More kids downtown?

College students hang out downtown. It’s what we do. It’s where we go out, party and have that after-school stress release. What makes downtown so appealing? It’s the city, full of life and people. Yet, recently there has been a growing group of people who claim that downtown is missing something college students wouldn’t think of. A group calling themselves the Central Portland Families wants to disrupt downtown life and introduce something unheard of: an elementary school.

When I first learned of this, I hadn’t even considered downtown having an elementary school. Honestly, I never noticed that there wasn’t one, either. But now parents have begun to rally, complaining that their children have nowhere to run but condo-building hallways and have to drive outside of downtown to take children to school.

We know that downtown is forever expanding, especially in the Pearl District, where everything is constantly under construction. As the population expands, there will inevitably be families squeezing themselves into city apartments and condos. Living downtown negates the need to drive most places, but as it stands now, these inner-city families will have to drive to take their children to school.

Supporters have even found a way to have their plan paid for, with the exception of teacher and staff wages, without cutting into the budget of the Portland Public Schools. Yet, Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard still says the plan is bogus and impractical. Leonard seems to think that even if families move downtown they won’t stay downtown.

If there is a need for a school and it is paid for without touching city funds, there is no reason not to build it, unless this is the beginning of many other changes to make the city family-friendly.

Downtown Portland, like the downtowns of most cities, is not a kid-friendly environment. It’s where people go to work and do business; it is not where children run around freely and giggle with glee. One elementary school is fine. But if bars are suddenly being shut down for being too close to a school or being too loud, this kid-friendly relationship is not going to work out.

Parents can complain that their children are not receiving a local education close to home, but the second they complain about the downtown environment, they are done. They’re already playing the parent-card, and not winning the game. It’s really easy to see that downtown is not a place for kids to play in front of a club, but that’s not the fault of the club–it’s part of the city-life package.

The proposed school is destined to be set in the Pearl District, which has more potential for families than the opposite side of Burnside. Since it is still developing, it’s much easier to plan for a school somewhere where life and action are not quite settled in, rather than somewhere deeply rooted into its culture. Even so, I categorize the Pearl as expensive and ritzy, and I’m not sure a public school would be practical.

Who are the types of people that live in the Pearl anyway? How many families can afford to live there comfortably and would still complain about the transportation issue? It’s not clear whether the pressure to put a school there is coming from outside the Pearl District, or whether residents in the Pearl volunteered to have children disrupt their privileged lifestyle.

The other confusing aspect is, if the need has been there, why wasn’t a school built downtown a long time ago? Had people been holding off? Are parents suddenly deciding that downtown is a really great place to raise children? Or did a couple of parents complain about a gas bill and want the world to bend around them?

When it comes down to it, when there would be children mulling about, most people will be working or in class, so who cares if there’s a school there or not? But if this family-fun concept begins to sprawl out farther than one school, the fabric that holds downtown together will most certainly begin to fray.