January 30, 2013

Nick was proud to join his Council colleagues this morning to celebrate the completion of our E205 initiative.

On a beautiful spring day in 2011, a visit to a strangely empty East Holladay Park sparked the vision for E205.

East Holladay is in the heart of Hazelwood, a neighborhood full of families with children, but the park didn’t have the amenities kids deserve. In East Portland, this story is familiar in too many neighborhoods. Families and children are growing up without a great neighborhood park.

This was the inspiration for E205.

Nick secured a $500,000 special appropriation in the 2012-13 budget, which was matched by generous private donors and system development funds.

Over the past twenty years, the City has purchased acres of land in East Portland, and completed master plans for future parks (including Parklane and Beech, among others). But it hasn’t had the funds to build out new parks.

Nick challenged his Parks team to target small improvements with big impacts - so families could enjoy their parks now, not wait until they were fully developed. The Parks team found creative ways to deliver park improvements, stretching every dollar spent. We were guided by four key goals: equity for East Portland, making progress now, leveraging resources, and investing up to $1 million.

Over the last 18 months, E205 has brought new life to 12 parks in East Portland.

Working with neighbors to identify their priorities, we have added drinking fountains, trails for walking, hiking, and running, playgrounds, benches, off-leash dog areas, lights, benches and more.

Special thanks to the great team at Portland Parks & Recreation, our many community partners, and all the neighbors in East Portland who helped make E205 a success!