Neighbors and Concerned Friends:

It's hard to believe that it's been almost 18 months since more than 400 neighbors formed a standing-room only crowd at Bethany Lutheran Church to discuss the four-story building with no parking planned for our neighborhood. Not long after that meeting, Beaumont-Wilshire Neighbors for Responsible Growth formed to reduce the impact of the building, and to address the issue citywide.

Our hundreds of hours of work this past year HAS resulted in changes that the city of Portland has made to respond to such exploitive development. Working with a coalition of other neighborhood groups, we persuaded the city to adopt minimum parking requirements for developments like the one on Fremont, and after weathering months of developer-delays we were able to make our case last month to the state's Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). 

While we await LUBA's decision -- due later this week -- we confront an urgent reality with which we need your help. For the first time since we have been fighting these battles, we do not have the funds necessary to continue paying our bills from Dunn Carney, the firm of our land use attorney, Ty Wyman. To date we have raised $5,500 through direct solicitations, an ice-cream social, Fremont Fest, and last month's event at Blackbird Wineshop. Even with significant monthly discounts by our lawyer's firm and the extraordinary generosity of many neighbors, we estimate an additional $4,000 is needed to have brought our case to LUBA.

Now for the outright fundraising plea...

...if you have been waiting to see what happens with the case before donating, we suggest that now is the time to contribute to it.
...if you've given already (and there are many of you), we're asking you to consider donating again.
...if you know of someone -- a neighbor, a friend in another neighborhood or city -- who tries to support grass-roots causes like ours, please forward this email to them. 

...if you think that this is a lost cause because the building is nearly finished, remember that LUBA can reverse the issuance of the original permit, requiring the developer to either meet the minimum parking standards implemented in May or bypass the parking requirements by reducing the number of units—and therefore the building's overall impact.

Consider this: we could easily meet out fundraising goal if everyone who was at the church 18 months ago gave $10, or if every household in the Beaumont-Wilshire neighborhood gave 78 cents, or if every person who visited our website over the past year gave $1, or if everyone receiving this email gave $50.

There are three ways that you can donate (in whatever amount): 

1. Go to the Umpqua bank branch at 4335 NE Fremont and make a deposit directly into the account for "Beaumont-Wilshire Neighbors for Responsible Growth" or "BWNRG."
2. Mail a check payable to "Beaumont-Wilshire Neighbors for Responsible Growth" or to "BWNRG" and mail to:
• c/o William Price
  WP Price 
  4300 NE Fremont, Suite 250
  Portland, OR 97213
Go to our PayPal site to donate by credit card:https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=7D6ECPER67RGY

If you would like more information about the case before deciding to donate, please respond to this email with your questions/concerns, and one of our members will reply to you as soon as possible.

Thank you again for all of your continued and future support. Look for news on the upcoming LUBA decision later this week. 

Warmly,

your neighbors at Beaumont-Wilshire Neighbors for Responsible Growth

We changed the date on our Cookie Bake with Kids. It is now ; Fleur De Lis Cookir Bake with Kids,Saturday, December 14th,  from 1-2 PM. First 20 kids are free with reservations.

503 459 4887, or lilly@fleurdelisbakery.com. 

Fleur De Lis Bakery & Cafe, 3930 NE Hancock