However, 8 teams played from June through August with a tournament ending the season on August 10th. Teams really enjoyed playing on the new High School fields and it is expected participation will be back up next season. Fees were thoroughly researched, are in line with other metro area programs, and did completely cover the cost of the program.
A new format for summer camps was introduced this summer, but overall participation was down. A thorough review of the summer camp program will be completed and a revised summer program which meets the needs of residents, while covering the cost of providing the program, will be implemented.
A new Recreation Focus group is forming to help guide the direction of future programs.
Despite the changes this summer and a decline in some programs, overall participation in recreation programs and events increased.
Transit (Julie Stephens)
Total ridership this month was 20,203, a decrease of 7% from the same period last year. The SAM-Estacada route showed an increase of 6.3%. SAM-Gresham decreased 8.7%; STAR use decreased by 1.9% this month. ED use decreased by 12.1%.
Total ridership for FY13 was 245,966, down 3.9% from FY12. Most of the loss was seen in the last half of the fiscal year (Jan-Jun). A service change in January to the new Plaza Transit Center and more moderate gas prices seem to be factors in the reduction of use.
Transit moved from the Transit Center during the Chamber’s Music, Fair and Feast event. It was a bit bumpy coordinating the timing and preliminary arrangements. We had significant issues with signage and compliance for bus parking, transfer and layover space in front of City Hall, including one minor accident. The final evening a bus clipped a parked vehicle in the bus loading space. Next year we will adjust the transfer spot to Proctor Blvd in front of the eastern most gas station.
The Transit Advisory Committee convened on July 17th and will meet on August 21st and September 18th from 6-7pm to provide a venue for public meetings about the service changes and new fares. Both will be implemented in October 2013.
We are busy with meetings and coordination efforts in the development of the new service for the Federal Lands grant and the development of fare media.
Transit tax collection efforts are meeting with a good amount of success.
Twelve people participated in the July Transit Adventure to attend a concert in downtown Portland’s Pioneer Square followed by lunch in NW Portland.