Portland city councilors this week are meeting to discuss amendments to Mayor Keith Wilson’s proposed budget. The city is working to address a $160 million budget gap, and the proposed amendments seek to hold onto union jobs and instead cut management jobs, stop Wilson’s proposal to divert Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) dollars to other city programs, An amendment to move $10 million from a fledgling police oversight board to the Portland Police Bureau and Portland Fire and Rescue failed in a 6-6 tie on Tuesday, marking the end of one of the more contentious proposals. Tuesday covered public safety amendments, and Wednesday will focus on governance, shelter, parks, and executive offices.
Check back here periodically for highlights from Wednesday’s meeting. It’s kicking off with changes to the Prosper Portland budget, carrying over from Tuesday. The Mercury will pick up with live updates around 11.
Wednesday AM: PCEF/PEMO/Trees
Avalos 1: Reverse PCEF Realignments for Impact Reduction Program and Public Environment Management Office (PEMO)
Councilor Candace Avalos’ amendment seeks to reverse Mayor Wilson’s proposal to reallocate more than $5 million from the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) to the Public Environment Management Office (PEMO) and the Impact Reduction Program. Wilson wanted the funding to be used for programs including sidewalk cleaning, lighting, trash and biohazard cleanup, and camp removal, among other things. But Avalos says she thinks PCEF resources should be preserved for climate work.
“This amendment is not saying sidewalk cleaning, trash cleanup, lighting, or public environment management are unimportant, those services absolutely matter…but this are core city responsibilities,” Avalos said. “They are not what voters created PCEF to fund. PCEF was created through a hard-fought community campaign rooted in climate justice, environmental justice, workforce development, and long-term climate resilience investments, particularly for frontline communities already disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis.”
Avalos’ amendment is in tension with an amendment proposed by Councilor Steve Novick (Novick 1), which also seeks to preserve the PCEF funding. But Novick’s amendment suggests replacing the funding to PEMO through general fund dollars currently allocated to tree maintenance programs at Portland Parks & Recreation. The Council’s debate over these amendments reflects broader disagreement over PEMO, which was created by former Mayor Ted Wheeler to “improve cleanup of the city.”
Councilor Eric Zimmerman lambasted his fellow councilors for the suggestion that PEMO’s work isn’t in line with the city’s environmental needs. He said camp cleanup and trash removal is “environmental more than a homeless response,” because “free and open camping” results in trash making its way into the city’s bioswales and watersheds.
In response, Councilor Angelita Morillo said the kind of garbage cleanup PEMO is doing is not “garbage pickup along the Willamette River”—it’s tangential to campsite sweeps. While PEMO may not directly sweep camps, the office has coordinated with business owners and neighborhood associations to arrange campsite removal.
Avalos 1 failed in a 6-6 tie.
Novick 1 also failed in a 6-6 tie.
