EXPERIENCED ACCESS
One overarching concept informs a lot of my thinking. Are we measuring the right thing to get the result we eventually want? It seems like often, the city is measuring inputs, how many beds, park visits, volunteer hours. Living within a half mile of Forest Park, or a visitor metric, doesn’t describe the ‘experienced access. So I would prioritize changing what we measure. 86 percent of Portlanders living within half a mile of a park is obviously great, but it doesn’t tell us, for example, whether someone (or who) can enter it, or whether folks feel welcome staying there. I would want Parks to consider this measure of experienced access: Can residents reach it, enter it, afford it, use it and return to it, and the answers to those question lead to who can, and how to, solve for it.
For example, West Portland Town Center. The City’s health-equity assessment identified missing sidewalks and unsafe crossings as barriers to parks access. And this had a disproportionate effect on lower-income residents. This might be where the ‘experienced access’ thinking and metric could come in handy. If the obstacle is a dangerous crossing, then improving experienced park access might require a PBOT investment? If it’s a locked restroom or unavailable class, though, operational dollars may accomplish more.
