Next Up at City Council, 2/21/2007

The Portland City Council’s agenda for next week has several items that sound interesting. If I weren’t having to spend time advocating for defeat of the Charter revisions, I’d consider watching this set of issues – varying between entertaining and educational, through annoying to excruciatingly sad. As it is, we have only a few weeks before the ballots hit on April 27, so I’ll just give you a thumbnail sketch of particularly noteworthy items, and leave you to look into them if you have more free time than I.

Let’s put the last, first:

WEDNESDAY, 6:00 PM, FEBRUARY 21, 2007

165 TIME CERTAIN: 6:00 PM – Appeal of Northwest District Neighborhood Association against the Landmark Commission decision to approve the application of William De Bellis, Donald Singer, Singer Thurman LLC, GFV Enterprises LLC and 2311-2317 NW Irving Street LLC for the Irving Street Parking Garage at 2311-2317 NW Irving Street (Hearing; LU 06-132367 HDZM)

This is a pitiful case, for everyone. In the 2003 Northwest District Plan, the only neighborhood plan adopted despite a vote in opposition by the affected Neighborhood Association, the City Council approved destroying homes in the historic Alphabet District in NW Portland, to allow parking garages to be built. Yet because they’re in the aforementioned historic district, the new garages have to be approved by the Landmark Commission… as if there is any way the design of a parking garage can make it fit in with the nature of a historic district dating from days before there were cars to park. This application requires the demolition of an existing, historic, affordable apartment building. The replacement multi-story garage will have zero set backs to adjacent residential lot lines and no landscaping. It is located within easy walking distance of the multi-million dollar streetcar line – y’know, the one we invested in to get people out of their cars. The Northwest District Association has photos and more information. The NW Examiner documented 117 houses and five apartment buildings in the Northwest District (between Burnside, Overton, 20th and 25th) that have been removed for parking lots or parking structures since 1950. If Portland wants to have any historic resources left for future generations, this destruction has to stop. And this application would be the perfect opportunity for Council to rethink their previous error, based on four years’ experience seeing the area continue to thrive despite the “lack” of parking structures.

Back to the top of the line-up, there’s a 9:30 a.m. Time Certain I’d look into more thoroughly if I had more time –
*140 – Adopt budget adjustment recommendations and the Minor Supplemental Budget for the FY 2006-07 Winter Budget Adjustment Process and make budget adjustments in various funds (Ordinance introduced by Mayor Potter). When I researched the Fall “Bump”, as these “minor” adjustments are called, I found it had nearly $11m of new expenditures, all organized and prioritized by the Office of Management and Finance. See, we don’t need a Chief Administrative Officer, we already have a Chief Financial Officer, and an entire department to coordinate and advise the Council on the budget. Only two citizens testified on the Fall Bump, indeed Mayor Potter forgot to ask for citizen testimony since the deals had already been done. This 126-page “Budget Adjustment” – was posted on PortlandOnLine on 2/15/07. It seems relatively small -“only” $1.3m in new funds, of which $300,000 is spending part of a federal grant. It includes $54,012 towards putting the Water billing department back into the Water Bureau, after spending money to move it to the Office of Management and Finance previously. Maybe if I need a break from the Charter, I’ll look into the document more before Wednesday. Or if anyone knows, please do tell. I sometimes wonder if citizens are asked to participate in processes like Visioning and Charter Reform, to give us too much to do to leave capacity for looking at where the money is coming from and going to.

Here’s one that’ll bug a number of folks:

*152 Authorize an Intergovernmental Agreement with Metro for $32,000 to study the feasibility of starting a Transportation Management Association in South Waterfront (Ordinance) Apparently we have money for that, even while the City is discussing reducing police services in North Portland. How/why is this an “emergency ordinance”, as indicated by the asterisk before its agenda number? Likewise two other Commissioner Sam items on the agenda will doubtless raise hackles or hoorays, depending on how you feel about them: 160 Support the Portland to Milwaukie Light Rail Project and the Portland Streetcar Loop Project and seek funding commitments from the Oregon State Legislature (Resolution) and *161 Authorize an Intergovernmental Agreement with Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon for preparation and submittal of a Small Starts Project development application for the Portland Streetcar Loop Project (Ordinance)

*155 Authorize settlement agreement regarding Fire Station 1 relocation (Ordinance introduced by Mayor Potter and Commissioner Sten) This is the Station at 55 SW Ash, that had a big design process and lots of angst about a new potential location on “Block 8” owned by the Naito families, only to have the entire move taken off the table due to rising costs. This “settlement” sounds like payment to someone or some company who claimed damages – so now we’re paying to not move it.

157 Declare City support of Portland Development Commission employee efforts to organize (Resolution introduced by Commissioners Leonard and Sten). With 26% turnover in a year, possible major changes coming via the Charter reforms, and neither Civil Service protections nor a union contract, it’s hardly surprising the workers in PDC are seeking to organize.

From the Office of Management and Finance: 159 Authorize revenue bonds to finance the Enterprise Business Solution Project (Ordinance). OK, Dave Lister, what is the Enterprise Business Solution Project and what are these bonds financing?

There are even more items on the agenda – selling a lease on land under the Willamette River by Waterfront Park to the Department of State Lands, for example, and amending a construction contract for improvements at Union Station. Updating a computer system to add capacity for electronic billing and payments – yay, welcome to the 21st century! Maybe. I wish I had an office full of staff to research and tell me what they all contain, so I could pass on the information to you. I have neither an office nor staff, and this is as much as I can do.

Don’t make plans for an early lunch or for getting home at a reasonable hour in the evening, if you plan to attend the hearings this coming Wednesday.