A small-scale public-private partnership failure in Seattle

Written By H. Pike Oliver

Here is a small scale example of one of the challenges of public/private partnerships--the Uptown Parklet in Seattle, WA, USA.

The parklet was first envisioned in 2012 and, after fundraising, was installed in February 2015. In October 2015, the parklet was removed. The main reason for removal was the failure to establish and fund an adequate program for maintaining the parklet. See below for two articles that offer background and perspective on what took place.

Top - Parklet concept from 2012. Lower left - Parklet opening in Feburay 2015. Lower right - Parklet removed in October 2018.

Top - Parklet concept from 2012. Lower left - Parklet opening in Feburay 2015. Lower right - Parklet removed in October 2018.

H. Pike Oliver

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, H. Pike Oliver has worked on real estate development strategies and master-planned communities since the early 1970s, including nearly eight years at the Irvine Company. He resided in the City of Irvine for five years in the 1980s and nine years in the 1990s.

As the founder and sole proprietor of URBANEXUS, Oliver works on advancing equitable and sustainable real estate development and natural lands management. He is also an affiliate instructor at the Runstad Department of Real Estate at the University of Washington.

Early in his career, Oliver worked for public agencies, including the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research where he was a principal contributor to An Urban Strategy for California. Prior to relocating to Seattle in 2013, Oliver taught real estate development at Cornell University and directed the undergraduate program in urban and regional studies. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, the American Planning Association and a founder and emeritus member of the California Planning Roundtable.

Oliver is a graduate of the urban studies and planning program at San Francisco State University and earned a master’s degree in urban planning at UCLA.

https://urbanexus.com
Previous

Urbanexus Update #33
Next

Urbanexus Update #32