The North Park Blocks: A Civic Barometer

Art in the Pearl provided a respite from the controversy surrounding the homeless “take over” of the North Park Blocks.  For four days aesthetics ruled the public realm, as thousands sauntered through the historic grounds to enjoy the creativity of the human hand.  The linear greens functioned as the Olmsted Brothers envisioned in their exemplar 1903 park plan: shared spaces for “developing healthfulness, morality, intelligence, and business prosperity.”  Parks also serve as a city’s civic barometer, “the surest manifestations of the intelligence, degree of civilization and progressiveness of its citizens.”https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/9046 The homeless in the North Park Blocks announce civilization’s failure. The Great Depression is the last time so many dispossessed resided in urban parks.  It is not a park problem, but a societal failure. 

North Park Blocks August 2015

I started studying the North Park Blocks in early June, part of a project to document the livability of the Pearl District.  In 2013 Orlando adopted a sustainability plan inspired by Portland, and I moved to the Pearl to experience the future Orlando desires.  The Orlando plan defines livability as neighborhoods with “complete streets and green public spaces” that “encourage walking, public gathering and neighborhood-oriented shopping activity.” To assess the public life in the Pearl’s parks, I took my cues from Jan Gehl, the architect who was instrumental in transforming Copenhagen into the world’s most sustainable city.  Gehl is the founder of Public Studies, a field where “look and learn” is the basic premise.  He pioneered a systematic approach to assess public life by counting users and categorizing uses in public spaces.https://islandpress.org/book/how-to-study-public-life  For my study of the North Park Blocks, I developed the following categoires for users: 

1. Sitting on Benches

2. Walking through the Park Blocks (north south direction)

3. Hanging Out

4. Possessing Camping Gear.

I also counted individuals playing basketball and bocchi, and listed the number of children using playground equipment and the number of adults supervising them. My counts were made at the lunch hour (12 pm-1:30 pm) and the early evening (5:00 pm to 6:30 pm), and I also recorded the temperature. 

In mid-August after completing a count, a KATU cameraman and reporter approached me.  The spike in the number of homeless had raised concerns, and I was asked my opinion.  For the homeless the North Park Blocks are a haven, for residents they represent an underutilized asset.  The problem, I found, was that park blocks had gone from a shared space to an occupied space. As one neighbor put it, the park blocks had gone from “funky” to “scary.” Civlility, a park's essential attribute, had vanished. http://northparkblocks.org/2015/08/katu-tv-park-drugs-public-sex-off-leash-dog-attacks/   

Over the summer users with camping gear intensified, increasing by 29 percent from July 10 to August 30. The block between Glisan and Hoyt experienced no change, while the remaining blocks had increases that ranged from 20 to 100 percent.  The blocks between Burnside and Couch, and Flanders and Davis Everett and Flanders had highest aggregate numbers, averaging nearly 13 users with camping gear. 

NPB Users with Camping Gear	6/20- 7/10	After 7/10	% Change
Glissan-Flanders	1.0	1.0	Na
Flanders-Everett	1.8	3.5	100
Everett-Davis	10.6	12.7	20
Davis-Couch	5.0	6.0	20
Couch-Burnside	8.6	12.9	50

Heading back to the North Park Blocks the day after the festival, I was interested to see what I would find.  The stench of urine at Hoyt and 9^th Avenue recoiled my senses and thoughts.   I watched a lost soul with a scraggly beard stoop down to pick up half a cigarette and then withdraw his hand.  Unhappy with his finding his face remained frozen, creased in a permanent frown.  As he stumbled on, I heard the cheery voices of two coeds.  Their range of expression struck me.  Quick but subtle changes in gestures and facial features revealed the mental dexterity of individuals sharing experience and making sense of life.  It is the sensation that imbibes a college campus, but seldom the North Park Blocks.  In sections where campers congregate, extremes tend to be the norm: loud voices, drama, and expletives.  Homelessness is not a crime, but city parks were not intended to shelter the indigent. Ideally, parks should function like a college campus, environments to better ourselves, attune our senses to nature, and engage in civility.

Mitigating homelessness will require rethinking policing, social work, and provisions for the mentally ill.  Fortunately, there is progress on this front. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has initiated the SOAR (Security, Outreach, Access, and Recovery) program to end homelessness through increased access to Social Security income support.  The first step is to recover people who need a safe stable place to live, and then provide the necessary medical care. Next, individuals must secure meaningful work and have the means to enhance job skills through education.http://soarworks.prainc.com  SOAR is one of the few federal programs to draw bi-partisan support, and it will assuredly be discussed in the upcoming race for Mayor.  Ted Wheeler, who is challenging incumbent Charlie Hales, placed homelessness at the top of his priorities.

Since adopting the Olmsted Brothers’ Park Plan over a century ago, Portland has gained national renown for its parks.  The North Park Blocks illustrate the issues a progressive city with a welcoming public realm encounter.  The solution to homelessness belies a single policy; it requires a civic investment that demands time, money, and resources.  In return, Portland can elevate its public life and public spaces—a manifest sign of a civilized people.