Back in 2006, Portland Sunday Parkways was just a twinkle in my eye. Cities all over Latin America had created something wonderful where people could literally play in the streets together. It hasn’t taken long for cities and towns across the USA to embrace the power of opening streets and connecting communities. When the City of Milwaukie approached me and our Sunday Parkways team with the idea of pairing up to bring this to their lovely city just over the border, we jumped at the chance to spread the love.

Our partnership has been about growing the program all across the region. We set this partnership up so that our Portland Sunday Parkways team would work with Milwaukie for a couple years, so they would be ready to run their own. I have been so impressed the with enthusiasm, community and business engagement and, of course, the high level of support and action by Mayor Gamba and City Council member Lisa Batey. Beyond the logistics and traffic control and vendors and community outreach, leadership is one of the most important ingredients to a Sunday Parkways success, and Milwaukie has this in abundance.

I’m looking forward to 2018 when I can go to a Milwaukie Sunday Parkways as a participant!

Linda Ginenthal

Sunday Parkways Program Director