Neighborhood group hopes to sweeten Peppermint Park
By Peter Smith
Published: July 19, 2007
PORTLAND—The T-shaped park on Cumberland Avenue. The Bum Park. The Cement Park. The Fun Park. I-Thought-It-Was-a-Vacant-Lot Park.
Peppermint Park goes by many different names. Its official city-designated name was derived from a swing set installed under a federal urban renewal grant in the early 1970s. The swing set had red and white candy-cane striping.
That peppermint-painted swing set is long gone, and so are most of the slides installed in a subsequent 1991 park renovation. Much of the playground has been vandalized. One slide was removed after reportedly being torched with lighter fluid.
Now, neighborhood organizers are hoping to spur another revitalization effort. The effort has been initiated by a newly reorganized East Bayside Neighborhood Organization, which hopes to call attention to what members say is one of the city”s overlooked neighborhoods. Peppermint Park borders what some say is another neglected “park”—Kennedy Park, the public housing project east of Franklin Arterial.
In a recent findings report about city parks, residents said they favored small neighborhood, or “pocket parks.” Peppermint Park would seem to qualify, but the 716-page report makes no mention of the site.
The small park at Smith Street is still listed in the Department of Parks and Recreation’s guide to playgrounds.
“The playground is not a very safe playground. Not a very functioning playground,” said Jonah Fertig, an organizer with the People’s Free Space on Cumberland Avenue. “There’s a lot of exposed rusty metal.”
The park is sometimes known more for its broken benches and its battered “No Drinking of Alcoholic Beverages” sign than its shade trees and green grass. Broken chairs, soiled diapers and empty Big Gulps litter the area. Blue paint has been splattered on the sidewalk.
Despite that, it remains well-used. It’s one of the few public spaces in the immediate neighborhood. Last Friday, a group of children played on the remaining playground equipment. A group of women sat on a wall facing Cumberland Avenue.
One of them, Phyllis Wildes, said, “I”d like to have a new park. With a playground and water for the children. But first they have to clean out the teenagers. Or else it”s just going to get wrecked again.”
Over the years, the park has gained notoriety. Fights and arguments are not uncommon, especially on hot summer nights. When a man was stabbed there in 1999, he told police he didn’t know what happened. In the late “80s, the park”s wading pool filled with broken bricks. Winos slept on park benches. The park remains ” and so have its resident drunks and the drug dealers.
Recent efforts to police Cumberland Avenue, which runs along the park”s north side, have been stepped up as complaints about liquor violations, illegal drug use and disorderly behavior have been reported, said the Portland Police Department”s Capt. Vern Malloch.
The neighborhood is working on a community policing program for the fall. “We’re really hoping to get that place usable again,” said Chris Wright, president of the East Bayside Neighborhood Association.
Other nearby residents hope to remove a cement wall on the park’s north side, which is often a deterrent to those who feel intimidated by the people who sit there. Eliza Griscom of Smith Street said she would like to see changes so “that people are encouraged to be in the park, not on the fringe of the park.”
Others area residents hope to install chess tables, picnic benches and new playground equipment, which they hope might resemble the city-funded playground and splash pad built near developer Richard Berman’s Unity Village project in the Bayside neighborhood.
District City Councilor Kevin Donoghue said he would place a high priority on making funds available for the East Bayside neighborhood. Parks and Recreation Director Denise Clavett said a public meeting with neighborhood residents about Peppermint Park has been planned for later this summer, but a date has not been set.
Other East Bayside residents say that saving Peppermint Park has been tried before. “Why do it again?” said Mike Nicolai, a Smith Street homeowner.
Soon after the 1991 renovation, Nicolai said the park became dilapidated and filled with groups that had a sense of entitlement, but little respect for the park.
“I think they either need to get rid of the park, sell it off or get a building in there,” Nicolai said. “Maybe a little upscale. Or make it a smaller park. Even with a smaller park, it might revert to the vandalism.”
“If something hasn’t changed,” he said, “maybe it’s time for something radically different.”
Wright said the neighborhood group remains hopeful that renovating the space might foster a sense of pride.
“I think it will help the neighborhood,” he said. “But who knows.”
Peter Smith can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 126 or psmith@theforecaster.net.