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Instead of renaming a street for Darcelle, they are renaming a park for her... a park that is closed due to safety concerns. The public is welcome to attend the re-naming ceremony, which will be elsewhere because it can't be at the park. You can't even use the sidewalks there, the city had to take part of the street and put up Jersey barriers to create a way to walk around it. The park is currently an icon of Portland's systemic failures to govern both currently and historically, basic inability to invest in infrastructure, putting an idea that sounds good in theory over realistic concerns, etc. (For context it used to be a semi-underground parking lot with a park on top, but it was structurally unsound.) It also
I have to admit, my first reaction was not good, but if Wheeler does pull this off and the renaming gets the revitalization back on track, in 2 years this will be seen as genius, one of the city's jewels. An indoor/outdoor drug den turned into much needed downtown public space. He just has to reverse literally decades of failures and planning.
Also, an abandoned urban park with 70s style design? All bricks in weird angles and decaying wood? Why do I not have one million pictures of this? Oh yeah, I've tried and due to being short I can't get a decent angle and I am not going to be cheeky and try to break in because I value my skin.
has a spicy local nickname.
is called Paranoia Park by local due to it's long association with hard drug use even before it was closed.I have to admit, my first reaction was not good, but if Wheeler does pull this off and the renaming gets the revitalization back on track, in 2 years this will be seen as genius, one of the city's jewels. An indoor/outdoor drug den turned into much needed downtown public space. He just has to reverse literally decades of failures and planning.
Also, an abandoned urban park with 70s style design? All bricks in weird angles and decaying wood? Why do I not have one million pictures of this? Oh yeah, I've tried and due to being short I can't get a decent angle and I am not going to be cheeky and try to break in because I value my skin.
