The City of Portland's PDX Reporter app for Android and iPhone lets you file on-the-spot problem reports for graffiti, potholes, clogged storm drains, and more. Use your smartphone to send the details directly to City bureaus. 

PHLUSH in Old Town Chinatown (OTCT) is excited to announce a new partnership with our sister neighborhood of Salinas Chinatown. Dr. Seth Pollack from California State University Monterey Bay engages students each semester in service learning activities in this isolated and low-income neighborhood. Most activities focus on social services. There is a high contingent of people without houses there, numerous unofficial encampments, and no public toilets. After they funded a visit from OTCT Neighborhood Association member and Old Town business owner Harold Weiner, Salinas community members learned about activities of Portland PHLUSH.

Given common goals related to public sanitation, they now want to start an affiliated group called Salinas Chinatown PHLUSH. Dr. Pollack would like stakeholders (residents, business owners, etc.) to know groups are working on similar issues all across the United States. They are particularly interested in the PHLUSH Public Restroom Design Principles, and they want to know how communities safely manage toilets into perpetuity. Salinas Chinatown PHLUSH has already found a funder to provide a mobile toilet in their neighborhood for three months. But in the long run, they will explore the possibility of composting toilets in a community garden located in the neighborhood. Portland PHLUSH fully supports their efforts and is excited about collaboration into the future. 

Congratulations to the awardees of Neighbors West-Northwest's Neighborhood Small Grants program for 2013. We'll have more news on these community projects as they progress throughout the year.