Senior Center (Nancy Ream Enabnit)
Staff received notice of a $10,000 grant from Clackamas County to be used to fund home-delivered meals to qualified individuals under 60 years old. The money will be available to all 10 Senior Centers in the County.
The Senior Center is fortunate to have the services of an intern in the Gonzaga Nurse Practitioner program. Daniel Pribeagu will be focusing on a Brain Health curriculum complete with weekly Brain Games sessions, and a 4-week class in November.
Parks
Permanent signs for the Jim Slagle Loop Trail in Sandy River Park were installed. After a year of use, the trail still looks fantastic and is seeing lots of use.
The Parks Board discussed the merits of designating Sandy Parks Tobacco/Vape/Smoke Free and voted to forward the recommendation to City Council.
Work continues on the refinement of plans for restoration of Meinig Park. The 90% construction plans have been reviewed and the consultants at Mackenzie received input from Planning, Public Works & IT.
Recreation (Sarah Richardson)
The Fall Recreation & Leisure Guide was launched in early September and fall classes are off and running. The Recreation Dept. is soliciting new ideas for programming. Please spread the word and send any ideas to recreation@cityofsandy.com.
The first annual Dogs Day Out was held on September 11th in conjunction with the Corn Cross event at Liepold Farms. Pairing these events was a successful formula and the turnout was great. The cyclists attending Corn Cross commented how great it was to be able to bring their dogs, and they loved the family friendly atmosphere of the event as a whole. They added value to the event and many participated in the Doggie Cross race.
Fences for Fido, our partners in the Dogs Day Out event, was very happy with the results. So much so that they want to return for the November event on the 19th. Fences for Fido has a very large following with more than 30,000 members on Facebook and a 10,000 plus email database. Partnering with them helped to bring people from Portland and the surrounding areas out to the event, supporting visits to the area and new connections for our local vendors. Local Sandy families also enjoyed the event and won several of the raffle baskets. Funds raised will support the goal of building a shelter at the Sandy Bluff Dog Park, and future events will support added amenities and maintenance at local dog parks.
Mountain Storm Youth Basketball is open for registration earlier this year. The goal is to have teams begin practicing in December. Finding gym space continues to be a challenge because of increasing pressure on area facilities. The prospect of City-owned recreation complex is exciting.
Transit (Andi Howell)
Total ridership this month was 10,053. Overall ridership decreased by 7.1%; the SAM-Gresham route decreased by 4.8%. SAM-Estacada ridership decreased by 27.7%. STAR rides decreased by 8.7%. The percentage of elderly and/or disabled riders on STAR was 72%. The Elderly and Disabled program (out-of-town medical rides) saw another large increase in ridership of 72.5% compared to September 2015.
In September, the TAC committee voted on and approved a fare structure change for SAM fixed and deviated routes. An analysis of ridership patterns and survey data illustrated that SAM fixed and deviated routes had become primarily commuter routes with very little in-town ridership. Surveys were collected on the SAM FLAP funded service hours (weekend hours) as well as the Estacada route (runs M-F). Less than 4% of the riders surveyed were taking an in-town trip. On the Estacada route, not a single ride was an in-town trip. A rider also commented on the fare structure, citing the $1.00 fare per ride as a barrier for residents trying to make multiple shopping trips in Sandy; 2 destinations and the rider would be paying $4.00. In an effort to show support to Sandy local businesses, that help funding with payroll tax, Sandy Transit decided to remove the financial barrier for in-town service and retain the $1.00 fare on all inter-city service.
Additionally, many comments submitted on these and other recent surveys expressed a need for more Estacada service, especially during the weekends. In an effort to meet these needs and better serve the growing development in the City, Sandy staff implemented changes to the Estacada route. Beginning November 1, the route will travel along Highway 211, through South Sandy. The route will continue to terminate at the Sandy Transit Center and connect to the SAM Gresham fixed route, but will serve the South section of the City rather than doubling the SAM efforts along Hwy 26. This new route allows better City coverage to many of the newer neighborhoods and retains connectivity to the SAM Gresham route and the shopping shuttle, which is scheduled to begin December 1, 2016.
Finally, the last run on the Estacada route Monday through Friday will be eliminated. Those service hours will be reprogrammed into a Saturday route that will mirror the Monday through Friday schedule.