Next Up at City Council, 4/16-17, 2008
In this week’s Portland City Council Agenda, two Time Certain items may sound dull, but represent many hours of work by citizens and staff.
478 TIME CERTAIN: 9:30 AM – Accept the Urban Forestry Commission 2007 Annual Report (Report introduced by Commissioner Saltzman)
479 TIME CERTAIN: 10:00 AM – Accept the Interbureau Task Force Report (Report introduced by Mayor Potter)
I hope these reports will be read, and their recommendations implemented, rather than sitting on shelves.
On the Consent Agenda:
*482 Authorize an Intergovernmental Agreement with the Portland Development Commission, Housing Authority of Portland and Multnomah County to provide a social housing delivery system evaluation (Ordinance)
Coordination! Jurisdictions talking with each other and collaborating! Yay!
485 Apply for a $1,300,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security to purchase a new fireboat (Ordinance)
Happy Tax Day. At least we’re getting some back for peaceful and helpful use.
*490 Authorize application of grant funds to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for brownfield sites within the City (Ordinance)
Cleanup of contamination along the banks of the Willamette is one reason our sewer bills aren’t going down any time soon.
Aside from the Time Certain items, the rest of the Wednesday morning Agenda is short. Then, yay, a Wednesday evening hearing! Remember, the Code allows the Council to meet in the evening on the third Wednesday, but they seldom choose to.
509 TIME CERTAIN: 6:00 PM – Grey to Green Initiative briefing (Presentation introduced by Commissioner Adams)
510 Create a voluntary funding program that provides an opportunity for all Portland sewer ratepayers to invest in making Portland green and improving watershed health (Resolution introduced by Commissioner Adams)
It’s been about a year now that the Council Agenda comes with handy dandy links to inform busy people quickly about items up for review. b!X, Frank Dufay, I and others pressed for years for the service, and I appreciate it every week. This link explains the voluntary program will ask ratepayers to round up our water/sewer utility bills to the next dollar, to pay for green projects in natural areas and neighborhoods. If implemented, it will be interesting to see how many people sign up, given the high sewer bills and downturn in the economy. But hey, this would give another incentive to the City to implement monthly billing as soon as possible.
Two Time Certain items on Thursday afternoon:
511 TIME CERTAIN: 2:00 PM – Appeal of Steve Cox against the Noise Review Board decision to grant a noise variance to Portland International Raceway for the National Hot Rod Association National Open Drag Race on August 22-24, 2008 (Hearing introduced by Auditor Blackmer)
I wish this had been assigned to the evening hearing. Many people in North Portland would like to air their opinions on PIR noise.
512 TIME CERTAIN: 3:00 PM – Accept Staff Report and Recommendation and Order of Council for Mattie C. Baker, Measure 49 Vesting Claim (Report introduced by Mayor Potter; PR No. 06-181218)
This is the first Measure 49 claim I’ve seen. The Report is here. It recommends granting the claim of vested rights under Measure 37 for a site in the Brooklyn Action Corps neighborhood of Southeast Portland. I wish I had time to review it carefully, as the staff has evidently done their usual thorough analysis and detailed explanation. I have been very impressed with the City’s handling of Measure 37, and it looks like our response to Measure 49 will be similarly careful.