91视频

Earlier this June, the stretch of Southwest Ankeny Street between Second and Third avenues . The use of the small street was given over to , , , and the , with each of the businesses paying the city $200 a month to compensate for lost parking.

Initially, the experiment was only to last until the end of October, but the autumnal deadline came and went, and the tables remain. The businesses will continue to pay for the space throughout the winter, and they like it that way.

鈥淚t went great,鈥� says Keoni Wachsmuth, owner of the venerable Dan & Louis Oyster Bar. 鈥淚t really improved our storefront and beautified the area.鈥� Wachsmuth, who refers to the stretch of street as “Ankeny Alley,” said that at the start of the project the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, Portland Bureau of Transportation and Portland police wanted a very uniform feel to the street, a simple arrangement of picnic tables and ropes.

Now that the experiment has run its course successfully, though, the various city agencies are much more comfortable with (and in fact encouraging) individuation and branding to happen within the roped-off section of the street. Voodoo Doughnut has been the first to extend its brand into public space, painting the tops of its picnic tables in pastels. Wachsmuth says that he plans to do away with his picnic tables entirely, and add more cafe-style tables and chairs to the street. “And probably something with bamboo,” he said, “I love bamboo.”

The Ankeny experiment has set two significant precedents for Portland. First, parking spaces aren’t just for cars anymore. This isn鈥檛 actually a new thing for Portland 鈥� most of the food carts are set up in parking lots and rent the space for an indefinite period of time. That’s private property, though. On Ankeny, a similar pattern has played out with public parking 鈥� the street is being continually rented not as car storage areas, but merely as space. With Ankeny, Portland seems to have found a real-world application to the quirkily literal logic of .

Second, there is now very significant precedent for businesses to rent public space from the city for an indefinite time period. The parking spaces remain the property of the city of Portland, but the space is now managed day to day by the various businesses on Ankeny. The city of Portland and the OLCC have also given their blessings for businesses to allow alcohol consumption 鈥� something you can’t normally do in public outdoor urban spaces 鈥� to happen on public land while under the aegis of a private entity. The public/private partnership at play could presage other, similar areas in Portland. 鈥淚 think this might lead to other like spaces,鈥� said Wachsmuth, 鈥淚 would assume that there are other places who think this is pretty cool that we can do this, and that we can pull this off.鈥�

The space is looking to get a new neighbor, too. The Seattle-based pizza chain is poised to open a Portland location on the corner of Third and Ankeny in the next few months, directly across the street from Voodoo Doughnut.