Senior Center (Nancy Ream Enabnit)
The north side of the building will soon sport an updated landscape look. A xeriscape motif will cut down on maintenance and the need to water while enhancing the appearance of the sign and street-side view of the Community/Senior Center.
Parks
A Clackamas County HEAL grant was awarded to fund completion of the Bornstedt Park community garden. With the current weather pattern, garden planting may come early this year.
Engineering work began on another grant-funded project, expansion of the trail system in Sandy River Park. Jim Slagle of Recreation Trails is surveying the alignment for a trail extension that will meander north of the current loop through the woods.
Recreation (Sarah Richardson)
January was a busy month with 24 youth basketball teams hitting the ground running. The program has grown a lot this season in the 3rd and 4th grade age group. Mountain Storm plays games and holds practices in every Oregon Trail School, and space is tight. It is fun to see so many kids being active and healthy.
Winter/Spring classes started after the December break with a variety of offerings including long-standing favorites Kindergym and Kinderdance. Bricks 4 Kidz provided a Family Fun Night to help introduce the after-school program. It is a great, Lego-based learning curricula for grades K-6. The program takes place Thursdays from 4-5pm.
Summer planning has started and new ideas are flowing. Stay tuned.
Transit (Julie Stephens)
Total ridership this month was 11,521. The ridership decrease year-over-year continues; this month the overall decrease was 9%. SAM-Gresham decreased 11.8%; again this month, SAM-Estacada had a drop in use of 5.6%; STAR had an increase of 11.5% this month; and ED ridership decreased by 48%.
The 15th Anniversary event at the Transit Center was lightly attended. Mayor King, Councilor Coleman, and staff were able to interact with the riders enjoying coffee, treats, and raffle prizes consisting of transit passes and the iconic insulated grocery bags.
Even with the light snowfall, the expanded Mt. Hood Express ridership was 5563 in January.
The Transit Adventure this month took in Mary Poppins at the Children’s Theater. Bernice Jordan helped two families navigate mass transit to and from their destination. The group included three adults (including a grandmother) and four children,.