Councilor Green calls Slabtown Park delay an 'outrage'

District 4 councilor not happy with redirection of funds to North Portland aquatic center

Mitch Green is the first City Council member to comment on news of how a proposed Northwest Portland park lost its funding. Photo by Walden Kirsch

District 4 Councilor Mitch Green expressed outrage over the long-overdue park promised at Northwest 20th and Pettygrove, the subject of a January NW Examiner cover story, “Still no Slabtown Park.”

Green objects to the transfer of funds designated for the Central City to a major North Portland aquatic center four miles away, which is set to open in 2030.

Affirming a statement by Northwest District Association President Todd Zarnitz that “[City Councilor] Dan Ryan grabbed what looks to be the ENTIRE uninvested Central City area SDC [System Development Charge] collections,” Green said, “I share his outrage over the raiding of this fund.”

Ryan, as commissioner of parks in 2023, moved $60 million in system development charge revenues to cover most of the $100 million North Portland project.

SDCs are governed by state law to ensure that new construction pays for the added infrastructure demands it triggers. A city ordinance requires at least 43% of the revenues to be invested in the zone where they were generated.

Due to that $60 million transfer, in addition to interfund loans to the Fire and Police Disability and Retirement fund the past two years, no money is left for the Slabtown Park, the project manager for the Portland Parks & Recreation reported last year. The half-block park had previously been budgeted for $3 million-$5 million.

“I do think Northwest Portlanders deserve a park they were promised,” he told the Examiner. His question is: “How do we make up for it?”

The other two District 4 councilors, Eric Zimmerman and Olivia Clark, have not responded to inquiries from the NW Examiner.

No place to play at Northwest 20th and Pettygrove. Photo by Walden Kirsch