Community Care

What’s up with the corner building on
NW Glisan and 22nd?

January 2025 Update on our corner

Happy 2025/Year of the Snake Neighbors!

After lots of thinking, I decided to go ahead and try my luck with opening up my own business on this corner, a community acupuncture practice. Should this not pan out, no worries because y’all have given me some ideas about what you want on this corner that can perhaps be successful should community acupuncture be a bust. There were 24 respondents and the top ideas were as follows:

1. A Refillery (12 votes)— where you can refill plastic containers of liquid cleaners of all kinds both for personal and home cleaning

2. Plant Shop (8 votes) - one added that it could combine well with tea, coffee, pastries too.

3. Tea House Specializing in Eastern Asian Teas so as not to complete directly with Smith’s Tea house up the street (7 votes)

Thanks for pitching your idea. I’m leaving the survey open because it’s always good to hear your ideas.

Though I am not in the habit of maintaining an Instagram profile— I’m not a very active social media user—but I will go ahead and keep you updated there as we make progress on this corner.

Be well!
Cynthia

New to acupuncture? Scared of needles? Come have tea with me and learn more about ways to bring relief to your aches and pains. No one will be turned away for lack of funds so don’t hesitate to contact me today!

Winter of 2023-24

Hello Neighbors!!!

Hi, I’m Cynthia Casas. I’m your neighbor in the house on the southwest corner of NW 22nd Avenue and Glisan St. First, thanks to those of you who have stopped one of us to let us know you like the house’s new color— we love navy! I live here with my family: my partner Shari, and our 3 kiddos.

I just wanted to bring you two bits of information: 1) I'm opening my acupuncture and herbal practice out of our house, and 2) I’m looking for your ideas as to what to do with this corner storefront. What do you think our neighborhood could use?

Recently the City of Portland is allowing it to become a commercial space again.  Historically, this corner building has been a beer hall, a donut shop, and a restaurant in the 1940’s to 1960s respectively.  While I am not in the financial position to bankroll a complete build out of a business here, I would like to be purposeful about what kind of shop sets up in our neighborhood. As I alluded to before, I am a fan of building community and of broadening the NW District’s appeal and diversity by supporting women entrepreneurs especially fellow LGBTQ, and people of color.

I’ve created a short survey for you to fill out to voice your ideas and suggestions about what kind of business you think you’d support, shop at, and would like to see here. If you know of any one who has experience with the building permitting process and who would be gracious enough to meet with me as an advisor, I am also open to that and other help.

As a practitioner of an alternative (to Western bio-) medicine, I like finding ways around the dominant systems that have come to be the default. I believe community is at the heart of what makes Portland weird. I embrace and support the quirky businesses on 23rd and 21st Avenues along with the financial stability of chain stores like Trader Joes, Fedex, Pottery Barn– it’s a fun mix, right? The NW District has been home to us since 2004, and we have raised 3 kids here. We look forward to more years to come by bucking the trend to run for the hills (and beyond) where things are quieter and, well, less weird.

In the spirit of Portland is What We Make of It I want to start by supporting my community’s’ health beginning with my immediate neighbors, you! This home is uniquely placed at the corner of NW22nd and Glisan surrounded by  5 apartment/condo buildings and a few houses across the street. I want y’all especially to know that I am here for you. I will be investing in a defibrillator (AED) soon for our corner, and will place stickers on the window when I do. I am also offering a deep discount of 25% on treatments to our neighbors who live or work next door or across the street to us; and if that discount still doesn’t cut it for you, let’s talk.

You’ll see signs for my clinic up in front of the house soon. While we entertain what to make of this corner, I hope to see patients and build my practice out of my home office space. I encourage and welcome you to take a look around my website to get to know me and what I offer. I have a class coming up in December 6th about the energetics of Winter. It’s part of a longer 5 part series called Humming with the Seasons. More information, early bird special rates, and dates can be found by clicking this button.

I’ve lived in this neighborhood since 2004 and look forward to meeting more of you as the practice gets underway. Please do not hesitate to email, call or text with any questions or comments.

Sincerely,
Cynthia Casas