After several months of testing in East Portland parks, the Parks Bureau officially launched ParkScan yesterday at Chapman Park in downtown Portland, writes Jim Mayer in the May 12 Oregonian.

The ParkScan tool allows the public to provide feedback about parks that need maintenance, to ask questions, and to provide suggestions directly to the Bureau. A story on the KGW website quotes Isabel Wade, Executive Director of the San Francisco-based Neighborhood Parks Council, as saying that this input is a "real key to keeping up our parks to the standard people expect." Funded by a $150,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Portland is the first city in America to adopt the program.

See Nick's observation and use ParkScan for yourself at parkscanpdx.org!

Thanks to Kenneth Aaron of Neighborhood Notes for the photo!