PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL has been shaping up for a fight this
week over a controversial proposal by City Commissioner Randy Leonard
to take control of the historic Made in Oregon sign.
The city’s Historic Landmarks Commission is due to decide on April 6
whether the University of Oregon can put its name on the sign it has
maintained for current owner Ramsay Signs since moving into Portland
last spring [“Signs They Are a Changin’,” News, March 12]. But in a
council resolution filed on Thursday, March 26, Leonard proposed an
effective end run around that process: Using the city’s condemnation
process to take control of the sign from Ramsay Signs, at a cost to
taxpayers of $500,000.
“The decision to pursue condemnation is not one I arrive at
lightly,” wrote Leonard on his new blog last week, in a post titled “A
Line in the Sand.” Leonard also alleges that his efforts to persuade
University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer to choose a different
path at a meeting last October resulted in Frohnmayer becoming
“hostile” and “profane.” Frohnmayer could not be reached for comment by
press time.
City Commissioners Dan Saltzman and Amanda Fritz have been outspoken
critics of the proposal to condemn the sign.
“I think this is basically absurd,” says Saltzman. “And it’s a
textbook example of Randy Leonard trying to bully a process. He
couldn’t get what he wanted from his own appointed Historic Landmarks
Commission, so he’s chosen the most draconian tack available.
“This is an institution that’s invested millions of dollars in the
toughest part of downtown,” Saltzman continues. “This isn’t how a city
should reward somebody who spends millions of dollars and creates jobs
and higher education opportunities for students.”
Fritz says the move “might be illegal,” because the condemnation of
property is supposed to be for “public purposes.” She says,
“Regardless, spending time and money on this at a time when we have so
many other things to do is of concern to me.”
The resolution will have a first reading and discussion at council
on Wednesday, April 1, and Leonard has support from Mayor Sam Adams and
Commissioner Nick Fish—enough to pass it with a three to two vote
at a likely second reading next week. But Adams is out of town this
week at a conference of mayors in Washington, DC, so he won’t be around
for the initial council discussion. Meanwhile, Fish’s office declined
comment on the commissioner’s co-sponsorship of the ordinance.
Leonard was on vacation until Wednesday and unavailable to respond
to Fritz and Saltzman by press time. Check blogtown.portlandmercury.com for updates.
It’s private property. They want to change two words. They pay for it’s maintenance and upkeep. It’s been changed at least twice before, and the city’s culture didn’t come crashing apart. The city has no money for this kind of crap. Commissioner Leonard: LET IT GO.