Senior Center (Nancy Ream Enabnit)
Each month Center members enjoy a variety of excursions. Over 20 seniors attended the October 26th graduation ceremony at Guide Dogs for the Blind on Kelso Road in Boring. The emotional ceremony was followed up by a tour of the impressive facility.
With the cooler weather comes a demand for assistance with heating bills. Client Services Coordinator Cami Henderson is working with community volunteer Pat Cavatio to offer intake services for low-income individuals who require help filling out the Clackamas County Energy Assistance application form. To date they have completed documents for over 140 households.
Rounding out the month was the world premier of Captain Long Johns. This year’s staff Halloween skit (photo evidence below) was performed with enthusiasm to a packed audience, many of whom declared it “the best skit ever” (as they do every year).
Parks
Bornstedt Park is inching along towards completion. The splash pad is in and plaza area poured. 13 hearty souls (Councilor Lois Coleman, Stephanie Craven & Craig Gaare from the park board, community volunteer Jeff Reis, consultant Ralph Henderson [not on the clock], and city staff including: Mike Walker, Ryan Wood, Joe Knapp, Joe Preston, Steve Gillis, Julie Stephens, Seth Atkinson and yours truly) braved a little rain and a lot of mud to erect the play structure under the watchful eyes of the professional installers from Precision Recreation.
Recreation (Sarah Richardson)
Classes are hitting their stride this month and residents are getting used to new ways of acquiring information about programs.
Mountain Storm Youth Basketball has adopted a new schedule this year and is starting later. October grade school numbers reflect this change. Grades 3-6 will run concurrently and kick off in November instead of October.
The Indoor Park play group has grown into a very busy and successful program thanks to Healthy Start and a wonderful group of volunteers. It is a free play group for children under 5 and their parents. They meet Wednesdays from 10:00-11:30 at the Community Center.
Additional staff time was spent preparing for the first ever Sandy/Boring Corn Cross. The event attracted 258 adult participants and an estimated 50 children.
Transit (Julie Stephens)
Total ridership this month was 14,606, a decrease of 36.8% from the same period last year. SAM-Gresham decreased 38%; SAM-Estacada decreased by 42%; STAR use decreased by 16% this month; and ED ridership increased 60%.
Two marker events happened in transit this month; we began collecting fares for all services and increased operations to 7 days a week. The use of the new Saturday morning service and 5 Sunday runs between Sandy and Gresham are building ridership as the awareness grows. Saturday mornings are averaging 5 rides per hour and Sunday use is at almost 11 rides per hour.
As a point of reference, the Mt. Hood Express, with 2 daily shuttle runs to the Villages at Mt. Hood and 5 express runs to Timberline, carried over 1500 riders in October (its first month of expanded operations). That is down about 25% from previous averages. Often when services change, the public’s uncertainty presents a temporary barrier to use.
Fare collections are on target for projections, exceeding $12,000 and the process is going smoothly. Ridership loss is also close to projections and will hopefully return slowly as potential riders adjust to the changes.
We had a great team attend the Oregon Public Transit Conference in Bend in early October. However, the many new demands on operations kept the Contractor and their staff from attending. Julie, Andi, and three members of the Transit Advisory Committee, Heather Michet, Joseph Lowe and Roxy Tolva, went to the conference. The team enjoyed many presentations that illustrated the growing need for public and alternative transportation options. The diverse workshops met the various interests of our group, such as marketing, city planning, funding options, accessibility, and the very popular session on how to find happiness at work.