Imagine you are standing at an intersection on West College Avenue south of the West Campus extension, and the environment has been completely transformed.

Instead of drab, bare street corners you see a brightly colored, circular design painted over the street and sidewalks. To your right is an indoor-outdoor café bustling with conversation and clinking coffee mugs. Situated diagonally across the street is a solar-powered, stone fountain decorated by a red and yellow mosaic of tile.

Now, imagine you are not standing but sitting on a funky looking, wooden bench with a small herb garden at its center, watching your neighbors dance to the beat of conga drums in the middle of the street.

This kind of atmosphere is what a volunteer organization called City Repair Project (CRP) has created in many Portland, Oregon neighborhoods, and two of its board members presented the group's ideas to a packed State College Borough Council chamber last night.

One of CRP's founders, Mark Lakeman, told the audience of about 75, that the traditional grid style layout of most neighborhoods denies residents the chance to be part of a community and isolates people from each other. He said village squares are essential for bringing people together, fostering strong local democracy and strengthening local economy.

"We're thinking that perhaps the village needs to reemerge within the cities," Lakeman said.

Over the past decade or so in Portland, neighborhood associations have begun planning, funding and building public gathering spaces at intersections throughout their towns. Lakeman said community interaction has spawned activism and allowed citizens to collectively decide how their neighborhoods will look.

Jenny Leis, co-presenter for CRP, said there are 95 neighborhood associations around Portland in the process of creating public meeting spots at intersections. One area already has 38, she added.

"By 2005, we will have at least 95 intersection repairs," Leis said. "And we're well on our way."

She said the projects have been successful by both creating environments for discussion and providing areas where local businesses can thrive.

"We see localization as an antidote to globalization to empower people on a local level," Leis said.

State College resident Travis Peterson, who organized the event, said he hopes to see community projects like the ones in Portland begin in State College.

"In Oregon, it's the citizens who are taking the power back, getting governments and businesses on board," Peterson said. "There is a magic to this movement."

More information can be found at www.cityrepair.org.