Friends of Spring Garden Park
Spring Garden Park
3332 SW Spring Garden St Portland, Oregon 97219 View a video of Playdate in Spring Garden Park
Visit us on Facebook
History
Spring Garden Park is a 4.65 acre park in the Multnomah neighborhood. It's bounded by Spring Garden Street and Dolph Court on the north and south and by 32nd and 35th on the east and west. There are some trees on the edge but the park is mostly a field of grass. Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) acquired the site in 1999 from Portland Public Schools. 
Plans Call for Play Area
Spring Garden Park has a master plan developed by various agencies, community members, and PP&R, and published in 2003. That plan supports a play area at the South (Dolph) end of the property. The Friends of Spring Garden Park are working to design and fund a nature-based play area to encourage creative and active play for children.
Reasons to Support the Plan
The lack of opportunities for children to run outside and play is contributing to problelms like obesity, diabetes, heart and mental health problems. The lack of of outdoor play environments is a real obstacle to good health. The population of Portland is projected to grow a lot in the coming years. The Spring Garden Parks property and surrounding property are bound by busy highways. We want to use these limited resources and park property to get children outside playing.
Environmental Plans
The Bureau of Environmental Services has a capital improvement plan to restore the north end of the park as a natural area in 2012. A stream running through that end of the park--which is currently underground in a pipe--will be brought back to the surface.
How to Get Involved
The Friends of Spring Garden Park meet the first Wednesday of the month, 7 to 8 pm, in the SWNI conference room at the Multnomah Center. Meetings are open to the public. For information, contact Lori Howell at lori-howell@comcast.net.
How to Donate
Please mail tax deductible donations to: SW Neighborhoods, 7688 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, Oregon 97219. Make checks payable to SWNI. On the memo line, write: Spring Garden Park. 
Master Plan Portland Parks & Recreation Article Spring Garden Park Map
- Printer-friendly version
- Login or register to post comments
Comments
Spring Garden
This park will be a terrible place for a play area unless some major changes are made. For example, just this morning my dog and I were walking, and a dog that the owner allowed to run in the park off-leash ran up and attacked my dog. This has happened more than once in this neighborhood where dog owners do not obey the leash law. It doesn't matter whether or not your dog is friendly, the law is there for a reason. What if a kid was attacked instead of my dog? If people don't have enough common sense to keep their dogs safe, how can kids be safe?
Secondly, not enough dog owners in this neighborhood scoop up after their dogs. This park is a disgusting place and I have to dodge piles when walking through it. I also have to check my dogs feet when we get back from our walk because he cannot avoid stepping in it. The same goes for the surrounding streets of this neighborhood. It is a mess, and I do not believe that it would be a safe/clean environment for a playground unless it is patroled for at least a few days and tickets are handed out for not obeying the leash law or the scoop law.
I completely agree that children deserve to have a safe and clean place to play outside. It would be wonderful to bring the community together, but a $487,000 project will do no good if the people using the park and the neighborhood most often are abusing it. Maybe the "Friends of Spring Garden Park" should start with the basics and help to enforce taking care of the park that we do have.