The Portland, Ore., Parks and Recreation Department has set its sights on private equity, non-profits and other organizations to fund the department amidst ongoing local budget cuts.
Despite its citizens’ voting last year to raise property taxes in exchange for funding the parks department, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that Portland mayor Keith Wilson once again proposed cutting parks programs and jobs to combat the city’s growing budget. Wilson proposed cutting $3 million and 46 jobs, along with reducing hours.
A recent maintenance study in Portland found that 90% of parks’ facilities are in “poor condition” and it would require approximately $800 million to restore the facilities to a “reasonable level of wear and tear” — not even reaching levels of completely upgrade those facilities.
While these statistics may lead some to believe that Portland doesn’t spend much of its budget on the parks and rec department, in reality, Portland ranks sixth in the nation for cities that spend the most on public parks. The department spends an average of $322 per person on its park system every year, and it is still not enough.
With nowhere left to turn, Portland Parks and Recreation is turning to private equity and non-profits for funds to run summer programming, upgrade shuttered public bathrooms, and renovate aging sports facilities.
“I’m not willing to keep going back to Portlanders for another tax increase,” said councilor Dan Ryan, who supports partnering with outside organizations to keep city parks afloat. “We have to show what we’re doing on our side to be innovative and creative. And lean into that.”
Portland Parks and Recreation has often relied on outside assistance to support the city’s outdoor recreation offerings. For example, groups of volunteers created “friends groups” to clean up parks, raise funds for upgrades and develop new programming throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
According to OPB, in 2002, Nike gave $2 million to resurface all public basketball courts and committed to updating 30 of them again in 2018. During the recession of the late 2000s, Kemper Sports signed a contract with the city to operate two city golf courses. That company now runs four of the city’s five public courses.
“The government can only do so much,” said Portland Parks Foundation executive director Jessica Green. “We’re creating this opportunity for the community to invest and say, ‘Let’s make this even better than the baseline.’ I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”
