30 Years of City Repair
Moonday Tea House blueprints with biological inspirations.
City Repair celebrated its 30th anniversary in March 2026. This milestone is a time to review our history and outline our future. For three decades, we have helped Portland residents transform degraded spaces into functional gathering places.
Our movement began on March 21, 1996. Neighbors in the Sellwood area opened a temporary gathering space called the Moonday Tea House. They built the structure in a front yard using recycled wood, doors, bamboo, and plastic. People from across Portland gathered there on Monday nights. Neighbors who had lived near each other for years finally developed friendships. They shared time and drank tea in a free, comfortable space.
View from the inside of the Moonday Tea House
At the end of the summer, the residents dismantled the T-Hows to create 10 new tea houses across Portland, then set off on a new goal of creating Share-It Square, a neighborhood public square in the street. They built this new space directly in the street intersection at Southeast 9th Avenue and Southeast Sherrett Street. Residents painted a large geometric mural on the asphalt. It signaled to drivers that the street was an active zone for people. Share-It Square marked the start of our ongoing Intersection Repair program.
Share-It Square featured the first permanent infrastructure built by residents in the public right-of-way. The neighbors constructed a 24-hour tea station, a produce sharing stand, a children's kiosk, a little library, and a community bulletin board on the four intersection corners. City officials initially said these structures violated municipal codes and ordered their removal. In response, the neighborhood gathered traffic speed data, community support, and lobbied city officials.
Share-It Square
The neighborhood's actions led the Portland City Council to create a legal permitting process for these projects. In 1998, the council passed Ordinance 172207 to authorize revocable permits for neighborhood projects. The movement expanded over time. The city council later passed Ordinance 175937 in 2001 and Ordinance 187193 in 2015 to establish a permanent citywide framework for placemaking. These later ordinances made the process easier for residents. They reduced approval criteria, expanded eligible projects, allowed more locations, and shortened the permitting process. City Repair worked directly with the Portland Bureau of Transportation to write standard operating procedures for the new Intersection Repair permit. We helped define safety buffers, traffic control plans, and material standards for street painting. We proved that residents could safely manage the public right-of-way. Our work shifted the city's approach from strict enforcement to active support.
Sunnyside Piazza
The movement soon expanded to other neighborhoods and larger scales. In 2001, residents created the Sunnyside Piazza at the intersection of Southeast 33rd Avenue and Yamhill Street. They painted a massive sunflower mural directly on the street. They also built permanent amenities on the intersection corners. These included a community information kiosk and trellises. Urban planners and academics study the Sunnyside Piazza today. It serves as a model for how residents can govern their public spaces and build local networks. In 2001, we also launched the Village Building Convergence. This program has supported nearly 1,000 community projects since its creation.
Our early organizers launched several other projects alongside the street repair efforts. Our mobile T-Horse program also began in 1996 and ran regularly until 2007. We still feature the T-Horse at occasional events today. We hosted the Earth Day Activist Village and Celebration every year from 1997 to 2016. We also organized the citywide Hands Around Portland events in 1997, 1998, and 2000. People formed huge human chains across the city during these massive celebrations.
City Repair has also helped launch and sponsor many other organizations. We supported groups like DePave, FreeGeek, SHIFT Projects, the World Naked Bike Ride, the Clark Lewis Restaurant, and Tryon Life Farm. We also worked with advocacy groups to build villages for houseless neighbors. These projects include Dignity Village, R2DToo, and the Kenton Women's Village.
City Repair now operates four core programs to serve the community. We help neighbors paint streets and build natural structures. We host community events. We also lead design workshops and provide a tool library for street painting. Our organization acts as a technical bridge that connects neighborhood groups and organizations with city agencies like the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
Our history proves that residents can successfully manage their public spaces. We look forward to the next decade. We invite you to join us to build a more connected Portland.
