I was surprised when Timbers fans saved their biggest cheer at the
Major League Soccer vote last week for Commissioner Dan
Saltzman, who voted “yes” to the idea of MLS, but at the same time
may have nixed the deal completely by proposing a last-minute amendment
that pulled $15 million in urban renewal money off the table, at
least for the time being.

Saltzman proposed the funding change after Multnomah County Chair
Ted Wheeler appeared in council to beat up on Commissioner Randy
Leonard for proposing to use the urban renewal money without first
consulting with the county. As it stands, 26 cents for every tax
increment financing dollar that goes toward the funding of new urban
renewal districts is held back from Multnomah County in taxes that
would otherwise fund education and social services, every year for the
next 20 years.

Leonard says the city helps the county out financially all the time,
and accused Wheeler of crafting a “stump speech.” But truth be
told, Leonard is grandstanding on this issue, too. Since Mayor Sam
Adams took control of the Portland Development Commission‘s
(PDC) budget in January, urban renewal has become politicized in a new
way.

In the past, urban renewal projects like the South Waterfront and
the Pearl District were controlled by PDC, supposedly in the best
interests of Portland, without “political” interference. Leonard and
Adams took control of PDC’s budget because they felt PDC wasn’t
accountable enough to Portlanders, but the move had the side effect of
shifting responsibility for controversial urban renewal projects
away from PDC and directly onto city commissioners.

If Leonard is going to take responsibility for the possible failure
of the project, you can be damn sure that he’ll want to take credit
if it succeeds. But instead of getting the county to the table
early and making quiet tradeoffs in return for establishing a new urban
renewal district, as PDC used to, Leonard will now have to fight the county tooth and nail, and in public, over the creation of a new
urban renewal district that includes PGE Park, to fund the MLS
deal.

Leonard’s office says it may find the $15 million from elsewhere,
but where? Until Leonard can get the county to sign off on the deal,
Saltzman just made the next six months of his fellow commissioner’s
life a lot more stressful. And cleverest of all, he got a cheer for it
from some Timbers fans. That’s some crafty defensive play, I
swear.

Matt Davis was news editor of the Mercury from 2009 to May 2010.

6 replies on “Hall Monitor”

  2. I like how Davis is making certain phrases bold to make sure the talking points he wants to get out are highlighted. It reminds me of religious tracts or that right wing drivel the RNC puts out.

  4. What weapons is the County bringing to fight “tooth and nail?” They’re not really blessed with a powerful leg to stand on, particularly.

    And this:
    “As it stands, 26 cents for every tax increment financing dollar that goes toward the funding of new urban renewal districts is held back from Multnomah County in taxes that would otherwise fund education and social services, every year for the next 20 years.”

    is prone to the fallacy that those tax increment dollars would actually exists without the URD.

  6. Why is there a county government? I’ve got a proposal: Let’s consolidate City/County into one single government and farm out what’s left to Metro.

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