From the Portland Sentinel:

It all began with planting trees.

Gregg Lavender, who moved to Portland from Oakland, Calif., 18 months ago, decided to volunteer with Friends of Trees as a way to get to know some of his Woodlawn neighbors. It worked. Soon after his first tree planting, he started attending neighborhood association meetings and connecting with other people who shared his ideals and vision for a strong community, including the revitalization of public spaces into thriving neighborhood parks.

Lavender has had his eye on sprucing up Holman Park, a run-down, little-used space at the corner of Northeast 13th Avenue and Holman Street, ever since he moved into a house in close proximity to it. 

“In Oakland, there are lots of pocket parks,” says Lavender — small patches of land transformed into well-trafficked parks. “Folks end up maximizing every square inch with play structures, kid-specific toys. It makes neighborhoods safer — things are more visible, people are out walking with their children, traffic is slower …”

In contrast, Lavender says, “I’ve seen two kids play once on this 1960s cement structure [at Holman Park], and I’ve seen someone smoke crack there … that’s about it.” 

Last month, Lavender and his wife, Nikki, took action, walking around Woodlawn with their dog and placing fliers around 30 houses near Holman Park for a park brainstorming meeting at the Lavender residence.

Gregg Lavender was stunned by the turnout.

“Twenty-eight people came through, and all of them were passionate about this project,” said Lavender, who admits that the plans for the project, called Woodlawn Corner, are “still in infancy.” Passionate Woodlawn residents included Alan Armstrong, an architect, and Deepak Saxena, a software engineer actively involved with the DIY urban planning group, City Repair Project. Armstrong offered to lend his skills to building play structures and kiosks, and Saxena plans to use his City Repair connections to get the nonprofit on board to donate materials and creative consulting.

Additionally, Lavender has contacted Peggy Glascock, the parks maintenance supervisor at Portland Parks and Recreation. She warned him that his Holman Park vision is in no way guaranteed approval or funding, but a meticulously detailed master plan created by residents will be considered by the agency.

The possibilities for funding are not abundant, but Lavender is thinking creatively.

“The Bureau of Environmental Services is giving out grants for ecoroofs that manage stormwater,” Lavender says. “We could build a structure for the park with an ecoroof.”  

Despite the receptiveness to his vision thus far, Lavender hopes to bring what he feels is a vital constituency into the fold.

“Getting old-school neighbors involved — some people have lived here for 50 years or more — is crucial,” says Lavender. “It’s their neighborhood, we’re just moving in here.”

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 6:55 pm and is filed under Get Involved!, Land Use. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.