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(Sidebar):
Portland has a vibrant and healthy parks system — the envy of other medium and large cities around the country. This is the result of a combination of a historic commitment from the city government, voters’ willingness to pass levies funding and maintaining its parks, and a large cadre of citizen volunteers that put the parks system at the heart of Portland’s vaunted livability.
Portlanders use, recreate and play in Portland parks — often and in great numbers. It is a reasonable assumption that our Portland Parks & Recreation Bureau does all park maintenance and cleaning up — to a great extent true. Yes, at all city parks, the PP&R maintenance crews — paid hourly — mow grass, trim trees, care for ball fields, empty trash, pick up litter and broken glass, clean lavatories, remove graffiti, maintain the painting and infrastructure, make certain play areas are safe and sound, apply all pesticides and herbicides to the shrub and flower beds and do pathway paving and repair. Quite a list, but, to keep Portland parks in the good shape they are in, there is still more work to be done.
Virtually every day of the year, a PP&R maintenance worker — or workers, depending on the size of the park — spends some amount of time at every Portland park.
Using the 8.85-acre Argay Park and Ron Kester’s volunteer work as an example — when Kester removes litter before the worker gets there — it saves taxpayers about a half-hour of paid maintenance time. Multiply that by 360 days every calendar year; that’s a big chunk of change.
PP&R Maintenance Supervisor Don McTaggart, a salaried employee responsible for Zone 4 (a large area from the Columbia River on the north, the Clackamas County line on the south, the east boundary with Gresham to the west, and the I-205 freeway to the east, except Mt. Tabor and Clinton Park in Southeast Portland) said, “People do care. I’ve got a tremendous crew and they do a good job...they care. We want people to take their parks back,” he continued. “If people ignore their park and stay out, vandals take over. The only way to take your park back is to get out in it and enjoy it. It’s there for them. They’re paying the taxes for it. If it weren’t for the vandalism, my job would be a lot easier,” McTaggart said. “Vandals do a lot of damage, especially at John Luby and Knott Park in your area.”
McTaggart encouraged park users to call him at 503-823-3634 if there’s a problem at their neighborhood park. “Sometimes all it takes is a phone call from a concerned citizen to fix a problem at a park.”
McTaggart said park volunteers fill a vital role. For instance, letting them know ahead of time about a problem at a park, saving maintenance workers “windshield time” having to return to the maintenance yard for equipment to make a particular repair. McTaggart said, “We really appreciate these people.”
Where PP&R leaves off is where volunteers come in. A few citizens of Portland regularly volunteer at neighborhood parks. These volunteers perform work — for no money and little recognition — that wouldn’t get done without their help. These “park angels” pick up litter and trash, plant and maintain flowerbeds, toil in community gardens, lobby city officials for increased maintenance budgets, and alert PP&R to specific problems, keeping Portland parks as usable as they are.
There are two types of park volunteers — the first is the volunteer affiliated with a neighborhood association. These volunteers are organized and directed to accomplish specific tasks at specific times. The second type of volunteers are those who do it on their own — no organization, no schedule, no direction, just a willingness to help out and make things better at their neighborhood parks — benefiting all.
Who are these noble volunteers? Why do they do it? The Mid-county Memo thinks they deserve public acknowledgement and wider recognition of the contribution they make.
This month, answering these questions, we featured the “do it on their own” type of volunteer in the story above. In future editions we’ll profile other park volunteers.
With your help we’d like to find more of these “park angels” to profile. We’d like to tell you their stories. If you know of volunteers at any of the parks listed below whom you think deserve recognition, call or e-mail us their names and contact information. Our phone number is 503-287-8904. Our e-mail address is: editor@midcountymemo.com.
If you’d like to volunteer in your neighborhood park, call PP&R Volunteer Coordinator Steve Pixley at 503-823-5121. He’ll get you the tools and provide the minimal training necessary to join the ranks of “park angels.”
While, the Mid-Multnomah County area (roughly corresponding to our circulation area) was annexed into Portland in the mid-’80s and doesn’t have as many parks as “old Portland” (west of 82nd Avenue), we do have parks, maintained year-round by the city. Here’s a list of parks within the Mid-county Memo circulation area. Again, if you know anyone who volunteers regularly at one of these parks, please call us.
Argay Park — 8.85 acres at Northeast 141st Avenue and Failing Street
East Holladay Park — 5.59 acres at 12999 N.E. Holladay St.
Floyd Light Park — 7.68 acres at Southeast 111th Avenue and Alder Street
Glenfair Park — 5.08 acres at Northeast 154th Avenue and Davis Street
Glenhaven Park — 15.69 acres at Northeast 82nd Avenue and Siskiyou Street
Hazelwood HydroPark — 4.0 acres at Northeast 118th and Holladay Street
Hancock Park — 4.25 acres at Northeast 90th Avenue and Tillamook Street
John Luby Park — 10.86 acres at Northeast 128th Avenue and Brazee Street
Knott Park — 12.4 acres at Northeast 117th Avenue and Knott Street
Mill Park — 5.75 acres at Southeast 117th Avenue and Mill Court
Midland Park — 1.87 acres at Southeast 122nd Avenue and Morrison Street
Montavilla Park — 9.46 acres at Northeast 82nd Avenue and Glisan Street
Senn’s Dairy Park — 1.08 acres at 11206 N.E. Prescott St.
Thompson Park — 3.93 acres at Northeast 138th Avenue and Thompson Street
Ventura Park — 7.25 acres at Southeast 115th Avenue and Stark Street
Wilkes Park — 1.49 acres at 3655 N.E. 154th Ave.
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