‘Sun’ mural to add color to new plaza

By Mara Stine

The Gresham Outlook, Sep 11, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

Hoping to add a splash of color to a blah-looking parking lot, Gresham’s urban renewal agency is asking residents to help paint a sun-centered mural that will serve as the foundation for a new plaza.

Volunteers will gather at the site, in the 18500 block of Southeast Stark Street just west of the Gresham Police Department’s Rockwood Community Office, between 9:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18.

Painting will take place all day, so residents can drop in for as little or as long as they want, said Justin Cutler, an administrative analyst with the city’s urban design and planning department.

The plaza is the first piece of a recently approved plan for interim use of the Rockwood Cultural Marketplace. The Gresham Redevelopment Commission owns the 6 acres between Southeast Stark Street and East Burnside Street, and 185th and 188th avenues.

Commissioners plan to redevelop the property, formerly a shuttered Fred Meyer, as a mixed-use development in the heart of the city’s urban renewal area.

Until the economy improves and the development becomes a reality, the commission has opted to spend $150,000 in urban renewal funds to transform the site with new sidewalks, paths, benches, a wildflower garden, play area, basketball courts, a food-cart area and a 13,000-square-foot plaza based on a solar system motif.

The plaza project is estimated to cost $16,000, including a $3,500 stipend for Angelina Marino, a Portland artist who works with the Regional Arts & Culture Council, as well as the cost of resealing the asphalt, benches, picnic tables, paint and concrete globes to add a three-dimensional element to the painted solar system.

The globes, one as big as 3 feet across, will be placed on the ground to represent each planet but won’t arrive for another month or so. They’ll be placed according to their orbit on Sept. 18.

“We hope to complete the painting on Friday rain or shine,” Cutler said. “It if rains, we’ve got a tent. … The goal is to create an interim community use to promote the community and special events.”

The event also is one of two the city has scheduled to coincide with PARK(ing) Day on Sept. 18.

In honor of the occasion, city staff is creating a temporary park out of a parking space outside Café Delirium at North Main Avenue and Third Street in historic downtown Gresham from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Residents are encouraged to eat lunch at the “park” and visit with city staff to learn about Gresham and Metro’s intertwined effort to connect the regional trails and parks system.

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit