windowboxPortland City Council, transcribed and searchable
The Portland City Council adopted the city's fall supplemental budget for fiscal year 2026-27 on a 12-0 vote Thursday, without discussion, and on the same unanimous margin created a reserve subfund for business license tax revenue.
Portland police leaders urged councilors not to ban tear gas, and Committee Chair Sameer Kanal (District 2) continued both the discussion and its public hearing without a vote.
The Portland City Council voted 12-0 Wednesday to make it illegal to carry a handgun into City Hall, the Portland Building or the 1900 Building, even with a concealed handgun license.
Portland city councilors and Multnomah County commissioners pressed in an Oct. 28 joint work session to make behavioral health their shared top request to the 2027 Legislature, as staff warned that state homelessness money the region relies on will lapse unless lawmakers renew it despite a budget gap of at least $421 million.
The City Life Committee voted 5-0 to send full City Council an ordinance declaring two Portland Bureau of Transportation parcels in District 1 surplus property and authorizing their sale at fair market value, with a recommendation that it pass.
The Public Works Committee voted 4-0 to recommend that the full City Council pass an ordinance letting Portlanders paint their own driveway clearances for a $200 permit.
The Portland City Council voted 8-4 on Wednesday to approve an intergovernmental agreement with the State of Oregon and Multnomah County creating the Oregon Arena Joint Authority, after rejecting 5-7 an amendment to the measure's impact statement.
Portland City Council members voted 9-1 to amend the fall supplemental budget so the council's operations manager can give staff merit raises above the current 2% cap, then sent that budget and a companion business-license-tax reserve ordinance to a second reading. Councilor Loretta Smith (District 1) cast the lone no. Councilors Eric Zimmerman (District 4) and Angelita Morillo (District 3) were absent.
The Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole voted 9-2 on Oct. 21 to recommend that the full City Council reappoint Weinstein as an alternate member of the Community Board for Police Accountability, a condition of settling the lawsuit he filed after his removal.
The Community and Public Safety Committee received and placed on file an advisory committee's eight recommendations to move Portland Street Response into a new stand-alone city bureau, a step city staff priced at about $144,000 a year and Councilor Loretta Smith said she did not believe would stay that cheap.
Housing and Permitting Committee Chair Candace Avalos (District 1) held off a vote on her proposed climate and health standards for large Portland buildings on Tuesday and set a Dec. 1 return "for hopefully a vote", after about 44 people testified. A majority of those testifiers asked for a pause, a delay or exemptions.
The City Council voted with 12 ayes to tentatively deny the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association's appeal of the Ida B. Wells High School rebuild, upholding the hearings officer's approval and adding a condition, offered by Portland Public Schools (PPS) during the hearing, that sets guaranteed public hours at the campus track, tennis courts and fields.
Portland's Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole voted 12-0 to send the city's fall supplemental budget to the full City Council with a recommendation to pass it, after amending it to add $600,000 for construction pre-apprenticeship programs.
The Portland City Council voted 11-0, with Councilor Loretta Smith (District 1) absent, to authorize the city attorney to notify the state that the council may consider a moratorium on facilities that launch commercial drones.
The City Life Committee voted 5-0 to recommend that the full City Council approve giving the former Menlo Park Water Tower site to Habitat for Humanity Portland Region, a transfer the Portland Housing Bureau said would double a planned East Portland homeownership project from 11 to 22 homes.
The Public Works Committee referred two Portland Bureau of Transportation ordinances to the full City Council on 5-0 votes while hearing — and splitting over — a staff proposal to regulate self-driving taxis that two members said should simply be banned.
The Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole continued the Fair Share Tax — which would raise the business license tax exemption to $500,000 and restructure the CEO pay ratio surtax — to its October 15 meeting after hearing roughly 30 public testifiers, taking no vote.
Portland's City Council voted 9-2, with one member absent, to raise Portland Fire & Rescue permit and inspection fees projected to bring in about $800,000 a year, over the objections of two members who said the increases arrived outside the budget process.
The Portland City Council held an informational work session on the Fall Technical Adjustment Ordinance, taking no vote, where staff previewed a reclassification of $1.08 billion from contingency to long-term reserves and councilors flagged a workforce-training amendment, a Moda Center set-aside, and the privatization of the Portland Tennis Center.
The Community and Public Safety Committee referred an updated Secondhand Dealers Code to the full City Council 4-0, after adding a $25 background check fee and stripping a catch-all data-collection clause over privacy concerns.
The Housing and Permitting Committee referred a measure extending Portland's property-tax exemption for nonprofit low-income housing to the full City Council on a 3-2 vote, over objections about a possible for-profit loophole. The committee, chaired by Candace Avalos (District 1), also forwarded a zoning-code update and heard a long presentation on a climate policy coming back in two weeks.
Portland City Council deadlocked 6-6 and rejected a proposal to strip the aviation-fuel exemption from its plan to shrink fuel storage at the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub, while advancing the broader package of hub safety amendments it has worked on for years.
The council passed the Psychedelic Health and Safety Code 10-0, with two members absent, after holding four more ordinances for a second reading on Oct. 7 during a short Wednesday session led by Council Vice President Olivia Clark.
Portland's Office of Government Relations told the City Council at a September 29 work session that the 2027 state legislative session will likely be "the most difficult legislative session for this body since the Great Recession," as councilors pressed to narrow a sprawling draft agenda and sharpened over how early staff should set priorities. No vote was taken; work sessions carry no formal action.
Portland councilors spent a three-hour work session on September 29 debating how to rebuild the city's shrunken civic engagement system, after staff reported the Office of Community and Civic Life had fallen from about 50 employees to fewer than 10 before a realignment brought it back to roughly 30.
The Portland City Council continued both ordinances of its Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub policy project to October 1 after hearing roughly 60 public testifiers, closing the oral record while leaving written testimony open until noon that day.
The Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole voted to send Portland's payday-lending fee ordinance to the full City Council with a do-pass recommendation, 9-0, one of four regulatory-fee measures the committee advanced after splitting a fifth off for more work.
The City Council passed a franchise transfer of the Zenith Energy fuel terminal to ISQ Springer Holdings on a 7-6 vote, with Mayor Keith Wilson breaking a 6-6 tie to approve it.
The City Life Committee referred a surveillance- and dynamic-pricing ordinance to the full City Council as amended on a 4-1 vote, after rejecting a broader rewrite that would have barred retailers from using personal data to set discounts. The committee, chaired by Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2), spent roughly two hours on the measure before three other items.
The Public Works Committee voted 4-0 to send three transportation ordinances to the full City Council, then took an hour of testimony on how Portland will spend and bill the new street fees residents start paying January 1.
The council rejected the transfer of Zenith Energy's fuel-terminal franchise to a new owner on a 5-6 vote, then spent much of the night in a procedural fight over whether to bring it back — ending with an 8-4 vote to postpone that question to next week.
Portland planners told the council a proposed CEI Hub package would cut in-service fuel storage capacity in the city's riverside fuel hub by 20% by December 2036, a target industry and environmental advocates both urged the council to rework before a September 24 hearing.
The Finance and Governance Committee took no vote on how Portland finances its police and fire pensions, placing a discussion of the $3.6 billion legacy plan on file after staff said the city's best option is to stay its current course.
Portland's Housing and Permitting Committee took no action at its September 15 meeting, using two hours to examine the city's decade-old mandatory relocation assistance policy and to hear renters and landlords debate whether the payment that renters get when a rent hike forces them out should be triggered at a 5% increase rather than the current 10%. The committee, chaired by Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1), placed all three agenda items on file.
The Community and Public Safety Committee laid a firearms ordinance on the table 3-2 after passing an amendment to it 5-0, deferring a proposal to strip the concealed-handgun defense for guns carried into three downtown city buildings.
The Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole voted 9-0 to refer the appointment of Omar K. Salomon to the Homelessness Response System's Steering and Oversight Committee to the full City Council with a recommendation to accept, with three members absent.
Portland's budget team laid out four areas of possible changes to the city budget process for the 2027-28 cycle at a September 10 work session, taking direction from the 12-member council but casting nothing as a recommendation and taking no vote.
Portland's City Council adopted a resolution 8-4 directing the administration to open planning talks with Portland State University on a new city-owned, 3,000-seat Broadway-capable theater estimated at $447 million, while committing no money and pledging to keep the Keller Auditorium in use.
Portland's council held an informational work session on regional behavioral health and heard a four-part proposal to press the 2027 Legislature to backfill 55 recently closed inpatient psychiatric beds, add about 50 psychiatric respite and 50 subacute beds, create a sustainable inpatient-psychiatry reimbursement rate, and remove barriers to building capacity — no vote was taken.
The City Life Committee heard four climate presentations anchored on a $20 million Portland Clean Energy Fund grant for industrial decarbonization that launches in October, taking no votes but asking members to consider concrete proposals at a later meeting. Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) chaired; Councilor Angelita Morillo (District 3) and Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1) joined remotely, and Councilor Dan Ryan (District 2) and Vice Chair Eric Zimmerman (District 4) attended in person.
Portland's Public Works Committee held a discussion-only session on parks partnerships and volunteerism on Sept. 8, taking no vote but placing both agenda items on file — and used it to press Portland Parks and Recreation over a 25-year Portland Tennis Center contract signed without a council vote.
Portland's City Council voted 12-0 to direct the city administrator to negotiate exclusively with Albina Vision Trust as the development partner for city-owned parcels next to the Moda Center, capping negotiations at 12 months.
Portland City Council voted 12-0 to adopt an emergency ordinance giving every city employee a free annual TriMet pass, and amended it 12-0 to extend the benefit to contracted janitors and security staff who work full-time for the city.
The Community and Public Safety Committee referred a 27% Portland Fire & Rescue fee increase to the full City Council on a 4-1 vote after first stripping its emergency clause, and spent the rest of its meeting dissecting why police response times keep rising even as call volume falls.
A Portland City Council committee voted 4-0 to send full Council a resolution urging the City Administrator not to sign non-disclosure agreements for data center deals, after amending it to add the Council's intent to pursue a moratorium or zoning limits on hyperscale data centers.
A committee panel of health, toxicology and environmental experts urged the Portland City Council to ban chemical weapons in the city, telling the Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole that tear gas and related agents pose respiratory, reproductive and ecological harms — a presentation that drew pointed objections from two councilors over its scope. The committee took no vote on the presentation, which was placed on file.
Portland City Council adopted a non-binding term sheet 8-4 to begin negotiations to renovate the Moda Center and keep the Trail Blazers in Portland for at least 20 more years, after amending it to add rent from the team and raise that rent to $3.17 million a year.
The City Life Committee referred to the full City Council, 4-1, a resolution advancing a new Broadway-capable performing arts venue at Portland State University, after adding amendments that bar the city from committing construction money until it sees a full financial plan.
The Public Works Committee voted 5-0 to send the Portland Bureau of Transportation's streetcar-advertising code amendment to the full City Council with a recommendation to pass, the only vote taken at a meeting otherwise given over to three oversight presentations.
Portland's City Council let all 11 proposed amendments to the Moda Center arena term sheet die on August 6, most on 6-6 or 5-7 splits, and continued the resolution to August 12 without adopting a single change sought by councilors trying to force a financial return for the city.
A Portland City Council committee voted 7-5 to send the transfer of the Zenith Energy fuel-terminal franchise to a new owner, ISQ Springer Holdings, to the full council with a recommendation that it pass. The vote followed roughly two hours of testimony, most of it opposed.
Portland's City Council spent all of Aug. 5 hearing testimony on a non-binding term sheet to keep the Trail Blazers at a renovated Moda Center for 20 years, then continued the item to Aug. 6 without taking a vote.
The Community and Public Safety Committee referred a grant to expand police traffic enforcement to the full City Council on a 3-2 vote, over objections from two members that the city was funding an activity with documented racial disparities before examining them. The committee, chaired by Councilor Steve Novick (District 3), also advanced a psychedelics deprioritization ordinance after stripping out its proposed advisory commission, and heard an hour-long briefing from Multnomah County's corrections agency.
The Housing and Permitting Committee referred a $35 million federal housing loan and 10 property-foreclosure ordinances to the full City Council on 5-0 votes, then heard an hour-long presentation on single-stair building reform that drew sustained pushback from one member.
Portland's council passed a $287,500 settlement 9-0 on Thursday to resolve a bodily-injury lawsuit from a cyclist's collision with a Water Bureau dump truck, and sent a land-use code package back for a final August vote. The afternoon session ran under 30 minutes with two items on the agenda; Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1) presided, and three members — Steve Novick (District 3), Mitch Green (District 4) and Candace Avalos (District 1) — were absent throughout.
Portland's City Council spent a three-hour work session laying out demands for a Moda Center renovation term sheet — with the Trail Blazers and city negotiators openly at odds over whether the team has provided the financial data the council needs — ahead of a first public hearing Aug. 5 and a scheduled council vote Aug. 12.
The council passed an ordinance removing income requirements for publicly subsidized affordable-homeownership units on an 8-3 vote, over objections that it turns a targeted program into a broad market subsidy. This digest covers the Wednesday, July 29 morning session, presided over by Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1); Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1) was absent.
Portland councilors used a work session to press Oregon Department of Transportation officials on who will pay the citywide costs of a southbound I-5 closure through the Rose Quarter that begins September 11 and could last up to five weeks — a session that produced no vote.
A City Life Committee held over Mayor Keith Wilson's resolution to advance a new Broadway-capable theater at Portland State University and reimagine the Keller Auditorium, taking no vote and continuing the matter to August 11 after more than an hour of divided public testimony.
Portland's Public Works Committee took no votes on July 28, placing on file two Portland Bureau of Transportation presentations — one on rolling out the new transportation fees, one on regulating driverless taxis — but a committee member said he would block one measure in September unless staff bring more options.
Portland's council voted 12-0 to establish a Drivers' Resource Center for ride-hailing drivers, adding an emergency clause from the dais that put the ordinance into effect immediately.
The Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole voted 11-1 to send Mayor Keith Wilson's reappointment of Marcelino Alvarez and Eric Kress to the Prosper Portland board to the full City Council with a recommendation to accept, with Councilor Loretta Smith absent.
Portland's council split 6-6 on a $13.1 million plan to restore jobs cut in June, and Mayor Keith Wilson broke the tie by voting no, clearing the way for a smaller competing budget that passed 10-2 minutes later.
Portland's chief financial officer presented 44 potential actions to stabilize the city's finances at a September 21 work session, where councilors debated priorities but took no vote.
The City Council voted 10-1 to amend a budget ordinance restoring 55 frontline positions with roughly $18 million, most of it Portland Clean Energy Fund interest, over the objection of Councilor Steve Novick (District 3), who called it "a desperate effort to save face".
The council split 8-4 to strip language naming the police-accountability office as a budget backfill source from one of two rival plans to reverse this year's layoffs, then continued both plans to the next afternoon without adopting either.
The Finance and Governance Committee referred Mayor Keith Wilson's slate of three Portland Utility Board appointees to the full City Council on a 12-0 vote, after first amending it 11-1 to add a third appointee. The committee also held a lengthy, unresolved discussion of Home Forward, the county housing authority now carrying a roughly $30 million deficit.
The City Life Committee sent a code requiring certification for electricians on city-funded electric-vehicle charging projects to the full council on a 5-0 do-pass recommendation, and held over the proposed Parkrose Forward Enhanced Service District after roughly two dozen residents split sharply for and against.
A city committee took no votes at its July 7 meeting, instead placing on file a decade-in review of North and Northeast Portland's anti-displacement housing program and opening public oversight of Urban Alchemy after allegations of abuse at city-funded shelters.
The Community and Public Safety Committee held over both major items on its agenda — an ordinance to deprioritize personal psychedelic use and create a city advisory commission, and a firearms-code change — sending the psychedelics measure to August 4 without a vote.
Portland City Council continued the appeal hearing on the Lloyd Center redevelopment master plan without deciding it, closing the record and sending the matter to July 8 after two days of testimony split between residents fighting to save the mall's ice rink and a lineup of business and neighborhood groups urging approval.
Portland's Finance and Governance Committee spent nearly three hours dissecting how the city builds its budget and took no vote, placing the discussion on file and agreeing to return to it within a month or two.
The council recessed its hearing on two appeals of the Lloyd Center master plan without a decision, after hearing dozens of skaters and neighbors urge it to preserve the city's only ice rink, and continued the matter to June 25.
Portland councilors used their first public work session on a Moda Center renovation to demand a private capital contribution from the arena's ownership and more detailed cost information, with several rejecting a timeline that would have them vote on a term sheet within weeks; no vote was taken.
The City Life Committee voted 4-0 to send a five-year extension of the CityKids childcare lease to the full City Council with a recommendation to pass, the only formal action at a June 23 meeting otherwise given over to a presentation on a proposed Hollywood film district.
The Public Works Committee referred an ordinance directing the transportation bureau to evaluate and install no-turn-on-red restrictions at high-crash intersections to the full City Council with a recommendation to pass, on a 5-0 vote.
Portland City Council passed the Moderate-Income Revolving Loan Program on an 11-0 second reading, letting the city tap state loan money for middle-income housing while several members voiced unease about the risk it places on city finances. Councilor Eric Zimmerman (District 4) was absent for the vote.
Portland's City Council adopted a fiscal year 2026-27 budget on a 9-2 vote with one abstention, closing a gap the council president put at more than $160 million while confirming that layoffs affecting frontline workers will take effect.
The Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole voted 11-0 to send Mayor Keith Wilson's slate of four Portland Clean Energy Fund committee appointments to the full council with a recommendation they be accepted, with Councilor Eric Zimmerman (District 4) absent.
The Housing and Permitting Committee voted 3-2 to send the full City Council an ordinance temporarily removing the income cap for homebuyers under the Portland Housing Bureau's Affordable Housing System Development Charge exemption program, over objections from two members that it would push aside lower-income buyers.
A committee amendment removing personal-defense pepper spray from a list of weapons banned in city parks passed 5-0, while the underlying ordinance stripping concealed-handgun protections from certain city buildings was held for more negotiation.
Portland's council deadlocked 6-6 and failed to adopt the "Services First" budget amendment that would have funded 96 positions and paused the layoff of 46 city workers, leaving the FY 2026-27 budget unfinished when the meeting hit its 1:30 p.m. hard stop. The council worked through six competing amendments to restore public safety and city jobs; every one that reached a vote failed, and a seventh was carried to June 11.
A Portland City Council committee voted 5-0 to send the full council an ordinance establishing a Driver Resource Center for rideshare workers, funded by clarifying that the city's existing $2 ride fee applies to trips ending in Portland, not just those starting here.
The Public Works Committee took no votes at its June 9 meeting, spending the session on a presentation about the I-5 Rose Quarter project that laid out a five-week closure of southbound I-5 beginning September 11 during which travel could take two to three times longer. The item was placed on file.
Portland's City Council voted 7-5 to ban the sale of foie gras and other force-fed poultry products, rejecting first a grandfather clause for the handful of restaurants that already serve it.
The council voted 10-2 to appropriate $2.5 million from the Construction Excise Tax for Black-led homeownership development in District 2, ending a monthslong fight in which supporters said the projects had been repeatedly stripped out and opponents said the money was handed out with no competitive process.
The Housing and Permitting Committee voted 5-0 to send Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment Package 11 to the full City Council with a recommendation to pass, after Vice Chair Mitch Green moved to strip out its shelter-expansion provisions and then withdrew the motion. Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1) presided; Green (District 4) was vice chair.
A Portland City Council committee took no final votes Tuesday, holding presentations on gun violence and 911 call reassignment and continuing an ordinance that would make personal use of naturally occurring psychedelics the city's lowest law-enforcement priority.
The Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole referred the mayor's Urban Forestry Commission appointments to the full City Council on a 10-0 vote, recommending acceptance. It also referred a slate of Sustainability and Climate Commission appointments, and Chair Sameer Kanal (District 2) previewed months of coming business, including the Moda Center.
The council voted 11-1 to advance $2.5 million for two Black-led homeownership developments in North and Northeast Portland to a second reading, after amending the ordinance to draw the money from a construction excise tax fund instead of a social housing fund.
A Portland City Council committee referred an ordinance to strip the permit requirement for sidewalk sandwich boards to the full council on a 5-0 recommendation, after a longer session laying groundwork for a rideshare "take rate" policy that Uber and Lyft declined to appear for. The City Life Committee, chaired by Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2), met May 26 and referred four ordinances to the full council; none is final.
A Public Works Committee voted 5-0 to send an ordinance renaming Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard to Campesinos Boulevard to the full City Council with a recommendation to pass, waiving the city's usual street-renaming process. Councilor Loretta Smith (District 1) presided over the May 26 meeting; the agenda lists Councilor Olivia Clark (District 4) as chair.
Portland's City Council sent its roughly $8 billion-plus FY 2026-27 budget to state review on the third day of budget deliberations, after a marathon final session in which councilors fought to a string of 6-6 ties and passed a handful of last-minute restorations, including a $1 million cut to homeless encampment sweeps.
Portland's City Council spent a full day amending Mayor Keith Wilson's proposed FY2026-27 budget and adopted a Community Health and Safety Package that funds violence-prevention programs by cutting council security, passing it 8-4.
The Portland City Council took no final budget votes on May 18, instead hearing roughly 156 public testifiers across a full day and approving three technical corrections to the FY 2026-27 budget before continuing the main budget, utility rate ordinances, and Prosper Portland budget to later in the week.
The council issued up to $95 million in FPDR levy borrowing 12-0 and moved two contested measures — a law-enforcement identification code and an Arts Tax overhaul — to second readings, while opening debate on $525 million in water bonds tied to the $2.5 billion Bull Run filtration project.
Portland's police chief told the council the mayor's proposed budget would cut the Portland Police Bureau by about 6.4% to $319.6 million, close the North and East Precinct front desks, and eliminate roughly 80% of the unarmed non-emergency response team — reductions the council took no vote on at this informational work session.
Portland Solutions director Sky Brockner-Knapp presented a $65.6 million proposed budget for the homelessness and livability program — a $18.8 million, 22.3% cut from current service — as councilors questioned shelter consolidation, the use of climate funds for street cleaning, and oversight of shelter operator Urban Alchemy. The May 12 work session took no votes.
Portland's top budget officials told the City Council their proposed reorganization of internal services would cut a net 69 positions and centralize human resources, technology and procurement, drawing sustained criticism from councilors over transparency and the pace of the process during a May 8 work session that took no vote.
Portland's economic-development and sustainability bureaus told the City Council on May 7 that the mayor's proposed budget cuts Prosper Portland by 10 positions, trims arts small grants, and routes $26.89 million in Portland Clean Energy Fund interest to the general fund — an informational work session that took no votes.
Portland's City Council passed a rewrite of its Chronic Nuisance Property Code 7-5, giving police a complaint-based tool against properties tied to human trafficking, gun violence, and drug activity over objections from five members who said it risks repeating a history of racist enforcement.
Portland budget officials told the City Council on May 6 that the mayor's proposed FY2026-27 budget would cut 12 tree-permitting positions — six of them filled — and that permit inquiry turnaround has already grown from about two weeks to six or seven weeks since the program moved to Portland Permitting and Development. The session took no votes; it was the first of the Community and Economic Development Service Area budget work sessions, covering permitting, housing and planning, presided over by Council President Jamie Dunphy (District 1).
The Housing and Permitting Committee voted 5-0 to send an ordinance conveying a 3-acre city lot to Habitat for Humanity for 50 permanently affordable, family-sized ownership homes to the full City Council with a recommendation to pass. Councilor Candace Avalos (District 1) presided, with Councilor Mitch Green (District 4) as vice chair.
Portland Fire & Rescue would emerge as the least-cut city bureau at a 4% reduction, Mayor Keith Wilson told the council, yet its proposed budget still removes a fire engine from Station 22 in North Portland, cuts three rescue units to half-time in East and Southeast Portland, and reduces the CHAT community-health program by $500,000 — reductions councilors across all four districts said they would work to reverse.
Portland's Parks and Recreation bureau and its transportation bureau laid out FY2026-27 budgets to the council's budget committee, a day after the council approved a new transportation utility fee that Parks leaders said reshaped the whole conversation — the work session took no votes.
Portland's City Council passed a new transportation utility fee 9-3 on its second reading, adopting a charge to fund basic street maintenance and safety. The council also advanced amendments to its chronic nuisance property code and continued a proposed foie gras ban after roughly 80 minutes of testimony.
A committee split 3-1 to send Portland's arts-tax overhaul to the full City Council with a recommendation to pass, raising the flat levy from $35 to $50 while cutting about 147,000 low-income residents from the rolls. Councilor Eric Zimmerman (District 4) cast the lone no, and Councilor Dan Ryan (District 2) had left before the vote.
Portland councilors and Multnomah County commissioners met in a joint work session on the FY 2026-27 budgets and heard that even with both governments' proposed spending, the region expects a net increase in homelessness over the coming year — no vote was taken.
Portland councilors spent nearly three hours questioning city budget officials over roughly $21 million in unbudgeted Portland Housing Bureau money that council learned of only on Nov. 20, less than an hour before it passed the fall budget adjustment, then placed the oversight item on file.
Mayor Keith Wilson delivered a proposed $8.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2026-27 that closes a $171 million general fund gap through service cuts and one-time revenue, and the City Budget Committee received it and took nearly three hours of public testimony dominated by city workers fighting proposed layoffs.
The City Council passed the FY 2025-26 Technical Adjustment Ordinance 8-3 on April 15 after rejecting three attempts to redirect its housing dollars, including a bid to restore $2.5 million for two Black-led homeownership developers that failed 6-5.
The Finance and Governance Committee voted 10-2 to send a proposed transportation utility fee — a $12-per-door monthly charge on households — to the full City Council with a recommendation it pass, after amending it three times.
The City Life Committee, in its first meeting, voted 5-0 to send two Mayor Keith Wilson ordinances to the full City Council with recommendations to pass — one amending Portland's Comcast franchise and one approving $7.7 million in Portland Children's Levy grant decisions — after spending most of the session hearing 15 invited panelists lay out the state of the city's economy and communities.
The Public Works Committee voted 3-1 to send the City Council water revenue bonds of up to $525 million to help finance the Bull Run filtration plant, with Councilor Mitch Green the lone no.
The council voted 8-4 to send its FY 2025-26 budget adjustment to a second reading, adopting a housing package that steers $4.3 million to the general fund while rejecting a competing plan to allocate a larger share of roughly $137 million in unbudgeted Portland Housing Bureau money.
Portland's five-year general fund forecast remains balanced only because the city assumes current appropriation levels rather than the higher cost of maintaining current services, City Economist Peter Holzman told a council budget work session, where councilors spent 90 minutes telling Mayor Keith Wilson which cuts they will and will not accept. The session took no votes.
A Portland City Council committee voted 5-0 to send a Portland Housing Bureau supplemental budget to the full council, after amendments that redirected $8.6 million to the city general fund and folded several named housing projects into a $21 million revolving loan fund.
A committee reviewing an ordinance to bar concealed-handgun-license holders from carrying loaded guns in city meeting buildings held the measure without a vote so councilors could draft amendments, with the item set to return in June.
Portland's new Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole voted 10-1 to send a street-damage restoration fee — amended to recover 100% of the cost utilities impose on city pavement — to the full City Council with a do-pass recommendation, while continuing the larger transportation utility fee to April 15.
The council raised the business license tax exemption toward $100,000 for the city's smallest businesses, passing an amended ordinance to second reading with the amendment adopted 11-3.
Portland's budget office told the City Council the current year's general fund gap has grown to $21.9 million and laid out how a Spring Technical Adjustment Ordinance would close it — a work session that drew sustained objections from several councilors over forecasting, process, and cuts that were authorized but never made.
Portland's Public Works bureaus told the City Council on March 19 that they manage $77 billion in assets against a $14.2 billion deferred-maintenance backlog, and that closing FY2026-27 budget gaps will require either raising rates and fees or cutting services Portlanders use daily. The council took no votes at the work session, the fourth in a series ahead of the mayor's proposed budget.
Portland's City Council let its rewrite of the chronic nuisance property code slide to a future meeting after a motion to send the measure back to committee failed 4-6 and the clock ran out on debate.
Portland and Multnomah County officials met in a joint work session on March 17 to sort out overlapping homelessness roles as both governments head into budgets facing deep cuts, with the county proposing to close roughly 775 shelter units — a reduction of about $30 million — on top of about 230 units already closing this fiscal year. The session took no votes; council does not act at work sessions.
The council adopted a resolution declaring that Portland will defend transgender and LGBTQIA2S+ residents and won't use city resources to help other states prosecute people for healthcare that is legal in Oregon, passing 12-0.
City budget staff told the council that the current model for funding Portland Solutions — which faces a combined shelter and cleanup gap topping $65 million next year — "is simply not sustainable," and laid out a citywide reorganization that would cut roughly 98 positions to save about $23.7 million.
Portland's 12 councilors spent a Saturday work session setting collective strategic priorities — safety, housing and homelessness, economy, core services, and infrastructure — with no votes taken, though the day surfaced sharp disagreements over policing, equity, and how the city talks about business.
City finance staff told the council Portland faces an $18 million general fund shortfall for the current fiscal year and proposed filling it without cutting staff or services, drawing objections from several members to using reserves and to pulling money from council office budgets. The March 5 work session took no vote; ordinances are set for April 8 and 15.
Portland's City Council spent a three-hour work session on March 5 trying to pin down how much of roughly $106 million in unbudgeted housing money it can actually spend, and left without allocating any of it — the meeting took no vote.
Portland's City Council voted 9-3 to accept a Supporting Portland's Storefronts report establishing a Storefront Support Program, capping a meeting that ran nearly two hours past its calendar and left half the agenda — including a package defending transgender and LGBTQIA2S+ residents — unheard.
Portland's public safety bureaus face a $35 million current-service-level budget gap heading into FY2026-27, and even before any cuts a 10 percent reduction would force what the service area's leader called "nuclear options," council members were told at a March 3 budget work session. The session, the first of the budget season, took no votes; it covered the Community and Economic Development and Public Safety service areas.
Portland's council restored a $15 million Portland Clean Energy Fund allocation to affordable housing on a 9-1 vote, rejecting a councilor's push to redirect the money to transportation. The February 25 morning session also advanced a rewrite of the city's civil-rights code protecting diverse families and spent an extended stretch on procedural fights over absent colleagues and last week's protest arrests.
Portland's budget team told the City Council on Feb. 25 that keeping every current city service running next year would cost $912.6 million against $743 million in forecasted general fund revenue, a gap the council spent the afternoon learning how to read.
Portland's City Council put off action on roughly $20.7 million in unspent housing funds Wednesday, voting 8-4 to indefinitely postpone all three items in a Housing Bureau package after Council President Jamie Dunphy said he had not yet been briefed on the money.
The City Council voted to remove Bob Weinstein as an alternate to the new Community Board for Police Accountability over his refusal to sign a confidentiality agreement, while a parallel move to remove board member Schuyler Halsey over social-media posts failed and left him seated for the board's first meeting that evening.
Portland's City Council voted 8-4 to adopt a resolution directing the City Administrator to release public records on roughly $21 million in unspent Portland Housing Bureau funds and to hold a Council oversight hearing by March 6. The three-hour debate exposed a sharp split over whether the new council should use its charter investigatory power directly or hand the work to an outside auditor.
The council advanced a compromise slate of housing priorities for roughly $20.7 million in unused renter funds on an 8-4 vote but left the underlying resolution unfinished, continuing it to a later meeting.
Portland's outside police-oversight expert told a City Council work session that its 9th report reviewed 10 officer-involved shootings and in-custody incidents from 2019 to 2022, and the Police Bureau accepted six of its seven recommendations while rejecting a call to require supervisor approval before officers ram a fleeing vehicle.
The council took no vote on a plan for roughly $20.7 million in unspent renter-services money, continuing the "Slow the Inflow" resolution to January 28 after dozens of residents condemned a last-minute amendment that cut rent assistance from $18 million to $8.5 million.
The council adopted a City Council Governance Handbook 9-0, capping a session that also cleared two lawsuit settlements and a FY2026-27 budget calendar reshaped to guarantee district listening sessions.
Portland's City Council deadlocked 6-6 through nine rounds of voting on January 7 and could not choose a Council President, splitting evenly between incumbent Elana Pirtle-Guiney and Councilor Sameer Kanal before recessing the election to the next day.
The council adopted the Homelessness Response System Action Plan and its key performance indicators on a 9-3 vote, over objections that the plan sets goals with no numbers attached. Councilors Jamie Dunphy of District 1, Sameer Kanal of District 2, and Dan Ryan of District 2 voted no.
Portland's City Council confirmed Raymond C. Lee III as the city's first permanent city administrator on an 11-0 vote, then approved his employment offer and a severance package that drew objections from one councilor as "not a good look."
The Portland City Council adopted its annual investment policy 10-1, but only after adding an amendment, passed 8-3, directing a 2026 push toward a human-rights screen on city investments.
Portland's council advanced a first-of-its-kind fee and nuisance ordinance targeting property owners who lease land for immigration detention, adopting a technical amendment 9-0 but holding the ordinance itself for a vote at its next meeting after roughly 30 residents demanded the city instead revoke the permit for the South McAdam Avenue facility.
Portland's City Council authorized revenue bonds of up to $41 million to build out a leased fleet maintenance facility, passing the ordinance to a second reading on November 5 over a councilor's objection that the city would be sinking the money into property it does not own.
Portland's City Council voted 11-1 on Wednesday to pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit by a man who spent more than four years in prison believing he had killed an overdose victim who had in fact survived.
Portland's City Council voted 12-0 to enact an emergency ordinance codifying the city's sanctuary protections into binding law and, in a separate 12-0 vote, adopted a resolution creating a "Protect Portland Initiative" against federal immigration and military deployment.
Portland City Council adopted a resolution 12-0 directing the city administrator to build a storefront support program and deliver a plan by January 31, 2026, after more than a dozen small-business owners described repeated break-ins, assaults and unreported crime.
Portland City Council adopted a framework for a permanent Public Street Plaza Program on a 7-0 vote, directing the transportation bureau to build out and fund plazas citywide — though councilors noted not one exists in District 1.
Portland's council voted 12-0 to authorize a prepaid lease of about $705,000 for an in-district office serving two of the three District 1 councilors, after the third councilor pulled the item to challenge the city's construction and internal-service costs.
Portland City Council adopted a resolution reaffirming its Vision Zero commitment and creating a cross-bureau task force to end traffic deaths, passing it 12-0 after adding two amendments. The meeting opened with a disruption that forced the council to clear the chamber.
The Portland City Council passed to second reading a package suspending street-tree and building-upgrade requirements for many renovation projects until 2029, aimed at cutting permitting costs, and confirmed two Revenue Division Appeals Board members 12-0 only after a prolonged dispute over how the council uses its consent agenda. Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) presided.
I'll work through this systematically, building the ledger first from the transcript.
Portland's council adopted a resolution 11-1 directing the city administrator to fold the city's scattered housing plans into a single unified housing strategy, with Councilor Dan Ryan the lone no vote.
Portland City Council voted 11-0 to refer a five-year parks levy to the November 4 ballot at $1.40 per $1,000 of assessed value — up from the current 80 cents — to keep Portland Parks and Recreation operating and begin chipping at a maintenance backlog. Councilor Olivia Clark (District 4) was absent.
The council voted 12-0 to reverse its own earlier decision on the Portland Children's Levy, repealing a one-year funding extension and the remand of grant recommendations and approving the original Allocation Committee awards for July 2025 through June 2028.
I'll work through this systematically, building the ledger first from the transcript.
Portland's City Council spent June 10 rebalancing its 2025-26 budget toward parks, arts, and housing, voting 8-4 to move about $2.1 million in parks levy money out of tree regulation into parks maintenance and 7-5 to shift the entire tree regulation program to a different bureau, then passing a 7-5 package of small cuts to fund social services — with the full budget vote pushed to June 11.
The Portland City Council voted 7-5 to send the Portland Children's Levy's three-year grant recommendations back to the levy for reconsideration, then passed an emergency ordinance extending current grants for one year at reduced funding to prevent a July 1 lapse.
The council let its $80 million curb-ramp-and-street-improvement bond ordinance advance to a final vote on May 7 after rejecting a move to cut off debate on a 4-8 vote, then adopted Councilor Loretta Smith's youth-employment resolution 11-0 but ran out of time to vote on her companion sidewalk program. Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney (District 2) presided over the special meeting, which was capped at two hours and closed at noon.
Portland's City Council passed its FY 2024-25 budget technical adjustment 10-2 on April 16 after two proposed amendments deadlocked 6-6 and died because Mayor Keith Wilson was absent and, the city attorney advised, could not have broken the tie anyway. The long night ended near 11 p.m. with the council suspending the rest of its agenda by unanimous consent.
The council adopted a resolution 12-0 directing the city administrator to study social housing and other alternative housing-finance and ownership models, with a report due May 31, 2026, after adding three amendments including one naming the Albina Vision Trust project area as a possible pilot zone.
Portland's City Council adopted a resolution 11-1 directing Mayor Keith Wilson to investigate whether Zenith Energy violated its franchise agreement with the city and urging the auditor to examine the facts behind the company's land-use approvals, after a multi-hour fight over the document's supporting material and a dispute over public testimony.
Portland's City Council paid $938,328 on an 11-1 vote to settle a civil-rights lawsuit by nine journalists and legal observers over Portland Police Bureau conduct during the 2020 protests, with Councilor Loretta Smith the lone no.
The Portland City Council confirmed Robert Day as Chief of Police on a 12-0 vote, and separately voted 12-0 to accept the Portland Police Bureau's annual report on its work with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force after testimony calling that work a civil-liberties risk.
The City Council appointed Michael Jordan as City Administrator through January 2, 2026, on an 11-1 vote, over objections tied to the administration's approval of a Zenith Energy land-use permit. Councilor Sameer Kanal (District 2) cast the only no.
The City Council voted 10-2 to add roughly $4.3 million to its 12 offices' budgets and $269,810 to the mayor's office for the current fiscal year, drawing the money from the general fund contingency after an amendment redirected it away from the city administrator's budget.
Portland's new 12-member council elected Elana Pirtle-Guiney of District 2 as its first council president on a 7-5 vote, ending nine rounds of balloting deadlocked at 6-6.
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