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The Southwest Portland Post • 5
Portland planning fair at the Oregon Zoo called ‘crowded, festive and noisy’
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
The Portland Bureau of Planning and
Sustainability last month kicked off the
latest phase of the Portland Plan process
with four public “fairs,” including one
on March 6 at the Oregon Zoo.
Mayor Sam Adams, who oversees
the bureau, officially opened the fair,
and played the drums of one of several
ethnic musical groups who performed.
About two dozen community groups
and public agencies had tables offering
information; these varied with each fair
and, at the zoo, included the National
College of Naturopathic Medicine.
Children’s activities included a su-
pervised petting zoo, featuring an Asian
lizard and a baby python.
The main business of the day was
discussions and surveys of strategies
in four subject areas: Healthy Neighbor-
hoods, Education, Economic Prosperity
and Affordability, and Equity.
The strategies contained in the last
called for equity in the apportionment
of City resources, opportunities, and
provision of basic services among
geographic areas of the city as well as
ethnic groups.
The Economic Prosperity and Afford-
ability strategies included the develop-
ment and preservation of educational
and health institutions, industrial op-
erations, trade and transportation
industries, “green” enterprises, and
local small businesses. It also called for
helping individual households remain
economically viable.
The Education section called for a
Mikey, an Oregon Zoo volunteer, holds an Asian lizard named Imelda at the
petting zoo at the Portland Planning Fair. (Post photo by Lee Perlman)
A group of Southwest folks meets to discuss Healthy Neighborhoods at the
Portland Planning Fair. (Post photo by Lee Perlman)
variety of strategies under the head-
ing “Cradle to Career,” all intended
to give young people the training to
be “self-sufficient” by age 25. High
school graduates should be equipped
to pursue a college education whether
they choose to or not, since this level of
training and literacy will be necessary
for any other family-wage job.
The Education strategies called for
dealing with cultural disadvantage and
family problems that could get in the
way of academic achievement. They
also called for greater integration of
schools into the communities around
them, and more community-related use
of school property.
The Healthy Neighborhoods com-
ponent was an extension of an earlier
direction toward creation of “20 minute
neighborhoods,” in which most basic
needs are located within a 20-minute
walk of most residents. One goal called
for public acquisition of “high-priority
natural areas” in, among others, the
Tryon and Fanno creek drainages and
Willamette Greenway. Another strat-
egy called for creation of “greenways”
connecting Hillsdale and Multnomah
among other locations.
Unlike the other Portland Plan com-
ponents, feedback here was more like
a public open house, with interaction
limited to written responses and one-
on-one interactions with staff, than
organized discussions. At the Oregon
Zoo fair, planner Marie Johnson, who
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