Friday, May 18, 2007

Project Presentation

"Picture Parkrose"

public presentation hosted by
the Parkrose Vision Committee & PlanPDX




Tuesday, June 5th @ 7:00 P.M.
Parkrose High School
Community Room


This public presentation will include findings and recommendations for the Parkrose community.

Families are welcome.
Questions and concerns are welcome.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Hometown Heroes


We have heard about success stories in the Parkrose Neighborhood. Please share your stories here so that we can place it into our final report.

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Goals

Goals






Based on the results of April's Community Workshop, PlanPDX and the Vision Committee have created some goals for the neighborhood. These goals reflect our current understanding of the neighborhood's interests and priorities, but will be further refined by your comments and input.

The overarching goal is to "Create a Downtown" along Sandy Blvd. in Parkrose. We created three supporting goals to help turn Sandy Boulevard into a true neighborhood downtown that serves and supports the residents of Parkrose. These three goals, as well as the objectives underlying them, are provided below.

PlanPDX and the Vision Committee will jointly identify and research specific strategies, case studies and potential partners the neighborhood can use to achieve each goal.

Please comment - your input is essential...

"Creating a Downtown"
1) Strong Community
  • Vision Committee (representative, robust, active)
  • Communication (multi-media-informing and connecting)
  • Resources (assets - people, places, organizations)
2) Great Place to Be
  • Beautification (storefront improvement, streetscaping)
  • Safety (comfortable, family-friendly, policed)
  • Identity (unifying theme)
3) Vital Business District
  • Enhance existing (build upon what is here)
  • Encourage new (determine what is needed)
  • Create a Destination (become a place, not a pass-through)

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Results of Community Workshop's Dotmocracy



At last Tuesday's Community Workshop, we asked everyone to answer the following three questions...

1) What would bring you down to Sandy Blvd. more often?
2) What would you like other people to think of Sandy Blvd. ten years from now?
3) Name 3 things you think would make Parkrose better?

After each person wrote down their answers, all the responses to each question were written on large sheets of paper and hung in the hallway. Everyone attending was then given red and green dots, asked to read all the responses, and to vote for the responses they agreed with the most. A red dot indicated a person's first choice, while a green dot denoted their second. As people voted, dots began to cluster around certain responses best capturing the larger group's opinion.

As we hoped, we got a wide variety of responses to each question. To better understand the results of the exercise and begin the process of transforming the responses into goals, PlanPDX categorized each response and calculated the score it recieved (2 points for each red dot, 1 for each green).

Whew. Got that out of the way. Enough of that - here are the top five responses for each question...

1) What would bring you down to Sandy Blvd. more often?
-Grocery Store: 34 points, 27% of total points
-Greater Dining Options: 16, 13%
-Specific Specialty Stores (Bookstores, Bike Shops, etc.): 15, 12%
-Less Prostitution, Crime and Drugs: 12, 9%
-Improve Neighborhood Appearance: 9, 7%

2)
What would you like other people to think of Sandy Blvd. ten years from now?
-Multi-Cultural Area: 18 points, 17% of total points
-Safe and Well-Maintained: 15, 14%
-Family Friendly Area: 14, 13%
-Prostitution Free Area: 11, 10%
-Local Business Oriented: 9, 8%

3) Name three things you think would make Parkrose better?
-Fewer Adult-Oriented Businesses: 27 points, 20% of total points
-Encourage Neighborhood Unity, Communication & Involvement: 19, 14%
-Improve Neighborhood Appearance: 19, 14%
-Decrease Prostitution, Crime and Drugs: 11, 8%
-Prioritize Children: 9, 6%

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Community Assets


A map of the best things in Parkrose is currently being developed. At the workshop there was a big map where people could place Post-Its of favorite places in the neighborhood.

Please take a look at it! You can find it here.

What is missing on the map and what would you like to add?

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Share Your Thoughts...

While PlanPDX will be interviewing many members of the Parkrose neighborhood, we can't get to everyone. Please help us by sharing your thoughts on our blog. Here's a couple of questions to get you started...
  1. How has Parkrose changed over time?

  2. What would it take to get you more involved in the neighborhood?

  3. What do you like about your neighborhood?

  4. What do you feel can be improved about the neighborhood?

  5. What do you envision for the future of your neighborhood in 5-10 years

Thanks for your time and input. We look forward to meeting you in person at the community meeting on April 24th!
-PlanPDX