May 06, 2003
City Plans Lawnless Waterfront Park
While the above headline is obviously an exaggeration, this easily has got to be one of the dumbest things this city has ever considered:
Forget about watering the grass -- Tom McCall Waterfront Park soon may need a vacuum cleaner.
That's because the park's new master plan calls for an artificial, all-weather surface between the Salmon Street Springs and the Morrison Bridge, a stretch of four city blocks.
The idea is to direct the frequent summer festivals to the artificial surface and ease damage to the overburdened lawn.
For reference's sake here is the master plan for Waterfront Park, which coincidentally is also up for City Council consideration on May 21. And here is the four-block section of the park turned into a "plaza" with all of its grass removed:
Back to the Tribune article:
The city hasn't decided just what kind of surface will be used. It won't be a hard material, officials said, or gravel, but probably a type of synthetic that allows water to percolate downward. Dick Clark, executive director of the Portland Rose Festival Association, likened it to the surface sometimes found in McDonald's play areas.
...
Artificial surfaces bring their own maintenance problems, cautioned Ken Puckett, director of operations for PGE Park.
NeXturf, the artificial surface used at PGE Park, cost $1 million for 100,000 square feet. The city would need several times more than that for the four city blocks of coverage it needs. In addition, the ballpark had to buy special maintenance equipment, and the city might have to do the same.
In other words, a sinkhole for city money, all to address a "problem" about which, I'm afraid, I don't hear anyone in my day-to-day life expressing any concern. Looking at the sketches of this master plan, it seems that large chunks of the park turn into plazas, more or less destroying the scene of a large strip of green wedged between the city's buildings and the river.
Who in the world keeps coming up with such moronic ideas? When there's no actual festival, does the city think anyone's going to consciously choose to hang out on the four-block artifically-surfaced plaza rather than elsewhere on the actual grass?
(Well, okay. People do hang out in Pioneer Courthouse Square, and that's entirely composed of brick. But youd have to convince me that the "Riverfront Plaza" idea somehow makes Waterfront Park better.)
What happens, for example, if we simply aren't able to fill this plaza with festivals and events? Our waterfront ends up with a four-block chunk of what amounts to empty sidewalk along the river. That sounds simply charming, doesn't it? At least if the waterfront-as-greenway is empty, it's still an expanse of grass, and not "the surface sometimes found in McDonald's play areas."
Comments (2)
The One True b!X on 06 May 2003
I should add, now that I've read the public review draft of the Waterfront Park Master Plan, that I rather like the overall approach. It's just that the city would have to work overtime to convince me about this Riverfront Plaza idea.
Fortunately, it's considered one of the "long-term" aspects of the project, and so isn't likely to occur anytime soon.
jack bog on 06 May 2003
Save the grass!