What Makes Sunnyside Piazza a Great Place?
In creating Sunnyside Piazza, the street intersection was not blocked to cars – all users can enjoy the beautified street surface. It is situated one block from the cafes and restaurants of Portland’s popular SE Belmont Street corridor. Neighborhood residents installed Sunnyside Piazza to create a better sense of place in their neighborhood. In addition to beautifying their neighborhood, they also wanted to reduce crime by focusing more attention on the street, and express the local culture of the Sunnyside community, which they did by creating the design themselves. For the population density of the area, the Piazza definitely attracts people. Neighbors walking to and from Belmont seem to purposely route through the Piazza, perhaps to visit the kiosk, run into friends, or simply to enjoy its beauty. Two or three times a year the neighbors close off the intersection to cars for a Block Party. When the Piazza is not closed off, pedestrians tend to stay out of the street despite the stre
