Grant Park residents wanted a dog park. What they got instead was a year-long squabble with Amanda Fritz, the city commissioner who oversees Portland parks.

The fight may have implications for all Portlanders, as

that helps shape city recreation policy now considers changing the way Portland spends private parks donations. They are scheduled to discuss the issue and issue a recommendation Wednesday.

Grant Park residents say Fritz's quest for equity may go too far, that she's asking affluent neighborhoods to subsidize poorer ones. National parks experts say no other city has tried what the commissioner is contemplating. Fritz said it's her job to ensure that all Portlanders have the same access to parks, regardless of zip code or income level.

"There are good-hearted people who want to do something," Fritz said. "But how do I manage their request so that it doesn't further widen the gap between the haves and have nots?"

Amanda Fritz

This story was reported before Fritz’s husband Steve died in a Sept. 23 car crash, but the commissioner was contacted before publication.

Leveling the playing field

The debate started last October with good news. Increased development in Portland had given the city an extra $8 million to spend on parks. Fritz asked neighborhoods to come up with a list of priorities.

Grant Park residents said they didn't ask for much. A dog park only costs about $30,000. Installing a fence and designating an off-leash area in the 20-acre Northeast Portland park would alleviate long-festering neighborhood tensions, Grant Park resident Ken Peterson wrote in a proposal.

When Fritz released her plan for how to spend the extra money last March, Grant Park residents said they were shocked. The commissioner did give Grant some money, but did not allocate any for their dog park.

Fritz reminded upset Grant residents that their park has

. The bureau contributed $452,000 to the $2 million field, which Grant High School students also use.

"Before there was money in the pot, projects at Grant had been given disproportionate funding and staff time," Fritz wrote in an email to neighbors.

Other neighborhoods needed the money more, she said. East Portland, for instance, makes up about a quarter of Portland's population but holds less than one-tenth of Portland's developed park space.

Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz

In March, Fritz suggested Grant Park residents pay for the dog park themselves through private fundraising. But that didn't really sit right with the commissioner either. Other neighborhoods can't afford to donate the way neighbors can in Grant Park, where the median income was twice the citywide average in the last U.S. Census. When Commissioner Nick Fish led the Parks Bureau in 2011, he persuaded the City Council to spend $500,000 from the general fund

. He challenged donors to match that amount. Contributions totaled just $30,000.

So Fritz made Grant Park residents a proposition. She told neighbors she would be more likely to approve using city staff time to plan and develop their dog park if they also gave some private money to help build a park in a poorer neighborhood.

The suggestion "makes no sense and ultimately discourages voluntary citizen participation in community improvement efforts," said Peterson, the resident who proposed the dog park. "It appears her focus on equity has resulted in an almost complete elimination of support for projects in neighborhoods deemed economically advantaged."

Current city policy doesn't require that kind of matched donation, so Fritz asked the Portland Parks Board to review existing standards and come up a plan to ensure that the process for proposing park upgrades is equitable for all city residents.

"My desire is to not make things worse between neighborhoods who can afford to put money into their local park and those who cannot," Fritz said.

National precedent

There is something of a national precedent for Fritz' suggestion. Last year, a New York state senator introduced a bill that would require New York City's wealthiest private parks foundations, including the Central Park Conservancy and Prospect Park Alliance, to donate 20 percent of their revenue to a new alliance that would redistribute the money to parks in underserved communities.

"This was

," said Richard Dolesh, vice president of conservation for the National Recreation and Park Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of public parks. "There was considerable push-back.

"The conservancies said, 'You're going to kill our donor base by trying to force this. People give to us precisely because we're not the government. They're giving to support a park they love.'"

Dolesh said Fritz's idea "a little out of the box." He can't think of another city official anywhere who has suggested a social equity proposition for parks.

"If it works, how interesting," Dolesh said. "It could do a lot of good."

More

Actually, such wealth-spreading isn't entirely new; Fritz pointed Parks Board members toward a local model: Portland Public Schools

to donate a third of it to lower-income schools. The model is touted nationwide.

"They dealt with this 20 years ago," Fritz said. "I'm wondering if something like that can work here."

Schools from all over the country now call Portland Public Schools Foundation seeking advice for creating a similar system. But PPS parents resisted the policy initially. Fritz and parks staff will likely see resistance, too, said board member Matt Morton.

"Although Portlanders love to talk about how they want everyone to benefit from public investment, when it come down to it, those who have the influence and the voice will talk about their neighborhoods and their needs," Morton said. "It takes a very discerning politician and a thoughtful staff to be able to navigate those politically complex situations and still do what is right and what is equitable and what will improve opportunities for all Portlanders."

Morton said the schools foundation still sees renewed resistance as new parents enter the system. But he thinks Portlanders will come around to supporting a parks equity measure.

"Portlanders are good people," Morton said. "They want good things for the entire community. The livability of this city depends on it."

-- Casey Parks