Aloha High School Leadership Class Workshop Event Highlights

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1 Event Highlights Event Details: Thursday, Aloha High School SW Kinnaman Rd. Aloha, OR Project Staff: Kim Armstrong, Washington County Traci Shirley, Washington County Schedule: 8:15-9:15 Leadership 9:20-10:20 Leadership prep Eryn Kehe, JLA Public Involvement Jessica Pickul, JLA Public Involvement Event Overview On Thursday,, project team members of the Aloha-Reedville Study and Livable Community Plan facilitated two workshops with the Aloha High School Leadership classes, engaging approximately 60 students total. The workshops were held with the purpose of educating the students about the Aloha-Reedville Study and for Washington County to learn how the students would prioritize improvements in the Aloha and Reedville communities. Project Introduction and Prioritization Activity Each of the workshops kicked off with Kim Armstrong, Washington County s Deputy Project Manager, providing staff introductions and a project overview. Jessica Pickul led students through a prioritization activity that asked students to identify the community solutions that they felt would be most beneficial for the Aloha and Reedville communities. The students were given eight super balls each and encouraged to spend their super balls on their top community solutions. At the end of the activity, the community solutions with the most super balls represented the top priorities for that class. The following is the list of community solutions that were included in the prioritization activity: New Homes Safer street crossings Home buying programs Bike lanes/cycle tracks Building improvements Trail connections Parks Transit improvements Multi-purpose community center Street lighting Community-building programs and events Improve traffic flow Support local business Sidewalks Community signage Public safety Commercial/residential connections

2 Page 2 Prioritization activity results from both leadership classes are shown in the following chart:

3 Page 3 Workshop Discussion Jessica Pickul and Eryn Kehe facilitated a group discussion of the activity results with the students. The following points include comments made by students in both classes during the discussion periods and written comments submitted on comment cards. The following statements were made by the students and not edited by the project team: Sidewalks Lack of sidewalks is a safety issue. Cars drive fast (45 mph) and it s unsafe. It is a big problem. Sometimes pedestrians have to cross the street to continue on sidewalk, but have to cross unsafely. Big groups of students walk together and there is not enough room. (Ex. 185 th /Kinnaman/Farmington) (This comment was brought up in both classes) School spends a lot of money on crossing guards that wouldn t be as necessary if there were adequate sidewalks. It s uncomfortable walking in street. It feels unsafe. Pedestrians end up walking in someone s yard. Students walk from High School to get food and end up walking in the streets. Cars have to move out of the way not to hit people. It is hard to walk to bus stop. Don t like walking in the street: it feels unsafe and people could fall in a ditch. Parks Need cleaner bathrooms. Good seating areas and picnic areas. Cleaner water fountains/filtered water. Cooke s Park is a great skate park and nature park. Open place across from school (near church) would be a good place for a park. The existing parks are unused. Some areas have parks but others are missing them. Local parks don t have lots of stuff to do. (Ex. Mt. View, or park on Blanton near TV Highway) Existing parks are big open spaces with no playgrounds. Need more basketball courts. Need more playgrounds for kids to play. Zip lines, teeter totters, and merry-go-rounds would be fun for kids. Would be nice to have grills for picnics or a place for families to have parties. Improved safety at parks is needed. Is there a good park in Aloha at all? (Ex. Autumn Ridge) A park that is attractive and friendly. Example of nice parks: Beaverton Library Park, Cooke s Park, 53 rd Park, and Magnolia Park.

4 Page 4 It would be nice if parks had: Flushing toilets and nice bathrooms Security Dog waste bags Water fountains Trash cans Covered area Trails and running paths A water feature Sports fields Offers different things for all ages Not wood chips rubber material instead Safe equipment New paint Flowers and landscaping Trees Food Great play equipment Lots of playing fields and courts A pond Community Center Need central place (like Progress Ridge) in Aloha. Progress Ridge looks nicer, more upscale, and has a lake and trails. Something like this would bring money to Aloha. Without Bally s, there is nowhere to go work out and play basketball. We want place to hang out. There are not many pools for people in Aloha to go to. Need place for local events Place to hang out would bring the community together. Need something like Cedar Hills (THPRD) Center in Aloha. People can take classes. Have to go outside of Aloha for entertainment. Go to Murray Hill to shop and use trails close to neighborhoods. Need free places to hang out cute and safe Aloha Plaza is worn down. Want a place you can go to and be with friends. Need one place with lots of options. Aloha is like a family that s why we want a place to gather. Some students did not like traditional community centers because there is too much indoor space, too organized, have set rules, and they don t want to pay to play. (First class) Give up on library. No one goes there. It is too small and has awkward hours. Beaverton Library is so nice. (Second class) Aloha needs a library. The existing hours are limited and it is small. Public Safety People need to be safe. There are dangerous situations here. (Ex. gun shots, hit and runs) Streetlights It can be dangerous. Would help with crime. It s dark walking to school. Students have to use flashlights. Bus stops can be dark sometimes.

5 Page 5 It is scary walking in the dark with no sidewalks. Building Improvements Shaw Street looks bad. This area should be renovated because it is visible and that defines the community. Should focus on what we have and make it better update, refresh, make it safe. At 185 th and Farmington, there are old rundown buildings there. Need to feel safe where you go in Aloha. Wish we could help the people who need support and clean up rundown housing. Homeowner s Associations can help people keep their house looking nice. People here need help renovating and maintaining their property. Shows respect for community when people take care of their homes. Incentives may work. (Example: Property maintenance in exchange for access to pool.) One student likes the requirements of her HOA because it keeps the neighborhood nice. Shaw Street is sketchy with ditch and tracks. It is dirty. Improve Traffic Flow Street signs and traffic lights are sometimes covered by trees and are confusing. Trail Connections Some trails are dark and feel unsafe. It would be nice to run to trails from neighborhoods. Community Signage Make it look like people care. Create a Welcome to Aloha sign. Possible locations for community signage: TV Highway, on Aloha community borders, Farmington. Make a welcome sign that is a nice carved, wood one. People don t know Aloha. It would identify our community. Banners that hang over the street. Community Building Students had an interest in a farmers market, art fairs and walks, and food trucks. Ideally, these events would be held in the same place. Let people know about local businesses and events and libraries, parks, other community activities. A place for festivals and concerts would be nice. Helps businesses. Leads to community improvements.

6 Page 6 Support Businesses The following is a list of the existing businesses in Aloha and Reedville that the students frequent: Nonna Emilia s McDonald s Dollar Tree Taco Bell Albertsons Walgreens Aloha Music Store 31 Flavors Mexican stores on TV Highway Bales Joanne s Bookstore Doughnut Day Big Lots/Costco Monkey Subs Cash and Carry Subway Thrift Shop (next to Big Lots) 7-Eleven Pizza Hut, Dominos, etc. Dairy Queen it s the spot for Junior High kids Thriftway David s Locks Could use a few more chains: Dutch Bros, Jamba Juice More little businesses (like a coffee shop) near neighborhoods would be convenient. Might be hard for a business to survive. Small businesses struggle with fast food places on TV Highway. Lesser known places currently struggle. Businesses on TV Highway are clustered and not nice. Don t shop here. Too many empty spaces. Aloha Mall isn t a mall. Needs a New Seasons or a health food store. Vietnamese Market is family owned (Viet-Ti Market near old Silver Dollar) and it doesn t have a lot of marketing. We go where it is familiar. People are attracted to what is new and nice. Need more malls. Notes on comment cards - Places students go to now: Taco Bell, McDonald s, Burger King, Wendy s, Little Caesars, Plaid Pantry More grocery stores Panda Express Teriyaki places Need more ice cream shops New Homes New homes just crowd the community need more open space. There are empty homes in community. We don t need more homes, we need to fill the empty ones.

7 Page 7 We should build places to gather rather than new homes. Near Goodwill (on Baseline), this area needs a lot of help. There is a big, new development of tall homes, with no space. They look too crowded. There are also new homes on Baseline and Walker that could have been an open field. Homes near Kindercare at 185 th and Farmington. Again, need new park!! Bike Lanes Why do some areas have bike lanes but no sidewalks? Not a lot of people bike here. Cyclists get in the way when you re driving. Discussion: Would you pay more money for more community solutions? Don t think people would pay more in taxes. Majority of people here don t have a lot of money, so they won t pay. Need to focus on one thing. People don t see connection to what they want and what they are paying for. People have been paying more and not happy with the results. Easier to focus on things that are already here rather than start new. Some people may support it like kids. It s not that people here don t care; other cities have more money to spend. People don t know where their tax dollars are going now. It s hard for people to pay more. Putting this all together would cost more, but it would benefit so much. We pay enough already.