Skip to main contentThe William Wegman dog-bowl fountain, anchored on the North Park Blocks, is a unique blip on Portland's cultural radar screen--a hydration haven for dogs from all walks of life. But for the past four months, the fountain has been a bone-dry lump of bronze, taunting canine passersby with visions of
liquid past.
The sculpture, commissioned by the now-defunct Pearl Arts Foundation for the hefty sum of $176,000, has won rave reviews from Portland's devoted dog crowd since it was unveiled last year. Hounds, birds and police horses happily slaked their thirst in the bubbling bowl. The fountain even became a popular undergarment-laundering destination for homeless Portlanders.
But when the foundation's funding ran dry last spring, so did the dog bowl. And in classic bureaucratic fashion, no one's completely sure why.
"I was operating on the assumption that the city was taking care of the bill," says former PAF board member Jim Knoll of the fountain's outstanding $3,500 water tab.
City officials contend that the foundation should foot the bill. "It was my understanding that they were supposed to take care of it," says Carolyn Lee of Portland Parks and Recreation.
But let it never be said that the city is insensitive to canine thirst issues for longer than a few months at a time; last week City Commissioner Dan Saltzman told WW the fountain would soon flow anew.
"I'm told it's going to be a very hot weekend, so I've asked the Water Bureau to turn the water on tomorrow to keep all those doggies' thirsts quenched," Saltzman said. "We're going to sort out who's going to pay for it later on."
WWeek 2015