Should grassy knoll be resigned to history?

Friends of Couch Park thinks area could be better used for a dog park

Friends of Couch Park has its sights on level ground.

Limited size complicates many community goals for Couch Park. Its largest open area must serve as a playground for the adjacent Metropolitan Learning Center, an event space for summer concerts and a dog park, although one with no fence to allow the flexibility of uses.

Friends of Couch Park, a nonprofit formed by neighbors to care and advocate for the park’s best use, sees wasted space in the knoll created in the 1970s with the involvement of the community. Now, however, it has become underutilized space with a mound blocking clear sight-lines that would improve security and safety.

Portland Parks & Recreation won’t turn the berm into the dog area due to a policy against such facilities on sloped ground. That conclusion seems illogical to Friends of Couch Park, noting the success of the dog run on Mt. Tabor that is both extremely sloped and extremely popular, but moving the dirt seems easier than moving an entrenched bureaucracy, so that’s the group’s informal recommendation. Level the knoll and fence in an area for dogs that leaves the level grassy area for children and general community uses.

Friends of Couch Park hopes to gain the support of District 4 city councilors including Olivia Clark, who has been particularly attentive to the group’s concerns.