The last time the Rhododendron Community Planning Organization (CPO) held
an in-person meeting, various dignitaries (and a cake) were on hand to
celebrate the first of two centennial celebrations for the community. This
month, the group will hold its first in-person meeting since then, a break of
two years thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s going to feel great,” Steve Graeper, CPO President, said. “It’s long
overdue and we’ll be able to start a communication process that has been
lacking for the past two years.”

The agenda includes a series of guest speakers, leading off with Hoodland Fire
District Chief Jim Price, who will discuss his vision for the district and possibly
making Rhododendron a Firewise community. Bill Messner and Julie
Hernandez will represent Portland General Electric and will discuss wildfire
management and preemptive outages, followed by a short discussion with
Marci Slater about the Hoodland Park District that will be put to voters in May
2022.

Graeper also plans on providing updates on a possible Rhododendron Gateway
Arch sign and next steps on the Rhody Rising efforts to revitalize the
community. He noted that after the recent completion of a transportation
growth grant, he hopes to get the Oregon Department of Transportation
(ODOT) to do a traffic study (more in-depth than a speed study) in an attempt
to make Hwy. 26 in Rhododendron more pedestrian friendly.

“It was not my idea to put the highway on a road diet,” Graeper said,
referring to the idea of reducing the lanes on Hwy. 26 to a single lane in each
direction in Rhododendron. “That was ODOT’s idea. It’s just a possibility.”
The meeting will also feature the election of new officers for the CPO, with
Graeper planning on no longer serving on the board.

“It’s time for a change,” he said.

The CPO meeting will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, at the Mt.
Hood Village RV Resort, 65000 Hwy. 26 in Welches.

A full agenda is expected to be posted in the Rhododendron Post Office in
early January.

Graeper noted that COVID-19 protocols will be in place, including masking,
but the specific measures in place may change based on recommendations at
the time.

“It’s a very fluid environment with COVID, we don’t know what the
requirements will be,” he said.