Stewart Campbell

For those of you that have not noticed yet, but Gateway Green met it's fundraising goal.

http://bikeportland.org/2013/10/03/gateway-green-hits-crowdfunding-goal-94900

-Stewart

Steve Brown

Posting this for Ted Gilbert. Ted is a man of good public works and has a very interesting project if you are interested. Please
forward to anyone.

Steve Brown

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Ted Gilbert"
> Subject: Gateway Green
> Date: August 30, 2013 12:07:11 PM PDT
> To: "'Ted Gilbert'"
> Reply-To:
>
> Dear Family and Friends,
>
> I hope this note finds you and your family well and enjoying Portland’s most glorious time of year. I write, somewhat sheepishly, with a request. I would always rather offer help than ask for help, but what I’m going to briefly share with you in this email means enough to me, and, I believe, to our community, that if I can’t first appeal to the people I’m closest to, then I have little chance with anyone else. “Oh oh,” I can hear some of you saying, here comes another of Ted’s crazy ideas. I confess . . . it’s true. But, sometimes, even crazy ideas work.
>
> You might remember another crazy idea from 1988 which became HOST Development. It was intended to address the area of our community that was then in greatest need – inner North and Northeast Portland. Through the committed efforts of volunteers and staff, 21 years and 400 homes later, these neighborhoods are thriving and among Portland’s hottest residential markets. Candidly, this metamorphosis, while challenging, went better and faster than any of us ever imagined.
>
> I believe that our community’s area of greatest need currently is that area known as East Portland. Most people define it as the area of Portland which starts at I-205 and heads east. Densely populated, the most ethnically diverse area in the State of Oregon (the number of languages spoken at David Douglas High School is 78), the most park and open space deficient area in the region, it presents large challenges, as well as attractive attributes and great opportunities. In order to catalyze the economic redevelopment of East Portland, we need to mobilize the private sector to invest there. Taking some of what we learned with HOST, we need to first do some re-branding in order to get people to take a fresh look at this area. The project I will briefly describe to you can be a key part of this, and can also have larger implications for our entire state.
>
> The project is called Gateway Green. Rather than go into a full description here, I will refer you to a link which describes the specifics of the project, its uses and benefits. Suffice to say, we will turn 38 acres of public right-of-way which has been idle and fallow for years (once the home of Rocky Butte Jail) into a showplace and regional recreational destination. It will provide a free, public area for walking, running, biking and picnicking, but also host national and international athletic events, and be an attractor for bicycle tourism. After eight years of work by a committed group of citizens, ODOT has agreed to essentially give the property to the community. The City of Portland has agreed to run Gateway Green as a public park. Forty different entities—public, private and philanthropic—have signed a commitment to participate. The final piece is finishing off raising the capital to build the first phase; a task aided by the fact that some of the world’s leading landscape architects, designers of children’s NaturePlay features, and off-road bike parks happen to live in Portland, Oregon, and are willing to donate some of their efforts to demonstrate just how spectacular a venue they can create in their own hometown.
>
> But as meaningful as this all is, there is an element of this effort that has implications for our entire State of Oregon. There is a non-profit called Oregon Solutions which is organized under the auspices of the Governor’s office, and consists of some highly experienced and resourceful people whose mission it is to figure out how to make key needed community projects come together around our State. They, like many of us, have come to realize that we can no longer exclusively rely on the government to fund these projects, and that we must innovate new ways to fund some of the improvements we think our communities need. There is a new mechanism which shows great promise. I say “new” because it has only existed for three years. It’s called “crowdfunding.” You may have heard of examples of this as the “kickstarter” that was used to fund various for-profit endeavors around the world; where millions of dollars were raised in a short time from thousands of people using the Internet. This approach is only beginning to be used for non-profit, community projects, and Oregon Solutions wants to see if it can be harnessed and organized effectively to help Oregon communities. They needed a test site and they believe that the project, the people, and the potential impact of Gateway Green combine to make it the one. That makes this, in effect, a grand experiment for East Portland, our region, and our State – and you are an early and key part of its outcome. Like Gateway Green itself, this is a grassroots, home-town effort that will rely on individuals coming together.
>
> For those of you who have hung in there with me in reading thus far (and I’ve tried to be brief!), I send my gratitude. If you would like more specifics about Gateway Green, it is available at:
> http://gatewaygreenpdx.org
>
> Now here’s the pitch . . . yes, it’s about money. But not just any money, this is about early money, through the crowdfund. Our crowdfunding experiment will start on THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 (yes, I know this is the first day of Rosh Hashanah). It will run for only 33 days. The professionals tell us that early action on the crowdfund is a major predictor of success. On September 4, I will send you another email with simple, specific instructions on how to participate. If you would consider participating by contributing (yes, it’s tax deductible) and sharing this with your own circle of contacts, I would be honored and grateful.
>
> Thank you for your consideration . . . and your love, friendship, and support.
>
>
> Ted
>