Thanks for a great article, Sarah. DEPAVE is moving ahead with more great projects in 2009-10. I encourage interested Portlanders to watch our website for more info: www.depave.org
Our largest, most ambitious project yet is the upcoming Sat Aug 8, 2009 depave at Vestal Elementary where we aim to remove over 15,000 sq ft of pavement from the school yard to create more community greenspace in this neglected neighborhood off NE 82nd Avenue. This builds on a 15,000 sq ft depave at the same site last year. Once completed this will be the largest community-driven depave in Portland ever! And it will result in what I call a mixed use greenspace for kids to plug into all things green via whatever medium suits them best. It will include a small grass ballfield, a school/community garden, native plantings around an outdoor seating area, and cool public art.
If your readers can do just two good deeds for their community this summer, I suggest:
1. Come and volunteer for the Aug 8, 2009 Vestal depave event. There will be music, food, and community, with special guests like Mayor Sam Adams, and more!
2. Write Commissioner Randy Leonard and ask for relief from heavy permit fees for this work. The City supports us with grants, but the City's permitting wing levies heavy fees on us, as if we were private contractors making a quick buck on real estate development. In fact, we are helping the community realize our collective green goals and achieve the ambitious benchmarks of the Climate Action Plan as well as other plans to create more livable greenspaces in the concrete jungle.
Our largest, most ambitious project yet is the upcoming Sat Aug 8, 2009 depave at Vestal Elementary where we aim to remove over 15,000 sq ft of pavement from the school yard to create more community greenspace in this neglected neighborhood off NE 82nd Avenue. This builds on a 15,000 sq ft depave at the same site last year. Once completed this will be the largest community-driven depave in Portland ever! And it will result in what I call a mixed use greenspace for kids to plug into all things green via whatever medium suits them best. It will include a small grass ballfield, a school/community garden, native plantings around an outdoor seating area, and cool public art.
If your readers can do just two good deeds for their community this summer, I suggest:
1. Come and volunteer for the Aug 8, 2009 Vestal depave event. There will be music, food, and community, with special guests like Mayor Sam Adams, and more!
2. Write Commissioner Randy Leonard and ask for relief from heavy permit fees for this work. The City supports us with grants, but the City's permitting wing levies heavy fees on us, as if we were private contractors making a quick buck on real estate development. In fact, we are helping the community realize our collective green goals and achieve the ambitious benchmarks of the Climate Action Plan as well as other plans to create more livable greenspaces in the concrete jungle.
-Ted Labbe
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I would show up for Wheeler and some free popcorn.