Willamette River recreation advocate Willie Levenson retires

This Juneteenth vacation weekend Portland is expected to have sunny days and excessive temperatures. Many individuals will possible be searching for methods to chill off, together with by taking a swim.

For these selecting to plunge into the Willamette River this weekend, they’ve one man to thank: Willie Levenson.

Levenson is the founder, govt director and ringleader for the Human Access Project, the advocacy group with the aim to alter Portland’s relationship with its river.

Levenson has been with the group since its inception in 2010. He’s pushed for city seashores and swimming docks, held neighborhood occasions, and extra. After virtually twenty years, Levenson is ready to retire on the finish of the month. He joined OPB’s “Think Out Loud” to debate his accomplishments, departure and the way forward for the group as he steps down.

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Responses have been edited for brevity and readability.

Proudest moments

“There’s no better feeling for me than to go to any of these places that we’ve helped shape on the water’s edge and see people loving it. That’s really just very powerful for me. When I started the work, I just imagined one day that people would never be able to remember when you didn’t swim in the river.

“When people see that the river is an asset with value for them personally, then suddenly they treat it differently. We spearheaded the first public beach in 100 years, Poets Beach. In 2022, we worked with [Portland] Parks and Recreation to designate six swimming areas on the Willamette, we removed 150 tons of concrete, 300 derelict piles and raised $1.2 million to replace the Cathedral Park dock.

“Duckworth Dock, that’s become an iconic swimming place in Portland. It took us six years of work to get permission to add eight swim ladders that took less than four hours to install. That is the grind of bureaucracy, but now we have this world-class swim dock.”

Work forward for the group

“From here, all of these places that we’ve started, it’s gonna be an opportunity to build them out even more. And as far as we’ve come with our culture change work, we’re nowhere near our ceiling in terms of our reach and being able to connect more people with the river.”

On retirement

“I’m looking forward to being an observer and not being the adult in the room. I’d say the hardest thing about choosing to leave is I still do want to make myself available to people who are trying to do good and just kind of take these skills that I’ve learned to navigate bureaucracy and help people do what they want quicker, and be smarter with their time. I hope I have a chance to mentor some people and pass this knowledge that I’ve developed.

The first Splashdown of the season will be on June 26 at Audrey McCall Beach, celebrating the city’s growing river recreation culture.

Willie Levenson spoke to “Think Out Loud” visitor host Jenn Chávez. You can hearken to the complete dialog right here.