So what is the Human Access Project? What is HAP? How did it come to be? And what has it been doing?

So since 2010, the Human Access Project, which was, by the way, was founded by Willie Levinson, who never calls himself the founder.

He always calls himself the ringleader.

And he just recently retired from his post.

I think one of the big first things that he did was like the...

Big float event, which was in 2011.

He just was like, we're all going to get in the water and we're going to have like it's going to be a party.

If you had to assign credit for this, how much of the credit belongs to the grassroots citizen work of the Human Access Project? And how much of it belongs to the city and county and state governments that presumably actually built and funded the infrastructure that you're talking about? The beaches, I doubt the Human Access Project built the beach.

So why did people stop using the Willamette for recreation and for swimming back literally a century ago?

OK, so sewage, basically industrial runoff from like paper and limber mills, like quite literally animal processing plant stuff like literal blood and guts.

And and like this whole the belly up with the fish that was real, like the oxygen level was so low that you could see blood.

just dead fish in certain areas.

And because of all this, the city actually banned swimming in the river by 1924.

And before that ban, the river had a very, very, very strong swimming culture, like there was even commerce built around it.

Portlanders enjoying the river, like water taxis, bathhouses, dance halls, food, swim clubs, all that stuff.

So what is the human access project? What is HAP? How did it come to be and what has it been doing?

So why did people stop using the Willamette for recreation and for swimming back literally a century ago?

OK, so sewage, basically industrial runoff from like paper and limber mills, like quite literally animal processing plant stuff like literal blood and guts.

And and like this whole the belly up with the fish that was real, like the oxygen level was so low that you could see blood.

just dead fish in certain areas.

And because of all this, the city actually banned swimming in the river by 1924.

And before that ban, the river had a very, very, very strong swimming culture.

Like there was even commerce built around it.

the mindset that people have about the river and their fear of the river and their century-long uh distaste for it and turn it into enthusiasm for the river so what is the human access project what is hap how did it come to be and what has it been doing

So why did people stop using the Willamette for recreation and for swimming back literally a century ago?

OK, so sewage, basically industrial runoff from like paper and limber mills, like quite literally animal processing plant stuff like literal blood and guts.

And and like this whole the belly up with the fish that was real, like the oxygen level was so low that you could see blood.

just dead fish in certain areas.

And because of all this, the city actually banned swimming in the river by 1924.

And before that ban, the river had a very, very, very strong swimming culture.

Like there was even commerce built around it.

So what is the human access project? What is HAP? How did it come to be and what has it been doing?

So why did people stop using the Willamette for recreation and for swimming back literally a century ago?

OK, so sewage, basically industrial runoff from like paper and limber mills, like quite literally animal processing plant stuff like literal blood and guts.

And and like this whole the belly up with the fish that was real, like the oxygen level was so low that you could see blood.

just dead fish in certain areas.

And because of all this, the city actually banned swimming in the river by 1924.

And before that ban, the river had a very, very, very strong swimming culture, like there was even commerce built around it.

Portlanders enjoying the river, like water taxis, bathhouses, dance halls, food, swim clubs, all that stuff.

So what is the human access project? What is HAP? How did it come to be and what has it been doing?

So why did people stop using the Willamette for recreation and for swimming back literally a century ago?

OK, so sewage, basically industrial runoff from like paper and limber mills, like quite literally animal processing plant stuff like literal blood and guts.

And and like this whole the belly up with the fish that was real, like the oxygen level was so low that you could see blood.

just dead fish in certain areas.

And because of all this, the city actually banned swimming in the river by 1924.

And before that ban, the river had a very, very, very strong swimming culture.

Like there was even commerce built around it.

So what is the Human Access Project? What is HAP? How did it come to be and what has it been doing?

So why did people stop using the Willamette for recreation and for swimming back literally a century ago?

OK, so sewage, basically industrial runoff from like paper and limber mills, like quite literally animal processing plant stuff like literal blood and guts.

And and like this whole the belly up with the fish that was real, like the oxygen level was so low that you could see blood.

just dead fish in certain areas.

And because of all this, the city actually banned swimming in the river by 1924.

And before that ban, the river had a very, very, very strong swimming culture, like there was even commerce built around it.

Portlanders enjoying the river, like water taxis, bathhouses, dance halls, food, swim clubs, all that stuff.

So what is the human access project? What is HAP? How did it come to be and what has it been doing?

So why did people stop using the Willamette for recreation and for swimming back literally a century ago?

OK, so sewage, basically industrial runoff from like paper and limber mills, like quite literally animal processing plant stuff like literal blood and guts.

And and like this whole the belly up with the fish that was real, like the oxygen level was so low that you could see blood.

just dead fish in certain areas.

And because of all this, the city actually banned swimming in the river by 1924.

And before that ban, the river had a very, very, very strong swimming culture, like there was even commerce built around it.

Portlanders enjoying the river, like water taxis, bathhouses, dance halls, food, swim clubs, all that stuff.

So what is the human access project? What is HAP? How did it come to be and what has it been doing?

So why did people stop using the Willamette for recreation and for swimming back literally a century ago?

OK, so sewage, basically industrial runoff from like paper and limber mills, like quite literally animal processing plant stuff like literal blood and guts.

And and like this whole the belly up with the fish that was real, like the oxygen level was so low that you could see blood.

just dead fish in certain areas.

And because of all this, the city actually banned swimming in the river by 1924.

And before that ban, the river had a very, very, very strong swimming culture, like there was even commerce built around it.

Portlanders enjoying the river, like water taxis, bathhouses, dance halls, food, swim clubs, all that stuff.

So what is the human access project? What is HAP? How did it come to be and what has it been doing?

[upbeat music] Community Energy Project is premierring its new documentary, Grassroots to the Grid, on May 29th at the Red on Salmon in Portland.

The film highlights local families and advocates leading clean energy and climate action across the city, and the event includes a community resource fair at 2:30 PM before the film screens at 5:30 PM.

Get tickets now at cepdoc.eventbrite.com. That's cepdoc.eventbrite.com. [upbeat music] Did you know it's now legal to pass people on bicycles in a no-passing zone in Oregon as long as they're riding at less than half the speed limit? If you're thinking of passing a bicyclist, ODOT recommends to first just be patient, wait for a good moment to pass, and then once it's clear, to move fully into the next lane and pass at five miles below the speed limit.

And lastly, wait until you see the bicyclist in your rear view mirror before you move back over.

When you take these steps to avoid crowding people on bikes, it keeps everyone safe on Oregon's roads.

A message from ODOT.

So what is the summer pull to come to Portland?

Sean, I got two words for you.

So what is the summer pull to come to Portland?

Sean, I got two words for you.

Jet boat.

I do this any time I have out-of-town guests in the summer, and usually it, it ends up being their favorite activity.

So Portland is split in two by the Willamette.

We're also capped by the Columbia, which acts as a natural border between Oregon and Washington.

We are a river people, so we have a ton of history built up in our banks, and what better way to learn about our bridges, commerce, the indigenous people of this area than by jetting on a river at nearly 80 miles per hour while doing 360 turns and drift stops.

[laughs]

So what is the summer pull to come to Portland?

Sean, I got two words for you.

Jetboat.

I do this any time I have out-of-town guests in the summer, and usually it, it ends up being their favorite activity.

So Portland is split in two by the Willamette.

We're also capped by the Columbia, which acts as a natural border between Oregon and Washington.

We are a river people, so we have a ton of history built up in our banks, and what better way to learn about our bridges, commerce, the indigenous people of this area than by jetting on a river at nearly 80 miles per hour while doing 360 turns [laughs] and drift stops.

[laughs]

So what is the summer pull to come to Portland?

Sean, I got two words for you.

Jet boat.

I do this any time I have out-of-town guests in the summer, and usually it, it ends up being their favorite activity.

So Portland is split in two by the Willamette.

We're also capped by the Columbia, which acts as a natural border between Oregon and Washington.

We are a river people, so we have a ton of history built up in our banks, and what better way to learn about our bridges, commerce, the indigenous people of this area than by jetting on a river at nearly 80 miles per hour while doing 360 turns and drift stops.

[laughs]

So what is the summer pull to come to Portland?

Sean, I got two words for you.

Jet boat.

I do this any time I have out-of-town guests in the summer, and usually it, it ends up being their favorite activity.

So Portland is split in two by the Willamette.

We're also capped by the Columbia, which acts as a natural border between Oregon and Washington.

We are a river people, so we have a ton of history built up in our banks, and what better way to learn about our bridges, commerce, the indigenous people of this area than by jetting on a river at nearly 80 miles per hour while doing 360 turns and drift stops.

[laughs]

So what is the summer pull to come to Portland?

Sean, I got two words for you.

Jetboat.

I do this any time I have out-of-town guests in the summer, and usually it, it ends up being their favorite activity.

So Portland is split in two by the Willamette.

We're also capped by the Columbia, which acts as a natural border between Oregon and Washington.

We are a river people, so we have a ton of history built up in our banks, and what better way to learn about our bridges, commerce, the indigenous people of this area than by jetting on a river at nearly 80 miles per hour while doing 360 turns and drift stops.

[laughs]

So what is the summer pull to come to Portland?

Sean, I got two words for you.

Jetboat.

I do this any time I have out-of-town guests in the summer, and usually it, it ends up being their favorite activity.

So Portland is split in two by the Willamette.

We're also capped by the Columbia, which acts as a natural border between Oregon and Washington.

We are a river people, so we have a ton of history built up in our banks, and what better way to learn about our bridges, commerce, the indigenous people of this area than by jetting on a river at nearly 80 miles per hour while doing 360 turns and drift stops? We will get soaked.

[laughs]

Why do you have that? How does your mayor think that he's going to fix it?

Our downtown looks like it's bouncing back, but unfortunately, it's been struggling because a big reason is that our downtown was never where people lived.

It's where people went to work.

So the economy was built around those workers, and they just never returned.

And then you couple that with the housing crisis and the fentanyl epidemic and a demoralized police force that many felt just quietly quit.

And in literally a year, our downtown became...

Pretty post-apocalyptic.

me? Did they do it for me?

Claudia, go ahead to our beautiful gift bag thus far.

Oh, this is great.

We haven't talked about artwork yet or more physical items, so I think I got y'all.

So Salty Raven is this unique goods and gift shop that has about three locations along our Oregon coast, but they have this extensive online catalog that ships anywhere in all 50 states, including Canada, which is why I'm sharing it with y'all.

And I'm going to throw this link here on the chat so So y'all know what I'm talking

about

and you follow along.

SaltyRaven.net for those listening at home.