We asked some of the sharpest, most civic-minded Portlanders to share their ideas to return the city to flourishing. Their plans, it turns out, dovetail perfectly with one another. No pie-in-the-sky, trillion-dollar dreams; these are all wildly practical initiatives, needing a bit of elbow grease in the Portland way. “We’re an island,” says philanthropist Dorie Vollum, who has lived here since 1986. “You need cooperation and collaboration to make anything happen around here.” 

This story is part of our 20th Anniversary Issue special section on Big Ideas for Changing Portland. Read more here.

A Big Idea
A Bustling, 24-Hour Downtown Where People Actually Live

“All the empty office space in these world-class office buildings should be converted into affordable apartments that people can move into,” says Rob Nosse, Democratic majority whip in the Oregon House of Representatives. “Everyone is upset about the deserted downtown and drug utilization. You know where that’s not happening so much? Neighborhoods where plenty of people live.”

Accomplishing this would require the city to shift zoning and building codes to facilitate the process of converting cubicles into kitchens, greenlight the city-owned properties that can be swiftly converted, and declare an affordable housing state of emergency. “I don’t see it being addressed the way other countries deal with emergencies: they just descend on the problem,” says real estate developer Kevin Cavenaugh. “In our DNA as Portlanders is the ability to just fucking do it. So if a developer has a really good idea that really obviously makes Portland a better city and helps people’s lives, the answer is yes. Just give them a permit tomorrow, literally.”

A Small but Mighty Idea
Artists in Downtown Shop Fronts 

“It’s common sense,” says Pearl District gallery owner Elizabeth Leach, of offering empty retail spaces to artists, arts organizations, and creative companies. “What we need downtown are places to go and things to do. We have a lot of incredible talent in our arts community.” Successful programs doing just this are afoot in other cities: Seattle Restored, for example, puts pop-up shops and art installations in empty storefronts. “It wouldn’t take a big investment from the city. We can get the seeds planted that keep the landlords happy.” 

A Small but Mighty Idea
Adopt a Block

Pick a commercial block. Follow its businesses on Instagram. Tell all your friends about them. Shop there. Drop in on the entrepreneurs regularly. “You’re invested in making sure the businesses on that block have what they need,” says Kimiko Matsuda, who owned the now-closed Rose & Lincoln Juicery on Hawthorne, where neighbors informally supported her—an experience she’d like to formalize for others. Her four-year stint of entrepreneurship taught her how hard it is to run a small business. “But I became part of people’s walking routes because they just wanted to check in on me.” 

A midsize Idea
A Music Venue and Sculpture Garden on the Riverfront

Why does Seattle have a sculpture park on the water, and we don’t? And why don’t we have an amphitheater? Well, maybe we will. Sculpture park plans are paused while city arts funding is in flux, but a group including entrepreneurs behind the Waterfront Blues Festival, Mississippi Studios, the Human Access Project, and the Portland Winter Light Festival is collaborating on a downtown waterfront amphitheater holding 8,000–10,000 people. “If we’re able to create a venue that hosts 30–40 events a year, then there’s a value proposition to living in proximity to the amphitheater,” says the Human Access Project’s Willie Levenson. It’s much less controversial than a proposed 4,000-seat operation by Live Nation, just north of the Hawthorne Bridge on the east side, which is spurring vehement pushback from local music venue owners and critics of corporate sibling Ticketmaster. Get involved:  humanaccessproject.com/amphitheater

A Small but Mighty Idea
A Conservation/Arts Festival

Envision a multiday conference of climate scientists, conservationists, writers, filmmakers, artists, and outdoor adventurers. Think SXSW meets EarthX meets the Banff Mountain Film Festival, gathering local organizations dedicated to environmentalism, from OMSI to Oregon Wild to Columbia Riverkeeper to the Wild Salmon Center, as well as creative types who “have the ability and artistry to bring those conversations about the environment to a broader audience,” says Craig Popelars, a former Tin House publisher who says he’d love to see such an event—perhaps named after Barry Lopez, the late nature writer and essayist. “There’s a cross-pollinating. It’s enriching these conversations through art, music, literature, and the adventurers out there climbing the mountains.” Portland, where attendees can be on Mount Hood or watching salmon spawn within an hour, is a natural host. 

A Big Idea
More Downtown Walkable Space

For 36 years, Randy Miller has led best-practices trips to global cities, where community leaders see public policy in action elsewhere. This past summer he biked through Spain and Portugal. “Everywhere we went, the plazas and people space—everything is designed around people, and not necessarily transportation,” he says. “How can we change the pattern, particularly downtown, to make it oriented around people rather than the automobile?”

A Small but Mighty Idea
Developing Mount Tabor Reservoirs 

Back in 2014, the city’s parks and rec bureau invited input for redesigning the reservoir areas on Mount Tabor. The city’s master plan included a splash pad and playing fields. Then the reservoirs were designated historic because of “the park’s iconic views,” even though they no longer provide drinking water. Development halted. One reservoir is now empty due to structural weaknesses. “I’m biased, but what makes a world-class city is open spaces and green-spaces,” says Emily Roth, a retired senior planner who developed the proposal. “We should really take down all the fences so we can use it.” 

A Big Idea
A River Splashing with Swimmers, Boaters, and Commuters

“The magic of a river happens at the water’s edge,” says Willie Levenson, executive director of the Human Access Project, which lobbies for transforming Portland’s relationship with the Willamette River. “You can see fish jump and the water ripple. It’s really an opportunity to immerse yourself in nature.” Most of the west side currently features a 25-foot sheer concrete sea wall. “We envision toes-in-the-water access, and a river that we can swim in and not fear, that feels healthy to people.” 

The Human Access Project’s initiatives include transforming a half dozen river points into beaches and docks, and adding direct river access to the east side of the Burnside Bridge for swimmers, boaters, and beachgoers. Some thriving river cities have ferry service, which can bring thousands of pedestrians to downtown daily while reducing pollution and traffic.

The nonprofit behind a plan called Frog Ferry envisions a route from Vancouver to Oregon City, with potential stops at Cathedral Park, Moda Center, RiverPlace, OMSI, and Milwaukie. After five years of working on buy-in from the city, property owners, and more, Frog Ferry seems dead in the water, but you never know when this frog might start kicking again.

River access will make water safety more paramount but also improve inclusion issues. “We need to connect people to these bodies of water,” says Morgan Spriggs, cofounder of the Black Swimming Initiative, whose research shows that children become water safe when at least one of their caregivers knows how to access swimming. “We have to avoid the sense that we need to build massive pools,” Spriggs says. The river, of course, is already there. Get involved: frogferry.com, blackswimpdx.us, humanaccessproject.com

A Midsize Idea
The Portland Botanical Gardens

Portland already hosts the Hoyt Arboretum, the Japanese Garden, and the Lan Su Chinese Garden. “But we don’t have a garden for research, demonstration, and community gathering,” says Sean Hogan, chief horticulturist of Portland Botanical Gardens, a four-year-old nonprofit seeking a 50-acre parcel near downtown, easily accessible to public transport. “We want to have incredible research, an herbarium, and also be the best gardening school in the country. That’s not saying much, because in the US they’re not so great.” 

The state’s only native-plant botanical garden would display regional ecosystems, so that visitors can “traverse” the Northwest, from the Redwoods to the Rockies, in a few hundred yards. For education, the plan incorporates a major botanical sciences program (the nearest are at the University of Washington and the University of California, Berkeley), with K–12 programs, community education, and multilingual vocational training for gardeners and landscape maintenance workers, many of whom are immigrants from Mexico or Central America. A “botanical speakeasy” of international plants would round out the garden. Compared to the price tags of other plans, says Hogan, “it’s low-hanging fruit.” Get involved: portlandbg.org

A Midsize Idea
Backyard Wildlife Corridors

If you thought that Portland Audubon is only about birds, think again. “Our vision is to help make Portland the greenest city in the country,” says executive director Stuart Wells. Yes, birds are involved, but they can fly from spot to spot, so connected greenspace is less critical. The group’s Backyard Habitat Certification program, in partnership with Columbia Land Trust, has grown from 500 to 10,000 participating properties, so far creating modest habitats for pollinators and birds. “Apartments should include greenspaces, too. Inclusivity is a major focus of our work.” Get involved: audubonportland.org