Letter to the Editor: Why won’t the City work with us on Hawthorne memorial?

A man swerved around a stopped car and was speeding in this center turn lane on Hawthorne Boulevard prior to hitting Fallon Smart. The City of Portland plans to clear out the makeshift memorial that has prohibited people from driving in the lane for the past month.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

This post was written by Katherine White as a letter to the community in response to news that the City of Portland plans to clear out the memorial where Fallon Smart died sometime this week. White is the program coordinator at One With Heart, a martial arts studio located adjacent to the 43rd and Hawthorne intersection.

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“The memorial is making a difference. Cars are no longer racing down the street at 40 miles an hour… Isn’t it sometimes worthwhile to let go of policy and procedure, to step outside the bureaucratic road blocks and just do the right thing?”
— Katherine White

On Aug. 19th Fallon Smart lost her life in a tragic accident on SE Hawthorne and 43rd. My co-worker and I were having a quiet day at work at One with Heart when we heard the noise right outside and immediately responded.

We will never be the same and we will never forget what we experienced.

We ask ourselves if this could have been prevented if the city had responded to previous requests we have made to implement safety measures at this intersection. A number of years ago the mother of a student who trained martial arts at One with Heart was hit by a car while crossing the street at the same intersection. She survived, but was seriously injured. Our request for a crosswalk was not addressed.

When I arrived to work on Aug. 20th and found citizens had finally taken matters into their own hands and painted a crosswalk, I can’t even explain the relief I felt. I have used that crosswalk every day since and for the first time in the 25 years, I see drivers paying attention to pedestrians and cyclists on this busy section of SE Hawthorne.

Then then flowers started arriving in the center turn lane. A dedicated group of citizens comes often to clean up and replenish the memorial. It is beautiful and lovingly cared for. For me it provides a small measure of comfort and healing. More importantly it gives some meaning to the loss by raising awareness about traffic safety.

One with Heart is a martial arts school with over 300 students, many of them young children. Most school zones have crosswalks and 20 MPH speed limit signs. Until the City of Portland is ready to invest in making this intersection safe, what is gained by dismantling the community’s efforts to do so?

The memorial is making a difference. Cars are no longer racing down the street at 40 miles an hour. They are no longer using the center lane to pass other cars, as the driver who hit Fallon Smart did. Drivers are stopping for pedestrians and maybe they are thinking twice about the cost of their impatience.

Isn’t it sometimes worthwhile to let go of policy and procedure, to step outside the bureaucratic road blocks and just do the right thing? A young, beautiful life was lost and we are doing our best to honor Fallon Smart by making a difference that can save other lives. I ask city leaders to see that, to support it, to leave the memorial in place, and to be part of the solution – now.

— Katherine White

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The Throwing With Intention Challenge

My wheelthrowing students keep asking how they can improve. They want better control of their clay. They want to get the shapes they’re hoping for. So in this week’s class, I offered up my “Throwing With Intention Challenge.” So we started with a discussion about how important it is to know what you want to make from the very start. As early as cutting off the right sized piece of clay. And then centering it into a good shape. I encourage a taller ball of centered clay if you’re going to throw a vertical form. Whereas a lower, flatter centered piece of clay is ideal for plates & platters. We then discussed how they should have a “design”in their mind of what they want their form to look like. And the benefit of sketching pieces first, or keeping a scrapbook of images & forms.

And then the challenge began. They each drew a piece of paper which had a challenge on it. They needed to throw the shape on the sheet as best as they could. Keeping in mind edges, curves, proportions, etc. I purposefully put a thin grid behind the drawings to help point out the geometric-ness and proportions they should strive for. They then sat down to throw their “chosen” cylinder with intention!!! With a good plan from the start… instead of slapping down some clay, spinning the wheel and seeing what you get!

Most of them enjoyed the challenge. And each of them struggled, but succeeded in their own way. It was great to see them embracing the challenge and refining their skills. Little do they know… but this challenge will most likely be repeated again… and again… and again…

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from Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery http://ift.tt/2d8krZ1

When Anxiety Says You’re a Failure

Anxiety loves to tell me I’m a failure. Have you ever felt a nagging feeling that you’re simply not good enough no matter how hard you try or what you do? Do you ever compare yourself to others and feel like you come up short? Anxiety says you’re a failure. It speaks through a critical little jerk lodged in your head telling you that whatever you’re doing is wrong or terrible. It makes you overthink everything and gives you a running commentary while you’re in the middle of doing something and long after you’ve finished. Why does anxiety say you’re a failure, and what can you do about it? 

Why Anxiety Says You’re a Failure

Feeling like a failure seems to be a universal part of anxiety. Anxiety says you’re a failure, so you worry about it, fear it, and thus find all sorts of reasons to back up what anxiety is telling you; this increases anxiety and, with it, a sense of failure and not being good enough.

Anxiety has specific tricks for getting you to believe you’re a failure. Anxiety takes control of your thinking and creates automatic negative thoughts (Cognitive Distortions and Self-Stigma) that stand between you and reality. To get you to believe you’re not good enough, the little jerk anxiety speaks through causes you to

Discount the Positive. This is also known as yes-butting. If you do something well but focus on the one or two things that went wrong, giving those the most attention, you’re discounting the positive. Yes, you did something well. Then anxiety tells you “but…” and you feel like you’re not good enough.

Mind-read and Compare.  We can’t know what others are thinking, but anxiety tries to do just that. It says that others are disappointed or annoyed with us, and we believe it. Anxiety’s jerk-voice also constantly compares us to others and points out ways we fall short.

Distort Reality. Anxiety puts far too much focus on what you’re doing wrong, and it emphasizes mistakes both real and imagined. This is accomplished in part by discounting the positive and yes-butting away successes.

Catastrophize. Anxiety makes mountains out of molehills, causing worry, fear, and panic. This fuels both more anxiety and the feeling that you’re not good enough.

 

How to Respond When Anxiety Says You’re Not Good Enough

With anxiety, our thoughts aren’t always trustworthy. It’s possible to step away when anxiety tells you you’re not good enough.

One of the most effective ways to get anxiety to stop saying you’re a failure is to take control of your perspective.  How you interpret your reality affects both your anxiety level and how you see yourself.

Don’t let anxiety tell you how you’re doing in your own life. You have the ability to think for yourself and question what anxiety tells you. You can tune into the below video for a look at how perspective can muffle anxiety when it says you’re a failure.

Let’s connect. I blog here. Find me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. My mental health novels, including one about severe anxiety, are here.

(Image is a likeness of me created in the Bitmoji App.)

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My Talented Friend : Mike Skiersch

Came home from ART IN THE BARN with this beautiful porcelain tile from My Talented Friend Mike Skiersch. He hand carves the master tile and then makes a mold to produce these tiles. The glaze is one of studio recipes that looks incredible on his tiles. I love the color & the pooling. The crackling looks great on his tiles… not quite so good on my functional work.

To see more of Mike’s tile work, click here for his website.

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from Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery http://ift.tt/2dt4sDB

Bittersweet : Hopefully Not The Last Supper

Another wonderful dinner tonight at my very favorite restaurant… ROSE ANGELIS. Great food, good friends, incredible caramel sauce. Sadly, after 25 years, they have decided to close the restaurant this Saturday. I’m hoping to get back for at least one more dinner before then. But if not, I’ve already started hoarding their caramel sauce!!!

Five jars… hoping for more!!!

from Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery http://ift.tt/2dmPj5F

New drive-through proposals come with east Portland ban and bicycle access requirement

A zoning code change proposal that will be subject to a City Council hearing next month would require all businesses to serve bicycle riders when other entrances are closed.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

The City of Portland is not a fan of drive-through windows. For decades Portland has adopted regulations that limit how and where drive-throughs can be built.

City planners believe drive-throughs don’t serve the community’s best interests and that they lead to auto-oriented development that’s directly counter to adopted policy goals and dangerous for people on foot, on bike, and on mobility devices.

Now the city’s Planning and Sustainability Commission wants to ban new drive-throughs east of 80th Avenue and require all establishments that already have them to serve all customers, not just those using cars.

“Ideally, you can’t refuse service based on mode.”
— Chris Smith, Portland Planning and Sustainability Commissioner

Last June City Council adopted the 2035 Comprehensive Plan. Policy 4.24 prohibits drive-through facilities in the entire Central City and limits their development in close-in commercial districts in order to “support a pedestrian-oriented environment.”

At their August 23rd work session, members of the Planning and Sustainability Commission (PSC) voted on a package of amendments to the Comp Plan that take the drive-through regulations several steps forward.

The commission’s Comp Plan Early Implementation Package Recommendation (avaliable here) includes two new zoning code changes we’ll likely be hearing about a lot more in the weeks to come: An outright ban on new drive-throughs east of 80th Avenue, and a policy that would require businesses to serve customers who show up on bike, foot, or mobility devices. (You can see the language starting on page 192 of this PDF.)

Bureau of Planning and Sustainability map showing proposed area of new drive-through ban.

Why ban new drive-throughs east of 80th? Here’s how a Bureau of Planning and Sustainability employee explained the PSC’s rationale during a City Council work session on September 15th (at 49:15 in this video):

“The logic of that was east Portland has a lot of low-income and communities of color… If you believe that those neighborhoods aren’t quite ready for mixed-use development from an economic point-of-view, we don’t want the auto-oriented fast food chain restaurants to be the only thing serving that population. The PSC were coming at it from a community development, local economic [point-of-view]. Let’s leave room for the local economy to devolop and not let it be dominated by chains which tend to be the drive-through kind of places.”

The PSC is concerned that too much of east Portland has been zoned as CE, Commercial Employment. It’s the only designation that allows new drive-throughs and specifically accomodates auto use. CE zoning was was expanded in east Portland thanks to lobbying by a group of business interests known as the Retail Task Force. The PSC sees the ban as one way to counter that expansion of CE zoning.

Another front of this battle against drive-throughs is multi-modal access.

One of the many subtle forms of discrimination that exists in our transportation system is how some retail businesses close to certain customers based soley on how they get around. You might have experienced this before at your local pharmacy or fast food restaurant: Only the drive-through window is open but you get denied service simply because you’re not in a car. This common practice discriminates against customers who show up via their feet, a bicycle, or a mobility device.

“That’s not O.K.,” said PSC Commissioner Chris Smith during an interview yesterday. “Ideally you can’t refuse service based on mode. In a city that aims to be less than 30 percent single-occupancy vehicle mode share, that’s just not cool.”

Smith and the PSC he sits on want to change this. Here’s the amendment they’ve recommended to city council:

33.224.070 Multi‐Modal Access
When a drive‐through facility is open and other pedestrian‐oriented customer entrances to the business are unavailable or locked, the drive‐through facility must serve customers using modes other than a vehicle such as pedestrians and bicyclists.

And it’s worth noting that the city’s definition of “pedestrians” includes an ADA access requirement. Also keep in mind that these zoning codes would apply to food establishments as well as banks, gas stations, pharmacies, and other retailers. Portland has about 308 drive-throughs citywide – about one-third of which are east of 80th.

City of Portland map (draft) showing drive-through locations. Different colors correspond to business types.

When the new drive-through restrictions came up last spring, there was support from neighborhood groups (including East Portland Action Plan) and advocates (like Oregon Walks). But there was also a big backlash. The media grabbed hold of it and outrage followed. There was a Stop the Ban website and Facebook group and the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association even put out a press release saying that the provisions discriminated against, “Mothers with children, people with disabilities, and the elderly who rely on the convenience and accessibility that drive through locations provide.”

Screenshot from a StoptheBanPDX.com.

While lobby groups and some major retailers oppose any drive-through regulations, some companies don’t seem to mind at all. Burgerville, Fred Meyer, and Walgreens now explicitly allow bicycles in drive-throughs.

Even so, these new proposals are likely to start a fresh round of debates. It’s all part of the tension between Portland’s existing auto-oriented landscape and a future where cars are just an afterthought.

What do you think? City Council needs to hear your perspectives.

There are two public hearings coming up next month: October 6th and 13th at 2:00 pm at City Council Chambers (1221 SW 4th Avenue). You can also send in feedback via email to cputestimony@portlandoregon.gov with subject line “Comprehensive Plan Implementation”.

— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org

BikePortland is supported by the community (that means you!). Please become a subscriber or make a donation today.

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An Offer You Can’t Refuse

So the past couple weeks have been CRAZY!!!
Far too many projects going on. Throwing new pots.
Stamping. Trimming. Drying. Firing. Glazing.
Times two with my recent soda kiln and the cone six firing.

Not to mention all of the terra cotta “ghouls” that I’ve been working late nights just to get them done. No time to sleep. No time to breath. I’m stretched beyond belief yet again. Not even sure if I would be able to get everything done for ART IN THE BARN this coming weekend?! And did I mention teaching Tuesday night too?! Okay, you get it right… over-committed, over-stretched.

And then this happens…
I get an e-mail Thursday mid-morning. Basically it’s a request from the TV show “EMPIRE” to make some vases for them. My understanding is that they need some identical vases for them to film in a scene. Sounds like the vases are going to smashed in the scene… and they’ll have 16 times to get it right for all the necessary angles. They just need them bisque fired… as one of their Props Crew will be painting them to look like they’re expensive antiques. All sounds great… except for the fact that I still don’t have time!!!

But you know I can’t say “No” to a great opportunity like this.
So I said yes… and then I started to freak out. How can I get this done???

I made it into the studio about 4:30pm Thursday night. The plan was to throw all of the vases as fast as possible. They said they wanted the vases between 12″-16″. So I started by wedging up my sixteen balls of clay.

After throwing one tall vase, I realized quickly that it was going to be too much time & effort to throw all of the vases that tall. With the incredibly fast turn-around time, I decided it would behoove me to throw them as two-part vases. So I set off to throw all of the bottom halves.

Followed by throwing all of the top pieces.

It was late by the time I finished, so I went home for a couple hours of sleep… and then returned very early in the morning to start assembling them.

After a few hours I had them all assembled, cleaned up a bit with a definitive “foot” flange and set out to dry.

Here’s the real kicker…
they wanted the vases bisque fired and ready for pick-up by Monday!!!
Yep, normally a project like this would take a week or two… not a day or two!

So I set them all on a raised plastic grid covered with a few sheets of paper. I figured the paper would help soak up & disperse the water from the clay. And then being raised up, air can get under the vases to dry more evenly. So I set a fan on them and hoped for the best. As it was, I had to get home to start packing to get to ART IN THE BARN. Good thing I could squeeze these in under such tight time restraints. I just hope the client from 20the Century Fox Television is happy with their new vases!!!

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