/ Neighborhood News - Southeast

Although some Portland city leaders have denied a plan to sell part of Mt. Tabor Park, their own documents reveal they hoped to sell the parkland by the middle of this month.

National Register

A view from Mt. Tabor Park in Portland.

That brought apologies Wednesday from city commissioner Dan Saltzman and parks director Zari Santner.

The memorandum signed by the parks director and officials with Warner Pacific College would have set a price and finalized sale of the land to the college for a new athletic center.

Portland city commissioner Randy Leonard is one of many people angered by the plan and the method by which it appeared to be moving forward.

“I care too much about the park system to sit here and allow what appears to me to be an attempt to dispose of some property in a less than straightforward way,” he said during a city meeting.

“The memorandum was overly ambitious, it should not have included specific dates… and I apologize for that,“ Saltzman said.

The plan is now on hold.

Neighbors heard denials from officials that a sale was in the works only to learn the truth through an open records request.

Now a number of neighbors say the well of public trust has been poisoned.

“I doubt their credibility at this point, personally,” said Mt. Tabor resident Mark Bartlett.

The parkland in question, known as Mt. Tabor Park yard, houses decrepit park maintenance buildings.