Mike Lindberg and Stephen Kafoury
Lindberg is a former Portland city commissioner who oversaw the parks and recreation bureau. Kafoury is a former Oregon state senator and former chair of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters. Both live in Portland.
The city’s parks and recreation bureau understands what makes the South Park Blocks “one of Portland’s gems of nature.” As the bureau wrote in a 2005 publication about the downtown Portland parks, the trees shading the park stand out as its most prominent feature: “It is these large, graceful sentinels that do the most to create the special character of the area.”
However, the future of these trees and the very nature of the park itself is in danger. A draft master plan for the South Park Blocks has just been released by the same Portland Bureau of Parks and Recreation – a plan that would threaten the trees, dramatically shrink the area that we have long treated as park space and “activate” the open space, shattering the serenity that Portlanders cherish about the 12-block park. These major changes are already raising alarms for residents who value and regularly use this historic people’s park.
Aside from their majestic grandeur, the large stature trees – especially the American elms – have enormous environmental benefit. Mature deciduous trees are the best at sequestering carbon and cooling downtown’s heat island. Recognizing these contributions to our environment and our own health and well being, Portland’s 2035 Comprehensive Plan, the Central City 2035 Plan and the Climate Emergency Declaration have all prioritized preserving and enhancing the urban canopy.
Yet the master plan lays out a future that deliberately envisions fewer trees and fewer elms in particular. Their detailed diagrams show many of the trees missing or replaced by young trees of a different species. While the parks bureau has repeatedly asserted that it will only remove dead and dying trees, we question how liberally they may consider a tree to be dead or dying. In addition, we believe the plan may accelerate the decline of many trees, in part because it calls for constructing a multi-use path that could intrude into the trees’ root zones. Such damage could spread infection to the entire grove through their interconnected roots. There is presently no provision in the master plan explaining the bureau’s strategy for necessary maintenance of the trees – such as pruning, cabling, and inoculation against disease, which would likely result in premature death of these trees. It is likely that any implementation of the plan will be a self-fulfilling prophesy of injury and death for our beloved canopy, over 100 years in the making.
Residents appreciate the restorative qualities of a natural park. Highly valued are summer shade and winter light provided by the canopy. The current design of five rows of trees and four sidewalks maximizes access to the park for both solitary and social use. One Indigenous elder who frequents the park declared the trees “sacred” and his walks below them a “spiritual experience.” Portlanders deserve to know more about how the city plans to protect and preserve the canopy in accordance with our city policies.
Another concern is the proposed multi-use path, which would intrude into the park, converting existing protected sidewalk into a shared trail that also channels electric scooters and bikes diagonally across the heavily used blocks through Portland State University. Not only does this repurpose a large stretch of space that has long been considered part of the park blocks into a hub of activity, but such mixed traffic compromises the safety of residents (many of whom have no car and no “backyard”), workers and visitors to downtown and the park’s cultural institutions. How does this fit with the South Park Blocks’ identification as a pedestrian prioritized neighborhood?
The result: what presently is a cherished natural setting would be transformed into a hustling bustling heavily constructed center of activity, like so many other downtown spaces.
What can be done? As the city considers the proposed master plan, citizens must ask that the needs for nature, respite and the environmental value of a mature canopy take priority over transportation and other amenities that can easily be accommodated on nearby streets and developed blocks. The park is unique and rare; it must be protected from curb to curb, for the health of the canopy and the safety of pedestrians.
Finally, why would the city envision spending up to $46 million on a downtown park that serves us all so well, when the east side is begging for equity in its access to parks? Let’s save this park and put resources where they’re needed and wanted.
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June 20, 2021 at 08:02PM
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Opinion: City’s South Park Blocks plan a threat to its unique character - OregonLive
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