City seeks sponsorship for Sunday Parkways

A scene from Sunday Parkways last year.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The City of Portland is working hard to secure funding for their 2009 Sunday Parkways events.

Last year, the city estimates that 15,000 people came out to experience their community on a six-mile loop of carfree streets in North Portland. This year, the city’s Transportation Options division of the Bureau of Transportation wants to expand the program. They plan to have three Sunday Parkways events; one on an expanded North Portland route, another through Northeast Portland, and another through Southeast.

According to a proposal being shopped around to area businesses, PBOT will have to raise about $65,000 per event to cover everything from police/traffic control, volunteers, logistics, and activities and entertainment in the parks. (The city will match 25% of money raised.)

To raise the funds, PBOT is asking local businesses to support the event at a variety of levels — from $500 to be a “Donor” to $70,000 to be the “Presenting Sponsor”.

Tony Fuentes, owner of the Northeast Portland-based Milagros Boutique and board member of the Concordia Neighborhood Association, says staff from Transportation Options recently attended one of their meetings.

Tony Fuentes outside his
shop at NE 30th and Killingsworth.

After hearing that the Northeast loop will hit three local parks (Alberta, Wilshire, and Fernhill), Fuentes said he happily signed up Milagros to be an official sponsor of the event (at the “Friend” level).

“We aren’t even a bike business,” he said, “but we just really, really, really want to see this happen again and continue to grow.”

Fuentes thinks every bike business in town should sign on to at least the same level as he did. With budget cuts looming at PBOT, there seems to be a serious risk that Sunday Parkways might not get the funding it needs.

After hearing the presentation last week, Fuentes said, “This won’t happen without the green and the volunteers.”

— If your business would like more information about sponsoring Sunday Parkways, contact Linda Ginenthal in the City of Portland’s Transportation Options division at (503) 823-5266 or email Linda.Ginenthal@pdxtrans.org.