Eight years ago, Gateway Green was just a wild idea. These 38 acres between I-84 and I-205 in East Portland once housed a jail. Now, the community is on the verge of turning this unused space into a great outdoor recreational and mountain biking destination right in the city. Over 500 of you in the Portland metro region already took a step to make this happen by taking your seat at the Kitchen Table and weighing in on features of the park to help complete the design work. We’ve got a high level summary of the results of the Build Gateway Green consultation with a more complete report coming next week. We’re really excited to bring you another experiment in civic engagement – this time the chance to help build Gateway Green by directly contributing to the project.
Tomorrow – on September 5th – the Friends of Gateway Green are asking everyone to help reach the goal of $100,000 on crowdfunding site Indiegogo to make the vision for Gateway Green a reality. The money raised will be used to complete the design work for the park. Contributors will receive a thank you gift, ranging from a Build Gateway Green t-shirt designed by artist Mike Klay to a VIP guest pass to a fall celebration at outdoor biking venue Lumberyard. If you’re not able to make a contribution, you can still help by spreading the word. In fact, sharing the Build Gateway Green page on Indiegogo – or posting it on Facebook and Twitter – and asking other people to share it, too, is the key to making the crowdfunding campaign a success.
On September 5th, give at www.indiegogo.com/projects/build-gateway-green (click on the big Contribute Now button on the right hand side of the page) and join us in this experiment linking public input and crowdfunding to help build a great public space!