Whenever something good happens in a community, like the recent Jennings Lodge banner hanging on McLoughlin Boulevard, it almost always took a big push from a lot of people to make it happen. But every great success story also has a champion, someone, often quietly in the background, who may not have done all the work, but without whom the work would not have been done. As regional councilor for District 2, I meet these people every day. These are the people who inspire me. I want to spend some time over the next several weeks telling you about them.
It's been about two years since I met Jennifer Harding, owner of the Eastside Athletic Club on McLoughlin Boulevard. Jennifer was introduced to me by another community champion Eleanore Hunter from the Oak Grove Community Council. Eleanore spotted in Jennifer that spark of positive energy.
Over lunch we talked about the McLoughlin Area Business Association Jennifer co-chairs. Her dream is to make McLoughlin live up to its name as a "Boulevard," in the best sense of that word – an inviting place where people come to shop, dine, work out, or just play.
I suggested she might want to connect with Michele Reeves, a woman who has worked with a lot of Metro region cities to help them highlight the features of their downtowns.
Jennifer secured the money to hire Michele who then did an analysis of McLoughlin Boulevard. To a full house and a standing ovation, Michele presented her recommendations, and Jennifer had her work plan.
One of the first goals was rebranding the boulevard from a drive-through "super highway," as it was called when it first opened decades ago, to a place where people can get out of their cars and walk around.
On the long-term plan for the boulevard, this rebranding with banners identifying each community the boulevard passes through was expected to take a couple of years. But Jennifer pulled together Clackamas County, North Clackamas Chamber of Commerce and other resources to get it done now.
On Monday, the first of the new banners went up. The rest are coming. And as you drive McLoughlin Boulevard in coming months you may be able to see them better because Jennifer is quietly working with her neighbor businesses to get them to take down some of the chaos of competing signs that make it hard to appreciate the new banners.
Thank you Jennifer for making our community a great place.