On this overcast, somewhat moist morning, Ozora joined E and H on a return to this child-friendly cafe on N. Williams.  Typically young parents and children descend in mass on this restaurant starting at 9:30.  Maybe because construction was going on in a quarter of the restaurant, the crowd was lighter than usual.

As we noted before, in POA’s quest to make it a hangout for young parents with kids, it doesn’t possess many of the homey elements we enjoy in other shops, such as a variety of seating options, and reading material for adults as well as children.  Thus, its hangout ambiance for adults without kids could be improved.

E and H exchanged recent travel adventures.  E’s included his family’s visits to Iceland and the dramatic geology of its Golden Triangle, river trips down the Rhine, and the bicycle wonderland of the Netherlands.   H’s was a return to the awe-inspiring Canadian Rockies, specifically focusing this year on Jasper and Yoho National Parks.

Then E talked about his role in reviewing the current draft of the Central City Plan.  He thought it best for him to go deep on just a couple of issues: for him they were the Plan’s wimpiness with regard to increasing access to the Willamette for recreational usage, and increasing the number of children living downtown.  He said both Vancouver and Seattle have active policies to increase family life downtown, and as a result the former has 9 times more children living downtown than Portland does, and Seattle has 5 times as many.

4025 N. Williams     http://www.poacafe.com