Historic Hood River
First Flush
Notes
I don’t usually include pictures of myself on this site, but this is actually a bit of history with a fun story. In June 2009 we completed construction of the children’s play area at the waterfront park under a grant program overseen by former Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts. She and her son came to do a ribbon cutting for the play area. As we were also opening the restroom structure, I thought it would be polite to invite the former Governor to join me in that ribbon cutting also, followed by a “first flush”, where we would go into the men’s and women’s facilities respectively and test the plumbing fixtures. The Governor informed me in all her service in state government she had never been to ribbon cutting for a bathroom, but she was a good sport about it as you can see in the image.
What you can’t see is that while we were setting up for the ribbon cutting a line had developed of people (mostly teenagers) wanting to use the new facilities. As soon as we snipped the ribbon the flood of teenagers pushed past us. We never got to do the first flush but both these bathrooms and the play area were immediate hits. They are still used by thousands of residents and visitors every year.
Besides Governor Roberts and myself, the photo includes Scott Sorenson, who designed the facility and provided the solar cells which supply the entire park, City Public Works Director Mark Lago, Steve Gates of the Waterfront Community Parks Association, and City Manager Bob Francis.
Tags: Babitz, construction, Gates, Hood River Waterfront Park, Lago, ribbon cutting, Roberts, Sorenson
Arlen L Sheldrake
GREAT idea and delivery!!! I continue to be amazed at how much restrooms have to do with my and others opinions of venues. on a recent volkswalk in Lake Oswego we used a restroom in one of their parks…..absolutely pristine.
Arthur: YOU are also a piece of HR history. Arlen
Jim Mason
Whew…so relieved Arthur, close- call with Arlen calling you a Piece of….history… (POH)
L.E.
Well darn. I was in Hood River today. I have never been down to the children's play area. If I had read this post this morning, I would have driven down to the waterfront and checked it out. I would have checked out the bathrooms also.
Thank you Arthur for being a piece of history.
I hope Bill is OK.
Dee
Is the person in the middle of the photo Tod LeFevre? He was a proponent of sustainable construction in Hood River and played a huge role in the Waterfront park solar project