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The allocation manual

Turning values into priorities

Portland Parks has published service-access guidance: which facilities, within what distance of home, and how many are still missing. This page shows how a set of values turns that list into an order of what to do next, using only public information.

A model, not a plan
Portland has not adopted this. It is built from the City's own published standards and gaps; the values are yours to choose, and the arithmetic is ours, shown in full. Nothing here states a dollar amount.
110
Park assets the City says are missing
29
Neighborhood park gaps
23%
Households beyond a ½-mile walk
0 of 8
Projects in the audit sample with a funding plan

The Board discussed three service futures: anticipated funding, maintaining current services and advancing service goals. This tool does not cost those scenarios. See the sourced planning structure and inputs needed →

01What's published, and what's next

The City has set the standard. Deciding what comes first is the next job.

PP&R's Level of Service Guidance says what should be within reach of every home, at what distance, and how many are missing. It also names, in its own words, the pieces still to be built.

What should be within reach of every home, by distance
½ mile
  • Play areas+42
  • Developed parks+29
1 mile
  • Basketball courts+12
  • Community gardens+20
  • Spray play+16
2 miles
  • Dog off-leash areas+1
  • Group picnic areas+1
  • Natural areas open to the public+5
  • Skateparks+11
  • Sports fieldsmet
3 miles
  • Ballfieldsmet
  • Plazas+1
  • Specialty gardens+1
  • Tennis courtsmet
  • Full-service community centers+4
Counts are additional assets needed to close geographic gaps citywide, from the LOS Guidance. “met” means no published gap.
  • 110 assets, fifteen types. That is what the Guidance counts to close every geographic gap citywide; the largest gaps are in East Portland.
  • The Guidance stops at counts. It names three things outside its scope: a funding plan, a timetable, and an upkeep commitment for whatever gets built.
  • Same ask from the auditor. October 2025: base every investment on systemwide goals in a level-of-service plan, and fund each new asset's upkeep before approving it.
  • Only public inputs. Every count and distance on this page is the City's. The ordering is the model's, and the arithmetic is shown in full.

For youA play area or court missing within a walk of your home is already in these counts; what is not yet decided is when it comes.

What the Guidance says about distance, and what it leaves for later

“Increased distance from home means increased travel time, increased length of stay and decreased frequency of visits.” That is the Guidance's own reason for setting a standard by distance.

The Guidance names three things as outside its scope: a plan for funding the assets it identifies, a timetable for reaching the standard, and an operations-and-maintenance commitment for whatever gets built.

The auditor's October 2025 request points the same way. Base every investment proposal on systemwide goals set in a level-of-service plan, and fund each new asset's upkeep before approving it. The dial and the gate below are one way to do both.

Next · 02 · Values are the input
02Values are the input

Every value implies a priority, and every priority has a cost.

Six values, each a coherent way to run a park system. Choosing one is choosing what to give up.

  • Short service distances
    What it inherently prioritizes
    70% normalized inverse service distance and 30% gap share. Favors asset types with shorter published access standards.
    What it trades away
    Does not measure household need or actual walking routes.
  • Gap count
    What it inherently prioritizes
    Ranks the published number of additional units needed, normalized to the largest gap.
    What it trades away
    Does not measure people reached, participation, time or cost.
  • Gap with operating caution
    What it inherently prioritizes
    30% gap share minus the published high-operating-cost flag.
    What it trades away
    Does not inspect existing asset condition or maintenance capacity.
  • Operating-cost flag
    What it inherently prioritizes
    Penalizes asset types the LOS guidance flags as high operating cost.
    What it trades away
    A binary proxy; lifecycle cost, funding and material durability are not measured.
  • Relative shortfall
    What it inherently prioritizes
    Equal weights on gap share and scarcity relative to the largest existing inventory.
    What it trades away
    Does not establish equitable access or a uniform neighborhood service level.
  • Demonstrated demand
    not dialable — no public data
    What it inherently prioritizes
    Would use observed utilization and community input.
    What it trades away
    Comparable demand data are not available to this model, so this factor cannot be adjusted here.
Five of the six can be dialed from published data. Responsiveness is described but not dialed.
  • Five can be dialed. Their inputs are public: counts, distances, how few of each exist, and the LOS's own high-operating-cost flag.
  • One cannot. Responsiveness needs demand and utilization data the City does not publish, so it is described here and left off the dial.
  • Each has a cost. Floor-first slows gains where most people already live near parks; reach-first leaves thin areas thin.

For youThe next section lets you weight these five yourself and see the order that follows.

Next · 03 · The dial
03The dial

Change the values, and the order of priorities changes with them.

The fifteen gaps below are the City's own. Weight the values and the order reorganizes itself; three doctrines are preloaded.

Start from a doctrine
…or set each value yourself

70% normalized inverse service distance and 30% gap share. Favors asset types with shorter published access standards.

Ranks the published number of additional units needed, normalized to the largest gap.

30% gap share minus the published high-operating-cost flag.

Penalizes asset types the LOS guidance flags as high operating cost.

Equal weights on gap share and scarcity relative to the largest existing inventory.

Responsiveness — following demonstrated demand — is a real value with no dial here: the City publishes no demand or utilization data to drive it.

What these values put first
PP&R's 15 published gap types

Top three under current weights: Developed parks, Play areas, Community gardens.

  1. 1
    Developed parks
    29 needed · ½ mi
  2. 2
    Play areas
    42 needed · ½ mi · high operating cost
  3. 3
    Community gardens
    20 needed · 1 mi
  4. 4
    Basketball courts
    12 needed · 1 mi
  5. 5
    Spray play
    16 needed · 1 mi · high operating cost
  6. 6
    Skateparks
    11 needed · 2 mi · high operating cost
  7. 7
    Natural areas open to the public
    5 needed · 2 mi
  8. 8
    Full-service community centers
    4 needed · 3 mi · high operating cost
  9. 9
    Dog off-leash areas
    1 needed · 2 mi
  10. 10
    Specialty gardens
    1 needed · 3 mi
  11. 11
    Group picnic areas
    1 needed · 2 mi
  12. 12
    Plazas
    1 needed · 3 mi

No published gap, so never ranked: Sports fields, Tennis courts, Ballfields.

Bars are each gap's score relative to the top score; amber marks the assets the LOS itself calls high-cost to operate. Inputs are counts and distances from the LOS Guidance. Scoring is 5 weighted values over five dimensions (shortfall ratio, everyday-ness, scarcity, operating burden, absolute gap), shown in full below.

Inputs: counts and distances from the LOS Guidance. Scoring: five weighted values over five dimensions, listed in full under the toggle below.
  • Fifteen gap types, five dimensions. Shortfall ratio, everyday-ness, scarcity, operating burden, and absolute gap, each scaled 0–1 across the fifteen.
  • Amber marks high operating cost. The flag is the LOS's own. Weight Stewardship or Durability and flagged assets fall down the list.
  • No published gap, no rank. Sports fields, ballfields, and tennis courts have no gap in the Guidance, so they stay unranked under any weights.

For youStart from the preset closest to what you believe; the list it produces is what your values imply for the City's fifteen gaps.

The arithmetic, in full

Each gap is scored on five dimensions, each scaled 0–1 across the fifteen.

Shortfall ratio
needed ÷ total to cover the city
Everyday-ness
the inverse of the service distance
Scarcity
how few exist
Operating burden
the LOS's own high-cost flag
Absolute gap
count needed

Each value combines those dimensions its own way:

  • Short service distances: +0.7 everyday-ness +0.3 shortfall
  • Gap count: +1.0 absolute gap
  • Gap with operating caution: +0.3 shortfall −1.0 operating burden
  • Operating-cost flag: −1.0 operating burden
  • Relative shortfall: +0.5 shortfall +0.5 scarcity

Score = Σ weight × contribution. Assets with no published gap are never ranked.

Next · 04 · The operating manual
04The operating manual

Put everyday basics first and make things last, and a four-step order follows, with one gate before any new asset.

One set of values, worked through from start to finish: everyday basics first, and things that last. Change the values and a different order follows.

The sequence
  1. Prevent the loss of a capability people already have

    A pool that closes removes something; a pool never built only withholds it. Under a prioritarian floor, loss outranks absence.

  2. Bring below-floor populations to the baseline

    Close the ½-mile and 1-mile gaps first: the things the LOS says should be reachable on foot.

  3. Spend where the next dollar buys the most benefit

    Once the floor holds, rank on utilization, health, climate resilience, and revenue.

  4. Build destinations when citywide benefit justifies them

    Regional facilities people will travel to, after the neighborhood floor rather than instead of it.

Each step holds until the one before it is met.
The gate, before any new asset
ten questions
  1. 1.What capability gap does this close?
  2. 2.How many people gain meaningful access — and how many of them are below the floor today?
  3. 3.What is the capital cost per newly served resident?
  4. 4.What annual utilization is expected, and how will it be measured?
  5. 5.What is the cost per participant-hour over the asset's life?
  6. 6.What is the 30-year lifecycle cost — operations, major maintenance, replacement?
  7. 7.Which funding source pays that lifecycle cost, for its whole life?hard stop
  8. 8.What alternatives were considered — including activating something already owned?
  9. 9.Why does this outperform them on the questions above?
  10. 10.Does the surrounding population already exceed the universal floor?
City Financial Policy 2.03 already requires questions 6 and 7.
  • Loss outranks absence. A capability people already have comes before one they never had.
  • Walkable gaps first. The ½-mile and 1-mile standards are the floor; destinations come after it, not instead of it.
  • Question 7: hard stop. No named source for the lifecycle cost, no project, unless Council votes in public to accept the liability.
  • Two questions are already policy. Policy 2.03 requires the lifecycle estimate and its funding source. The auditor found five of eight projects had the estimate; none had the source.
  • Question 8 now has a data answer. Which existing parks are physically able to take an asset — by lot size and kind of place — is on the coverage map for each facility.

For youWhen a new project near you reaches Council, question 7 is the one to listen for: which source pays its upkeep for its whole life.

Why the sequence runs in this order

The prioritarian floor ranks a missing everyday capability above a refinement anywhere, and a loss above an absence. That puts maintenance that prevents a closure first, then the walkable gaps, then everything else.

Durability adds the gate. A project that cannot name the source paying its 30-year lifecycle cost waits, whatever its merit, unless Council votes in public to accept the liability.

A reach-first set would order the same gaps by count and skip the gate. The dial above shows what each set puts first; the sequence and the gate here are what follows from one of them.

Next · 05 · Three operations
05Maintenance, programming, acquisition

Maintaining, programming, and building each do something different to a park. They are not interchangeable.

They compete for the same money, but each changes something different about what a neighborhood can use.

Maintenance

Protects a capability that exists.

First claim when a capability is about to be lost; a failed asset is a subtraction.

Programming

Activates a capability that is sitting idle.

Usually the cheapest gain in the system: the asset is already paid for and already costs upkeep.

Acquisition & construction

Creates a capability that doesn't exist.

Only where the gap cannot be closed by protecting or activating something already owned, and only through the gate.

Three operations on capability. The rule that falls out: never create what you cannot protect; activate before you create.
  • Protect has first claim. A failed asset is a subtraction; maintenance that prevents a loss ranks ahead of any addition.
  • Activate before you create. An idle park is already paid for and already costs upkeep. A program in it is usually the cheapest capability gain.
  • The rule reaches past the parks map. School grounds the public already owns have courts, fields, and tracks on record. Beyond parks puts them on the map.
  • Create only through the gate. Build where nothing already owned can be protected or activated to close the gap.
  • Repairs are turning reactive. The preventive share of the bureau's repair work fell from 16% to 14% over three years.

For youA park near you with no program costs the same to keep, so a program there is usually the cheapest gain the system can make.

Next · 06 · What each dollar can buy
06What each dollar can legally buy

Each source of money may buy only certain things, so a project is usually funded as a stack.

Much of the pattern is legal restriction on each source. Eligibility only; no amounts.

  • General Fund
    Council discretion
    Daily operations
    Yes
    Repair existing
    Yes
    New capacity
    Yes
    Programming
    Yes
  • Parks Levy
    Ballot language
    Daily operations
    Yes
    Repair existing
    small capital only
    New capacity
    No
    Programming
    Yes
  • Developer fees (SDCs)
    ORS 223 — capacity only
    Daily operations
    No
    Repair existing
    No
    New capacity
    and must be spent
    Programming
    No
  • Clean Energy Fund (PCEF)
    Climate purposes
    Daily operations
    trees, canopy
    Repair existing
    trees, canopy
    New capacity
    trees, shade, cooling
    Programming
    tree-related
  • Grants
    Each grant's terms
    Daily operations
    if eligible
    Repair existing
    if eligible
    New capacity
    if eligible
    Programming
    if eligible
  • Donations & Memorial Fund
    Each gift's restriction
    Daily operations
    if unrestricted
    Repair existing
    if unrestricted
    New capacity
    common
    Programming
    if unrestricted
  • Golf & Raceway funds
    Enterprise
    Daily operations
    golf, raceway only
    Repair existing
    golf, raceway only
    New capacity
    golf, raceway only
    Programming
    No
  • Bonds (if voters approve)
    Ballot language
    Daily operations
    No
    Repair existing
    Yes
    New capacity
    Yes
    Programming
    No
A check means the source may pay for that use; the note says on what terms. Basis: ballot language, statute, grant terms, or the gift's restriction.
  • Developer fees: new capacity only. ORS 223 restricts them to capacity, and they must be spent.
  • The levy cannot build. It pays for operations, programming, and small capital only, by ballot language.
  • General Fund: no restriction. Council decides its use; every other source is bound by a ballot, a statute, a grant, or a gift.
  • Climate money is tree-shaped. Clean Energy Fund money buys trees, canopy, shade, and cooling, in any of the four columns.

For youA project near you is usually a stack: developer fees for capacity, climate money for shade, General Fund for the restroom, the levy for upkeep and programs. Why SDCs are restricted.

Next · 07 · Where every person fits
07Where every person fits

Most of the workforce keeps parks working and in use. About one in twenty builds new ones.

Its career positions, mapped onto the three operations. The shape of the workforce shows where its comparative advantage lies.

Career FTE from the FY 2026-27 Adopted Budget, grouped by what the job does to capability. Seasonal staff are not included.
  • Most protect or activate. Roughly seven in ten career positions keep existing parks working or put them to use.
  • One in twenty builds. About one in twenty career positions plans, engineers, or manages new construction.
  • Doctrine matches staff. A protect-and-activate doctrine leans on the people the bureau already has.

For youThe people you meet in a park, grounds crews, rec leaders, rangers, are the seven in ten; the builders are the one in twenty.

Next · 08 · Where you would hold off
08Where you would hold off

When everyday basics come first, some good projects wait their turn, and some work never waits.

Every set of values produces a list of what waits. This is the list that follows from putting everyday basics first.

Waits
  • Discretionary enhancement of a park whose surrounding population is already above the floor, while any population is below it.
  • Any new asset that cannot answer question 7, regardless of merit, popularity, or which official proposed it.
  • A second facility of a type within its own service distance of an existing one.
Never waits
  • Maintenance that prevents the loss of an existing capability.
  • Safety, and legal obligations, including ADA barrier removal.
  • Programming of something already built, anywhere.
Both lists follow from the sequence and the gate in section 04. A different value set produces a different pair.
  • Popularity is not a pass. A new asset that cannot name its upkeep source waits, whoever proposed it.
  • Duplicates wait. The service distance is the test: a second facility inside the first one's reach adds no new coverage.
  • Obligations come first. Safety, legal duties including ADA barrier removal, and programming of anything already built never wait.

For youA waiting project met one of the three rules on the left; a different value set would order it differently.

Next · 09 · What you would have to know
09What you would have to know

The dial ranks kinds of gaps. Ranking actual places needs data the City holds but has not yet published.

Where each gap is, who lives near it, and what each place costs to run are all unpublished. The roadmap lists every missing input and who holds it.

  • Operating cost by park or facility
    'What does this park cost to run' is unanswerable today; every per-resident ratio depends on it.
    Holder · PP&R Business Services; City Budget OfficePublic records request
  • Utilization by site — registrations, attendance, passes
    Aggregate attendance, duration, and operating costs could support cost-per-participant-hour comparisons; registrations alone do not measure attendance.
    Holder · PP&R Recreation (ActiveNet)Partner data-share
  • The Level of Service gap geography
    Where the 110 gaps are, not just how many.
    Holder · PP&R PlanningPublic records request
  • Population-weighted access
    Population within a verified walking route is one access measure; equity analysis also needs relevant demographic, affordability and service-quality evidence.
    Holder · PP&R Planning; Bureau of Planning & SustainabilityPartner data-share
  • Lifecycle estimates for every pipeline project
    Question 7 of the gate cannot be asked without them.
    Holder · PP&R Capital DevelopmentPublic records request
Five entries from the roadmap's data register: the inputs that would let the dial rank places instead of types.
  • Types, not places. The dial orders fifteen kinds of gap. It cannot say which park, because the per-gap map is not public.
  • Responsiveness stays off the dial. Demand and utilization by site are logged by the bureau and not published.
  • Every input has a holder. And a route to it: a public records request, a partner data-share, or a Council request.

For youThe roadmap page lists every missing dataset and who holds it, with a ready-to-file records request.

Weight it differently?

The values are yours to choose. If one is missing, or you'd rank the gaps another way, say which and why.

Send your ordering →

Standards, distances, gap counts, and the quoted self-described limits are from PP&R's Level of Service Guidance Executive Summary. The auditor's findings are from the October 2025 Parks Fiscal Management audit. Workforce figures are from the FY 2026-27 Adopted Budget. The values, the dial's scoring, the sequence, the gate, and the hold-off rules are this project's model.

PP&R Level of Service Guidance — Executive SummaryCity Auditor — Parks Fiscal Management (Oct 2025)ORS 223.297–223.316 — System Development ChargesFY 2026-27 Adopted Budget, Volume 2 (Parks)
Next in the family

The auditor's six assignments, each attempted from public data, and a sequenced 20-year roadmap built on the same value set.

ModelThe auditor's assignments and the 20-year roadmap