Portland Parks and Recreation

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The polite people at Hoyt Arboretum don't want to point fingers. But the curmudgeons at the Rogue Desk are more than willing to do so.

Portland Parks and Recreation? The Rogue Desk wants you! Here's why: On July 15, about 900 women raced in the "Run Like a Girl" 8K, sponsored by Portland's Montrail footwear company and the Portland Running Co. store.

Despite the race's borderline sexist name, this was no dainty jaunt. Montrail's website advertised the event as "a beautiful trail running race taking place on the gentle trails of Forest Park." To that end, $5 of every $30 entry fee was donated to the Friends of Forest Park, a private charity for the public park in Northwest Portland.

But the race actually started at the World Forestry Center in Southwest Portland and wound its way through neighboring Hoyt Arboretum. And therein lies the problem: A race with 900 runners puts a heavy toll on the narrow trails at the arboretum, which is considered a "living museum"—a planned garden of plants and trees from around the world.

It was Portland Parks and Rec that approved the race location, saying it has no policy limiting the number of race runners at Hoyt Arboretum.

But no one at Parks and Rec ever mentioned the race to Hoyt Arboretum Friends Executive Director Cynthia Haruyama, who believes the number of runners can—and should—be limited. "The arboretum is not the best venue for that kind of a run," Haruyama says. "That much human impact takes a toll."

In fact, in a handful of places, runners appear to have taken shortcuts, Haruyama says. Rogue Desk translation: They were trampling on plant specimens and cheating! And that's not running like a girl. That's running like a bee-yotch.

Hoyt Arboretum and Parks and Rec will now discuss a limit. Says Parks spokeswoman Beth Sorensen: "It's something to learn from."

08.01.2007 at 04:13 Reply

Parks Lover

What do folks expect when they turn over parks to folks like this. I hope the West Hills folks wake up and maybe they can make parks a sacred cow vs one raised eventual sale or exploitation.

http://bojack.org/2006/09/saltzman_on_tabor.html#comment-25537

www.clovermoore.com/issues/environment/open-space/cpmpt/990719.htm

Perhaps the biggest loss during that period was when the old fair grounds in Centennial parklands was leased to Fox Studios. It was supposed to revert back to public parkland when it stopped being a fair grounds, but somehow was turned over to Rupurt Murdock's Fox Studios and became what appears to be an ammusment park and now on its way to being a shopping center. As you can see another brilliant idea was to put McDonalds in the Park.

Why should Portland be concerned.

The same person under whose direction the Centennial Parks Trust was under during the Fox Studio lease and the failed McDonalds invasion, is now an executive, another imported Aussie, to head "business development" for Portland Parks.

* Robin Grimwade, who recently moved to Portland from his native Australia. Grimwade has more than 19 years of management experience in parks, recreation and environmental issues.

Grimwade previously was managing director for Grimwade and Associates, a Sydney consulting firm.

From 1999 to 2001, he was managing director of Waste Service NSW, a large provider of solid and liquid waste management and recycling, and directed waste disposal and recycling during the 2000 Olympics.

During the 1990s, he spent more than eight years as director and chief executive officer of the Centennial Parklands in Sydney."

So Saltzman has hired himself a professional, I hope folks in Portland know what's coming at them in the public process. He learned from his last tango with Mt. Tabor. The link is to a letter written by the current Mayor of Sidney who is most recently undergoing an attack from Rupurt Murdocks paper on Family Values, she opposes the further degredation of Sidney's premier park which Mr. Grimwade was the Director and CEO when they cut the development deals with FOX Studios and McDonalds. It appears from the internet articles, the mainteneance was privitized.

http://www.clovermoore.com/idx.htm?http://www.clovermoore.com/issues/environment/open%2Dspace/cpmpt/mcdonalds/background.htm

"In 1995, a secret agreement for a McDonald's on Moore Park was made between the Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust and Gameplan Sports and Leisure Pty Ltd, with the support of the then Liberal Environment Minister, Chris Hartcher, just before the March 1995 state election.

The restaurant, to have been located on the south east corner of Anzac Parade and Lang Road, would have alienated public land for unrelated commercial use."

Just like in the old Westerns, it appears that a professional Hired Gun has been put into parks management.

You notice no where in the e-mail Bad Grammer or not does Saltzman say Parks Land will not be sold and why has he hired a Business and Developement Manager that leased 30 Acres of Sidney's equivalent of Washington Park for 50 years to Rupert Murdock;s Fox Studios, and tried to get a McDonalds in the park.

Posted by Austrailia Connection | September 25, 2006 6:50 PM

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Portland Parks and Recreation