As Portlanders, we love our parks. When our parks needed help, we answered the call. On November 3, 2020 we overwhelmingly passed Measure 26-213—the Portland parks levy!
This levy is a lifesaver for the future of our parks system and a critical step toward a more stable Parks Bureau that will better serve all Portlanders.
With this additional funding, Portland Parks & Recreation will be able to:
Restore Recreation by opening public pools and community centers, and restoring programs, including fitness classes, arts, senior programs, youth programs, and environmental education just when local families need them most.
Boost Maintenance which will increase litter removal, restroom cleaning, playground inspections and repairs.
Protect Nature by maintaining trails, protecting the 8,000 acres of natural areas, better caring for the 1.2 million trees in our park system, and planting more trees in Parks-owned lands in parts of the city that currently lack them.
Create Access for All by reducing PP&R’s reliance on fees, making equity and affordability the primary goals for delivering recreation opportunities for communities of color, refugees and immigrants, and families experiencing poverty.
Invest In Working Families by restoring jobs lost due to COVID-19 and preventing further job cuts for our critically important frontline parks workers.
All Portlanders deserve safe, well-maintained parks and affordable access to recreation facilities and programs. As we move forward together, we hope you will engage in the community conversation Portland Parks & Recreation will convene to determine priorities for this gift you, the voters, have given our parks system.
Thank you to those who built the coalition that passed Measure 26-213.
Led by the Portlanders for Parks campaign in partnership with the Portland Parks Foundation, we built strong alliances across our community:
Non-profit organizations doing critical work with BIPOC communities, such as APANO, Brown Hope, and Latino Network;
Labor leaders like LiUNA Local 483, representing many of the workers at PP&R, with strong support from labor allies including Portland Association of Teachers, Portland Firefighters, IBEW, SEIU, and AFSCME;
Parks friends and allies across the city—Friends of Noise, Pittock Mansion, Brown Folks Fishing, Pioneer Courthouse Square, Sport Oregon, Forest Park Conservancy, Hoyt Arboretum, Portland Farmers Market, East Portland Parks Coalition, NW Trail Alliance, Friends of Peninsula Park, the Halprin Landscape Conservancy, Southwest Neighborhoods, Human Access Project, the Intertwine Alliance, and so many others who advocate for our parks year-round, and stepped up to raise money and spread word about the levy to every corner of Portland;
Climate leaders and environmental groups like the Trust for Public Land and The Nature Conservancy who stepped up with early funding for the critically important early polling that guided us and the Oregon League of Conservative Voters, 1000 Friends of Oregon, Sunrise PDX, and Audubon who offered broad outreach;
Large businesses like Nike, business organizations like the Portland Business Alliance and the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland, and small companies like Unfold Yoga to Push x Pull Coffee all contributed to our voter outreach work;
Community supporters like Charles and Darci Swindells who made the first campaign contribution along with more than 175 other loyal parks supporters like Christine and David Vernier, Al Solheim, Patricia Frobes, Steve Naito, and Erin Zollenkopf, along with new Portlanders like Maja Harris and recent returnee Adam Wilson.
Parkies! Thank you for volunteering on your own time.
Finally, a thank you to the campaign team who brought so much skill and passion to the effort: Amy Ruiz and her team at Strategies 360, campaign manager Inna Levin, communications director T.J. McHugh, financial team Madi Mordaunt and Elizabeth Wilson, volunteer coordinator Ted Bryan, and super volunteers Andre Middleton, Colin Herring, Juntu Oberg, Jules Bailey, Karen Kervin, Kia Selley, and the entire Portland Parks Foundation Board of Directors. And special, special thanks to LiUNA Local 483’s Tom Collett and Nike’s Julia Brim-Edwards for their wisdom, horsepower, and acutely timed financial lifts.