It may be laborious to imagine now, however downtown Portland’s O’Bryant Sq. was seen as a feat of city design when it was constructed within the early Seventies. The currently-defunct plaza, which was constructed with a fountain and an underground parking storage, even received a nationwide design award from the U.S. Division of Housing and City Growth in 1976.
However that was the excessive level for the plaza, which has been on a downward spiral ever since. Now, thanks partly to an bold imaginative and prescient from the nonprofit Portland Parks Basis, O’Bryant Sq. could quickly get a second life. It would even be as cool as a few of the plazas I noticed on my latest journey to The Netherlands. Earlier than that occurs nonetheless, the demolition crews have to come back in.
O’Bryant Sq. has been closed since 2018 attributable to structural points with the underground parking storage and the town spent years attempting to resolve what to do about it. They lastly made a agency resolution on the finish of final 12 months to demolish the parking construction and fill it with dust to convey it to floor degree: the primary section in O’Bryant Sq.’s new life.
The demolition course of is ready to start this summer time, and can value $4.5 million. The venture is underneath the purview of each the Portland Bureau of Transportation and Parks & Recreation bureau (PP&R) and might be funded by way of parking income and parks bureau charges. However neither PBOT nor PP&R have the funding to implement a long-term technique for what the park will seem like. That’s the place the Portland Parks Basis (PPF) is available in.
O’Bryant Sq. is positioned on a small lot on the nook of Southwest Park Avenue and Southwest Harvey Milk Road, in shut proximity to a number of organizations that present sources for individuals experiencing psychological well being and dependancy crises, together with Multnomah County’s Behavioral Well being Useful resource Heart. Individuals who make the most of these providers have lengthy frequented this park, incomes it the reasonably mean-spirited nickname “Paranoid Park.”
However the neighborhood is altering: later this 12 months, Portland’s Ritz-Carlton will open simply catty-corner from the plaza, bringing different new developments with it. PPF Government Director Randy Gragg stated he thinks the various conglomeration of people that mingle close to O’Bryant Sq. will create a singular alternative to create a brand new public area that works for everyone.
“It is a actually fascinating and complex area to attempt to create programming for, as a result of everyone needs to be within the public area,” Gragg informed BikePortland. “Principally what we’re assembling is a neighborhood imaginative and prescient for what might occur within the sq. the day the fences come down.”
PPF is placing collectively an initiative known as “Again to Sq. One: Rethinking O’Bryant Sq.”: a collaborative effort between the inspiration, Portland State College’s Heart for Public Curiosity Design, Harvard College’s Loeb Fellows and PP&R to brainstorm about what this area ought to seem like — and theorize concerning the worth of public areas like this typically.
Public plazas and parks have been a highly regarded matter lately, branching out past the standard urbanist discourse sphere. Right here in Portland, this dialogue has been multifaceted and typically contentious. Carfree areas popped up everywhere in the metropolis in the course of the pandemic to encourage individuals to get outdoors safely, and former PBOT Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty boosted carfree plazas as an efficient option to stop gun violence. However others are fearful of those areas being overtaken by drug paraphernalia and camps, which has led to stagnated planning efforts.
Nonetheless, the advantages of those public areas are clear — it’s only a query of how the town will go about creating and sustaining extra of them. What unfolds at O’Bryant Sq. over the following few months might be case examine in hot-button city planning points and will inform future plans.
PPF will host two occasions subsequent week the place the general public can assist give you concepts for what they wish to see sooner or later O’Bryant Sq.: an open home from 8:00 am to 7:30 pm on March eighth, and a public discussion board from 10:00 am to five:00 pm on March eleventh, each at 820 SW Washington St. These might be alternatives to listen to from city planning consultants and picture the very best future for downtown Portland. PPF has additionally created a survey asking for enter about what individuals wish to see at O’Bryant, which you’ll find right here.
“There’s a potluck aspect to it,” Gragg stated. “We’re pondering of O’Bryant as a desk, and we’re inviting individuals to convey their finest dishes.”
You will discover out extra about PPF’s initiative at their web site.
Taylor has been BikePortland’s employees author since November 2021. She has additionally written for Road Roots and Eugene Weekly. Contact her at taylorgriggswriter@gmail.com
