NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS ROCK!
This project celebrates the impacts of Portland’s neighborhood associations. These are places where Portland neighbors get together, speak out, and stand up for making the place where they live better.
From Forest Park to Hazelwood, from Sellwood to St Johns, one of the most amazing experiences one has in Portland is to participate in one’s own Neighborhood Association. Every section of town has one. You will find that you belong there, and your voice will matter, simply because it’s your home.
From Forest Park to Hazelwood, from Sellwood to St Johns, one of the most amazing experiences one has in Portland is to participate in one’s own Neighborhood Association. Every section of town has one. You will find that you belong there, and your voice will matter, simply because it’s your home.
Sapata and Santigie Fofana-Dura, Transparent House, reclaimed wood, glass and hardware
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What makes Portland’s 94 Neighborhood Associations unique is their transparency. Every public club, organization, or non-profit that you can think of doesn’t have the same requirements for transparency as Neighborhood Associations. In most cases, things like choosing a board, choosing members, how money is spent, or how votes or arguments go is all information closed to the public. Neighborhood Associations, on the other hand, are raw, transparent democracies. Every little thing that is done, every vote, every penny spent, is open and known to everyone in the room. And if you are not present, public minutes are published. Anyone who lives within the Neighborhood Association’s boundaries is encouraged to be part of the conversation. People are not excluded because of age, race, creed, what hobbies they pursue, income, what football team they cheer for, or any other such criteria. It is only a matter of caring for the place where you live; a willingness to work for your neighborhood’s benefit and improvement, and to work and talk with your neighbor to that end.
Sites spotlighted so far in Neighborhood Association exhibitions, which are but a fraction of the decades of positive impacts by Neighborhood Associations:
Abbey Creek Agricultural Buffer
Abbey Creek Stables
Arbor Lodge Park
Boise Eliot Grove
Brooklyn Rail Yard
Cathedral Park
China Town Gates
Hillside Community Center
Kenton Women's Village
Laurelhurst Historic Sites
Leach Garden Bridge
Linnton NA's support of The Frog Project
New Public Trash Bins throughout the Pearl
Oaks Bottom
Red Light Poles in China Town
Refugee Residents at Katari Park
Saving the Columbia Pool
Sellwood Park Playground Equipment
Sequoia Trees in Eastmoreland
Sidewalks and Bike Lanes around Timbers Stadium
St John's Farmer's Market
Superfund Sites in the Willamette River
Toddler Play Area in Wilshire Park
Woodlawn Community Garden
