On April 17th, Multnomah County’s Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) will host its second community meeting, seeking public input regarding the alternative shelter planned at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue. The event will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Portland Community College Southeast Campus’s Community Hall at 2305 SE 82nd Avenue. Attendees should pre-register for this open community meeting through the online RSVP form. Participants will learn more about the project and have opportunities to provide feedback to planners.
This proposed shelter site will have a capacity for up to 38 adults living in sleeping pods. Six converted shipping container units will provide office space for staff, participant services, hygiene facilities, kitchenette amenities, and laundry facilities. Residents and their pets will have onsite access to green space. The site will receive upgraded fencing with privacy inserts on all street sides and a wood fence between the adjacent residential property to the east. New designs from earlier this year also relocated the planned garbage recycling building and parking further away from the eastern property line.
Feb 2025 Design – courtesy JOHS
Dec 2024 Design – courtesy JOHS
Onsite parking offers eight spaces for staff and visiting service providers only. Operators will reserve two of those stalls for vehicles with accessibility permits. This configuration differs from the other county-owned shelter, Oak Street Village, which is located several blocks north of this site and features significant resident parking. Crews working for the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) began constructing new sidewalks on SE Mill Street east of SE 82nd Avenue. They have completed most of the work along the future shelter site’s Mill Street frontage and will soon work on the north side of the street before repaving. These sidewalks will be a welcome addition for the parents and students who often use SE Mill Street as a route to the two nearby schools.
The JOHS has yet to announce a service provider to offer 24-hour support for shelter residents. The County representatives have said they intend to open this location by the end of 2025. Presenters at the April 17th meeting will likely offer updated plans, more details about who will operate the site, and other operational information.
Note: On July 1st, the JOHS will take on its new name and be known as the Multnomah County Homeless Services Department (HSD)
Road crews met the rising sun on March 29th, preparing for a weekend of asphalt work in the Gateway District. Over the last several months, contractors working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) have built a new road segment reconnecting Portland’s street grid east of Interstate 205 and between East Burnside and NE Glisan Streets. Crews have already covered most of the new roadway’s surface with an asphalt binder layer formed with larger aggregate over a sub-base of crushed rocks. Crews leveled the oil-bound base just below the concrete gutter’s edge to allow space for the bitumen-laden topcoat made of finer rocks, creating a smooth surface that fights water penetration.
This work is one of the final steps before the new segment of NE Davis Street and the reconstructed section of NE 97th Avenue open for traffic. Sidewalks are nearly complete, with street trees planted and traffic signs ready to guide drivers through the new traffic patterns. Motorists have not had access through NE 97th from East Burnside Street for months as work in the area was underway. After it reopens, southbound drivers will need to adjust their behavior, unable to continue past NE Davis Street as the reconstructed road is one-way northbound from East Burnside to NE Davis Street. People will instead need to head east to NE 99th Avenue to turn right onto East Burnside Street.
This traffic pattern better aligns with the complex track crossing at East Burnside and 97th Avenue. The Max Blue Line tracks turn 90 degrees eastward at this junction from an I-205 alignment to tracks situated between East Burnside Street. Although past traffic signals warned drivers of a light rail crossing conflict, nothing could prevent a driver from making a right turn into the way of an approaching train obscured until the last moment by a freeway sound wall. Bicycle and pedestrian crossings at this point have changed so that westbound people outside of cars can cross at the midpoint of the MAX track turn radius. This placement allows greater conflict visibility for train operators and the people crossing. The realignment also makes a better connection point for the I-205 Multiuse path that runs along the freeway sound wall at this segment of the multimodal route.
New westbound bike and pedestrian crossing of MAX tracks placed midturn
When the streets fully reopen later this year, people will enjoy the wider sidewalks with a multitude of street trees, extended curbs for shorter crosswalks, and modern streets. The area has new street lights for nighttime safety and plenty of curbside parking spaces. What is missing is the intended redevelopment for this area, which city planners hoped would create a second downtown in the Gateway District. Outside several affordable housing projects built in the area and transit upgrades, few large-scale projects have broken ground, and some property owners have placed their holdings in the area for sale.
New segment of NE Davis St with sidewalks, lighting, curb parking, and street trees.
Street grid work in this area will continue eastward, with another block of NE Davis Street planned from NE 99th Avenue to 100th Avenue. People accessing NE 97th Avenue will notice a closed-off eastward street stub between NE Davis Street and East Burnside Street for a future one-block segment of NE Couch Street. Those new streets are part of the second phase of theNE 97th Avenue Phase II and Couch/Davis StreetLocal Improvement District (LID). Money for the LID comes from adjacent property owners and tax increment financing from the Gateway Urban Renewal Area, with some additional funding paid by transportation system development charges collected from other developments. PBOT will cover overhead costs related to managing the project components.
Starting at 8 p.m. on March 28th, crews will close East Burnside Street from 94th Avenue to 99th Avenue for weekend roadwork. The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) advises drivers to detour around this section of East Burnside on Friday night through 5 a.m. on Monday, March 31st. The closures will prevent drivers from using the Interstate-205 overpass, requiring motorists to cross the freeway at NE Glisan Street or via the SE Stark Washing Street couplet. Pedestrians and cyclists are permitted to travel through the worksite but will need to follow marked signage and worker instructions to find safe pathways through the construction zone. Continuing evening work will close this section of East Burnside Street for three nights from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. April 2nd through the 4th.
The overnight work schedule includes completing traffic signal upgrades and other improvements to TriMet MAX equipment. Crews working with PBOT will use these closures to fully repave the 97th Avenue’s crossing of East Burnside Street as part of theNE 97th Avenue Phase II and Couch/Davis StreetLocal Improvement District (LID). That project uses City and property owner funds to add sidewalks and create new road segments, restoring the city street grid in an area with long uninterrupted blocks and little pedestrian infrastructure. Project planners say this work will improve streets and sidewalks for existing residents while facilitating future housing growth in the Gateway area.
PBOT provided graphic
Closures will disrupt bus line 20 service. From the start of the closure until 8:00 a.m. Sunday, March 30th, TriMet will close eastbound bus stops on E Burnside at SE 94th (Stop ID 822) and SE 99th (Stop ID 12934). Westbound line 20 buses will similarly bypass stops on E Burnside at NE 97th (Stop ID 8745) and NE 94th (Stop ID 823). Riders should consult TriMet’s website for further alerts and to plan trips around the construction. I-205 Multiuse Path users can travel through this worksite. However, they should use caution and follow detour instructions as crews work to enhance the walking and rolling corridor.
PBOT will work to maintain local access to residences and businesses during the project. People should anticipate delays and obey instructions on signs or from the crew on site. When completed, all users of the streets in the LID project area will have access to modern roads built with nine inches of asphalt over an eight-inch aggregate base and wide sidewalks with street trees. Work in this area will continue past these closures, concluding later this year, and people are encouraged to keep aware of work in the roadway and changing traffic patterns.
Construction is well underway at Berrydale Park, where crews have installed the majority of new skatepark elements and made substantial progress on installing the park’s adjacent sidewalks. Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) anticipates completion in Fall 2025.
Behind the construction fencing closing the park to visitors, people will now see the telltale shapes of purpose-built skateboard amenities, including a prominent clover bowl, mini-ramp, railings/rails, and other skills-building elements. Crews have created the outlines of three new play zones north of the skatepark. However, only the surrounding park benches are visible, as the selected play equipment will arrive later in the construction schedule.
Pedestrians will soon gain some new sidewalk sections on SE 89th Avenue and SE Taylor Street. However, the new sidewalk sections are not continuous and only surround the park at 9004 SE Taylor Street and the frontage of one private residence. Planners working on the project did not include connected sidewalks around the park’s block and across SE 89th Avenue from Berrydale Park as first planned because most property owners did not want to participate in a Local Improvement District (LID) that would have required those participants share in the construction costs. The expense to each participant would have been less than if each homeowner conducted the work individually, but the $24,000 share was more than some residents wanted to pay.
Graphic showing sidewalk addition. Courtesy PBOT
Without the larger LID, the City only improved a little over 200 feet SE 89th Avenue with a standard curb and sidewalk segment built on the east side. The west side received a small concrete lip to mitigate gravel spilling from the unpaved shoulder onto the asphalt. They also created asphalt driveway connectors or stubs over the gravel parking strip to minimize wear and further contain gravel spillage. The resulting street appears narrow and unfinished, with the new infrastructure stranded mid-block. However, as property in the area redevelops over the coming decades, those property owners will need to build sidewalks and complete the road along their frontage.
SE 89th Ave looking north
SE 89th Ave looking south
South sidewalk on SE Taylor St looking east
South sidewalk on SE Taylor St looking west
Crews will work to complete the new skatepark facility, new pathways, new lighting, and a new playground this spring and summer leading up to a grand opening. Until then, onlookers will continue to see the once-sleepy park grow, offering enticing amenities for parkgoers of all ages.
After a year of construction, pedestrians can now use the rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB) signal hardware at Ash Street to cross SE 82nd Avenue. Crews working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) completely rebuilt this intersection, creating an extended median island to prevent left turns and provide pedestrians with safer crossing infrastructure that features five street trees and other plantings.
This center median is one of several under construction along 82nd Avenue. It replaced a substantially smaller pedestrian refuge island that once protected the southern crosswalk at the intersection. The addition of the RRFB infrastructure at this juncture creates another safe crossing point between the fully signalized intersections on SE 82nd Avenue at Burnside and SE Stark Streets, halving the 1,200-foot distance between the two lights for pedestrians. This street segment is a growing section of Montavilla with retail activity on both sides of the high-traffic corridor. In the coming years, The Episcopal Church in Western Oregon (ECWO) owned property at 247 SE 82nd Avenue will host affordable housing, and the owner of a vacant property on the southeast corner has the parcel ready for redevelopment.
PBOT’s approach to the mid-street medians on 82nd Avenue reflects a substantial aesthetic design change. In addition to using less concrete in its construction through the creation of large planting beds, cement masons finished large portions of the raised surface with a redbrick pattern. The visually appealing process maintains the durability of standard street element design while softening the typically utilitarian road feature. Although disrupting the traffic flow and removing a center turn lane, these raised median segments do not extend far beyond the intersection, allowing for continued business access by drivers in both directions with only minimal adjustments.
This intersection is fully functional with high-visibility crosswalks and push-button-operated RRFB signals. Within a few years, the City maintained trees should mature into temperature-cooling features that visually separate a wide roadway. People crossing here will have a more predictable traffic pattern as drivers can only travel straight through on SE 82nd Avenue or turn right. Motorists should expect to see more pedestrians in the area and look for the amber flashing lights to indicate they must yield to people crossing.
Promotion: Montavilla News is supported by contributions from businesses like Storied Vintage, a furniture restoration and sales shop at 7850 SE Stark Street. We thank them for their support.
In October 2020, Do Good Multnomah moved into the century-old former Hope Presbyterian Church building at 7809 NE Everett Street, just as the organization expanded beyond its core mission of providing supportive service to unsheltered veterans. With the move to Montavilla and subsequent years of growth supporting a broad range of houseless services, Do Good has expanded its 75-person organization to 300 staff working in various locations across the Portland Metro area. The majority of staff employed at Do Good work from multiple sites and interact directly with program participants, with the Everett Street location facilitating a handful of administrative services and storing donated home goods for people transitioning into housing.
Lisa Horness, Community Partnerships Manager for Do Good Multnomah, explained that during the height of COVID-19, Multnomah County and the City of Portland asked the organization to grow its offerings to meet an expanding need to shelter vulnerable people living outdoors. “As an organization, we were initially serving primarily veterans. When the pandemic happened, the City and the County saw what we were doing, our highly relational approach to the work of serving veterans experiencing houselessness. They asked, ‘Hey, can you do more? We’re going to start operating these motels to support folks who have more of the comorbidities that the pandemic is primarily affecting,'” recalled Horness. Those new programs focus on sheltering older adults, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) community members, and people with medical conditions. “That kicked off a period of rapid growth for Do Good. We moved from having a low-barrier congregate shelter serving male-identifying veterans to growing into these motel programs. We now serve somewhere around 700 folks a night across three counties through about 20 programs. Some of those are wrap-around services, so not necessarily physical sites, but have grown and expanded into supporting folks from all marginalized communities, but still prioritizing veterans experiencing houselessness,” said Horness.
After a year in the NE Everett Street building, the organization identified a community need for a resource center to collect and distribute donated housewares, mattresses, furniture, towels, clothing, and toiletries. People moving into housing from the shelter network often lack basic supplies and resources to furnish an apartment. Through word-of-mouth, they began collecting donations from barrel drives and individual donations, storing the items in the former church’s ample basement and nave. The wide open floor space made it possible to organize the donated items so staff could easily package items for delivery to program participants. They receive corporate contributions, including two recent semi-trucks worth of mattresses with box springs made surplus during a Great Wolf Lodge remodel project and new mattresses gifted by Mor Furniture. However, Horness says most contributions come from household donations. Anyone can arrange to donate needed items by filling out the company’s web form and then dropping off the items during a scheduled time at the NE Everett Street location.
Although Do Good Multnomah expanded support to a broader demographic of marginalized people and to counties beyond its namesake, the staff continues to focus on former military service members facing housing insecurities. “We have programs that are still veteran-specific and veteran-only, like our Wy’East Veterans Shelter. Most of our permanent supportive housing sites and our Veterans Village are veteran-specific,” explained Horness. “As we grew, to maintain our focus on serving veterans, our programs that are civilian-based reserve 15% of the beds for veterans, which is the percentage of veterans experiencing homelessness across the nation relative to the population.”
Do Good’s expansion into serving other populations was not just about meeting the abundant need for shelter across the region. They also recognized they needed to cast a wide net to reach everyone they wanted to serve. “Not every veteran is going to want to be in a veteran-specific community. So by having both veteran-specific and civilian-based programming in the full spectrum of programs, we can meet people where they are at,” said Horness. They now offer everything from low-barrier congregate shelters, motel shelter programs, pod villages, permanent supportive housing, affordable housing, and behavioral health treatment. They recently partnered with the Mental Health & Addiction Association of Oregon at the County’s Behavioral Health Resource Center to offer bridge housing for people experiencing mental health challenges or substance use disorder. The organization is participating with a new outreach team in North Portland, and the North Portland Day Center is opening at the end of April or early May. In addition to low-barrier shelters that do not require sobriety, Do Good will open the Kenton Motel, which will offer sober housing for veterans.
According to Horness, they see significant movement between programs. “Just because one individual might start in a congregate program doesn’t mean necessarily that they’ll move directly into housing from there. Some do, but others may reach the next positive step for them, like a motel program where they have more independence, personal space, and an opportunity to grow. Or perhaps it’s a pod. Each of our programs have different goals associated with a timeline. We want folks to progress, whatever that means to them, but shelter is not the end goal, housing is the end goal. A place that is one’s own, or maybe it’s assisted living, or maybe it’s into recovery. Again, it’s going to look a little different for every individual because we are all individuals. But the end goal is not one of our programs unless it happens to be permanent supportive housing.”
The organization will celebrate its tenth anniversary this May, recognizing the dramatic transformation into a multi-site service provider from its origins as a 13-bed shelter for veterans in the basement of Rose City Park United Methodist Church. Horness explained that although they have grown Do Good’s reach, they will maintain their purpose. “Our mission is journeying alongside folks as they navigate towards housing. But really, the goal is providing supportive services and partnering with our community and neighbors to provide access to resources. Housing can be really challenging; it’s not always a linear journey, but we are here to support folks wherever they are along that journey. That takes a village.”
Almost a year ago, Bethany Rydmark relocated her eponymously named company from a home studio to a Montavilla office, sharing space with Arctura Design Build at 425 NE 80th Avenue. Since moving into the green cement-block building, Bethany Rydmark :: Landscapes has grown into a five-member team helping clients create functional, evolving outdoor spaces designed to thrive in a changing climate.
Rydmark’s return to Montavilla workplace harkens back nearly 20 years to her time working for Quatrefoil, which operated from the boxy 1,200 square-foot building at 404 SE 80th Avenue before that company relocated to NE 65th Avenue. That job also influenced her family’s move into the area. “My husband and I ended up moving about a year later to live in the neighborhood so that I could be close to work, and he was close to his university around the corner,” recalled Rydmark. In 2013, she started her private practice from a backyard studio and a decade later signed a lease for the NE 80th Avenue location in May 2024.
Directory sign at 425 NE 80th Ave (photo by Jacob Loeb)
Rydmark explained that she has always loved gardens, and outdoor interactions were a staple of her upbringing. However, passion alone will not lead a person to a career in landscape architecture. It is a State-licensed profession that required she complete a five-year Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) degree from the University of Oregon and participate in a three-year apprenticeship program before taking the national Landscape Architect Registration Examination. Bethany Rydmark received her license in 2010 after completing an oral exam with the Oregon Landscape Architect Board. In 2012, wanting to expand her understanding of the profession’s practical applications, she embarked on a year-long worldwide trip to visit diverse landscapes and ecosystems. “I went to 25 countries and territories for a year and brought all that inspiration and knowledge back with me,” Said Rydmark.
According to Rydmark, understanding how gardens thrive in other climates is essential to working in Portland as environmental shifts make tradition less impactful in landscaping design. “We do incorporate a lot of native [plants]. We’re very happy to celebrate and use natives, but we love to help encourage clients to think beyond the traditional palette of plants that have been used for a long time. Part of that’s out of necessity because the climate continues to change, and our weather patterns have shifted. The typical Portland garden you saw in a photo from a garden club in the 60s, those plants don’t necessarily live in and experience the same weather patterns now that they did then.” She explained that holding to older design principles creates resource-heavy gardens, requiring extra water and protection from freezing weather or extremely hot days.
Photo courtesy Bethany Rydmark :: Landscapes
The team at Bethany Rydmark :: Landscapes produces spaces tailored to their clients’ desires while staying committed to creating a sustainable outdoor space that continues to grow into its envisioned shape over years. “We’re interested in places where we can make a difference with thoughtful, non-cookie-cutter design, which is sometimes hard because oftentimes in public spaces, there are the cookie-cutter ways of getting things done. There’s city code, and there’s the standard accepted way of doing things. Our ethos is about how we dig down to find health, [building back in] holistically healthy ways of design, creating things that are beautiful, that are also nourishing to our human spirits, to our ecosystem, neighbors, and other creatures,” said Rydmark. That can include considerations for pollinators, soil health, or birds. Their designs often shape lighting arrangements to maximize safety while reducing the disorienting effects of light pollution on migratory birds flying in the night sky.
Bethany Rydmark explained that her company is best suited to people making a long-term investment in their properties, spending twenty percent or more of their home’s value on the entire outdoor project. “Oftentimes, I find that people are committed to their land for a period of time to justify the amount of effort that it takes to go through a thoughtful design project; they’re the ones that are a good fit for the level of work that we do,” said Rydmark. “We focus on residential scale projects from estates and beautiful luxury homes to more modest-sized properties where clients have a vision. We are also partnering with a few other architects and developers on more commercial projects.” However, she feels good outdoor design should be accessible to everyone but would rather people with constrained budgets put most of their money towards plants and placemaking material instead of the services her company provides.
Photo courtesy Bethany Rydmark :: Landscapes
Investments in outdoor spaces extend beyond the initial design and implementation. Many plantings take years to reach maturity, so designers use filler plants to keep the soil protected and active, but people will need to remove them as the primary vegetation grows to its intended size. “I kind of laugh at the idea of the no-maintenance garden unless you’re going to go walk in the woods and be a visitor there. Just about any landscape you interact with has some form of dynamism,” said Rydmark. “Oftentimes, I’m working for clients that are aware that they need extra help and will plan for a maintenance budget going into the future, whether that’s ongoing regular maintenance from a company that can provide that or an engaged gardener.” However, manicured spaces are not always the outcome of designed gardens. “Honestly, sometimes maintenance is overdone, and I teach people how to take a step back and let things look messy, to build a rich garden ecosystem with a little less maintenance and a little more allowing for nature to cycle through,” remarked Rydmark.
Bethany Rydmark :: Landscapes focuses on working with customers to create authentic outdoor spaces people can enjoy as much as their homes and businesses. “I like to stick with things that are real, real stone, real wood, real steel, real stone, and real rock. It’s the antithesis to the AstroTurf, Trex decking, or fake stone veneer that pretends it’s something else,” said Rydmark. “Oftentimes fast or cheap design and construction can strip out life and leave something that’s somewhat exploitative of resources. Our hope is to create places that have a story to tell, that have been thoughtfully designed and thoughtfully constructed with honor given to the materials, to the people, to the outcome, to the long-term life of the place that we’re shaping.”
People interested in seeing Bethany Rydmark :: Landscapes’ featured projects or talking with the team about an outdoor space can contact the group at bethanyrydmark.com.
TriMet will observe this year’s Transit Driver Appreciation Day on March 18th, 2025. For over a decade, the municipal transportation corporation has used this day to invite its users to thank those who keep the system moving. If riding on public transportation this Tuesday, event organizers encourage people to say “thank you,” wave, or smile at the operator. Riders can sign a banner at one of five transit center locations or post their message of thanks on an online board.
Image courtesy triMet
TriMet staff welcomes people to join employees at the Portland Transit Mall in southwest Portland. Well-wishers can gather on Alder to Yamhill Street along SW 6th Avenue and Main to Jefferson Street on SW 5th Avenue from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Support for public transit and its employees is valuable for all Portlanders, even if they do not rely on it for their own transportation needs. TriMet’s role is critical in building housing density and lowering Oregon’s carbon output. Modern Portland multi-family developments often lack onsite parking or offer minimal vehicle storage space. This development model helps maximize the housing units on a property and encourages people to forgo a private vehicle. Instead, city planners who rezone for more density anticipate that residents will use other commuting methods, including public transit. This model should reduce the environmental impact of transportation in Oregon, but it depends on fast and effective alternatives that use less polluting propulsion. TriMet is the largest transportation provider in the region for those without personal vehicles, providing over 55 million rides in the 2024 fiscal year.
In that respect, transit drivers are not only responsible for safely moving people throughout the community but also play an impactful role in reducing climate change and mitigating the housing crisis. TriMet drivers always welcome daily appreciation, but March 18th is an appropriate time to communicate your feelings explicitly.
Montavilla Sheet Metal & Stainless Steel Inc., a family-owned metal fabricator, relocated to the area after purchasing a three-building complex at 8101 NE Glisan Street. The Milwaukie, Oregon, founded company supports sheet metal needs ranging from small residential projects to large commercial customers. Although the ownership and company are different, this marks the return of a nearly 100-year-old business name to the area.
The original Montavilla Sheet Metal opened in 1927, offering metal roofing, gutter, and heating components alongside general sheet metal fabrication services. The owner moved the business from its 5736 NE Glisan Street building in 2010, relocating outside Portland. A July 16th, 2010, Oregonian/Oregonlive article detailed Laura Mixer’s move of her family’s company to Clackamas County. The article indicated the relocation was partially motivated by the City’s changing land use zoning and the company’s need for more space. The area around the former shop is now Commercial Mixed Use 2 (CM2) zoned, and those blocks have experienced significant housing creation via several multi-unit developments. However, the 1912-era former sheet metal shop space remains standing and now houses a physical therapy provider.
Former Montavilla Sheet Metal location at 5736 NE Glisan St from Google Maps 2007
Laura Mixer’s Montavilla Sheet Metal ceased operation around 2021, and Ilya Zagaryuk, who owned an established sheet metal business, purchased most of the metalworking equipment from Montavilla Sheet Metal. Zagaryuk grew up in the neighborhood near NE Glisan and knew of the company’s history from working in construction with his father. Zagaryuk created a new business called Montavilla Sheet Metal & Stainless Steel out of respect for the former company and a wish for it to return to Montavilla. With his Milwaukie site’s lease ending in a year and business growing beyond that location’s capacity, he found a suitable facility at 8101 NE Glisan Street that offers 33,750 square feet of usable space, nearly double what he had.
The new property met all Zagaryuk’s needs. It is centrally located to the company’s existing client base and near major roads for easy freeway access. The property offers two metal-clad fabrication warehouses behind a single-story office building. The entire site is fenced, and Zagaryuk intends to extend the fence to the front property line. He will also install a covered roof between the two metal buildings to create a dry storage yard. Zagaryuk remarked that the property’s location in Montavilla and on NE Glisan Street was ideal for his plans, fulfilling his desire to return the name to his childhood community.
During March, Zagaryuk will relocate the Montavilla Sheet Metal & Stainless Steel offices to the new building. The NE Glisan building will also house his construction company, UKA Construction, which Zagaryuk inherited from his father. He explained that his family moved from Ukraine when he was four years old, and his father started the company several years later, in 1996. Zagaryuk UKA intended the abbreviation to stand for Ukraine Construction in America, but his father’s burgeoning knowledge of English caused him to make a “k” versus “c” spelling error. Zagaryuk said keeping the business name as his father first registered it was important because it was an endearing part of his family’s American story.
Zagaryuk’s expansion from construction into sheet metal work arose from a practical need. He found excessive delivery times for flashing and chimney caps were holding construction timelines back. With an investment in equipment, he could make most of the metal needed to complete his buildings and deliver his projects on time. After years of doing his in-house metal work, friends in the industry began to request that he do the same for their projects. He started ProFlashCo to take on the outside projects and grew the business to include railings and other custom metal work. Years later, the company expanded to include the Montavilla Sheet Metal & Stainless Steel brand and now employs around ten people.
The extra business required that they find new space beyond its location in Milwaukie. They will operate two shops for now, shifting all the administrative and railing work to NE Glisan. As the lease for the old location ends later this year, Zagaryuk will decide if all activity will move to the Montavilla property. The company hopes to have a grand opening celebration for its customers later this summer and will commence with property upgrades as soon as Portland approves its permit applications. People should expect more activity at the site over the coming months as the staff ramps up production work, creating essential building components.
Promotion: Montavilla News is supported by contributions from businesses like Storied Vintage, a furniture restoration and sales shop at 7850 SE Stark Street. We thank them for their support.
On Tuesday, March 18th, Portland residents will have an opportunity to participate in a District 3 budget listening session and express their community funding priorities to City leaders. Portland is facing a substantial budget shortfall for its fiscal year starting July 1st, and cuts are needed across City operations to balance spending against revenue. Within $16 million of recommended reductions to Portland Parks & Recreation’s budget are possible solutions that would impact Montavilla residents, including the loss of summer programs and the potential closure of the Community Center at 8219 NE Glisan Street.
From 6 to 8:30 p.m. on the 18th, members of the Portland City Council, Mayor Wilson, and representatives from the Budget Office will gather on the University of Western States campus at 8100 NE Tillamook Street to gauge community priorities regarding proposed budget cuts. People can also attend online via the Zoom conferencing app or passively watch on the City’s YouTube channel. Participants attending from the campus or via Zoom can provide two minutes of testimony. In-person speakers will register upon arrival, starting at 5:30 p.m. City staff will post virtual testimony instructions on the City’s website by Sunday, March 16th. Residents who will not attend the event or do not want to speak can submit written comments online via the City’s budget page.
Proposed budget cuts could impact a wide-ranging assortment of city services people have grown accustomed to receiving. In the recently posted Vibrant Communities – Decision Packages v2 budget document, two possible reduction proposals could impact Montavilla Park. One recommended reduction would close a community center, eliminating all current programs and services. The document does not identify which center would close, but the Montavilla Community Center is one of three examples given.
“This package would close a neighborhood community center, eliminating all programs and services currently provided to the community through this facility. Staff reductions will accompany this center closure, and recreation programs, including educational preschool and afterschool programs will no longer be offered. Events, rentals, and other recreational programming will also be eliminated at this location. Examples include, St Johns Community Center, Montavilla Community Center and Peninsula Park Community Center.” – Vibrant Communities – Decision Packages v2
In addition to the possible closure of Montavilla’s Community Center, the document includes recommendations for eliminating youth summer camp programs at ten locations in summer 2026. These reductions would include programs at Montavilla Community Center and the East Portland Community Center at 740 SE 106th Avenue, which is the next nearest parks resource center for people in the neighborhood.
“This budget package would result in the elimination of the youth summer camp program, currently provided at ten locations through five regional community centers (Southwest CC; East Portland CC; Charles Jordan CC; Matt Dishman CC; Mt Scott CC) and five neighborhood/specialty centers (St Johns CC; Peninsula Park CC; Woodstock CC; Montavilla CC; Multnomah Arts Center). Summer 2024 provided camps to 6,949 registered participants.” – Vibrant Communities – Decision Packages v2
These possible Parks department reductions are just two examples of proposed cuts to the City’s budget. People should review the proposed budget for more examples ahead of the listening session. Residents should note that these plans can adjust with community input, and no action is inevitable outside the need to close the City’s funding gap. Montavilla Community Center will close from March 17th to March 22nd for annual building maintenance. This short closure is unrelated to the budget deficit but previews how a possible Montavilla Community Center closure would impact the neighborhood. Organizers have three other listening sessions scheduled throughout Portland, including District 1 on March 20th, District 4 on April 1st, and District 2 on April 3rd.
