Appoint and reappoint Portland Parks & Recreation Board members for FY 2024-25

June 5, 2024 As Mayor and Commissioner of Finance & Administration, I request Council confirmation of the following appointment to the Portland Parks & Recreation Board: Appointment Term Replacing Bill Van Bang 06-30-2026 (Partial Term) Jonathan Beckhart Sameer Kanal 06-30-2027 Bonnie Gee Yosick Allison Snopek 06-30-2027 Elana Pirtle-Guiney Reappointment Casey Mills 06-30-2027 (Second Term) Sabrina Wilson 06-30-2027 (Second Term) Suenn Ho 06-30-2024 (First Full Term) Respectfully submitted, Ted Wheeler Mayor Bios and Statements of Interest of appointees attached. Bill Van Bang Bio: Bill Van Bang is an IT professional with over a decade of experience in systems integration. He credits his success in the industry to being a dedicated user advocate, building relationships, and seeking true human connection in order to optimize processes to achieve user needs. Before starting his career in IT he worked on a stewardship tree farm in Northern Colorado where he learned about sustainable forest management and the idea that one should leave their environment better than they found it. He has a strong passion for community and the natural world and is an active volunteer with Peninsula Elementary School, Friends of Trees, Columbia Land Trust, and Northwest Trails Alliance. He received his bachelor's degree in English from Colorado State University and lives in North Portland with his wife and two children. Statement of Interest: For the nearly two decades that I have lived in Portland, the parks have provided me with the ability to commune with nature, friends, and family without the necessity of a vehicle and commute outside of city limits. Parks are a place to build community through sports, concerts, and cultural celebrations as well as a place to seek solitude amongst nature. During the pandemic I watched as the parks became open air conference rooms and work from home offices as well as yoga studios, crossfit courses, and happy hour picnics. As a daily user of Portland Parks I am fascinated by all the people I’ve met enjoying them and learning all the ways how they enjoy them. Just as our city is growing and changing, so too are our parks and the necessity for diverse community input to ensure they fit the needs of Portland residents. I look forward to joining the Portland Parks & Recreation Board and hope to foster communication between the bureau and the residents of Portland as we work together to craft a harmonious vision for the future of Portland Parks and Recreation programming. Allison Snopek Bio: Allison Snopek is a committed nonprofit professional with over 10 years of service to the arts and culture field. She values transparency, active communication, and adaptability as tenets for establishing trust and longstanding community partnerships. Allison serves on the board of directors for the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition, and was formerly the Executive Co-Director of Programs & Grants Management at Intersection for the Arts (a fiscal sponsor that supports 175+ arts and culture organizations). She previously directed community engagement, public art programs, exhibitions, and volunteer coordination at ArtSpan (a nonprofit visual arts organization that produces the annual city-wide open studios event in San Francisco). Allison currently lives in the Piedmont neighborhood of North Portland where she enjoys cooking, gardening, painting, and preparing for her next wilderness adventure. Statement of Interest: Outdoor recreation and community spaces have always played an integral role in my life. I grew up attending community summer camps, playing sports, and swimming in public pools. These formative experiences, hosted in parks and neighborhood venues, taught me to appreciate nature and to enjoy extracurricular activities. As a frequent visitor of Portland’s parks and recreation centers, I value these important spaces as essential for residents to venture out of the house, to experience native plants and wildlife, and to be among neighbors. I believe that equitable access to well-managed parks and excellent recreational programs is imperative to the health and well-being of every neighborhood. I am thrilled to join the Portland Parks & Recreation Board in service to the vitality of Portland. Sameer Kanal Bio: Sameer Kanal is a North Portland native who currently serves as the Advisory Boards and Commissions Manager at the City's Community Safety Division. He is also a co-founder and volunteer executive director at the Northwest Association for Global Affairs, which facilitates extracurricular programs focused on the international system for Northwest students. Prior to his current role, he was Project Manager of the City's Police Accountability Commission, and has also worked in project management, organizing, and research roles. He was born in Portland and studied at Clark College before graduating from the University of Washington with his BA. He went to grad school at New York University, studying human rights and international law. He plays dodgeball in his spare time, often in parks and community centers in Portland and other cities. Statement of Interest: Growing up in and around Portland, I've have always appreciated how much green space Portland has, and how different parks enable so many types of enjoyment. Visiting alone and letting the stress wash away, connecting with family and friends at parks, and playing sports with people that have become friends, I've seen how parks are cornerstone of Portland's community life. In my professional work at the Community Safety Division, I've seen how parks can be a contributing force for safety, by offering prosocial activities for people to engage in. My goals for my service on the Portland Parks and Recreation Board include expanding avenues for community members to co-create policy with the City, and pursuing programming that will make Parks a larger part of our community safety framework. Casey Mills Casey is a retired lawyer who practiced for 30 years focusing on reorganizations of financially troubled businesses. He lives in the South Waterfront and presently runs a website about Oregon golf courses. Casey has helped to create and direct diversity and equity programs, and regularly volunteers for a variety of conservation organizations. He believes that equitable access to safe open and natural spaces for all Portlanders is the key for a productive, successful, and healthy Portland, and wants to help the city retain a positive legacy of an exceptional park system. Sabrina Wilson Sabrina is the Executive Director at The Rosewood Initiative and resides in East Portland. Sabrina has Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and Journalism and Mass Communication from California State University, Long Beach, and a Master of Public Administration from California State University, San Bernardino. Sabrina demonstrates her commitment to diversity by serving a diverse community with a diverse leadership, professional staff and an inclusive volunteer force that reflects the community’s population. Dismantling systems that were not created with diverse and intersectional people in mind is a part of everything Sabrina does. The neighborhood and community The Rosewood Initiative serves is one of the most diverse in the state of Oregon with 142 languages spoken and one third of residents being foreign born. Suenn Ho Suenn Ho is an urban designer who has taught architecture and design extensively in Oregon and has served on a diverse number of local non-profit boards and committees. She has lived and worked in Boston, Pittsburg, New York City, France, and Hong Kong, and has been enjoying the Portland parks system since 1993. Her built works are mostly publicly funded projects that focus on seldom-recognized cultural history and stories. In 2006, she was commissioned to design Astoria’s Bi-centennial Legacy Project, the Garden of Surging Waves in Heritage Square, fronting City Hall in the center of the historic downtown, and received four design awards as a result. Suenn is interested in serving Portland Parks & Recreation because she believes that public parks can bring much needed outdoor joy and relevancy to everyone.