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The Rose Quarter once was a vibrant urban neighborhood with an urban fabric of smaller blocks, smaller streets, and smaller lots.  With the creation of the Colosseum, a Modernist notion of urban planning was overlaid, a notion that erased the once vibrant, mixed neighborhood.  It's designers erased streets, formed super-blocks, erected a monumental building many times the size of the individual Portland 200' square block, and created a vast parking lots to accommodate cars.  Latter additions to the district (Rose Garden, parking garages, etc.) further expanded on the Modernist concept of an auto-oriented single-use events center.  

The Colosseum is a perfectly fine building that can be preserved, along with the Rose Garden and parking structures.  But it's time to bring back the small blocks, street network, residents, street retail and businesses. We can use "liner buildings" to wrap the parking garages, etc.  We can integrate smaller scale building parcels into the new block structure, which in turn can help mix in smaller businesses, and a more vibrant culture.  Currently only a few major stakeholders hold all the cards.  The best thing they can do to 'democratize' the district is to come up with a fundamental urban plan, sell it off in many smaller pieces, and let the district rise again, based on the efforts of many many hands.  - Laurence Qamar

posted 2 years, 9 months ago
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To Mr. Knight,

Please stop wasting your good money on sports arenas. Instead the people of Oregon would be even more appreciative if you directed your contributions to academics in the Public School system, to Health Care, to affordable housing, to parks and environmental stewardship, to bicycle trails, to sustainable building practices, etc.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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