Parkrose Park Breaks Ground

Three-year park effort plugs along with more planning, budgets, and fundraising to come

By Lee Perlman

THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Parkrose neighbors symbolically "broke ground" on their new  park last month on the second try.

Officials such as commissioner Jim Francesconi and about 30  area residents feasted on hot dogs and home made baked goods,  sang with folksinger Jane Keefer, and planted bulbs in one  corner of the 1.1 acre parcel on Northeast Prescott Street and  112th Avenue, formerly owned by the Senn's Dairy.

Plans for the L-shaped parcel call for a play area in its  northeast corner, with green space and "nature scaping" on  either side. Still to come are more detailed site planning,  creation of an overall budget for the project, and fundraising  to achieve the goal, according to North Parkrose Target Area  Project organizer Christine Charneski. The project intends to  "write grant applications like mad," and conduct fundraising to  raise the money, she said.

Francesconi said the park could benefit from a levy the city  may submit to voters next year. "You'll need more resources than  you think you do," he said. Asking for community support for the  project he said, "An elected official going door to door asking  people to vote for more property taxes doesn't play very well."

Parkrose, he said, is a "part of town that needs more  infrastructure." And parks are "a statement to kids that they're  important to the community and to you."

Rev. Roger Grist, pastor of St. Matthews Episcopal Church  across the street from the site, said of the three-year effort  to develop the property, "Things kept getting in the way of  moving forward." He gave credit for much of the process to  Charneski, and said that when he met her one day at a train  station she said that at least she did not have to push the  train to make it move.

Volunteer Randy Conrad said that a sign calling for help in  developing the park helped inspire him to move into Parkrose.  "Where we used to live, there were three parks within five  minutes walking distance," he said. "There's something about a  park."

"Parks are really special," Francesconi agreed. "One of the  ways we stay together as a city and a community is to create  community gathering places. But the people who hang in there and  make them happen are even more special."

The gathering drew a dissenter, Heather Hess, whose husband  once worked for Senn's Dairy. She complained about conversion of  the land into public, non-taxed property, and lack of public  notice in the parks development process. She expressed fear that  the park would be used as a place to do "naughty things." She  said that the play area, at least, should be fenced to provide  security for youngsters.

Grist says that bad conduct in the new park was "always a  possibility, but the community has made a commitment to keep an  eye on the place, and the neighbors are vigilant to see that the park is used for what it is intended to be used for." His own church, he said,  will benefit from "the beautification of the property across the  street."

Charneski says that detailed planning is still going on.  However, she says, other neighbors feel that natural barriers  surrounding the play area, such as a berm and a planting of  Oregon Grape, would be better than a fence.