Linnton Plan Dead Neighbors in Linnton have spent the past several years lobbying the city to rezone a riverside chunk of industrial land so a developer could build housing, in an effort to revitalize the far-North Portland neighborhood. But on Thursday, August 24, Mayor Tom Potter squashed Linnton’s plan. Despite a planning commission recommendation to […]
Randy Leonard
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Hall Monitor
Welcome back
Whether or not you supported his policies and cozy ties with developers, Jim Francesconi always added an air of drama to city council meetings. Beyond his endless—and endlessly fun—battle with City Commissioner Erik Sten, Francesconi would light up a council session with unexpected outbursts of annoyed, weirdly impassioned speech. One minute, he’d be speaking in […]
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Seasonal Affective Disorder
Is the City Screwing Temporary Workers?
More than 200 seasonal city employees have been working without a contract for more than a year, for outdated wages and with no health benefits. Plus, without clear direction from city council, their situation may not improve. The labor contract for the workers—who handle things like park maintenance and water meter readings—expired on June 30, […]
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Hall Monitor
Report Time
If there’s one thing city council excels at, it’s accepting reports. Got an opinion you want the mayor and commissioners to hear? Then form a committee, write a report, and finagle your way onto the agenda. Of course, it helps if the city has actually asked you to put the report together. After effectively taking […]
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Hall Monitor
Working Vacation
Regular readers of this column (I like to pretend that they exist) will know that I have something of an obsession with city politics and policies. Despite all of my eye-rolling and fake snoring sounds, I genuinely enjoy diving into complex, wonky policy issues—my favorite part is nodding my head and acting like I know […]
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Lock and Load
The Fight for Cleaner Air
Two weeks ago, New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof skipped talking about simmering problems in the Middle East and instead devoted his Sunday column to praise Randy Leonard! Yes, that Randy Leonard. Portland City Commissioner Leonard! In July, Leonard pushed through an ordinance that will require all diesel sold in Portland to contain at least […]
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Hall Monitor
Incommunicado
If there’s anything I’ve learned from Dr. Phil—besides the fact that you should never take weight-loss advice from an overweight man—it’s that healthy communication is the key to all successful relationships. Including, even, the relationship between the government and the governed. The framers of the U.S. Constitution included a right to redress your grievances, which […]
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Hall Monitor
Feel the Noize
Last week, I prematurely ended an experiment in which I planned to work out of city hall for an entire week. The idea was that if the Oregonian‘s city reporters get to have their own bureau inside the building, then I sure as shit should at least be able to camp out on a bench. […]
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Chasing the Green Dream
Randy Leonard Pushes Forward on Biodiesel
Say the word “biodiesel” to just about anyone at city hall this week, and the reaction you’ll most likely get is a mixture of guarded enthusiasm and surprise. City Commissioner Randy Leonard’s new plan to mandate the sale of renewable fuel has put city staffers in a difficult position—most support the basic idea, but many […]
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Hall Monitor
Flex car redux
Two weeks ago, city council voted 4-0 to yank city subsidies from Flexcar, forcing the car-sharing company to reimburse the city for the money it spends on Flexcar parking spaces and other expenses. The estimated total: $100,000 per year, about half of that from lost meter revenue. Representatives from Flexcar were, to say the least, […]
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Hall Monitor
Greasy Palms
If the corner of SW Jefferson and 4th seemed extra greasy for the past week or so, it’s because city hall has been flooded with lobbyists from the oil industry, slipping and sliding through commissioners’ offices, leaving slimy footprints all over their nice tile floor. Why has the petroleum industry sent an army of policy […]
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In Over Their Heads?
Neighbors Blast Landmarks Commission
North Mississippi Avenue community members have tried to involve the mayor and city commissioners in the Mississippi Avenue Lofts dispute, begging them to stop the Historic Landmarks Commission (HLC) from derailing the project. The controversial four-story development was initially granted approval on May 1 by the city’s Bureau of Development services, which noted that it […]