North Portland families are being left behind.

Children, seniors, working parents, and low-income families, many of whom live in St. Johns and nearby neighborhoods, are being directly impacted by the proposed closures of St. Johns Community Center and Peninsula Park Community Center and Pool.

These facilities offer preschool, after-school care, recreation, and safe spaces to gather. For many, they are within walking distance. With limited income and heavy reliance on public transportation, families cannot simply travel across town to access services in wealthier neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, Columbia Pool was permanently closed, and Pier Pool has been shut down since 2024 (due to the City’s failure to maintain them adequately, and then used this neglect as justification to close the only pool on the peninsula), leaving an entire region with no accessible public pool at all.

What’s at stake is more than just buildings—it’s community access, equity, and opportunity.

If these closures go through, the St. Johns peninsula will lose its last remaining recreational facilities, widening the gap between privileged neighborhoods and working-class ones.

Kids will lose access to swim lessons, youth programs, and safe places to play. Parents will lose affordable childcare options. Seniors will lose spaces for wellness and connection. And a diverse, resilient, historically underserved community will be told, once again, that its needs come last.

While North Portland loses its last pools and centers, the city is investing $15 million in a brand-new skatepark on the west side—proving that the money exists, just not for us. And it’s been a pattern for generations.

This is not equity. This is exclusion. This is gentrification with a PR team.

This is not responsible budgeting. This is Portland’s version of Jim Crow.

Not written into law—but enforced through policy and budgeting.

Now is the time to act—because this is Portland’s equity test.

For years, North Portland has endured disinvestment. But closing these facilities is a line too far. The city must stop balancing the budget on the backs of its most marginalized residents. We demand immediate action:

• Keep St. Johns and Peninsula Park Community Centers open

• Restore and reopen Pier Pool, Columbia Pool, and Peninsula Pool 

Equity without access is meaningless.

We’re not asking for luxury—we’re asking for fairness.

“It is cheaper to operate a recreational service for youths than it is to maintain penal institutions for juvenile criminals.” 

— Jackson Winters, Original Harlem Globetrotter and long-time North Portland resident.