Senior Center (Nancy Ream Enabnit)
AARP Tax Assistance was once-again hosted at the Center. The service has been offered here for over 30 years, and each season every appointment slot is filled. Our incredible volunteers, Joanne Anderson and Virginia Frasier, scheduled extra days to accommodate the overflow. 115 individuals sought help in 2016 and received assistance completing state and federal tax forms.
Parks
Solv-it in Sandy enjoyed another fantastic turnout of volunteers. 150 adults and children fanned out to 18 sites around town collecting 600 pounds of trash, removing invasive species and mulching around new plants. Once again the free paper shredding proved popular with 3 tons of material processed.
Recreation (Sarah Richardson)
April was “get out the guide” month. Work on the Summer Recreation & Leisure Guide was in full swing. Some new camps and old favorites are back to help residents of all ages plan for summer fun. 37 pages contain a wide variety of options to choose a summer adventure, class, or local event.
Back for a 2nd year are the Camp Namanu Day Camps. Campers are dropped off and picked up at the Community Center for a full day of outdoor adventure on the 500+ acres along the Sandy River. A premier summer camp right in our backyard!
Lots of sports camps to choose from including soccer, British sports, tennis, and basketball. New this summer is a theater camp lead by the Sandy High School Drama Dept. Campers will create their own production and perform it at the end of the 6-day camp.
For those looking to explore more healthy living options, there is a full page of cooking and nutrition classes, and two new fitness classes. Adult Coed Softball is also getting started with a few new teams to add to the regular mix. Teams are forming now and games begin in late June.
Supporting the Surgeon General’s call to action, the guide encourages residents to get out and explore local parks and walk, walk, walk.
Transit (Andi Howell)
Total ridership this month was 10,367. This is a decrease in ridership (9.9%) from April 2015. The SAM-Gresham ridership decreased by 11.0% with a total of 9360 rides in 2015 compared to 8331 in 2016; SAM-Estacada ridership increased by 3.4%; STAR dial-a-ride decreased by 8.7%; and ED ridership remained relatively stable at 838 rides (843 in 2015). The pattern of increased E&D rides on the STAR program continues with 69% E&D in 2016 compared to 63% E&D in 2015.
Sandy staff participated in several interesting opportunities in April. Staff met with a Clackamas County social service worker to explore transportation options and/or collaborations to provide transportation for domestic violence survivors. Funding sources, funding options for transportation and driver training were all explored. Sandy Transit also attended a meeting with TriMet, ODOT and other rural transit agencies to discuss the new efare (Hop Fastpass) program that TriMet is implementing. The new efare system lets riders tap a prepaid card to pay for a ride. It will also accept Apple Pay, Google Wallet and contactless bank cards. Sandy has agreed to take part in a scope of work study to better understand the ease of incorporating Sandy into the efare program. This is an exciting research opportunity that is being funded by the Oregon Department of Transportation Rail and Public Transit division.
Transit received permission from the City Council to purchase 2 replacement vehicles. Both vehicles are 5310 funded. An MV1 was purchased from Schetky Bus Sales for the ED program. The MV1 is a vehicle that seats 5 and is made specifically for persons with a disability. The MV1 has an automatic lift stored in the floor of the vehicle for ease of loading and unloading. There is no passenger seat in the MV1 as this is where a person in a wheelchair is secured. An Arboc was purchased from Creative Bus Sales. The Arboc is much larger than an MV1 and seats up to 16. The Arboc will be used in the STAR dial-a-ride program. It comes equipped with an automatic ramp rather than a lift. Again, this eases loading and unloading of elderly individuals and persons with disabilities. The STAR program continues to see increases in the Elderly and Disabled population, now at 69% of the ridership so these vehicles are a welcome addition to the fleet.