The Sabin Spring Clean-Up is a perfect opportunity to get rid of those  unwanted items that are too big to put in your curbside trash or recycling. And it happens in our own neighborhood, so you save yourself a trip to “the dump.” Best of all, instead of paying fees to get rid of your stuff, you make a donation that funds projects right here in Sabin.

The Clean-Up will be held from 10 a.m. to 2p.m. on May 31 at Maranatha Church’s west parking lot. Vehicles should drive south from the corner of NE 12th Avenue and Skidmore Street, lining up on the west side of 12th to enter the parking lot. Vehicles going north on 12th from Mason Street will not be allowed to enter the parking lot.

HERE’S WHAT TO BRING: Household junk, furniture, mattresses, scrap metal, appliances, microwaves, large pieces of yard debris and treated wood. There is a $10 disposal fee for computers, laptops, monitors and TVs ($20 for large-screen).

REUSABLE ITEMS: If you have the following items in good, usable condition, we’ll be collecting them for donation to:  

   * Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which takes lumber in 5-foot lengths or longer (no nails or fasteners), doors and both home and garden tools

   * Community Warehouse, which takes furniture, kitchenware, lamps, clean linens (sheets, blankets and towels), irons, fans, alarm clocks, canes and crutches

    * Tools for Troops, which accepts all manner of construction and landscaping tools, including fasteners, tool bits and replacement saw blades. Tools are given to veterans.

DO NOT BRING: Tires, batteries, paint, hazardous or chemical wastes or motor oil. We will not accept any materials that are accepted in your curbside blue or green carts.  

PICK-UP NEEDS? We offer limited curbside pick-up service for seniors and people with disabilities. Contact Don Rouzie at 503-926-3922 to schedule.

Find out how well you know Sabin - and get to know your neighborhood even better! There are three different versions of the scavenger hunt form, each with 12 questions - complete one, or finish all three. Drop completed sheets into the Sabin Scavenger Hunt Box in the Albina Library. Come to the Sabin Picnic on August 5 to receive recognition and a Sabin Badge.

Click here for Scavenger Hunt forms

Hope to see you at the Tiny Tots Egg Hunt, sponsored by King Neighborhood Association, on Sunday April 20. It will be lots of fun and a great opportunity to meet the neighbors. It's BYOB (bring your own basket), so don't forget to bring a container.

The Portland African American Leadership Forum and the North/Northeast Business Association are gathering community members, including residents and those who have been displaced, of all backgrounds and perspectives, to develop a community-based development plan for the site.

NEW DATE AND LOCATION
 
Date: March 4
Time:  6pm-9pm 
Location: NNEBA Building -  311 N Ivy Street, Portland

The Portland African American Leadership Forum and the North/Northeast Business Association are hosting a community meeting to discuss the issue of gentrification and how it has impacted various community members’ position on the topic of what to do with the empty lot at MLK & Alberta.

This meeting was originally scheduled for February 18, but had to be postponed due to the teacher's strike, which made the meeting facility unavailable.

NEW DATE AND LOCATION
Date: February 25 
Time: 6pm-9pm 
Location: NNEBA Building - 311 N Ivy Street, Portland

Thirty-five people living in Sabin have joined a new social network called Nextdoor, which is designed to connect neighbors. It's a free service, similar to Facebook, but based on neighborhood.

From the company website: "Nextdoor is the private social network for you, your neighbors and your community. It's the easiest way for you and your neighbors to talk online and make all of your lives better in the real world. And it's free. Nextdoor’s mission is to use the power of technology to build stronger and safer neighborhoods."

Watch this ABC News report about Nextdoor or read this article. Join here.

When Mozart’s librettist sat down to write the story and lyrics to the comic opera, “The Marriage of Figaro,” the man didn’t have an Apple computer. Barbara Conable does, and it’s made her efforts to create the story, dialogue and aria lyrics of a new comic opera called “aMusement” a lot easier.

For the past two years, Conable, who lives in a Sabin bungalow near Whole Foods, has been collaborating with musician Lisa Marsh and director Matthew Zrebski on the project.

“It’s a completely original story about the Greek god Zeus and his daughters, the nine muses,” explains Conable. Encouraged by their father, the muses try to help Arthur — a man whose heart was broken after his wife and infant son died in childbirth — by appearing to him in dreams. “It’s a comic opera but has very sad and serious parts,” Conable adds.

A few of the opera’s arias were performed in a showcase before an audience last June at Iowa State University School of Music. Conable hopes a full production will be mounted in Portland this year or next.

Conable has spent many years working in theaters and with musicians, as well as writing poetry. She studied theater and acting at the University of Illinois, and then taught the Alexander Technique and theater  movement at the Cincinnati Conservatory. She later studied and taught the theory and practice of a technique called Body Mapping. Conable founded Andover Educators, a network of music teachers who concentrate on correct body movement. She’s written several books and a DVD on the subject.

Now retired, Conable intends to continue writing operas, to travel and to spend more time with her three children and their families.