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A view of Portland from Mt. Tabor Park near the reservoir.

(Motoya Nakamura /The Oregonian)

By Kim Lakin

After years of fighting to save the beautiful and historic Mt. Tabor reservoirs in Southeast Portland, I am prepared to accept that the Portland Water Bureau has most likely won the war.

Kim Lakin

That doesn’t mean Portlanders have to surrender hope for a happy ending, however. It’s time to find a vision for the reservoirs, rather than resign ourselves to the prospect of city-owned eyesores.

The city says it must disconnect the popular and treasured open air reservoirs at Mt. Tabor and Washington Park to comply with federal clean water rules. It is my belief that the water bureau’s solution to its public relations nightmare is the classic ‘benign neglect’, a common tactic by governmental agencies to get rid of unwanted structures that are much-loved by the public. It goes something like this:

Leave the structure alone for as long as it takes for the public to perceive it as beyond repair, an eyesore, a nuisance that invites vandalism or loiterers. The resource goes from being cherished to ugly, old, worn out and beat up.

Eventually people will forget the last time the reservoir was full of water, reflecting the sky, home to the charming duck families, the rushing sound of the reservoir filling, or the fountain shooting high into the air. Instead it will just be a concrete hole in the ground surrounded by a rotting, graffiti covered concrete wall and a rusting metal fence. As the exposed metal rebar rusts, the concrete will fall off in chunks, and the reservoirs will become a “liability.”

Fortunately, there is a better way. I have spent many hours of walking at Mt. Tabor Park thinking up solutions to the reservoir dilemma. Here are my ideas for each of the three reservoirs on Mt. Tabor:

Largest reservoir: Create a sculpture garden and nature park.

The largest of the three reservoirs (and closest to SE 60th) would be turned into a sunken park. Steps would lead down to the park from an opening in the historic iron fence. The original fence and concrete walls would be retained. The park itself would contain natural elements as well as sculptures by local and national artists. One of the two buildings would serve as a gift shop, the other as an interpretive center on the history of the reservoirs.

Smallest reservoir: Use as an outdoor theater.

The smallest of the three reservoirs would be used by the Portland Center Stage and other performing arts groups for outdoor productions and concerts. Again, the historic architecture could remain with seating along the sloping walls and ticket office in the gatehouse building.

Obviously, the water bureau wouldn’t run these civic assets. Instead, the water bureau would donate the two reservoirs to Metro. Metro would fund and maintain the park and theatre as part of its programs, similar to the Zoo. Funds for purchase of the art would be sought from Portland’s art-loving benefactors. (Seattle has a fabulous sculpture garden that was funded by generous donations.) The people of Portland helped to pay for Pioneer Square by buying bricks. Perhaps we would all be willing to buy a plant or a tree.

Middle reservoir: Maintain a historic water feature.

The water bureau would retain ownership of the middle reservoir, and although non-functioning, they would maintain it, keeping it filled with water in perpetuity, as the last remaining example of the open reservoir system in Portland.

These three projects represent a win-win. The water bureau gets rid of most of its excess property. The public gets a new and beautiful natural feature, outdoor art museum, and theater. Also, and most importantly, most of the visible physical aspects of our historic reservoir system are retained, maintained and honored.

If Portland citizens don’t come up with some creative ideas and push for them, the fate of the reservoirs will be in jeopardy. We will eventually be left with large swaths of earth scheduled to become soccer fields, or worse, the land will be sold for development. Then the original beauty of the reservoirs will only be a memory.

-- Kim Lakin has lived in Southeast Portland near Mount Tabor for 22 years. She is co-author of the Mt. Tabor and Washington Park Reservoirs National Register Nomination. She worked as a historic preservation consultant for 25 years and is now a full-time studio artist.