Senior Center (Nancy Ream Enabnit)
As the weather turns cold, activities are scheduled closer to home. On November 12th Chief Yamashita offered a class in Senior Self-Defense & Identity Theft Prevention. She led participants through age-specific self-defense options and taught techniques for recognizing and preventing identity theft.
The Center sponsored the AARP Smart Driver course on November 23rd. The 6-hour class focused on refining existing skills and developing defensive driving techniques. Several center members as well as two center employees successfully completed the course.
Parks
At the November meeting, Craig Gaare resigned from the Park Board to free up time to spend with his family and travel. Craig provided valuable insight to park board discussions and helped out with the Park Master Plan update process. Craig’s wife, Christine, offered her consulting services free of charge as the board developed, distributed and analyzed survey results that will shape the Master Plan going forward. Many thanks to Craig & Christine Gaare for their dedicated service to the City of Sandy parks system.
Recreation (Sarah Richardson)
The Mountain Storm basketball program is experiencing a record number of registrations. Teams are forming and open gyms are keeping the kids active leading up to the school break. Finding adequate gym space continues to be a challenge, but Recreation Department staff is working closely with the Oregon Trail School District to manage the increased demand.
Work is underway for the Winter/Spring Recreation guide. Fun cooking classes and “pop-up” cooking events along with some additional fitness classes are among the new programs.
The City was the main sponsor of the Oregon Bike Racing Association’s State Championship Cyclocross Race on November 21st. The race course at Liepold Farm drew rave reviews, and the weather was clear and cool for the big event. Over 400 participants took to the main course, and there was a Kiddie Cross course set up for kids 10 & Under as well. Other sponsors of the race included Clackamas County Tourism and Sellwood Cycle Repair.
Transit (Andi Howell)
Total ridership this month was 9809. This is a very slight decrease in ridership by 1.3% from November 2014. The SAM-Gresham ridership decreased by 3.3% with a total of 7754 rides; SAM-Estacada ridership increased by 12.4%; STAR increased this month by 3.8%; and ED ridership increased by 30%. While ridership continues to be lower than it was in 2014, the ridership trend of 2015 is holding steady.
Another trend that SAM will begin watching is the use of bicycles on the SAM system. An analysis of bike use on SAM services from October 2014 to October 2015 showed an increase of 90%. The very popular use of bikes on the Mount Hood Express system seems to be influencing riders on the SAM system as well. Bicyclists have learned that they can use the bus to ride mountain trails and forgo the park and ride.
Our partner, Mount Hood Express, has altered their equipment for the ski season. The much used bike trailers have been replaced with ski boxes. New day passes were designed for the partnership between SAM and MHX. These $5.00 passes allow passengers to use both systems unlimited for an entire day. Day pass sales continue to rise slowly, especially on weekends.
In November, SAM entered a proposal into the STIP Enhance grant process. If accepted, this grant would cover the cost of replacement for 2 of 3 large, heavy-duty buses that will surpass their “useful life” in the near future. SAM will need to replace 11 buses, 3 of which are the large buses previously mentioned, by 2020. The large, heavy-duty buses, referred to as the “work horses” of our operations, require a large capital outlay that is difficult for a small, rural system to fund locally. The buses to be replaced provide the critical connectivity necessary between the Villages at Mount Hood to the East, Estacada, Eagle Creek and Oregon City to the South, and Gresham and Portland to the West. They operate continuously 15 hours a day on the often over-crowded Hwy 26. The newer vehicles will preserve the current design of the transit system and provide better fuel efficiency, cleaner emissions and lower maintenance costs.