Parks and Recreation Plans to Open Sacajawea Park Gate
Cully Association of Neighbors collaborated with Cully resident Stacey Martin to advocate to Portland Parks and Recreation to improve access to Sacajawea Park. Specifically, CAN and Stacey advocated for Parks to modify the fence gate on the west side of Sacajawea Park to pedestrian and bikes while still blocking car access.
CAN published a survey and hosted a Transportation and Land Use Committee meeting (recording available on YouTube) to gather neighborhood input. Stacey circulated a petition and got a statement of support from the principal of the adjacent Sacajawea Head Start school. CAN and Stacey met with the owners of properties adjacent to the gate to understand their concerns and pass the concerns on to the city.
CAN found overwhelming support for modifying the gate and sent a signed letter to city officials.
Parks and Recreation responded on July 20, 2026 and agreed to modify the gate sometime in 2026. Parks identified a funding source for the gate modification but does not yet have a planned date for construction.
Stacey wrote a great summary of the communication from Parks and allowed CAN to share her summary:
It has been nearly a month since the Cully Association of Neighbors (CAN) hosted a public meeting to gather community feedback about opening west-side access to Sacajawea Park. Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting, joined our Bike Summer ride, and helped advocate for this project!
Since then, we sent in over 300 petition signatures, and the Cully Association of Neighbors sent a letter of support to Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R) and Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT).
I'm excited to share some great news: this morning, PP&R informed us that they have identified funding to install a pedestrian and bicycle access gate adjacent to the existing maintenance gate.
PP&R stated:
The gate will be easily pushed open by anyone on foot or (non-motorized) wheels and will meet ADA requirements.
The maintenance access gate will continue to be locked and only used for PP&R vehicles.
The new access gate will remain unlocked. However, if it creates significant issues for park neighbors or maintenance staff in the future, PP&R may revisit that decision.
PP&R is also evaluating whether to move or add boulders on the east side of the gate to encourage people to stay on the bark chip trail rather than creating shortcuts through the grass. This would also help protect an area with poor drainage.
PBOT parking enforcement team will add signage to better denote the dead-end and no-parking status of NE Alberta Street between 73rd and 74th Avenues.
We do not yet have a timeline for when this work will be completed, but we will continue working with PP&R and PBOT to ensure these improvements move forward. We'll keep everyone updated and look forward to celebrating together when the new gate is installed!
This outcome is a wonderful reminder of what a small group of committed neighbors can accomplish when we work together.
A special thank you goes to:
Maija Spencer and Brett Horner at PP&R
Zef Wagner at PBOT
Zach Powers (CAN Transportation and Land Use Chair)
The Board of the Cully Association of Neighbors
Nic Lu & Hannah Lewis, Sumner Association of Neighbors
Susan Ngọc Wagstaff
Sean Miller
Whitney Mercer
Alisa McGovern Daubenspeck
Bike Portland
Every Cully [and greater Portland] resident who has filed complaints with PP&R, PBOT, and 311 over the years. Your persistence inspired these efforts.
Until we join in celebration, thanks again to all of you for showing your support! I hope to see you all soon to celebrate this exciting update to our community!
Warmly,
Stacey Gregory Martin
Cully Resident, Mom, and Bike Commuter