While they originally sold vacuum receiving tubes, today they carry nearly $1Million of inventory in CCTV Video equipment, Terminal Blocks, Wire & Cable, LAN/Premise Wiring products and assorted “hard to find” electronic components.

URS’s primary customer base consists of OEM, Commercial/Industrial, and Local Government. They support the OEM market with value added services (Kitting, Scheduling/KANBAN, Various Assemblies); the Commercial/Industrial/MRO market by supplying a broad range of products in a timely manner; and finally URS has several State/City contracts that allows agencies to avoid the lengthy bid process with competitively priced government contracts.

The recently remodeled front counter area allows end users to stop by and actually “touch & feel” the product prior to purchase. While most of their business is with commercial accounts, they do accept most major credit cards. Either way, they promise fast, knowledgeable, and friendly service.

The average tenure for our 16 employee’s is over 20 years with their current president (Mark Twietmeyer) being a native Oregonian and second generation business owner. He literally grew up in the business, starting with sweeping the floors to eventually reaching the corner office. But as any small business owner knows; you may have the corner office, but you also still know how to run a broom.

For any of your electronic component requirements, call them at 503.233.5341, email us at sales@ursele.com, or visit their front counter at 123 NE 7th & Couch.

If you’d like to be spotlighted as the next CEIC Member, please send and email to terry@ceic.cc

Lots of CEIC members will still be at Grand Central Bowl, and they’ll be upstairs meeting and socializing with other local business owners.

Simply show up (SE 8th and Morrison) and be a part of the Social Event going on from 4:00 – 7:00 that night. To learn more, email us at ceic@ceic.cc

Looking for storefront money? Need some energy-saving (and money-rebate) resources? Want updates on projects, Land Use items or want to know of a CEIC business who can help your business with supplies or other services? Don’t know which city agency is in charge of what you need?

Simply zap an email to Terry at terry@ceic.cc and get the information you want. It’s one of the reasons the CEIC is here – besides the fact we spend a GREAT deal of time protecting the rights of the business and property owners in the district – to assist the businesses of the CEIC.

If you’re tired of it and want a direct line to the police and other agencies, attend the Community Policing Action Committee (CPAC). It meets the third Thursday of the month from 7:30AM – 8:30AM at 1515 SE Water Ave, Mt Adams Conference Room on the third floor.

It’s free, open to anyone, and gives you face-to-face time with the people who patrol our district, as well as the Office of Neighborhood Improvement and other agencies.

The next meeting is Thursday, February 18th.

The next Open House is Monday, February 22 from 4:30 –6:30 p.m.

St. Philip Neri Parish, Carvlin Hall
2408 SE 16th Ave.

This location is served by bus line 4-Division/Fessenden.

The Conceptual Design Report which presents the vision, process and preliminary design for the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project is now available.

The report includes sections regarding specific alignment segments and station areas, with many illustrations can be found by clicking here

Well the short answer is, visit this link for the most up to date road closures. You might as well download and bookmark it and make it an easy link on your cell phone – all this construction is going to take a while.

If you want to voice your opinion and learn more about these projects, attend our Quarterly Meeting on April 1st. We’ll have representatives from these companies discuss their projects and their timelines.

To learn more about the Quarterly Meeting and to reserve your spots, click here.

Just for fun, here’s what you can look forward to the next couple of weeks:
EAST – WEST streets

SE Ash St – 14th to 18th, lane closures: Now thru February 26
Sewer work is underway. Expect lane closures and possible detours. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

N Broadway St & N Weidler St – Benton to Williams, lane closures: Now thru March 5
Sewer work is underway. Expect lane closures and possible detours. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

NE Broadway St – Grand to Williams, lane closures: Now thru – March 21
Water line work is being performed, followed by paving. Expect lane closures and traffic delays. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

NE Broadway St – MLK to Williams, NIGHT TIME lane closures: Now thru April 18
Utility line work occurring mostly at night on south side of street. Expect possible lane closure and delays. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

E Burnside St – 16th to 22nd, lane closures: Now thru May 2010
Sewer line work is underway. Expect delays due to lane closures as traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction. (Oak Basin Sewer Project)

NE Couch St – at Burnside ~AND~ at Sandy, lane closures or detours: February 8 – 19
Traffic island work is being performed. Expect lane closures or detours. (Burnside / Couch Couplet Project)

NE Couch St – MLK to Grand, road closed: Now thru February 16
Roadway construction and/or paving work is being performed. Street will be closed except for Local Access Only. Expect detours. (Burnside / Couch Couplet Project)

NE Couch St – MLK to 3rd, now CLOSED: Permanently
This segment of Couch in now CLOSED permanently as part of the street realignment plan for the Burnside / Couch Couplet project. (Burnside / Couch Couplet Project)

NE Couch St – 17th to 20th, lane closures: Now thru February 28
Replacement sewer work is complete. Water line work is underway to be followed by paving. (Paving work is weather dependant.) Expect lane and/or street closures. (Oak Basin Sewer Project)

NE Davis St – Grand to 3rd, now Two-Way traffic: Permanently
This segment of Davis was once One-Way traffic, but has changed to Two-Way traffic permanently. (Burnside / Couch Couplet Project)

NE Lloyd Blvd – Grand to 9th, lane closure: Now thru December 2011
One eastbound travel lane will be closed all hours for Portland Streetcar rail line staging and storage. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

SE Oak St – 3rd to Grand, lane closures: Now thru March 5
Sewer work is underway. Expect lane closures and possible detours. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

SE Pine St – 13th to 17th, local access only: Now thru March 2010
Sewer line work is being performed. Expect traffic delays due to lane closures. There will be no through traffic from 13th to 15th Avenue during work hours, except for local access. (Oak Basin Sewer Project)

NE Weidler St – Ross to Williams, lane closures: Now thru March 3
Sewer work is being performed. Expect lane closures and traffic delays. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

Eastbound access to I-84 from Burnside Bridge: Ongoing Detour
Eastbound traffic traveling to I-84 from the Burnside Bridge will be detoured east on E Burnside, south on 6th, west on Stark, and north on Grand for northbound traffic to I-84. This detour will be in place during construction of NE Couch couplet segment of improvements. (Burnside / Couch Couplet Project)

NORTH – SOUTH streets

NE Grand Ave – Burnside to Everett, lane closures: Now thru March 7
Track preparation and construction underway, followed by paving work. (Paving work is weather dependant.) Expect traffic delays due to lane closures. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

NE Grand Ave – Oregon to Hassalo, lane closures: Now thru March 5
Track preparation and construction underway, followed by paving work. (Paving work is weather dependant.) Expect traffic delays due to lane closures. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

NE Grand Ave – at Broadway, lane closures: February 8 – 19
Utility work is being performed. Expect lane closures. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

SE Grand Ave – Mill to Hawthorne, lane closures: Now thru February 26
Water line work is being performed. Expect lane closures and traffic delays. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

SE Grand Ave – at Ankeny, and at Pine, lane closures: February 15 – 26
Utility work is being performed. Expect lane closures. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

NE MLK Blvd – Everett to Burnside, lane closures: February 1 – February 21
Track preparation and construction underway. Expect traffic delays due to lane closures. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

SE MLK Blvd – at Market, lane closures: Now thru February 19
Water infrastructure work is being performed, to be followed by paving. Expect lane closures. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

SE MLK Blvd – Pine to Oak, lane closures: Now thru February 19
Sewer work is being performed. Expect lane closures and traffic delays. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

SE MLK Blvd – at Washington, lane closures: February 18 – March 3
Sewer work is being performed. Expect lane closures and traffic delays. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

SE MLK Blvd – Oak to Alder, lane closures: Now thru February 19
Sewer work is being performed. Expect lane closures and traffic delays. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

NE 7th Ave – Weidler to Oregon, lane closures: February 22 – June 25
Sewer and water work is being performed. Expect lane closures and traffic delays. (Portland Streetcar Loop Project)

SE 10th Ave – Ankeny to Pine, local access only: Now thru February 17
Paving work is being performed. Expect detours. (Oak Basin Sewer Project)

SE 10th Ave & SE Oak St, intersection closed: Now thru November 2010
The SE 10th and Oak Street Drop Shaft sewer crews are excavating the shaft. The intersection will be closed in all directions. Traffic will be detoured around the intersection. (Oak Basin Sewer Project)

SE 10th Ave – Sandy to Stark, local access only: Now thru November 2010
For the SE 10th and Oak Street Drop Shaft project (see above item). Local Access Only. Expect traffic delays. (Oak Basin Sewer Project)

NE 13th Ave – Burnside to Couch, road closed: Now thru February 16
Roadway construction and/or paving work is being performed. Street will be closed. Expect detours. (Burnside / Couch Couplet Project)

NE 14th Ave – Burnside to Sandy, road closed: Now thru February 16
Roadway construction and/or paving work is being performed. Street will be closed. Expect detours. (Burnside / Couch Couplet Project)

NE 17th Ave – Burnside to Couch, lane reductions: Now thru February 26
Mainline sewer work is complete. Paving will commence soon. Expect traffic delays due to reduced travel lanes. (Oak Basin Sewer Project)
_________________________________________________________________________

The prestigious CotY awards recognize contractors who have demonstrated outstanding work through their remodeling projects. The awards were in the categories of Residential Addition over $250,000, Residential Exterior Under $100,000 and Residential Exterior $100,000 and Over.

The Northwest Region includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming and Alaska. Regional award winners will compete for the National Contractor of the Year awards to be announced in April in Phoenix, Arizona at the remodeling industry’s Evening of Excellence.

If your business has won an award or received recognition and you want others to know about it, send an email to terry@ceic.cc.

This internet-based system, gives citizens the ability to report property crimes within Portland that have no suspect information, saving them time and money and freeing up valuable police resources for response to more critical incidents.

Citizens can report the following types of incidents:
- Theft from vehicle
- Vandalism to vehicle
- Theft (excluding firearms and prescription medications)
- Vandalism (excluding graffiti)
- Lost property (excluding firearms and prescription medications)
- Additional property information (from a previously filed report)

The Online Reporting System can be accessed at www.portlandpolice.com.

If you have space, a vacant building or know of someone who does, please email Terry Taylor at terry@ceic.cc. This is a great way to generate exposure for the space, maybe make a few bucks on space you aren’t currently renting or leasing, and help out groups and individuals who need some temporary space.

The Worst Day of the Year Ride will first be going into Northwest Portland to the NW Johnson REI store then back over the Broadway Bridge into Northeast Portland up to the Community Cycling Center on NE Alberta St, along the Alameda Ridge and over to the NE Sandy Bike Gallery store and returning to SE Portland for a meal of hot soup and fresh-made focaccia bread.

The 40 mile course option adds a loop from REI in NW Portland out to the Hillsboro REI store at Streets of Tanasbourne and comes back to Portland a new way this year

For more info on route specifics, please go to this link on our website to download the maps: http://www.worstdayride.com/portland/routes.html

The coordinators are hoping for approximately 2,000 riders to participate, most (over 2/3) will ride the shorter, urban course within Portland. They will release the riders at the start in waves over 2 hours to ensure they will be spread out on course and will have course marshals in place at important intersections to ensure safety and we will also have motorcycle escorts on the course.

Please see the map link for affected streets and neighborhood areas.
The event begins at 8:00 am, comes back to the Lucky Lab by 11:00am and by 3:00pm will be cleaned up and broken down.

There will be a street closure for the start/finish line on SE Madison between 9th and 10th and on SE 9th between Hawthorne and Main from 5 am to 5 pm where there will be a drum corps at 10am and amplified music at controlled levels during the event hours.

Also at the SE Lucky Lab start/finish location we will have tents in the street and we will have beer stations there and serve Laughing Planet soups to event participants. There will be a small street closure for the REI rest stop on NW Kearney between NW 15th and NW 16th from 8am to 2:00 pm.

There will also be a small street closure for the Community Cycling Center rest stop from 8am to 2pm on NE 17th between NE Alberta St and NE Wygant St.

These are the only street closures for this ride – all participants receive heavy messaging in the website, event flyers, emails, and at the ride start regarding respectful shared road/path usage and they commit to abide by this as ride participants in their rider registration.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 503/459-4508, Jensi@GoodSportPromotion.com.

Jensi Albright
Worst Day of the Year Ride
www.WorstDayRide.com
Good Sport Promotion
503/459-4508