Next Up at City Council, 5/28/08
A very short Portland City Council Agenda this week, with two Council members absent so no Emergency Ordinances or Consent Agenda. No emergency ordinances! How will the City not grind to a halt? As regular readers know, the misuse of the emergency designation has troubled me for a long time. I am happy to be in a position where I can start pushing on that issue a little harder. And on other issues, too….
There are five interesting and important Citizen Communications:
673 Request of Debbie Caselton to address Council to proclaim June 2008 to be LGBTQ2 Pride Month (Communication)
674 Request of Ronault J.S. Catalan to address Council regarding budget communications (Communication)
675 Request of Frank Caywood to address Council regarding budget communications (Communication)
676 Request of Mark Lakeman to address Council regarding The City Repair Project (Communication)
677 Request of Art Ludwig to address Council regarding State Greywater Regulations and Legalizing Sustainability in Portland (Communication)
Although the Primary Election ended with a delightful result in my race on Tuesday, I’m not yet re-organized at home or on the campaign to the point where I have time to give you any details about the issues these citizens will be raising. They are all important, and I encourage you to try to watch the presentations to learn more.
Two “awww” Time Certain items:
678 TIME CERTAIN: 9:30 AM – Declare the week of May 28-June 8, 2008 to be Great Blue Heron Week in Portland (Proclamation introduced by Mayor Potter)
679 TIME CERTAIN: 9:45 AM – Urge the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to honor Bill Schonely with the Curt Gowdy Award for his outstanding contribution to the game of basketball as a member of the broadcast media during his nearly thirty years as the voice of the Portland Trail Blazers (Resolution introduced by Commissioner Leonard)
The rest of the Agenda is mostly Second Readings with votes on rates and fees, carried over from hearings last week.
This item captured my attention because of the part waiving Code:
680 Authorize an agreement with Travel Portland for the promotion of convention business and tourism, waive the provision of Code Chapter 5.68 and provide for payment (Second Reading Agenda 660)
When the rules are waived, there should be good reasons. So I clicked on the link, and find that there are. And it’s interesting information, so I’m reposting it here:
The Council finds:
1. City Charter Section 7-113 directs the City to negotiate contracts with a non-profit corporation(s) whose primary purpose is the promotion, solicitation, procurement and service of convention business and tourism in the City.
[Interesting that the Charter directs the City to attract tourism]
2. The City has determined that such services are in the public interest and will be for a public purpose for the benefit of the City and that securing convention and tourism business produces revenue for the City by increasing business license fees and transient lodging taxes, and revenue for City owned properties such as the Performing Arts Center and PGE Park; and
[An important point about the targeted revenue stream]
3. The promotion of convention business and tourism is a highly specialized service requiring expertise and the confidence of participating local businesses. Travel Portland (formerly known as the Portland Oregon Visitors Association – POVA) has demonstrated its expertise through prior contracts with the City, authorized by Ordinances Nos. 154720, 158721, 162143, 165571, 170317, 173432, 176591 and 179383.
[I rather liked the old name better, even though it turned into an acronym too often. “Travel Portland” sounds like a place to buy airline tickets. The name was probably chosen to appeal when used in other cities, but the agency has plenty to offer those of us who live in the Metro region. Oh well – that’s minor, and the non-profit agency does great work whatever it’s called.]
4. Travel Portland has a unique position as a promoter of convention business and tourism as demonstrated by the number of local businesses that are members of the organization.
5. Travel Portland has been recommended by persons whose business are subject to the tax imposed, as the non-profit corporation the City should contract with for the aforesaid purposes.
6. Travel Portland is a non-profit corporation organized for the primary purpose of promotion, solicitation, procurement and service of convention business and tourism for the City of Portland and is, therefore, qualified to contract with the City for the aforesaid purposes.
7. That considerable additional time and expenditure of funds would be needed if other firms were required to develop the expertise necessary for this work, which POVA already has by virtue of previous work on the project. Consequently, Chapter 5.68 of the City Code should be waived.
So there you have it. Sounds like good rationale to waive the Code in this case, to me.
I hope you enjoy this Memorial Day weekend…. I sure will. Thank you to readers of this blog who joined (and encouraged) thousands of other Portlanders to vote for me.