Ethan Hipple is about six months into his job as parks director for the city of Portland, and already he’s been part of settling the controversial redesign of Congress Square in the city’s downtown.
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Ethan Hipple is about six months into his job as parks director for the city of Portland, and already he's been part of settling the controversial redesign of Congress Square in the city's downtown.
It was Congress Square that helped spark the newly re-formed parks department in April. For the prior eight years it was run by the city's public works department. But the intense public interest in the future of the city's open spaces, coupled with the Portland Open Space Vision and Implementation Plan put together by the city, the Trust for Public Land and Portland Trails to create a system-wide plan to protect and improve open space into the future, showed that open spaces needed a champion within the city's management ranks, Hipple says.
“The last time [we] tried to get rid of a park, it was Congress Square Park, and there was a citizen uprising. In the end it was a positive thing in that it made Portland appreciate parks,” he says.
The department has close to a $3 million annual budget from the city to maintain and oversee its 60 open spaces. That money is divided among the four major aspects of open space it oversees: $817,000 for parks, $798,000 for ball fields and playgrounds, $664,000 for city-owned cemeteries and $628,000 for forestry and horticulture. All four areas have 36 full-time staff and about 20 seasonal workers. The parks department has 10 full-time workers. Other monies come from “friends” groups for specific spaces. Additionally, there's another $400,000 to $600,000 that is part of the city's capital improvement budget for projects like walkways, for example, in Lincoln Park in downtown Portland.
Hipple, who before Portland directed Wolfeboro Parks and Recreation in New Hampshire, sat down with Mainebiz recently in the department's new offices near Deering Junction to talk about ongoing plans for Portland's open spaces and some creative additions he'd like to see. The edited transcript follows.
Mainebiz: What does your department do and what is its structure within the city?
Ethan Hipple: We're part of the Department of Parks, Recreation & Facilities of which Sally Deluca is the director. Parks, recreation and facilities are the three departments under her, each with its own director. I'm director of the parks department, which used to be part of and funded by the public works department. We manage the 60 open spaces owned by the city, including 30 playgrounds and athletic facilities like Memorial Stadium, Fitzpatrick Stadium, plus 10 community gardens including the most recent, Dougherty Field in Libbytown. We also manage 13 city cemeteries including Evergreen Cemetery, 20,000 city trees and the rose garden and fountains at Deering Oaks Park. We oversee 7.5 miles of trails in the city including the Eastern Promenade, Back Cove, Bayside and Fore River Parkway.
MB: The city owns the Amethyst Lot next to the proposed 58 Fore St. development. What are your plans there?
EH: We'll develop that independently, but we want to mesh with what they're doing. The design money is in the 2017 budget. The city manager wants to make it a destination in Portland so we'll schedule public meetings over the winter and into spring. There are very few spaces on the Portland waterfront where the city owns land, and it wants to develop it into a public space.
MB: What else is in the works?
EH: Fort Gorges is open to the public but has no facilities. It's a treasure to save. It has some structural issues. With the Friends of Fort Gorges we're looking at its potential for performances, a music venue, theater or special events. A sunset concert series could make it a regional destination.
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