What can the city do for families?
What can the city do for families? Do you know? This mama is still sort of in the dark about how the city can embrace and work on the family-friendly agenda. As I sat mostly absorbing and trying to process the information from the informal chats with a couple of city councilor candidates, it dawned on me that obviously the issues close and dear to me, don’t necessarily resonate with local politics. Yes, politicians grapple with many special interest groups, but I wonder if any of them understand (or want to understand) the issues from the perspective of families? As I sat listening, I did formulate a few gripes in my head:
- Why does the city support this wonderful and vast network of recreation facilities, but at the same time offers “junk food” (candy bars, sodas, ice cream sandwiches) as the only snack options at these facilities? After swimming class at 11:30 am last Saturday, I found myself in the predicament of having two hungry kids (their snacks left on our kitchen table) and the less than desirable options in front of me. I settled on getting them a Power Bar.
- And while Portland is looking to install new restrooms in the Downtown area (fantastic idea), I wonder why they are considering NW Glisan between NW 5th and 6th Avenues? I bet if they asked parents where they think a new restroom should be installed how many of us would say “Jamison Square”?
- “Safe routes” to schools is a great start, but is school the only place kids walk to these days? Why not safe routes to parks, libraries, and church?
- Yes, affordable childcare, a huge issue working parents grapple with, but does it even make a dent in citywide agendas? Probably not. Some would maybe argue that it's not a role for the city. At the same time, I do wonder how many of the current or future councilors even know what that cost is, and its financial impact on families? Would they be shocked to learn that the average cost of full-time daycare downtown is tens of thousands of dollars annually (that is if you can even get your child in)?
Now I know that families make up only a small percentage of the voting public, but I also know that retaining families and keeping them in the city is healthy for ensuring vibrant and livable communities in the future. This is only one mama’s four point rant, but I’m curious if you have others? We matter, right?
The concept of family friendly cities is something that is beginning to get some significant urban planning and academic interest. The June 2007 issue of Planning, the magazine of the American Planning Association focused on the issue with three separate articles. As it happens the first article used Portland's Pearl District as an example of the problems and promise of living in the downtown with children. I have also written my introductory contribution to this discussion on the newly created Cafe au Play blog http://www.aplaceatthetable.typepad.com/ See my post "The Family Friendly City - places for improvised play"
Posted by: Charles Heying | February 29, 2008 at 11:36 AM
"Now I know that families make up only a small percentage of the voting public..."
Do you really think so? I would think people with families would be the vast majority of the voting public. Do you mean people with small children? In this town I would still think they're big voters.
And YES we should have restrooms at Jamison. I want to know just whose oversite THAT was. Although Sip & Kranz may object b/c I bet they sell a cookie and a latte everytime someone take their kid to the potty. ;) (Or maybe that's just me.)
The city does offer affordable childcare--through the community centers--just not enough of it. How about we expand that offering? Imagine the goodwill. Imagine how many people would get to know the families in their neighborhoods and therefore may want to stick with and support their neighborhood school, if only to stay with this community they've become attached to.
Wow. How cool would that be.
Posted by: thisKat | March 01, 2008 at 02:17 PM
80% pf Portland households are WITHOUT school-age children.
Posted by: anon | March 01, 2008 at 04:14 PM
80% of PDX households without school-age children might be the current statistics. But for the past two years, this city has been voted the best place to have a child. My opinion is that stat isn't going to be that high in 3, 5 or 10 years.
Posted by: cam | March 01, 2008 at 05:13 PM
75-80% of Portland's population is white. Does that mean that our city policies should lend no consideration for its communities of color?
Posted by: hmm... | March 01, 2008 at 09:49 PM
Households without school-aged children and the city as a whole could benefit from policies that consider the needs of families. If we work to strive to make neighborhoods safe enough to, for example, allow our children to walk or bike unaccompanied to their schools, friends houses, etc., wouldn't that be a good measure for a livable community? Just thinking out loud here.
Posted by: Hau | March 02, 2008 at 09:17 AM
I think anon was just trying to provide the statistic, in response to thisKat's question. Whether that statistic means the city will or will not be responsive to the concerns of young families is a separate question. Maybe an even better question is how many people on the city council or their senior staff have a real understanding of young children's issues in their day-to-day lives, which I guess is what the original post is getting at. Was it Sten who just called it quits, partly because he's got a four year old?
Posted by: catmom | March 02, 2008 at 09:27 AM
Sten did call it quits although I'm not sure how much that really had to do with his child.
The only Commissioner besides Sten that has school age child(ren) is Dan Saltzman, who has a daughter in her teens.
Voting - Not only do families with school age children make up a small percentage of Portland's population but, as a whole, they don't vote. Sometimes, some issues but the bulk of voting is done by the 75+ crowd. I used to have the statistics for Oregon but I've since lost them. The most appallingly low voter turnout is in the 30 and under crowd. One thing we have to do a better job of is encouraging young people and families to vote.
Posted by: k | March 03, 2008 at 12:42 PM
Interesting org: http://www.childfriendlycities.org/home.html and then there's the Portland Children's Bill of Rights and everything related (had no idea!!): http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor/index.cfm?c=40070
Good to see this is already in motion.
Posted by: LTF | March 03, 2008 at 04:07 PM
I think we matter. With last week's conversations with city council candidates, I feel that it is clear that a family-friendly agenda has never really been prioritized.
I think the articles that Charles' mentions from the American Planning Association are really interesting reads. (If I find a way to link to them, I will.) Basically, planners are finding that they haven't anticipated families wanting to or needing to live in urban cores. I guess they were projecting their judgement (that all families will need/want yards, single-family homes, garages versus accessible parks, community centers, stores/merchanges within walking distance). Apparently, the city of Vancouver BC does a great job of providing for families' needs (housing, activities, schools) all within the central city.
Affordable house and affordable childcare in the central city is important to me. In last week's discussions with candidates, one candidate explained the city's role as being one that can provide for local infrastructure for citizens. So, I guess the city can help build the housing and the building for the childcare? The city can also add curb-cuts to all the streets in our neighborhood (ADA also means stroller-accessible!), lighting along streets, widening of sidewalks. Safe & Sound streets, yes! The city can also provide for community centers and parks - upgrade all the outdated equipment and ensure maintained, accessible community centers for all the neighborhoods?
Posted by: olivia | March 03, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Portland Tribune article on this topic today 3/4/08: http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=120458218485970600. Letter to the editor, anyone? Do you agree? Disagree? After an article like this, the timing is right for additional commentary.
Posted by: LTF | March 04, 2008 at 09:30 AM
Hi, my name is Lorrin. I live in California and I am currently working on a policy paper for one of my college courses. The assignment is to create a policy that will help make the city I live in more child friendly. I just wanted to thank the website's founder for giving me such a great idea. I plan to make my policy about creating safe routes for children to walk to various public places. It's a daunting task, but I look forward to finding a viable solution!
Posted by: Lorrin | October 17, 2008 at 12:31 PM