10:30 AM: We met with Linda Dombrowski, an anthropologist and member of the Duwamish tribe. She told us about the early settling of Seattle, and how the Duwamish were displaced from their lands. As the area changed to residential land, then to industrial, the river that the Duwamish people depended on became polluted. The most resonating statement that Linda made was that the Duwamish are not looking for complete restoration of the river, but are looking for community support and to use the best available practices to keep people safe. Photo below of Linda Dombrowski. 12:00 PM: We walked across the highway from the Duwamish Longhouse to Herring House Park, which offers views of the Duwamish. We met with BJ Cummings, who helped found the Duwamish River Community Coalition. The coalition consists of many organizations that had been working on trying to get cleanup to happen for many years, the longest standing being the Duwamish people. The coalition first worked as a watchdog organization of preliminary cleanup along the river. With their help, the Port of Seattle learned about the re-contamination introduced by sewer overflow and an inefficient dredging process. Throughout the process of planning, cleanup, and restoration, the influence of the DRCC has lead to an increase in community involvement planning. One thing I appreciated from DRCC was the commitment to not only provide daycare for children of parents involved in meetings, but also involving the children in the decision-making process. In Arnstein’s A Ladder of Citizen Participation (1969), providing child care and reimbursement for missed work to attend meetings is on a higher rung of citizen participation. Using Arnstein’s guide, DRCC may classify as a partnership style of citizen participation, since DRCC shares their findings and influences the Port of Seattle and EPA (1969). Photo below of BJ Cummings at Herring House Park. 1:45 PM: We headed to one of the hottest restaurants in South Park, Napoli Pizza, to meet with Julie Congdon, and other representatives from the City of Seattle and Port of Seattle. Julie is currently in the process of revising the Duwamish River Superfund Community Involvement Plan. Her colleagues shared with us how important it has been to have DRCC’s influence on the cleanup process. They also shared their community engagement process for South Park residents for Terminal T117, which we were able to tour. I was happy to hear the process was very community driven, with Roy commenting that “if you communicate, the community responds positively.” DRCC gave guidelines to the City of Seattle on what levels of community engagement they should aim for. Photo below of our class on the tour of T117. 4:00 PM: We head to the South Park Community Center to talk with Paulina Lopez and two of her Youth Corps Members. Paulina is the Community Engagement and Outreach Manager for DRCC. We went on a walking tour of South Park, and learned some of the downsides to when entities try to do work without communicating with the community. An example of this would be the skatepark we saw, that was built by a private donor without the community’s feedback (seen in some of my classmates posts). The park soon became covered in graffiti and unusable to skate. We headed to Muy Macho after the tour for some great food.
7:00 PM: Our last destination before heading to our AirBnb for the night was the South Park Senior Center for karaoke night! Overall, it was a long day of learning. We heard from multiple stakeholders about the importance of community engagement. I’m glad to be involved with Portland Harbor Community Coalition, and plan to learn more about how community engagement is happening around the Portland Harbor Superfund Site. -Kristen References: Sherry R. Arnstein (1969) A Ladder Of Citizen Participation, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35:4, 216-224, DOI: 10.1080/01944366908977225
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AuthorsWe are Portland State students who care about the urban rivers of the Pacific Northwest. Archives
May 2018
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