One day Joe Martin got tired of looking at the overgrown vacant shopping center near his home in the King neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. The retired Union Pacific Railroad worker went down to Goodwill, bought an old lawn mower, and began pushing it through the tall weeds on the dirt parking lot.

The neighbors "probably thought I was a lunatic," he chuckles today.

But the lot looked better when he had finished, and some of the neighbors started coming around to help him clean out trash and plant flowers. It began with a DREAM and soon they began talking about  turning it into amixed use shopping center ,town center ,and a park. 

The timing was fortunate since the state passed an open space referendum similar to what NJ just approved earlier this month. The Trust for Public Land (TPL) with offices across the country and in NJ had recently obtained funding from the Lila Wallace—Reader's Digest Fund to help create parks in Portland and other cities. They also helped negotiate the sale of the Stafford Farm located on White Horse Road in Voorhees, N.J..

The shopping center had been left mostly vacant by the current owners which rapidly degraded into a blighted town eyesore. The town with the financial support from TPL negotiated a price with the owner and took possession of the property.  The park was completed in November 2006, the neighbors named it Two Plum Park after the two plum trees that grew on the property.

Today, Two Plum Park includes a town center, bordered by much needed commercial rateables, swing set for the kids, walking tract  for the seniors, an amphitheater for entertainment use during the Fall Festival, trees, and an eco-friendly lawn, using grasses that require little watering and no fertilizer. It provides a safe place to play for the Martins' nine-year-old granddaughter, who stays with them while her mother works two jobs.

The King neighborhood's experience inspired other neighborhoods to approach the city about building their own parks. By the time the program ended, TPL and its partners had helped northeast Portland residents obtain five new neighborhood parks.

As important as the use of the park itself was the cooperation it generated among residents to keep their neighborhood a safer and more attractive place. The whole area has become quieter and neater, with residents finding new pride in their home .Martin says "We all try to keep our properties looking good,"

Parks Create More than Green Space

The experience of Joe Martin and his neighbors is not unique. Residents of cities and towns across the country have learned that banding together to create a new park, garden, or playground can leave a community with a lot more than new swing sets, rows of vegetables and flowers, and green space. Neighbors become more willing to protect one another's families and properties from harm.  
Working together on Two Plum Park is building ties among people who would otherwise have little reason to interact. The neighborhood has its own newsletter now, featuring a column on local history. Twice a month during the summer at the park, residents gather for a free movie, a rallying point for the July 4th fireworks at a nearby High School, and a tree lighting ceremony around the holidays.   "We didn't even know each other for the most part until we started working together on the park," says Ernest Martin.

On the third Saturday of each month, residents show up with rakes and wheelbarrows and work side by side to clean the park. On one of those Saturdays, James Broton met Eileen Marcial, and in April 2008 the two were married in the park with many neighbors in attendance. These type of projects have given a town a different image says Joe Martin. People understand that this is a neighborhood that can do."

“And it all started with a dream” 

John Gentless
    Mayor