Senior Center (Nancy Ream Enabnit)
Over 50 people attended a Brain Healthy Lunch on March 27th. Staff prepared and served a meal designed to enhance brain function, health and memory. As an added bonus, folks seemed to genuinely enjoy the food. Cami Henderson lined up guest speaker Bobby Heagerty from the OHSU Brain Institute. Ms. Heagerty provided valuable information on maintaining brain health and reported that the most important thing one can do to stay mentally alert is to be physically active.
Save the date! The Senior Center will celebrate its 40th Anniversary on April 24th.
Parks
Bornstedt Park ribbon cutting happened just in time for spring. Sandy’s newest park will go a long way towards enhancing the neighborhood and the community at large.
Save the date! Solv-It in Sandy & free paper shredding are scheduled for April 26th.
Recreation (Sarah Richardson)
The Mountain Storm Youth Basketball season finished up for grades 3-6 with separate Jamborees for the 3rd/4th league on Saturday, the 8th, and the 5th/6th graders the following Saturday. Numbers for participation were up for 2013-14 by about 10%.
The transition in production of the Recreation & Leisure Guide from paper to electronic is going well. Registration numbers are holding steady. Some classes started off a little slower in the fall but by winter session numbers were strong. As an example, Kinderdance programs had 41 participants in winter sessions in 2013, and 46 participants in winter sessions in 2014.
The database for email marketing is growing almost daily and the new electronic sign is a great way to provide information about upcoming classes, events etc.
Transit (Julie Stephens)
Total ridership this month was 12,098, a decrease of 39% from the same period last year. SAM-Gresham decreased 39.9%; again this month, SAM-Estacada had the greatest drop in use, 51%; STAR had the most modest decrease, 21.6% this month; and ED ridership increased by 28.6%.
Continued cold, rainy weather kept many indoors, while the sunny days brought noticeably more people out for activities and transit use.
The expanded Mt. Hood Express ridership slowed a bit in March to 3381. Ridership on the new weekend SAM-Gresham Saturday & Sunday service continues to experience slight increases.
We celebrated International Bus Driver Appreciation Day by putting flyers in buses and bus shelters along with cards for passengers to give to their bus driver. Back at the office we had sub sandwiches and sodas for lunch with a hand written card and treat for each driver & dispatcher. Their consistent good customer service and attention to safety makes them critical contributors to the success of our transit system.
The Transit Advisory Committee convened for its quarterly meeting on March 19th. We had a great discussion which included a report by Joseph Lowe who chairs the Disabled Council of Clackamas County and worked on behalf of the Campaign for Seniors & People with Disabilities advocating for the state legislature to recommit funding cut during the economic downturn. An additional $26 million was recommitted in support of those populations, of which $4 million was added to the Special Transportation Fund for seniors and people with disabilities, bringing the state transportation funding back to the 2009 level.