Last summer, 570 neighbors filled The Armory to warn the city that an overnight shelter could devastate the Pearl District.
This month, Pearl activists hope a similar number will show up to bring life to a neighborhood reeling from the effects of that shelter.
“Decide the future of the Pearl,” will be the theme of a town hall at The Armory, 128 NW 11th Ave., April 28, at 5:30 p.m.
“We’re going to use the energy from the town hall that we had last year,” said Bruce Studer, president of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association. “This is what we can control. We can have our voices heard on the shelter, but we can actually do something about reigniting the Pearl.”
The key is regularly bringing more people to the Pearl for a good time, and that includes people from other parts of the city and the suburbs, he said.
“We’re down 30% in foot traffic, and foot traffic drives everything. It drives economic creativity. It drives participation in the parks. It drives safety, because there’s more people around. We’re going to create events that create a flywheel of activity that start in May,” Studer said.
The list includes:
A weekly farmers market.
Yoga and fitness class in the park.
Summer concerts and movies in the parks.
Criterium bike races.
An art walk.
A luxury cars and wine event.
Go cart races.
The annual Pearl street party.
The list may grow, as 31 different activities are under consideration.
“It starts in late May, and then it’s full-on throughout the summer,” Studer said.
Ray Davis, the longtime president and CEO of Umpqua Bank, is a Pearl resident, and he’s excited by the potential of this promotion. Everyone he has talked to…., and many have contributed financially to the project.
“It has blown so much wind in our sales as far as working on this,” Davis said. “Everybody we talk to from retail businesses, some of the larger businesses in the Pearl, residents who live here in the Pearl, even people we’ve talked to outside the Pearl are excited, ‘Boy, wouldn’t that be great. Let me know when that’s going to start.’”
And if people come to the forum to talk about the shelter, Studer said they will not be ignored.
“We will give a shelter update that will not take over the program,” he said. “But we’re going to use the energy from the town hall that we had last year, so we want everybody that can be there, because the reignite portion is what we can control.”
The big gathering in the Armory this month and the series of events throughout the summer are funded by private donations without city assistance.
“If they shut the shelter down, that’s the best thing they could do for us,” Studer said about a week before Mayor Keith Wilson made that more than a wish.
