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Letter from City Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney about Columbia Pool demolition
Dear advocates and neighbors, I’m writing to share a difficult update on Columbia Pool. After extensive efforts to identify a viable path forward, Portland Parks & Recreation has informed my office that they are moving ahead with demolition of the Columbia Pool building. At this point, I do not have additional tools available to stop that…
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City to demolish Columbia Pool after years of neglect
By Mark Kirchmeier Ten years after the Portland Parks and Recreation Bureau effectively stopped maintaining Columbia Pool, and four years after Parks Commissioner Carmen Rubio ordered it closed, the Parks Bureau is going to demolish the building. “Public officials have an opportunity to learn from this fiasco and not cause further unnecessary harm to community…
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New report shows less cost for controversial Columbia Pool restoration
By Mark Kirchmeier An independent study contradicts the city’s estimates for restoration of the Columbia Park Pool, saying the pool could be converted to summer use for less money than the Parks Bureau says it would take. In response, the city claims the restoration would cost roughly twice what the independent study by Convergence Achitecture…
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Pirtle-Guiney proposes $5 million for Columbia Pool restoration
District 2 Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney has resurrected the Columbia Park Pool campaign declaring she will seek to amend Mayor Keith Wilson’s proposed budget by directing $5 million toward restoring the now-closed pool. She proposes drawing from city General Fund contingency and Parks Bureau contingency funds. “The entire time I’ve been in office, I’ve heard over and…
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Wilson stops Columbia Pool demolition three days before scheduled raze
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson has abruptly halted Parks & Recreation Bureau (PP&R) plans to demolish Columbia Pool—just three days before bulldozers were scheduled to demolish the building. The mayor’s decision is a stunning reversal of Parks effort to permanently shutter the pool over the objections of North Portland groups, including the Friends of Pier Pool,…
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Parks to demolish Columbia Pool–reopen Pier Pool
Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) will demolish the Columbia Park Pool, which has been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will simultaneously restore Pier Park Pool to operations next summer, dramatically altering the North Portland Park scene. “Demolition plans for the Columbia Park Pool building are proceeding,” PP&R spokesperson Mark Ross emailed…
