PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Some Portland residents are not happy with Wednesday night’s City Council decision to reduce funding for parks. Although city councilors worked to pass an amendment to soften the blow by adding money to the fund by virtue of reducing some of the increased money earmarked for police, and the creation of a golf fee. Funding for parks is still going to be cut by millions of dollars.
Here’s the breakdown: Mayor Wilson’s budget proposal cut roughly ten million dollars from Portland Parks and Recreation. Wednesday night, city councilors voted to give them back two million dollars by taking it from Portland Police. Still, Parks and Rec. is facing massive cuts.
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Over at Colonel Summers Park in Southeast Portland, KATU News spoke with one man who said that parks are important when it comes to building a community and preventing crime. He says this is where he met his friends, and where he continues to make them. He thinks well-maintained parks should be a no-brainer.
Technically, Colonel Park has a rating of “poor” when it comes to the condition of its sports fields according to the city’s own assessment.
“It’s frustrating, living in a city with a high tax rate like Portland. I think that functioning parks should be part of the deal of what it means to live in Portland or why people live in Portland,” said Tyler Pell, a tennis player at Colonel Park.
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The Portland Parks and Recreation director told the Portland City Council Wednesday night that park funds are key to support restroom cleaning, graffiti removal, roof repairs, and a slew of other maintenance items.
The long and the short of it is that the mayor proposed cutting funds from parks and recreation to support the Portland Police. Councilors negotiated for more funding for parks and rec, but were still not able to save it from experiencing cuts.
However, when it comes to diverting funds from police to parks, park goers were in full support.
“I think public safety, like an important component of it, is just being out in the world and knowing other Portlanders. I think if the city of Portland kind of invests in parks, safety will kind of come with that,” said Pell.
“I think that does add to the safety and sort of just the comfortability that people can have from these parks,” said Logan Corcoran, another park-goer at Colonel Summers Park.
That sentiment is part of why District Four Councilor Mitch Green said he was okay with moving the money into parks.
“What I’m hearing from my constituency is that public safety begins with strong and healthy communities, and having well-maintained parks is the backbone of that,” said Councilor Green.
But there’s someone who sees it differently, and that is, Portland Police Chief Bob Day.
“Certainly would have liked to had that two million last night to help with some of our recruitment, retention, we’re hiring for some of our retiring hiring,” said Chief Day.
Technically, the police budget is still increasing; it’s just increasing by two million dollars less than it would have with Mayor Wilson’s original proposal.
