Director Park would honor generation of immigrants

By Jewish Review

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Portland businessman, philanthropist and Jewish community leader Jordan D. Schnitzer proposed to the Portland City Council April 30 that a new park under construction in the heart of downtown be named “The Simon and Helen Director Park” in honor of his maternal grandparents.

The park, due for completion in March 2009, will utilize the entire block bounded by Southwest Yamhill and Taylor streets and Southwest Park and Ninth avenues. The site, known now as South Park Block 5, had been a parking lot for many years.

Schnitzer’s opportunity to suggest a name for the park came with his previously anonymous gift of $1.97 million to enable completion of the park, which was initially made possible by Tom Moyer’s 2006 gift of the real estate to the city, followed by an additional $1 million gift to further finance the project.

Moyer relinquished his naming rights to the park, which made it possible for the Portland Parks Foundation to secure the additional funding that Schnitzer provided and that will make the completion of the park possible.

In making his proposal Schnitzer said of his maternal grandparents, “My grandparents were part of a generation of immigrants who came to Portland and worked hard paving the way for their children, grandchildren and generations to come.”

He added, “By serving their community and acting as role models, they helped make our community the wonderful place to live that it is today.

“Therefore, I propose that this park is named ‘The Simon and Helen Director Park’ to honor my grandparents and to honor their generation who did so much for us all. We hope that our children, their children and those who follow will remember and honor their ancestors by continuing to make our community a welcoming, wonderful place.”

Simon Director, born in Chartoriysk, a small village in southwest Russia, arrived in Portland in 1910 and originally worked as a butcher. He later married Helen Holtzman and, in 1921, bought a small variety store. It was the first of 18 stores he eventually would own in the Pacific Northwest and that he would later sell to buy several office buildings in downtown Portland.

“We Portlanders love our parks, and no one loves them more than the donor we honor today,” said Linda Laviolette, executive director of the Portland Parks Foundation. “When Portland’s first planners envisioned a band of green in the center of downtown that became the Park Blocks, they could not have imagined the splendid plaza that will cap them. Thanks to Jordan Schnitzer, a citizen of vision, generations starting with ours will enjoy this jewel in the crown of Portland’s parks.”

Portland Parks and Recreation Commissioner Dan Saltzman thanked Schnitzer and also extended the city’s gratitude to Moyer.

“These type of collaborations between the private and public sectors are what enable us to realize as significant an undertaking as South Park Block 5,” Saltzman said.

The Parks and Recreation Commission will take the next step in the process by soliciting comment from the Downtown Neighborhood Association and presenting the proposal to a standing committee of the Parks and Recreation Commission. That panel weighs the proposal before making a recommendation to the Parks and Recreation commissioner. The City Council has final approval.