League of Women Voters studies on Portland government

The League of Women Voters of Portland‘s complete 1990 and 1991 City Government Study reports are now posted on their web site. The 1990 study was the first part of a two-year process that led to the current Consensus position. It describes the current structure, historical background, and outlines of alternative forms of government. It also includes descriptions of the functions of city bureaus – something that remains a mystery to many Portlanders. The second year of the study in 1991 used a similar methodology to that of the 2006 Charter Reform Commission, establishing ideal traits of government then evaluating the advantages and disadvantates of different forms/structures against those goals. Note that the studies themselves don’t recommend or draw conclusions. The League’s position is taken after review of the studies, discussion in unit meetings, analysis of unit reports by a neutral committee, then adoption by the Board.

There is a particularly interesting table on pages 13 and 14 of the 1991 report. It shows statistics from 1985 comparing Portland with seven comparably-sized cities, with Portland being the only one with a Commission form of government. Portland had the second lowest level of city employees per capita, with only Oakland lower. We had the second lowest taxes per capita, after Alberquerque, and the second lowest General Revenue after Salt Lake City. Our electrical utilities rate was lowest, our median house price index second lowest after Tulsa. Portland, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake City all had the highest AAA bond rating (we still do). We had the second highest crime rates per capita, after Salt Lake City, Hmm, do we think there might be a connection between low government revenue and public safety? Or does Mayor Potter believe crime issues can best be solved by changing to the Super-strong Mayor structure? Oh wait, the Mayor is always the Commissioner-in-charge of the Police Bureau anyway. Never mind.

As Randy Leonard and Erik Sten kept asking during the two public hearings, the problem the proposed changes are intended to address is…..??? And, can anyone name one city with the proposed form of government that does better than Portland on both objective and subjective criteria?