Next Up at City Council, 2/28-3/1, 2007

The Portland City Council Agenda for the morning of Wednesday, February 28th and the afternoon of Thursday, March 1st, looks busy (or it did, before PortlandOnLine became PortlandOffLine this morning. A jinx from my comments yesterday? Sorry!}. Lots of contracts and Intergoverment Agreements on the Consent Agenda, some of which look interesting but not enough to spend time researching them as a volunteer. There’s additional money to build the pool at the East Portland Community Center. It was supposed to be funded by the capital improvements levy, passed so long ago that inflation means its receipts no longer cover the construction costs. Council is doing the right thing by voters and for East Portland, by allocating additional money from the rest of the City budget to ensure the facility is completed as promised. Also on Consent, the appointment of Rick Michaelson to the Development Review Advisory Committee, citizen advisors to the Bureau of Development Services. It used to be heavily weighted towards development interests, but Bonny McKnight (citizen leader of the Citywide Land Use group) and I worked with Commissioner Leonard’s office and other citizens to make it more balanced. Rick Michaelson is a developer who cares about historic preservation, environmental protection, and design issues. I served with him on the Planning Commission, and greatly respect his judgment. Good appointment.

First on the Regular Agenda, after a 9:30 Time Certain (remember, that means it certainly won’t start before then, but might be later) on a street improvement project, is item 188 Accept bid of Oregon Iron Works, Inc. to furnish a prototype streetcar for the Office of Transportation for $3,200,000. Yes, one streetcar, over three million dollars. [Update 23:04 – see comments for why]

Many citizens spent time in the City’s budget forum this past Thursday evening. I didn’t go, as I was watching and enjoying “Kiss Me, Kate” for the fourth time (it’s getting even better with each performance). But I will hazard a guess, that participants were not asked,
“Suppose you have three million dollars to spend. Would you rather buy:
a) a new park or park improvements in a neighborhood (not yours);
b) sidewalks and a traffic light at a crossing to a school (not in your area); or
c) a prototype new streetcar?”

How come citizens are rarely asked to participate in that kind of important prioritizing? How come the question on the Council’s Agenda is always, “Should we accept this bid for $3.2 million?” rather than, “What are all the needs of the city, and where does this request fall in the priority list, considering them all?” Under the proposed new form of government, it’s my understanding the Mayor wouldn’t even need to bring a bid like this to Council. The total Transportation budget would be set in the overall annual or biennial budget, then the Mayor and administrators would decided if $3.2m is a good deal on a streetcar or not – with no public input.

At 10:15 a.m. Time Certain, the Transportation System Plan 2006 Update. The Agenda item reads, “Amend the Transportation System Plan and Comprehensive Plan to ensure that the documents remain current and to incorporate new policy language relating to green streets”. According to the Transportation web page, “The Technical Update incorporates recently adopted plans and studies, notably the Freight Master Plan and the Transportation System Plan for the Urban Pockets of Unincorporated Multnomah County, updates project descriptions and costs, and makes minor classification changes.”

The Transportation System Plan is “the long-range plan to guide transportation investments in Portland. The TSP meets State and regional planning requirements and addresses local transportation needs for cost-effective street, transit, freight, bicycle, and pedestrian improvements…[it] provides a balanced transportation system to support neighborhood livability and economic development.” Expect to hear lots of acronyms if you watch this hearing. Transportation folks are especially fond of them.

The rest of this post is from memory, since I can’t access the Agenda today due to the City’s site problems. I’ll post corrections/additions in the comments if needed, when it returns. Wedneday’s Regular Agenda includes a resolution sponsored by Commissioner Leonard and Mayor Potter, asking the US Congress to send something binding to the President aimed at bringing the troops home from Iraq. Commissioner Leonard’s resolution changing the City’s position on safe staffing for public safety employees returns for, what, the fourth try? I’ve lost count. And there is one other beyond-the-city-limits resolution, but I can’t recall what it is.

Thursday afternoon’s agenda has the Measure 37 claim covered below at 2 p.m., then something else which again escapes me at 2:30 p.m. Not something I noted on my personal calendar for attendance.