Downtown Spaces Mean More Than Markets

Of course when I hear Park Blocks I hear Saturday Market but next week the Project for Public Spaces will be back in town to talk about what our whole community sees as a vision for using our open spaces more safely, creatively, and to meet more of the needs of our growing community. As a major stakeholder, we of Saturday Market know that this is not about us, but about the town we live in, so while we have a lot of ideas coming from our place at the center, we're excited about the chance to take that vision to the rest of our community and see how it aligns and can be informed by what everyone wants.

I don't expect this to be a painless process because I know not everyone loves what I love or agrees with what I think to be true. I have been trying hard throughout this process to enlarge my vision and take in the full reality of how all of us use our city and what the future might be, starting with now.

Our market task force met yesterday and came up with some great ideas and I took photos of our work.


We're nowhere near finished but wanted to refine our long wish list to see what surfaced as really important, so we can take that to the discussions knowing it would have wide support. We recognize that limited funds will likely preclude many of the projects we'd like to see, and as renters of the Park, however successful and desired, we do "live" there only as long and as well as we provide added value to the spaces. So here is what we think at the moment:

Rough draft of a visual for it

A new stage to replace the awkward and not-very-functional covered space on the Southeast block would serve all community groups who want to hold events there. To not have to rent, own, or erect a stage structure with lights, tent weights, and a sound system might make it possible for many events to have performances there, large or small. If it could include storage for a number of chairs, tables, and the necessary signs, cones, or other safety items to have these events, this would be grand in so many ways. It would also be cool to have some kind of a kiosk to use as an info booth, with electricity (we now run with batteries in the info booth) and other services. It could be used by other groups as well and maybe have an employee in it during the week to track tourism, give out information to visitors, be the connection for services, and do lots of tasks not currently be covered in the center of our city, except by the EPD and the downtown guides who don't have a place to be consistently found and might benefit from that.

It must be widely known by now that public restrooms are needed downtown. There will increasingly be excellent innovative designs for these and there have to be some that will work. I found a cool photo yesterday:that might show up here, not sure. The slats on the side make bike racks! If it doesn't show you can see more at this link:http://www.designcurial.com/news/public-toilet-architecture---10-of-the-best-4210193/3.

And of course that is not all of our ideas but the ones that floated to the top right away. There seems to be no shortage of ideas but part of the problem is bigger than the infrastructure and this is the challenge that seems to be the hardest for people: we have to work within the current reality. Like my thoughts on the FSP, my thoughts on the people who are currently using our parks for shelter are evolving. I want a lot of tiny houses in our town for people to use for permanent or temporary homes, so that they feel safe, have places to sleep and store their belongings, have privacy, and have support for their basic needs. I want support for Occupy Medical and White Bird for the kinds of health services that traveling or houseless people need. I want it to be normal that you might need and seek help or have problems you can't solve yourself, that are covered by social services. There seem to be plenty of resources to meet these needs and plenty of compassionate people to help set things in place. The Reagan years and other times when people lost that support are over. Let's have support systems that work. Let's enlarge our hearts and compassion to speak frankly and really work together to ease the impacts of people whose needs spill over until they become desperate and hopeless. This does not seem impossible, but it will take a lot of us working together to get there.

I understand why it is hard to talk about these things, but they will be part of the placemaking discussions and it would be great if we could speak without the ironic doublespeak when we say "all citizens of our community" and "the public." This does mean all of us, not just those of us who have found ways to be comfortable in our lives. It includes children and the elderly, and even that guy who likes to use the Park Blocks to smoke cigars that he probably can't smoke at home (though he is kind of out of luck now with the smoking ban.) We all have to keep in mind that we have to speak for all of us. I know our Market and our Task Force are full of compassionate people who think of others (just giving up time to come to a meeting shows that much) so I am looking forward to the opportunities for dialogue and new ideas that will come next week. I hope to see you there!