As the Portland City Council considers Merritt Paulson's proposal today to remodel PGE Park for Major League Soccer, we (an architect and a Goose Hollow neighborhood board member) feel strongly that the architecturally unique and neighborhood-friendly sightlines into PGE Park must be preserved.

Where once there was an enormous, cinder block wall along Southwest 18th, the last remodel of the park opened up that side of the stadium to the neighborhood. 

That change has created an egalitarian and friendly relationship with the stadium -- with glimpses of the field and the fans that make them part of the neighborhood. Now we are threatened with an excluding wall once again in a place where the visual connection between street and stadium is critical to the vitality of this place. Goose Hollow neighbors are worried every time the word "bowl" is used to describe how the stadium will be remodeled and worry about what that "bowl" will do to Southwest 18th.

Fans sitting inside the stadium talk about how nice it is to see the action of the city, the skyline, and the MAX rolling by as they watch games. Visitors to Portland comment on how refreshing it is to catch a moment of a game as they pass by; that it says much about the open-minded nature of our city. Conversely, there is something small-minded about not preserving that view. It is not beyond the wit of a good architect to design a functional stadium that preserves that vital link between stadium and city street.

Folks who live in Goose Hollow argue that we must live with this stadium year 'round, and we aren't willing to have the southwest side of the stadium closed off now that we've had years to see what a difference opening it up has made.

Most of the time, city residents and the Goose Hollow neighborhood will interact with this stadium when it is not in use. As a giant part of the neighborhood, and of Portland, we believe it would be a travesty to remove the sightlines into the stadium. We encourage city commissioners to make preserving the open sightlines a requirement with the MLS deal.

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/07/protect_the_sightlines_into_pg.html