West End Traffic Box Project – Design and Paint

In May 2017, the West End Neighborhood Association applied for a grant from Portland Trails for a community-building project. The project we proposed for painting traffic boxes (trafos) in our neighborhood was awarded $1,000. We are very grateful for Portland Trails for making this opportunity possible! Our goal is to have this be driven by the neighborhood as much as possible from the recruitment and selection of designs by the end of November to the execution of the decoration of the boxes in the spring of 2018.

Our vision is to create a multi-purpose trafo which will not only perform its original function, but also be an informative and attractive addition to the neighborhood. In the process of this trafo transformation, we hope to build community by engaging interested West Enders of all ages and encouraging them to work as cross-generational teams to develop the designs, giving neighbors a chance to participate in selecting the winning designs, hiring neighborhood artists to execute the actual painting and, finally, conducting a celebratory tour of the boxes, followed by a reception at the Reiche Community Center in the Spring of 2018.