PMG PHOTO: RAYMOND RENDLEMAN – Brayden Cervantes, Noah Ozbek and Lee Hillebrand introduced their Primary Road Park thought to Oregon Metropolis Commissioner Denyse McGriff and Metropolis Supervisor Tony Konkol.
PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — In presenting a Simply Desserts idea for a candy store taking on a vacant lot, Tumwata Center Faculty eighth-grader Eva Owens didn’t miss a beat when Oregon Metropolis Financial Growth Supervisor James Graham requested, “Have you ever talked with the well being division but?”
“No but, however we hope to,” Owens responded.
It’s secure to say that the coolness of those youngsters blew the minds of attendees of Tumwata’s Jan. 26 occasion to current ideas for the long-vacant lot at twelfth and Primary streets. Different concepts that city officials heard from the middle schoolers included a fountain/time capsule impressed by the “Cyberpunk 2077” online game, or a three-dimensional digital mannequin constructed by means of Minecraft pc software.
Tumwata college students Brayden Cervantes, Noah Ozbek and Lee Hillebrand got here up with an idea combining parts of a skate park, lined picnic space, jungle health club and a neighborhood artwork wall with guidelines for acceptable varieties of graffiti.
Oregon Metropolis officers have been certainly impressed with the scholars who introduced in a science-fair format with bulletin boards. Metropolis Supervisor Tony Konkol mentioned that the center schoolers got here up with “lots of nice concepts,” and Oregon Metropolis City Renewal Fee Chair Denyse McGriff promised that the town will probably be “severely” wanting into adapting the solutions.
Portland Tribune and its mother or father, Pamplin Media Group, are KOIN 6 information companions.
Tumwata students found inspiration for their project in a book that features scenes of violence occurring in an empty lot. Evan Howells, a Tumwata eighth-grade language-arts instructor, has been teaching “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton, a 1967 coming-of-age novel describing how strained teenage relationships can lead to gang warfare.
The teacher was pleased by how an “authentic audience” pushed students to raise the bar for themselves higher than his most optimistic expectations for the empty-lot presentations.
“Seeing the kids taking ownership for their ideas, presenting them with confidence, communicating politely and professionally, was honestly the highlight of my year so far,” Howells said. “When I asked them to reflect on their experience, and asked them why they put forth the effort they did, many of them wrote about wanting to do their best in front of real people.”
Over the past decade, Oregon City officials have been advertising the 12th/Main “opportunity” site, but potential developers have repeatedly fallen through. Next to the KFC Restaurant, a storm line runs through the vacant property diagonally and heads to a manhole in the building across the street, Isa’s Auto Repair. There’s also a sewer line on the west side of the city-owned empty lot that might make it difficult for McLoughlin Boulevard traffic to access any potential new building.
