Editorial

Five-years later, Rockwood gaining

The Gresham Outlook, Feb 20, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

After five years of concentrated effort to improve the Rockwood section of Gresham, the signs of change are so subtle that citizens might mistakenly believe nothing has been accomplished.

And indeed, the city of Gresham — which won rare voter approval for a government-directed urban renewal program five years ago — has yet to score a highly visible victory that urban-renewal supporters can point to as evidence of complete success.

The old Fred Meyer site, for example, sits utterly vacant. Visions of a “Cultural Marketplace” rising from the dust of the store’s green deconstruction have not come to fruition. Another disappointment was Multnomah County’s decision that it could not proceed with a gleaming new justice center in Rockwood.

And on the public-safety front, police officers are still spending a disproportionate amount of their time answering calls in that area of town.

Each improvement has an effect

But while the big projects have been stalled because of the moribund economy, that doesn’t mean urban renewal is a failure. As reported in The Outlook today, the urban district is incrementally laying a foundation for Rockwood’s revival. Measurable progress is being made in many portions of the district, and here are just a few examples:

• The abandoned Fred Meyer store, which had become an eyesore and nuisance, has been leveled and the site is ready for development once the economy rebounds.

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