News Nov 21, 2019 at 4:00 am

Would solving the biggest hinderance to Portland's inequities be more effective than continuing to micromanage a bunch of smaller ones?

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Comments

1

Does the city hall reporter not understand how city government is structured? This piece conflates two issues that are related but not the same. One is how we elect commissioners (from districts or at-large), and the other is the commission form of government (where commissioners head up bureaus vs. a city manager or strong mayor, for example).

Portland could do away with the commission form of government but maintain the at-large seats. Likewise, it could change to a ward system with geographical districts and still have the commission form of government.

Portland voters shot down a charter amendment in 2007 (Measure 26-91) that would have ended the commission form of government in favor of a strong mayor. It would have retained the at-large seats. The Mercury opposed the measure.

Alex is right that Portland is the largest city to still have the commission form of government, but we are not the only major city with at-large council members. For example, Columbus, Ohio is more populous than Portland and has only at-large seats. Voters there overwhelmingly rejected a change a few years ago. Nevertheless, the trend nationally has been for cities to move toward hybrid systems with a mix of at-large and districts.

Portland should have a conversation about its form of government, but that conversation needs to be grounded in an accurate understanding of what the current form is. When the "Hall Monitor" doesn't even understand it, we have a lot of education to do. Unfortunately, a piece like this only makes things worse by irresponsibly spreading misunderstanding.

2

What the hell is this author talking about? Neighborhood Associations have a long, hard-fought history in Portland empowering people to participate in government. They represent those living within their geographic boundaries - everyone and anyone is welcome to participate. "Majority white upper-middle class" ??? Has the author ever attended a Neighborhood Association meeting, I don't know, ANYWHERE in Portland ??? This misleading and divisive column should be corrected and the author sent back to journalism school. SO disappointing Mercury.


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