NOT LONG AFTER Zari Santner arrived at her job as a planner for Portland Parks & Recreation 30 years ago, her boss sent her to deal with an untamed cluster of cottonwood trees on the east bank of the Willamette River.
As Santner sidled down the little dead-end dirt trail between the river and freeway toward the trees, she recalls the epiphany of an entirely different vista on the city. And when she scrambled over the football-size stones of the riverbank, she discovered that the boneshaking roar of I-5’s traffic became a skin-deep purr.
Santner excitedly told her boss of her realizations. Sure, the trees could go, but there was also a major opportunity at hand: what if the parks bureau built a path connecting the bridges and Waterfront Park to create a single, continuous loop linking the east and west sides of the river? For the next 17 years, Santner pushed past many barriers, from one of the city’s most powerful men (Norm Winningstad, who wanted to put a heliport in the way) to local architects who lambasted the trail as a “$32 million jogging path.” But Santner ultimately prevailed, creating the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade, completed in 2001.
This month, Santner winds up a three- decade career at Portland Parks, 22 years as a project planner and implementer, eight as parks director. She was the first woman to hold the post but, as she prefers to note, “only the second landscape architect.” Under her leadership, Portland added Jamison Square, Tanner Springs Park, Director Park, Elizabeth Caruthers Park, the East Portland Community Center Pool, Holly Farm Park, and the Southwest Community Center.
Portland became one of the first major American cities to routinely integrate natural habitat and stormwater drainage in its parks. And, true to her training at Harvard Graduate School of Design, Santner turned the city into a veritable theme park of contemporary landscape architecture by such major figures in the field as Peter Walker, Laurie Olin, Herbert Dreiseitl, Cheryl Barton, and George Hargreaves.
As you might guess from such a productive tenure, Santner threw and took some elbows. Critics called her difficult, better at building than managing, and a supporter of architects’ visions over the community’s desires. But I’d argue that her legacy will be best measured years from now, against the first landscape architect to lead the bureau—Emanuel Mische, who gave us Laurelhurst, Mt Tabor, and Peninsula Parks. Will her parks be loved as much as his?
Indeed, a decade’s retrospect puts the Eastbank Esplanade into an entirely different focus, even for Santner. Yes, she’s proud of giving Portlanders wonderful views of downtown. But she’s even prouder that it included the first restoration of fish habitat along this stretch of river, and that it was the first move toward a park-and-trail connection she hopes will eventually reach all the way from downtown to Mount Hood. Let’s hope the next parks director has as much vision, both near and far.
Randy Gragg
Editor in Chief
Published: June 2011
Her legacy will be remembered as a waste of taxpayer dollars. Her efforts dont even compare to the likes of Peter Walker, Laurie Olin, Herbert Dreiseitl, Cheryl Barton, and George Hargreaves.
Mr Gragg – Don’t worry she’ll be rewarded by being able to retire in her 50’s at close to full pay and with full medical benefits for life.
BTW – Since when did Vera pay for the floating sidewalk (which hardly anyone uses)? Shouldn’t they call it the taxpayer’s sidewalk.
Of course, this looks like a heck of a bargain compared to the $65M they are spending to lift SW Moody 15 feet in the air when it can service the trolley-cars just fine as-is.
Meanwhile, our schools rot and we have a 65% grad rate. Great town Portland.
Anyone else notice that most of these “accomplishements” are for concrete moonscapes that 90% of the population consider as parks in name only…
The first woman to do something amazing is always walking into the fire, mostly of the (very white, very male) criticism that such folks have the privilege of being able to offer.
Thanks for walking into the fire, Zari. Best to you.
Its very good that a progressive Portlander thought it best to foreground her sexism and racism such as Hallie has.
Zari is a career bureaucrat who doesn’t do or hasn’t done a very good job. What she has done, however, is be an excellent bureaucrat of both a universal and specifically Portland type. Her opportunism transcends both gender and race, placing her in solidly with the tradition of mild selfish myopia and obstructionism around which better people usually in lower ranking positions work so that things don’t collapse altogether.The truly great thing is that she doesn’t care. Never will.