Portland City Council Special Session

4:42Hi, Jamie.

5:02Hello.

5:05We're Zoom pals.

5:34Good afternoon.

5:35It is 1:32 PM on June 25th.

5:39I am calling to order a special meeting of the Portland City Council.

5:46Colleagues, um, we have a few things before us today because we Have been spending a lot of time on budget and needed to do some catch-up on some additional work.

5:57We will go through them in just a minute, but first, Keelan, could you please call the roll?

6:02Kanal.

6:03Ryan.

6:04Here.

6:05Koyama Lane.

6:07Here.

6:07Morillo.

6:08Here.

6:09Novick.

6:09Here.

6:10Clark.

6:12Here.

6:12Rainn.

6:13Here.

6:13Zimmerman.

6:14Here.

6:15Avalos.

6:16Present.

6:17Dunphy.

6:20Councilor Dunphy, can you hear us?

6:25Yes, here.

6:26Hello?

6:26Here.

6:27Okay, great.

6:27Thanks.

6:28Cool.

6:29Thank you.

6:30Smith?

6:31Pirtle-Guiney?

6:32Here.

6:35Thank you.

6:35Linley, could you please read the rules of order and decorum?

6:38I will.

6:38Good afternoon and welcome to Portland City Council.

6:40To testify before council in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the council agenda at www.portland.gov/council/agenda.

6:49Information on engaging with counsel can be found on the council clerk's webpage.

6:53Individuals may testify for 3 minutes unless the presiding officer states otherwise.

6:57Your microphone will be muted when your time is over.

7:00The presiding officer preserves order.

7:02Disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others' testimony or council deliberations will not be allowed.

7:10If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given.

7:12Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting.

7:15Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass.

7:18Thank you, Council Clerk Rebecca Dobert.

7:19Additionally, council may take a short recess and reconvene virtually.

7:23Your testimony today should address the matter being considered.

7:26When testifying, state your name for the record.

7:28Your address is not necessary.

7:30If you are a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent.

7:33Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the council clerk calls their name.

7:37Thank you.

7:42Thank you, Lindley.

7:43Colleagues, the first item on the agenda is reorder and approval of the agenda.

7:48Are there any motions to reorder Okay, seeing none, do we have unanimous consent to adopt the agenda?

8:06Okay, I don't see any objections.

8:08Keelan?

8:12Keelan, could you please read the next item on the agenda?

8:21Item number 2, amend code to consolidate noise enforcement and improve fairness and consistency in noise regulation.

8:29Point of order, Council President.

8:32Yes, go right ahead, Councilor.

8:35Can agenda items be added after?

8:37I thought there were—.

8:38I thought there was another item.

8:39Maybe that's what Councilor Ryan has his hand raised for.

8:42Uh, Councilor Ryan, is that what you're raising your hand for as well?

8:45Yeah.

8:46So the agenda approval is a great time to add items to the agenda.

8:53Somebody could motion to suspend the rules at any time to add an item to the agenda as well.

9:01Does that clear up your point of order or point of information, Councilor?

9:06I guess, but I was hoping that we could get that situated before we called the first item.

9:10Councilor Ryan, are you introducing An agenda item.

9:14Thank you, Councilor Avalos, and thank you, Madam President.

9:17I want to pause for one minute.

9:19Keelan, I'm not sure if you finished reading that agenda title.

9:22Are we in item 2, or are we still in a bit of a no man's land right now, just so that we know procedurally how we want to move forward?

9:29Yeah, I mean, I, I read the title, but I think if we need to go back to the agenda approval section, that's fine.

9:36We're okay, Lindley?

9:37Okay.

9:38We've already moved on on the agenda.

9:40I— Councilor Ryan, go right ahead.

9:46Um, yeah, thank you, Madam President.

9:48Um, I heard the part where you can suspend the rules at any given moment.

9:52I hope that what's been talked about, um, will happen and we will suspend the rules and go back and revisit the Portland Children's Levy, um, vote.

10:04And have a thorough discussion about that today.

10:08And so I will pause and hope that that— I will bring that up later if someone else doesn't.

10:13It just— I thought someone else was gonna do this at this time, so that's why I wanted to make sure that it was put into the— on the dais that it was spoken.

10:22Thank you, Mayor.

10:23And we obviously have a lot of people here that would expect such transparency and dialogue from this council.

10:29Councilor Novick, did you have a point to make before we move forward?

10:33I have a question.

10:33Have we moved— have we now moved on from the agenda so I can't propose adding something to the agenda?

10:38At any time somebody can move to suspend the rules to add an item to the agenda.

10:43Okay, so don't— now is not particularly important.

10:47Well, what the hell, might as well.

10:50I move to suspend the rules to add an item to the agenda, an ordinance which I have here repealing the 1-year extension of funding for the Portland Children's Levy for FY 2025-26 and approve the funding recommendations of the Children's Levy Allocation Committee for July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2028, thereby repealing Ordinance 192065.

11:12Second.

11:12I'll second.

11:14I believe Councilor Kanal beat you to the punch there, Councilor Ryan.

11:18That's right.

11:18Yeah, cool.

11:18Makes me hopeful.

11:20Okay, so colleagues, we have a motion to suspend the rules and consider an additional agenda item, which has been seconded.

11:30Linley, is this a debatable motion?

11:33A motion to suspend the rules?

11:35Yes.

11:37Okay, colleagues, is there any debate around suspending the rules?

11:42I believe we will need to vote to suspend the rules to hear this.

11:46So this is not debate on the ordinance that was put forward itself.

11:50This is debate on whether to suspend the rules.

11:53Councilor Ryan, are you in the queue to debate whether to suspend the rules?

11:57I'm supportive, but there's no need for me to debate at the moment.

12:00Okay.

12:01Councilor Novick?

12:02Uh, no.

12:03Okay, colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue, Keelan, could you please call the roll?

12:09This is a 9-vote, 9-person majority vote.

12:15Kanal?

12:17Aye.

12:17Ryan?

12:18Yes, for transparency.

12:19Aye.

12:20Koyama Lane?

12:21Aye.

12:22For clarity, this is to suspend so that we can have the discussion?

12:26Okay.

12:26All right.

12:27Perfect.

12:28Novick.

12:29Aye.

12:30Clark.

12:31Aye.

12:32Aye.

12:32Avalos.

12:36Aye.

12:37Dunphy.

12:39Aye.

12:40Smith.

12:44Aye.

12:45Pirtle-Guiney.

12:46Aye.

12:47Motion carries with 12 yes votes.

12:50Okay, colleagues, we have a motion on the table, which— Do I not need to— I believe actually we need a— we have suspended the rules to consider this.

13:07I believe we will need a motion and a second to move this.

13:10Is that correct, or are we automatically there?

13:12No, you have suspended the rules to place this on the agenda, and you'll just Need to decide when on the agenda you're hearing it.

13:18Okay.

13:20So colleagues, I would place this immediately on the agenda since that motion was made, unless the mover and seconder would prefer to place it at the end of the agenda.

13:30Now is fine.

13:32Yeah.

13:32Okay, perfect.

13:34So I believe we should take this up now.

13:36This is a motion to repeal the 1-year extension for the Portland Children's Levy for 2025-26.

13:43And approve the funding recommendations of the Children's Levy Allocation Committee for July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2028.

13:53Is there discussion to the motion?

14:00Apologies, where did you say it was going?

14:02At the end of the agenda?

14:05Uh, no, we're putting it on the agenda right now, Councilor.

14:08Okay.

14:09Is there discussion to the motion?

14:12Yes.

14:14Aye.

14:15Okay.

14:16Councilor Smith.

14:19So what we— what the plan is that we're voting on is to remand the remand and do give the recommendation that, um, the Portland Children's Levy originally gave us?

14:33That is the motion that has been made.

14:35Okay, I do not support that at this time.

14:45Thank you, Councilor.

14:46Councilor Morillo?

14:49Um, so for clarity, because I just— this is my first time seeing this ordinance, uh, this is, uh, just a full remand of the original?

14:57It would go back to the original recommendations that were made?

15:00Exactly.

15:01Okay.

15:01Are there any other impacts that we should be aware of on this?

15:06No, other than I think one impact of doing this would be to restore trust among the members of the numerous citizen advisory bodies, which saw this body summarily reject the recommendations of dozens of volunteers on several different advisory bodies to the Children's Levy.

15:24So I think that beyond the specifics here, there's an issue of our credibility with our advisory bodies in general.

15:34Councilor, did you have additional questions?

15:40Okay.

15:42I think this is a difficult discussion because right now what we're seeing is that different communities are being pitted against each other for a small fund of resources that exist, and I don't think that should have ever happened.

15:55We have legacy organizations that have done work with BIPOC communities for a very long time that have that trust.

16:02And we have new and emerging organizations that are also doing wonderful work and that they should be commended for that and be given the opportunity to build that trust.

16:11So I think over time, I'd like to see the Children's Levy kind of address that dynamic as far as supporting new and old organizations in the work that they're doing.

16:22I think what my office heard was a lot of concerns from some of the equity folks that had worked with the Children's Levy That a lot of the feedback that they were given was not necessarily taken into account.

16:35We were also reached out to by numerous members of the original community committee that gathered all of the applications first, and that they didn't feel necessarily like their recommendations ended up being fully taken into account or their feedback with a 5-member body after that.

16:53And so I just want people to understand that this is kind of a nuanced discussion and that—.

16:58Councilmember Herbold.

16:59This is the information that my office received and that I think a few of our offices received, and that's part of what went into the decision.

17:07But I would like to see over time with the children's levy a return to some of the equity person's information and making sure that all of that's actually being taken into account because it's my understanding that there were a lot of, you know, we heard a call for culturally specific grantees to demonstrate that at least 51% of the people that they serve are Black or brown and for a thoughtful So a lot of the organizations that were given funding did not fit that criteria.

17:42And I just wanted to name that as we're having this discussion.

17:47Thank you, Councilor.

17:48Councilor Novick.

17:50I just wanted to note that every decision we make about money pits somebody against somebody.

17:56Somebody gets money, somebody doesn't, or somebody gets more money and somebody gets less.

18:02And I believe that the children's levy responded, that staff responded to all of the complaints that people heard.

18:09And again, I've heard many members of this body talk about the importance of citizen involvement, and the children's levy is an example of citizen involvement on steroids.

18:20Dozens of volunteers going through an elaborate process to come up with recommendations.

18:26And I would like anybody who votes against returning the recommendations of the— those advisory committees and of the staff to say nothing about citizen involvement in the future.

18:47Councilor Smith, you're back in the queue.

18:52Yes.

18:52Just for the record, there was a 12-0 vote to extend current, um, grantees.

19:00A 12-0 vote, including, including the, the maker of this new, um, ordinance.

19:07And there were reasons why that happened, because we did listen to folks who said that they didn't believe that it was equitable.

19:15Everybody has a different reason for equity.

19:18And we have all been trying to identify ways in which, um, all the organizations could, could be served in this year.

19:28I don't think us remanding the remand is something that we should be doing.

19:35I think that we need to identify resources after the first of the year so that we can fund all those folks who Actually fell through a donut hole.

19:46Um, this is hard work, and we understand that the decisions that we make here, they're permanent.

19:58And at this point, we would actually have to come back again to get this done.

20:06So for me, I would like to talk and ask a question of Um, Lisa Pellegrino, she's here.

20:23And Lisa Pellegrino, director at the levy.

20:26Thank you, Lisa.

20:27I was—.

20:27I, I want to tell you that I was very troubled by a couple of things that PCL did.

20:32You all sent out letters to grantees That they were, um, they were being recommended.

20:40And so with those letters, they believed that they were getting money, and it was not made clear to them that the council makes the awardees.

20:51And that was sent out months ago.

20:55I think that you all should have came forward because I think it was— I believe That PCL knew that there was gonna be some issues whichever way it went.

21:08And had we seen some of the issues and heard about some of the issues earlier, we could have straightened this out.

21:14But we were up against a budget in a budget cycle.

21:20So for me, it's very disingenuous to gather all these folks together When you actually gave us the recommendation to extend the current grantees.

21:34You're the one who gave that, gave that direction to us.

21:38So for me to be able to have to be here at this point to be able to vote on this, I don't support that vote because I think we can have everyone win after the 1st of July.

21:50Councilor, is there a question?

21:52I want to make sure we're not going over the time.

21:53Yeah, so my, my question is, we talked about Identifying ways in which we can reform the scoring system and how we do business.

22:03First of all, that letter needs to stop.

22:06Only letters should be sent out to grantees after the council.

22:11Secondly, this new rule—.

22:13Councilor, Councilor—.

22:14Could I respond to that?

22:15Because I feel like I'm not getting the chance to respond.

22:17Okay, go ahead.

22:17I'd like to make sure that we allow Lisa a chance to respond.

22:22Okay, perfect.

22:22Go ahead.

22:24There was no letter sent.

22:25We sent out a recap of the allocation committee meeting, which was a meeting held on April 23rd, and the title of the thing that we sent out to everybody— okay, so that's all the applicants— is, here is what the allocation committee decided.

22:39The city council must approve these allocations, and we will get back to you with a date on which that will happen as soon as we have a date confirmed.

22:47Which is exactly what we did.

22:48As soon as we had the city council date confirmed, And we let people know that it would come before council and when they could testify.

22:54We provided each of those communications to all the applicants.

22:58So we were not telling them that the decisions were final.

23:00In fact, it says that in the— if you look in our RFI that is published online, the applications that people read, it's in there too.

23:07We have never pretended that the allocation committee was the end of the decision-making process.

23:12We told people what was gonna happen.

23:14So I can't— So when I talked to— I'm not sure what else I could do.

23:18Oh, I— that's, that's good.

23:19That's good information because I just seen the email that was sent out to the current grantees that, that PCL sent out saying what they would be getting July 1st.

23:27So that was something very similar that you sent out to the other folks.

23:30So the, the new grantees, they believed that they were going to be funded, and that's what they told me.

23:37That's what I heard from people last week, that they thought that they were already awarded.

23:43That's why they made decisions that they made.

23:45To fund their programs after July 1st.

23:48And that is so— that's the troubling piece to this.

23:51Um, so now if you remand the remand, so we have 2 groups of people who each have an email saying that they're going to be funded.

24:04The, the email that was sent to the current grantees on the extension was sent after the order that Councilor Zimmerman brought forward.

24:10No, no, that's fine.

24:11So I had to notify them of their—.

24:14Of what the council ordered.

24:15So I— that's the situation I'm in.

24:18We are trying to communicate the actions that are being taken by the bodies that are making decisions.

24:22Oh, I appreciate that.

24:23So what I'm saying is with the actual ordinance that's on the table right now, then you would have to send them another email telling them that they will not— that's what I was trying to establish.

24:33And that's why I don't support doing this is because I think there is a way for everyone to win.

24:38After the 1st of July.

24:40And I know you didn't bring this forward.

24:41I know that, um, Councilor Novick did, but I just wanted to clear up that it is, it is a lot of confusion going on.

24:52Councilor, is there a question there, or should we have this discussion amongst councilors?

24:56Yes, we should have the discussion amongst council.

24:59Thank you.

25:01Thank you, Councilor.

25:04Councilor Ryan, do we need to keep our staff at the table or can we let them go back to their seats?

25:08I want to, yeah, stay there for a minute 'cause I want to talk about why.

25:14First, I want to say this.

25:17This fund is a lockbox is how I try to think of it always because it's a restricted account.

25:21It's a contract between the voters and the taxpayers.

25:25This is how much money we have to fund the Portland Children's Levy.

25:29Period, end of story.

25:31I don't know what fantasy there is in the next year's budget that's going to clear up money out of operations to fund these accounts.

25:41I'd like us to stay focused on the Portland Children's Levy account.

25:48So I wanted to establish that first of all.

25:502, We made what I thought was a very thoughtful decision after The shocking 7-5 vote to not accept the recommendations.

25:59The best equity plan I've ever seen in terms of giving out money to the community.

26:05Bravo for that.

26:08Councilor, I'm gonna pause you for 1 minute.

26:10I have a question.

26:11I understand.

26:13I'd like to ask folks to jazz hands, thumbs up, but silent applause, please.

26:19Got it.

26:21Councilor Zimmerman, I thought your Amendment after that vote was really thoughtful.

26:25I know we all voted for it because we, a lot of us just wanted to make sure that those organizations were not, didn't, they had funds in 2025 going forward.

26:37That said, like any last-minute amendment, sometimes it has consequences, of course, we couldn't have known about.

26:43I've had the opportunity to listen to you explain a couple of them.

26:47So I think it was a very thoughtful—.

26:48Thank you.

26:49Proposal here to look at why not just extending these awards for one more year was a good idea because it's having some messy accounting consequences, if you will.

27:02Could you alert us to a little bit of that?

27:05Oh, it's a—.

27:06So we can get back then to the other one.

27:07But I wanted to let us know that, try and break this down a little bit.

27:10First, let's look at the fact that we get to have this conversation.

27:13Thank you for the 12-0 vote on that.

27:152, Why we want to look at rethinking the amendment that was passed after we, the majority here, rejected the thoughtful Portland Children's Levy recommendations.

27:25So can we get to why that matters?

27:29I'm not exactly sure what the question is.

27:30So what I heard from you, Director Pellegrino, is there was some problems with us making, voting in that amendment at 12-0.

27:37We had some unintended consequences with that that of course we couldn't have known about.

27:42At that late hour.

27:43Could you explain why it's smart for us to reconsider that amendment?

27:48Well, the consequences are primarily to the organizations that would've received funding under the recommendations that the allocation committee made or the decisions that they made.

27:56Speak a little bit louder.

27:58Sorry.

27:59The primary consequences are to the organizations that were—.

28:02The allocation committee selected for funding that are not current grantees.

28:07So the The ordinance that you passed that extends all current grants means that none of the organizations that were chosen by the allocation committee for funding starting July 1st would get money July 1st.

28:19And if the extension is for a year, then our funds, which are defined pie and come in in annual revenues, would be spent on extending those current grants.

28:29They would not be there to fund something else.

28:32There's also some groups in that that are current recipients that didn't even apply because that program no longer exists.

28:40Is that true?

28:41Yeah, they wanted— they were planning to stop that program.

28:43They didn't apply for a continuance.

28:44Yes, some—.

28:45So we'd be giving money to organizations that aren't doing the program that they did in the previous set of awards?

28:51Well, they did not apply to continue funding and operating that program.

28:54So I appreciate this, and I wanted my colleagues to hear a little bit of that because for me, that was why it was really crystal clear.

29:00We should rethink that decision.

29:03Is there anything else you would like to explain to the council on why that makes sense?

29:09The other issue is sometimes, you know, we raised various questions on some programs that were not performing well, and those will be continuing to be funded under that order.

29:20Colleagues, I hope that today we can— clearly, I would love to redo the vote.

29:26But what I'd really like to do is get this right.

29:28I'm a big believer in not being right, but getting things right.

29:32And I hope we can just take a pause to like at least stop what we did and then have some dialogue.

29:38If it means that we have to come back for part 2 of your amendment, if you will, of this ordinance in July, then I would be open to that.

29:45What I don't want us to do is leave this meeting in such a messy place.

29:51And I really applaud you Councilor Novick for bringing this up today.

29:56And I guess I'm pleading that if we have to do it in a part 2 phase, then would we consider that?

30:02Because I really want us as a council to get this right for the community.

30:06People are watching, and I'm so proud of the equity formula that was put in motion.

30:12And I'm a big believer in accountability and acceptance once something like that is put in motion.

30:17And I'll just say for everyone, we wish there wasn't a 21% cut in that fund in one year's time and that more awards were getting awarded at this time.

30:27We can't control that with this vote.

30:29What we can do is get this right.

30:31So thank you for coming up and answering some of those questions.

30:37Thank you, Councilor.

30:38I'm in the queue.

30:42Colleagues, I know there have been a lot of conversations about what the next And I just wanna share that for me, the absolute top priority is making sure that we have funding this summer and for as much of this summer as possible.

30:55Because the idea that some of the proposals that were floated might leave us with summer months when kids are not in school, when kids often have the most instability without hunger programs or—.

31:09Councilor Herbold.

31:11Mentoring programs funded feels like a worst-case scenario.

31:15I do support this proposal, Councilor.

31:18Thank you for bringing it forward.

31:22And I hope that as we move through this discussion and any other discussion on this topic, we keep in mind making sure that we have as much coverage in programs for the summer as possible.

31:35Thank you.

31:37Okay, that puts us back to Councilor Smith.

31:48Yes, um, Madam President, thank you so much.

31:51Um, I just want to reiterate that we all voted 12-0 for this a couple weeks ago, and we were covering a good majority of the programs.

32:01The only programs that were not covered for the summer under the, the Zimmerman Amendment was this donut hole full of organizations.

32:11And I think that we could get those funded and we won't have the issues that we're having around issues around equity.

32:23And if the process was done properly, because that's, that's actually what it was, how do we have large mainstream Programs who don't serve at least 51%, uh, BIPOC, uh, students and families that are getting the lion's share of the money.

32:42And so that's, that's the issue that I think that we were all trying to solve for, and that there was an unintended consequence, particularly in my district, of smaller organizations.

32:55And, and I get that as well.

32:56Thank you.

32:57But I think remanding the remand of the remand, it, it, it, it is, it is very messy.

33:04And I think that we should, uh, identify additional resources to make sure that everybody is covered after the first.

33:13Thank you, Councilor.

33:14Councilor Koyama Lane.

33:17Thank you, Council President.

33:21I'm going to Councilor Dan Ryan.

33:24I want to openly acknowledge that there have been unintended consequences as a result of council actions.

33:33I always want to look to address impact and seek compromise that finds a path forward for all.

33:42And I'm just going to be honest, I'm learning.

33:45I make mistakes.

33:46I reserve the right to change my mind in response to new information.

33:50I'm always going to work to be accountable and act in alignment with my values.

33:54I still have questions and concerns about, and thoughts about ways we can be providing technical support.

34:05I know that being able to provide that support and having access and the capacity to fill out grants, that is equity.

34:15And I want us to think about how we can operationalize Equity.

34:19I fully believe that we have a team here that's open to that and wants to do that, as I've had many conversations in the last few weeks.

34:29I know we need to invest in this as a development short-term and long-term.

34:34Um, I want to share that I have worked on another amendment.

34:43I know that we will be voting on Councilor Novick's First, that is one that is somewhat of a compromise.

34:54And I hear what Council President's saying, which is that the focus is to make sure that the kids can get services.

35:06It would rescind the ordinance that was brought forward and Really in a good faith way, one that we all agreed was something that we could use to bridge the gap if it would actually take a full year for— 6 months to a year for this to— for us to have a conversation again.

35:32But we've— I've gotten new information that it is possible we can expect July 16th that we could come back and hear from Portland Children's Levy about review of—.

35:42Yes.

35:46What they'll bring to us.

35:48And so this ordinance would repeal the previous ordinance and direct the allocation committee to include a summary of how it addressed concerns raised by council during the remand process.

36:03And we would be able to make that decision on July 16th.

36:07I have talked to Lisa Pellegrino about If they can— understanding they can't take action until council decides, but that the hope is funds could go out after council decides.

36:23And it has been confirmed with the attorney that we can backdate and make sure those contracts start, or we can recommend that those contracts start July 1st.

36:34So I wanted to share that that is another possibility.

36:38I know there are a few different routes After having many conversations, I don't think that there is anything that everyone's gonna agree on and is very clear.

36:47And I can pass around another option too.

36:50Point of information, Madam Vice President, is your intention to offer this maybe as an alternative?

36:58And if so, would you amend the motion on the floor?

37:06The point of me bringing this up is to flag that I will bring this up if Councilor Novick's is taken off the table.

37:15You can do it as an amendment.

37:16Or I can do it as an amendment.

37:18I don't think Councilor Novick is open to that.

37:26Councilor Novick, you are in the queue.

37:28Before you speak, I want to flag for folks who are in the room that as A new ordinance that has been added to our agenda.

37:36We will be taking public testimony on this proposal.

37:40If you are interested in providing public testimony, I'd ask that you approach the clerk who can get you signed up.

37:47And just to clarify, the ordinance before us does 3 things.

37:53Councilor Novick, I'm looking to you to tell me if I'm wrong.

37:56It would repeal the 1-year extension which was passed in order to provide bridge funding for the period of time while new considerations were being made.

38:07It would then rescind the remand of the Children's Levy Allocation Committee recommendations, and it would then pass the Children's Levy Committee recommendation allocations.

38:21Correct.

38:22So those are the 3 things that this would do.

38:25We will take Public testimony on this if there are folks who are interested in signing up.

38:31We are limiting public testimony today on all items on the agenda to 2 minutes in order to ensure that we have time for this and the many items that were already on our agenda.

38:41Councilor Novick, go right ahead.

38:44Just wanted to respond to a couple of points fellow councilors have made.

38:47Councilor Smith keeps on talking about a 12-0 vote.

38:50I was one of the 5 people that voted against Overturning the recommendations of the allocation committee.

38:55I voted for the Zimmerman Amendment because my understanding was the only alternative was that nobody would get any money for some period of time.

39:02So I thought that was a bad idea.

39:04It wasn't that I agreed with the original decision that 7 members of this council made.

39:08On the topic, Councilor Khamelane used the phrase unintended consequences, and I take issue for that.

39:15The intended consequence of the vote of 7 members of this council was that organizations that the allocation committee had recommended we get money would not get money, and that the recommendations of the allocation committee, which flowed up from the considerable citizen process, would be rejected.

39:32Those are the consequences.

39:33They were obvious consequences.

39:34They were intended consequences.

39:36Thank you, Councilor.

39:39Colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue, I'm going to move us into public testimony.

39:45This is a little backwards from usual because I wanted to make sure to give folks Some time to hear what we were talking about before we took signups for public testimony.

39:54Key order.

39:55Councilor Avalos.

39:57What are we taking?

39:58Like, what is the actual motion?

40:00So the motion is just right now to add to the agenda Councilor Novick's thing.

40:04Are we still in that?

40:05And that's what you're saying we're taking public testimony on?

40:07We voted on that motion and we are now in discussion on the ordinance which Councilor Novick has put forward.

40:14So we are taking public testimony.

40:16On the ordinance which Councilor Novick has put forward, which would do 3 things.

40:21It would repeal—.

40:22Wait, hold on.

40:23When did we vote?

40:24I didn't vote.

40:25I believe you voted, Councilor.

40:29I believe you voted.

40:30We voted 12-0, if I am remembering correctly.

40:34Keelan's nodding yes.

40:36We voted 12-0 to add this to the agenda.

40:40There was then a discussion about the fact that We needed to know where to add it.

40:44I recommended that we add it to the beginning of the agenda unless the person who made the motion and seconded it, Councilors Novick and Kanal, disagreed with that.

40:53They both nodded yes that they agreed.

40:56So we've been in discussion on the ordinance that was moved.

40:59Do we have a problem with the lights or did somebody just bump the light switch?

41:03It's mood lighting.

41:05Perfect.

41:05So we are in discussion on Novick's amendment right now?

41:08We are in discussion on the ordinance that was moved by Councilor Novick and seconded by Councilor Kanal.

41:16Keelan, do we have anybody signed up for public testimony?

41:20We do have folks who are signed up.

41:23Let me check with Rebecca really quick.

41:27Hoping it's a good sampling of concerns and— Okay, so I think we'll, we'll go ahead and get started.

41:58Um, Jonas, Cassie.

42:00Okay, and could we call up, if we have them, 3 at a time just to keep us moving?

42:05Yep.

42:06The, um, we also have Deanne Salazar.

42:10I'm sorry if I mispronounced that.

42:13Nike Green, Madison Caps.

42:18And when your name is called, please feel free to come up to the table and give your testimony in the order in which you are called up.

42:24Go ahead.

42:25Go right ahead.

42:27Good afternoon, councilors.

42:29My name is Jonas Kasse, and I'm the founder and executive director for Ethiopian And Eritrean Cultural Resource Center.

42:37As I have shared in my past 2 testimonies, the ECRC Youth Mentoring Program was not created out of convenience or just passion.

42:45It was born out of urgency and personal experience.

42:48In 2018, while serving as interpreter during a parent-teacher conference, I witnessed multiple immigrant and refugee students scoring far below expectation.

43:00The root cause was clear.

43:01They lacked mentorship, academic support, and cultural relevance guidance.

43:06That experience inspired me to launch our mentorship program to help these young people recognize their worth, unlock their talents, and realize their full potential.

43:18Over the past 4 or 5 years, with the support of the APCL small grant, we have accomplished a great deal.

43:25We have seen students grow academically, socially, and emotionally.

43:29Thank you.

43:29The impact of this work has been powerful, and as a result, demand has continued to grow.

43:37Due to our proven success, ECRC and other Black and African-led mentoring parents were notified or chosen for a larger PCL grant to expand out— to expand our reach and deepen our impact.

43:54We were ready to serve more youth, more families, and more schools.

43:58That's why the City Council recent decision to suspend this grant awards is deeply shocking and discouraging.

44:06It creates a major obstacle to moving forward and undermines years of effort, trusting, building, and progress.

44:15We strongly believe this decision was influenced by— I strongly believe this decision was influenced by incomplete information, misleading narratives, and Today, I respectfully urge this honorable council to revoke and approve the PCL grants awarded based on the recommendation of the PCL Grant Allocation Committee, which followed a fair, community-centered, and equity-driven process.

44:40If this, this decision is not reversed, it will not only stall momentum, it will also crush the dreams of hundreds of young people who finally felt seen, heard, and supported.

44:54We urge you to take this seriously and stand with the communities you pledge to serve.

44:59Thank you.

45:00Thank you very much.

45:04Greetings, Council.

45:05I am Dan Ryan.

45:06I serve on the Portland Children's Levy Community Advisory Council, and, uh, I want to take a moment to, uh, rebuke, uh, some narratives that are simply untrue.

45:18First, of the reviewer committee, there were 90 very diverse reviewers, and on the Community Advisory Council, which was very diverse, we helped shape the recommendations to ensure that the widest variety of communities and the widest possible amount of supports could be provided to communities that need it.

45:40For example, the first— for For the first time ever, there was a Pacific Islander program in Portland history, the first ever trans-focused program, and this portfolio extended to college-age youth for the first time.

45:51Even with less funding, we were getting it out to more organizations than ever before in an equitable way.

45:57In one particular metric, which I unfortunately was not able to write down fully, it increased from 7 to 19 organizations.

46:04That is quite efficient and really equitable use of money.

46:09There were tons of people of color involved in the process.

46:11By the time it had gotten to the allocation committee, it had already been through lots of organizations such as Camille Trevor, which is led by 2 Black women.

46:20People who led community engagement often were refugees and immigrants, and so much more.

46:25I am disappointed to see that, like yesterday, the PSAP thing, that sometimes decisions are really not made in the public's best interest, but in the name of personal interest reframed as public interest.

46:40And I believe that we should be doing a lot more to hold ourselves to a higher ethical standard.

46:48Thank you.

46:51Thank you.

46:52Go right ahead.

46:54My name is Naiki Green.

46:55I'm the CEO and founder of Triple Threat Mentoring.

46:58City Council, revote today and approve our PCL funding.

47:02Our youth can't wait.

47:03We are the leaders on the front lines mentoring, guiding, and protecting Black and brown youth across Portland.

47:08The PCL funding is not a luxury, it's a lifeline.

47:12You said you wanted to hear from community.

47:14Center our voices even now.

47:16You heard from our community when we said we wanted new, small, and emerging organizations to access PCL funding.

47:22You heard from our community when we said we didn't want the city alone to own that process, but to be BIPOC and community-led.

47:28And you did this through your Citizen Oversight Committee that included 7 BIPOC members.

47:31Councilmember Yes.

47:36You heard from our community through your BIPOC community-led scoring committee.

47:40I'm not for sure exactly who City Council was listening to when they decided to remand the PCL allegations regardless of Black voice.

47:48But again, we stepped up and we stood before you, and you heard from our community that said you got it wrong.

47:53But it didn't stop there.

47:54Not only thousands of Black families and constituents that are represented by our organizations, but you now have also heard from those very large legacy organizations, NAACP, SEI have sent you letters of support on our behalf as Black-led organizations that should be funded.

48:10You've heard from 20-plus Black-led organizations through letters of support and elected officials that are Black telling you to move forward with funding the PCL Allocation Committee's recommendations.

48:23And since we're all singing the same song in perfect pitch and harmony, we're glad that you're adults and you recognize that you got it wrong.

48:31Thank you.

48:31But because of your character, you have a great opportunity right now to make it right.

48:37Re-vote and do what you say that you've been waiting for, which is to be led by the community.

48:43And let me say this clear: we're not a donut hole.

48:48We are a Black community proud servicing, and we will not stop until we're fully listened to.

48:55Thank you so much for being here today.

48:56Thank you.

48:58Thank you very much.

49:01Madam President and council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

49:05My name is Sprintavassa Turner, and I'm the co-founder and executive director of ELSO, Experience Life Science Outdoors.

49:11We're a decade-old, nationally recognized, Portland-based nonprofit founded by myself, a third-generation Oregonian and another Black woman, and led by a team and a board that is more than 90% Black.

49:23We exist to serve youth and families from this community, from underrepresented communities.

49:28We were asked not to lobby or testify early in this process, but we are here today in coalition with so many other nonprofits, as you can see before you.

49:36That's power.

49:37That's community at power.

49:38And we're sharing our voice with you because what's at stake is too important to stay silent.

49:43What's at stake is integrity, equity, and trust.

49:47In my 15 years as a nonprofit leader, I was relieved by this grant process that was thoughtfully and equity— and equity driven process created by the Portland Children's Levy.

49:58PCL centered community voices and partnered with Black and brown-led firms to design the process with inclusion, transparency, and fairness at the heart and the center.

50:09Their work was affirmed by the Citizen Oversight Committee, which corrected outlier scores and ensured equity in action.

50:16And directives to you all from the Allocation Committee was unanimous.

50:20And yet, After the recommendations came out, the rules changed.

50:24A politically connected organization stepped in late and shifted the conversation, not through transparency, but through influence, puppeteering politicians on this very council.

50:35This was not equity.

50:36This was power at play and greed.

50:39We want to ask that you continue the funding for the organizations as you first received the recommendation.

50:46The consequences for our organizations are real.

50:49Without the $100,000 in annual funding, our Tap and Roots program will cut cut youth participants in half, reduce stipends for college-bound students, and we may have to lay off full-time staff members.

50:59We urge you to honor the process, respect the recommendations, and restore the funding.

51:05Thank you.

51:06Thank you very much.

51:11Additional public testimony?

51:12Yes, next up we have Felicia Tripp, Eric Knox, Thank you all for being here.

51:25Please go ahead and, um, then give testimony in the order you were called up.

51:34Hello, my name is Felicia Tripp and I am an allocation committee member.

51:38I'm here because we were told our process was inequitable.

51:44I want to give you the history, which is noted in your email that you received from me.

51:49The allocation committee thought of it from this way: equity is looking at the group that's not benefiting, not being at the table.

51:59This is the lens that we started with when we went through this allocation process.

52:05Second, after the previous allocation process, which I was a part of, We had an outside evaluator evaluate us where we could be more equitable.

52:16And they will give you—.

52:17I'll give you 4 examples of what they recommended that we implement.

52:21One, they recommended that we create a small grants program because there's many smaller organizations that were not prepared to be able to come to the levy.

52:30Check.

52:31We did it.

52:32We now have a small grants program.

52:342, They asked us to hire an outside consulting firm to make sure that they went out to the communities— communities of color, immigrant communities, refugees communities, LGBTQ, and disability communities— to make sure that the new scoring rubric in application, their voice was heard.

52:53Check.

52:54We did that.

52:55Third, they asked us to diversify the grant reviewer pool.

53:01We did that.

53:02Check.

53:03Why is this process inequitable?

53:06Please tell me why it's inequitable.

53:08We have heard from the community.

53:10We did what community asked us to do.

53:13And I personally find it offensive as a member of the allocation committee who spends her time questioning systems to make them more equitable, to be told that the process that I held accountable for my community is invalid.

53:31Thank you.

53:37Greetings, council members.

53:40I feel you have a choice today.

53:43Vote your conscience or vote your interest.

53:46Interest is about scarcity.

53:49Conscience is about justice.

53:51Justice makes a wrong right, even when that right is inconvenient, uncomfortable, and unpopular.

53:56Councilor Sameer Kanal.

53:57This decision made in haste and cloaked in confusion was absolutely reckless.

54:03It disregarded process, it dismissed community voice, it unraveled a grantmaking model rooted in equity and designed by and large by Black and brown hands.

54:14We were excited when this new council came in.

54:18Diverse, dynamic, historic, we thought finally leadership that looked like us.

54:23That literally understood us.

54:26We saw a glimpse of what Portland could be.

54:28But today we're stunned, not because our opposition came from those that we typically suspect, but it came from those who once promised to disrupt these very systems.

54:40Now, instead of breaking it open, you are reinforcing it.

54:44We are watching members of our own community who once campaigned on courage fold into politics of self-preservation.

54:52The politics of I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine.

54:56We expected more.

54:58We still do.

55:00This isn't just about money.

55:01It's about trust.

55:03It's about the soul of the city and whether it can still recognize justice when it's staring it in its face.

55:11I urge you, you can correct this.

55:13You should correct this.

55:16Vote your conscience.

55:17Vote correction.

55:18Thank you.

55:19Vote community and remind us that Portland still believes in the people it claims to serve.

55:28Thank you.

55:29Go ahead.

55:30Hello, City Council.

55:34My name is Alonzo Chadwick.

55:36I'm a dedicated member of this Portland community who has spent 20 years advocating for our Black and brown families and communities.

55:43My commitment has always been in to ensure that children and families have access to the essential services and resources they need to navigate the systemic challenges that hinder their growth, success, and long-term sustainability.

55:55Recently, I had the privilege of serving on the grant review committee, where I witnessed firsthand the dedication of numerous culturally specific organizations that met the city's established criteria.

56:08It was devastating and disappointing to learn that The recommendations that we worked hard on were disregarded, as if our efforts were inconsequential.

56:19I invested myself personally 40 hours of time reviewing grant applications, and now it feels as though my and all the others on the committee's commitment to this process has been completely overlooked and flat-out ignored.

56:32I urge you to reconsider this decision.

56:35Thank you.

56:35At this time, I implore you to support what is true, just, and necessary for the organizations that tirelessly serve our most vulnerable communities.

56:44I hope you will choose to stand on the right side of justice.

56:48Thank you.

56:50Thank you very much.

56:52Go right ahead, Mr. Hollins.

56:54Um, hello, my name is Gary Hollins.

56:57Um, currently I sit on the Portland Public School Board as well.

57:00Um, I'm not here in that capacity.

57:02I'm here in the capacity of I am a staunch supporter of our youth and our kids, 100%, and I understand the difficulties you guys have in trying to fit budgets in when the money is not there.

57:16Absolutely.

57:17We just went through that.

57:18We just went through a $40 million budget deficit that we did.

57:22And when we're doing that, there is a process that we went through.

57:27I don't know if it helps or not, but you do look at Programs, you look at new programs that are having an impact.

57:35And that's what I'm here to talk about, is the impact of the funding for our kids.

57:41When we look at— and I know you wouldn't— I mean, we didn't talk about this, but when we did that, when they had the Black Lives Matter movement and they went over across the bridge and they laid down on the bridge, that was one of the girls who led that actually came from Eric Knox from his basketball team.

58:02She led that.

58:04When we look at organizations like Triple Threat, where they actually have kids who would otherwise fall through the cracks, they pick them up and they fill those cracks for them.

58:15And so when we're talking about impact, I just want you to look at— you actually have the authority to maybe reallocate funds.

58:22Yes.

58:24To all the organizations in order for those that can't be served by larger organizations can be served by some of the smaller organizations.

58:33That's one of the things that we did, that we practiced at PPS when we did that, and I just ask that you guys maybe look at that as an option as well.

58:40Thank you.

58:41Thank you very much to all 3 of you.

58:45Next up, we have Madison Capps, Sarah Hobbs, Sahon McKelvey.

58:53Ayasha Carter.

59:10Thank you for being here today.

59:21Madison?

59:21No.

59:22Sarah?

59:23Okay, for the record, my name is Sarah Hobbs.

59:27I didn't plan on testifying on this issue, but right now I am so angry I can't stand it.

59:36While you all are bickering about these, the people that are going to suffer Are the children who will benefit or not depending on where this vote ultimately goes.

59:53I'm not hearing about how this is going to affect the children, that the funding, the funding for the programs.

1:00:06It's about the kids.

1:00:09And all I'm hearing is y'all bickering and dickering and fighting and fighting.

1:00:15And I'm angry.

1:00:17I raised my kids here years ago.

1:00:20They're grown now.

1:00:22And it's gotten worse.

1:00:24I understand funding is an issue, but there needs to be the consideration.

1:00:31This is the children's This is the fun programs that benefit children who are members of marginalized communities.

1:00:45So I implore each and every one of you, put your darn egos on the back burner and ultimately put the children first.

1:01:00Thank you.

1:01:04Thank you.

1:01:05Go right ahead.

1:01:07Good afternoon, council members.

1:01:13I sat in this very seat and pushed hard for the allocation committee recommendations to be remanded, and I believe in that.

1:01:25I think that there were flaws in the process.

1:01:27I think that there was inequity that was built into the process, and I do think there was a lack of transparency built into the process.

1:01:33When nobody knows how decisions were made after the scoring took place.

1:01:40This room is filled with people that I have worked side by side with that are dear friends of mine who I believe in strongly.

1:01:50And I will say that the last time I was sitting in this seat, I said that an extension of the previous awards was not ideal.

1:01:59Councilor Sameer Kanal.

1:02:00But that might be the best of the bad situation that we're in right now.

1:02:05If there's a better option, then I'm not opposed to that.

1:02:09SCI is not opposed to that.

1:02:11Okay.

1:02:14Our interest is not the 1-year bridge.

1:02:18Our interest is the 5-year impact of what an improved process could bring.

1:02:25And Whatever the stopgap is for the 1-year bridge, we would be okay and live with that.

1:02:31If the 1-year bridge was continue all of the previously recommended awards for 1 year while we're looking at this process and do something different the following year, we would be open to that.

1:02:44What we want to ensure happens is that culturally specific organizations are prioritized Heavily in the process to determine awards.

1:02:56If you're gonna look at, go through a thorough process of ensuring that a review panel puts in hours and time and scores these applications, after that, what happens is what we had an issue with.

1:03:09And if after that what happens is culturally specific services are weighed at a level that they should be, then we would not have an issue with the process.

1:03:17Our issue wasn't with the scoring.

1:03:18Thank you.

1:03:19Our issue was with what happened after that, and whatever the best stopgap is to get us through this current year, as long as the process is reviewed, that is something that we would support.

1:03:28Thank you.

1:03:31Thank you, councilors, for the opportunity to testify today.

1:03:34My name is Ayesha Carter, and I use she/her pronouns, and I am the development director at Bradley Engel.

1:03:41Bradley Engel is in our 50th year providing services to survivors of domestic and sexual violence in Multnomah County, and we are the only culturally specific Standalone domestic violence organization for Black survivors, as well as queer and trans survivors in the state of Oregon.

1:03:58We are also one of 36 organizations to lose our Portland Children's Levy dollars because of the decision to remand the funding on June 4th.

1:04:07Those dollars were for our Healing Roots and Kinship programs, a tandem approach to addressing the impact of intergenerational violence on Black families.

1:04:15Councilmember We work with both Black survivors of domestic violence as well as their children to restore safety, stability, and family trust in culturally relevant and specific and sensitive ways.

1:04:28We provide financial support for basic needs and housing stability, host support groups for survivors to connect, engage in art therapy and cooking classes that focus on culture and community, and host monthly family outings to remind our participants that they also deserve joy.

1:04:43Thank you.

1:04:44The program is led, planned, and directed by Black staff and receives support and input from Black survivors in our community.

1:04:51Healing Roots and Kinship are responsive, impactful, and the only programs of their kind that combine both dedicated space for survivors as well as their children to process, grieve, and reconnect after being impacted by domestic violence in their homes.

1:05:06The news we received on June 4th was devastating.

1:05:09Not just to our staff, but to the survivors and families we serve.

1:05:13We hope you'll reconsider your decision to withhold funding from the 36 Portland organizations doing incredible work to serve our communities.

1:05:21Thank you.

1:05:23Thank you very much.

1:05:25Keelan, is there additional public testimony?

1:05:27Yes, we have Rana Usaman and Alex Sanchez.

1:05:34And then one last call for Madison Capps.

1:05:41Thank you both for being here.

1:05:46Uh, my name is Ron.

1:05:47I'm representing Portland Youth Builders.

1:05:49Thank you, Council, for allowing testimony.

1:05:53Um, I heard a lot of talk about equitable practices and equitable approaches, and we were one of the 36— 35 4 programs that were recommended for funding and deeply impacted.

1:06:06And everything we do is rooted in equity.

1:06:10We are a BIPOC-led organization with a, with a BIPOC-led board.

1:06:15Maurice Romming, our board president, couldn't be here from O'Neill Electric, and he is in full support of— well, he's in hopes that y'all will look into your process.

1:06:30The folks that we serve meet every criteria of the Portland Children's Levy recommendation.

1:06:36We serve predominantly BIPOC folks, and the folks that we serve are in historically poorer neighborhoods.

1:06:43With these dollars, we get to help young people not worry about rent, about child care, about bills, about creating a better holiday for their families, about being able to break generational curses, being able to purchase a home, being able to give everything that they've always wanted for their families, and to do better and to make their parents proud.

1:07:07And these dollars deeply impact the work that we do.

1:07:10Given what is going on with national dollars and funding as a whole, things are tight.

1:07:18Equity work at its best, it's slow, And my hope is that you all reconsider your decision.

1:07:27Thank you.

1:07:28Thank you very much.

1:07:30Go right ahead.

1:07:31Hello, my name is Alex Sanchez.

1:07:33I use he/they pronouns, and I am the executive director of the YWCA of Greater Portland.

1:07:38And for full transparency, transparency, I'm also a member of the PCL Community Council, but my tenure on that council started long before I became the executive director of the YWCA in January.

1:07:50First, I just want to say that I have been providing social services to youth and families in the Portland metro area for over 15 years, and I want to be very clear that the PCL application process has not pitted our organizations against each other.

1:08:04Many of us have worked together as trusted colleagues for many years.

1:08:07We are very accustomed to competing for limited funds, and we are also very accustomed to intentionally partnering with one another to make those dollars go further when all of us know that we can't get funded for everything that we ask for.

1:08:23So while we are not pitted against each other by the process, the decision and the rhetoric surrounding the decision does pit us against each other.

1:08:32It forces us to come sit here at this table and testify on opposite sides of an issue from people that we have worked together for many years and will continue to work together regardless of what council decides to do about this remand.

1:08:47But in my own organization, we were the highest-scoring application in the child abuse prevention portfolio.

1:08:54We scored a 93, and we are now one of those 36 agencies that will receive no funding this year.

1:09:00And that will cause us to not only not be able to expand our highly successful therapy program for children and their families of— and victims of domestic violence, but in fact, we will have to roll back many of the services because of other funding cuts.

1:09:15And so we are now facing having talented therapists and folks in our team have their hours cut, their benefits cut, losing their jobs in a time of really intense job insecurity and funding instability across our organizations.

1:09:30So I just really want to be clear about the impacts that this has not only on new programming, but on existing programming in our organizations.

1:09:43Do we have additional public testimony?

1:09:44That completes testimony.

1:09:46Okay, colleagues, uh, we have had a discussion on this item.

1:09:51We have had public testimony.

1:09:52This is a last call for any comments before we move to a vote.

1:09:57Councilor Morillo?

1:10:00Um, yes, I just wanted to name, uh, because this was brought as an emergency, folks Online cannot testify.

1:10:06That's just part of the rules, and that's nobody's fault.

1:10:09But I wanted to highlight an email that we all got as city councilors from Kaoshi Owens, who is part of Empress Rules Equity Consulting.

1:10:20And this is a Black-led equity organization that gave us some feedback on this process with the children's levy and sort of informed our decisions and our thoughts about this process in our office.

1:10:36And part of the criteria that they had was that they wanted the City of Portland within the children's levy to revise the eligibility criteria for equity, reinstate community-led grant review panels, implement mandatory equity training for all decision makers, implement a transparent scoring and funding process, and have community oversight and accountability.

1:10:56So I say all that because we have an email from them in our inboxes if anyone feels the need to pull it up at this time.

1:11:06But they recommended that we pause current grant allocations until some of those reforms are adopted, not take a year to resolve those issues, which we firmly agree with.

1:11:15I don't think it should take a year to address inequities.

1:11:17That's not right.

1:11:19And that we need to center Black-led and serving organizations' funding priorities.

1:11:23Thank you.

1:11:23Form a workgroup with Black-led grassroots and direct service nonprofits to implement changes and commit to shared leadership in future design and oversight.

1:11:32So I guess with all of that, I want to say that Councilor Koyama Lane had brought forward, I think what she was hoping would be a friendly amendment, but may not be received that way, to Councilor Novick's proposal.

1:11:45And we have printouts here for everyone on the dais.

1:11:48Thank you.

1:11:49And I'm hoping that we could amend Councilor Novick's proposal.

1:11:55And this one would undo the 1-year extension to the awardees that was brought forward by Councilor Zimmerman, who I think very thoughtfully and quickly tried to come up with a solution for some of the things that came up.

1:12:07Because we've heard that some of those organizations either no longer exist or actually wanted to return the funds.

1:12:14And it would also give the allocation committee some bullet points of concerns that we want them to address Some of which came from Empress Rules Equity Consulting.

1:12:24And the allocation committee will have 3 weeks to reassess based on these recommendations that they've— and they've confirmed that they can do it in 3 weeks.

1:12:33So we would not be starting the whole process over.

1:12:35We would not be starting, you know, getting all of the applications from the very beginning.

1:12:40And that is my compromise proposal to what is on the table right now.

1:12:44Thank you.

1:12:49Councilor, I want to just make sure that we're all looking at this the right way.

1:12:53This is a motion to amend the ordinance on the table.

1:12:58Is it a motion to amend it just to bring what Councilor Novick brought down to the repeal, or is it a motion to essentially remove all of the language in Councilor Novick's ordinance and replace it with the language that Councilor Novick brought down?

1:13:11I think it's a motion to amend the ordinance.

1:13:17Um, this would not be doing a full remand in the way that Councilor Novick's would, so it would be, uh, replacing it.

1:13:24Replacing the language in the ordinance that Councilor Novick brought with the language in the ordinance that Councilor Koyama-Lane brought?

1:13:32Correct.

1:13:32Okay, colleagues, there's a motion on the table.

1:13:35Is there a second?

1:13:37Point of order.

1:13:38I mean, is that even I respect that there's an amendment, but is a full replacement considered the same thing?

1:13:46Meaning that couldn't Councilor Novick then bring back his original?

1:13:48Because full replacement's a little different than an amendment.

1:13:51I'm just trying to understand some process here.

1:13:53That is a fair question and one of the reasons that I wanted to get a clarification there.

1:13:57So, Lynley, I understand if the original ordinance was amended to, to just the first section of therefore that was about the repeal of the extension.

1:14:12But what our colleagues are proposing is to replace this language with this language, essentially what in other places might be called a gut and stuff amendment.

1:14:22Can we do that here?

1:14:23And what does that do in terms of affecting the ability to hear either of these separately in the future?

1:14:30I believe the council has 2 options, which is it can either figure out what the changes are, and I think I could fairly easily characterize what those changes are and have it be amendments to particular sections.

1:14:42I believe it could also move and second a substitute ordinance and vote on the substitute ordinance.

1:14:48That's true.

1:14:48And in council, if that motion passed, Councilor Novick's would no longer be on the table, the substitute ordinance would be on the table.

1:14:56Councilor, are you proposing a substitute ordinance or are you proposing an amendment?

1:15:01Sorry, let me clarify.

1:15:03An amendment.

1:15:04So I think it would be replacing sections B, C, and D, but it would keep A and section 2.

1:15:11So parts 1 through 4 of Councilor Novick's proposal would stay the same and part 5 would get adapted.

1:15:17It wouldn't be fully replaced.

1:15:18So I would characterize this as an amendment.

1:15:20I apologize for misspeaking earlier.

1:15:22So you are proposing that we amend Councilor Novick's In Section 1, subsections 1, 2, 3, and 4 remain the same.

1:15:30Subsection 5 would say has decided to repeal Ordinance 192065, period.

1:15:41Council anticipates receiving recommendations from the Allocation Committee in response to the remand of document number 2025-207 in the near future.

1:15:49So the 5 that was in Councilor Koyama Lane's.

1:15:55And then now therefore the council directs a repeal ordinance 192065, and that would be the end of the ordinance as you've proposed amending it.

1:16:05Is that accurate?

1:16:06I believe that's accurate.

1:16:08And I just sent you a message so that you have it written and I can send it to Lynley.

1:16:14Would that be helpful for you?

1:16:15Yes.

1:16:15And I'd like to clarify, I'm assuming that the intent is to have it remain an emergency ordinance.

1:16:21And so you would have a Section 2.

1:16:23I believe Councilor Koyama Lane's Section 2 has some revised language, which I would assume you would also want to move because the current Section 2 is not consistent with the other language from Councilor Koyama Lane's.

1:16:38So colleagues, in order for us to follow this, I believe what we're hearing is that Section 1, Sub 5 Would be switched to the language in the Koyama Lane Ordinance.

1:16:50Section 2 would be switched— of the therefores would be switched to the Koyama Lane Ordinance language.

1:16:58But we would maintain Novick Section 1, 1 through 4, and A of the therefores, the repeal.

1:17:06We would be deleting B and C and D of the therefores.

1:17:11And we would be removing Exhibit A.

1:17:14There would be removing Exhibit A.

1:17:15The reference to Exhibit A would be removed.

1:17:17Yes.

1:17:18And for folks who are following online, I apologize, the original ordinance is posted, but I don't believe the language around this amendment is.

1:17:26We'll see if we can get that.

1:17:27Point of information.

1:17:28Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

1:17:29I cannot keep up with this conversation 'cause I don't have whatever you're looking at.

1:17:32So if someone could get that to us, please.

1:17:34Thank you.

1:17:35Councilor Koyama Lane.

1:17:36For our colleagues who are online, that doesn't help us with members of the public, but for our colleagues who are going to be voting, can you email them your ordinance so that they can try to put the 2 of these together and know what they're voting on?

1:17:50Yes.

1:17:51And functionally, for folks who are online, what this would do is it would repeal the extension and Include language suggesting that we hope to receive new recommendations from the allocation committee in the near future is the language that is used.

1:18:16But it would not— it would repeal the other pieces of Councilor Novick's or remove the other pieces of Councilor Novick's ordinance.

1:18:25Colleagues, we have this motion on the table.

1:18:26Is there a second?

1:18:27Second.

1:18:30Second.

1:18:30Okay, Councilor Green has seconded it.

1:18:33Uh, we are in discussion on the motion to amend the ordinance.

1:18:39Councilor Zimmerman, are you speaking to the amendment?

1:18:52Councilor Novick, are you speaking to the amendment?

1:18:55Yes, this is a gut and stuff.

1:18:57This isn't really an amendment.

1:18:59And I think that the people who came here today and the community as a whole deserve to see an up or down vote on my ordinance and see how many people are willing to admit they made a mistake before.

1:19:10I think if Councilor Murillo can get approval to introduce her proposal as a separate ordinance, she can do that.

1:19:18But I request that people Vote down this proposed amendment so we get an up or down vote in my ordinance.

1:19:26Thank you, Councilor.

1:19:27Councilor Morillo.

1:19:33Um, I'm just trying to help make a compromise here, so, uh, I appreciate that you have strong feelings about it, Councilor Novick.

1:19:40Uh, you've made mistakes on council before.

1:19:42I think you've apologized for your Uber vote 10,000 times, and so I hope that you'll have some grace with me as we're And I haven't heard either of you apologize for anything, Councilor Graham.

1:19:53Colleagues, let's try to keep it civil.

1:19:57Councilor Zimmerman, did you want to weigh in here?

1:20:00You had asked for a moment.

1:20:04If not, that's okay.

1:20:05We just don't have other— I want to just— I agree on the initial piece.

1:20:09I would like to see first Novick Councilor Novick's ordinance and an up and down vote on that before a consideration of a compromise.

1:20:23So I'm, I'm in a similar camp, I think, as the sponsor.

1:20:30Any other discussion to the amendment?

1:20:36Seeing none, Keelan, could you please call the roll?

1:20:39And colleagues, as a reminder, we are voting on amending Councilor Novick's ordinance with the language that Councilor Koyama Lane has put forward, or Councilor Murillo, I guess, has put forward that was introduced by Councilor Koyama Lane.

1:20:52We don't vote on Steve's first?

1:20:55No, we have an amendment that has been proposed.

1:20:58So we are voting on the amendment to the ordinance.

1:21:02This is the language that was proposed by Councilor Koyama Lane and moved by Councilor Murillo, seconded by Councilor Green.

1:21:12And as an amendment, this is a simple majority vote.

1:21:16Okay, thank you.

1:21:20Point of order.

1:21:21Point of order.

1:21:23'Cause this is an emergency, do you have to have 9 votes?

1:21:26On the underlying ordinance, we will, but to amend the ordinance is a simple majority vote.

1:21:31Okay.

1:21:31Okay.

1:21:36For the record, I do think either of these would be an acknowledgement that we made a mistake.

1:21:40But with that said, I vote no.

1:21:43Ryan.

1:21:45Yeah, on this amendment at this time, I'm going to vote no because I want to vote up or down on Novick's.

1:21:51No.

1:21:51Lane.

1:21:53Yes.

1:21:54Morillo.

1:21:55Aye.

1:21:56Novick.

1:21:57No.

1:21:58Clark.

1:21:59No.

1:21:59Green.

1:22:00Yes.

1:22:01Zimmerman.

1:22:02No.

1:22:04Yes.

1:22:07Aye.

1:22:23Could you read the amendment again?

1:22:27Would you like me to read the full amendment?

1:22:29Yeah, that we're voting on.

1:22:31Okay, Lindley, do you have it or would you like me to read it?

1:22:34I didn't get it.

1:22:37The full amendment?

1:22:39Yeah, that we're voting on right now.

1:22:41Yeah, so the amendment is to— I, I don't have it.

1:22:45I, I can do this.

1:22:46So Section 5 is amend—.

1:22:51Is this on—.

1:22:52Is this Murillo's?

1:22:54So we're voting on Murillo's proposed amendment.

1:22:57The changes I'm going to describe are the changes from Councilor Novick's to Councilor Murillo's.

1:23:04So Section 5 of the findings changes to read, Council has decided to repeal Ordinance 192065.

1:23:13Council anticipates receiving recommendations from the Allocation Committee in response to the remand of document number 2025-207 in the near future.

1:23:22Second.

1:23:23In the now therefore council directs, Directive A remains the same.

1:23:29Directives B, C, and D are removed.

1:23:35And in Section 2, the language in Councilor Novick's is replaced with the following language.

1:23:41The council declares that emergency exists in order to avoid disruption in funding for this important work.

1:23:47Therefore, this ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its council— its passage by the council.

1:23:54And Councilor Murillo, I just want to make sure I've captured your changes correctly.

1:23:59Um, yes, I believe so, Lindley.

1:24:01Okay.

1:24:07Aye.

1:24:09No.

1:24:12The motion fails to pass with 6, a split vote.

1:24:19Colleagues, we are back to the original ordinance, uh, that has been proposed in discussion.

1:24:26Uh, Councilor Murillo, are you in the queue to speak to the original ordinance?

1:24:29No, apologies.

1:24:30That's okay.

1:24:31Councilor Zimmerman, go right ahead.

1:24:34Thanks.

1:24:34I want to appreciate Councilor Novick in bringing this forward.

1:24:38I was also one of those 5 who, who didn't vote for this remand to start with, and Thank you.

1:24:45I am really appreciative of the community members, the organization leadership or participants or parents of participants who have shown up over the last several weeks to share your impact statements.

1:25:01It has been helpful.

1:25:06I think that this period has been regrettable in terms of The yanking of chains in multiple directions, and I don't think it's been healthy.

1:25:16And so, um, for me, one of the, one of the folks who shared thoughts on community engagement, it really resonates with me.

1:25:30And the idea, the idea that we would push back on a community engagement process that takes a significantly long time, a lot of volunteers, a lot of people with a variety of experiences at the very end to, to say it, it didn't occur in the way we think it should occur.

1:25:54I, I think that spoke to me a lot.

1:25:56I am comfortable saying I think there is a problem and we've got to intervene if we think there was a problem, but that hasn't— that case hasn't been made to me, and it's why I will support this ordinance by Councilor Novick because I think we can shape processes, but I haven't seen a red alarm type of situation where we are out of sync with the broader community and what the community has asked for in terms of this process.

1:26:26And I think that— what I hope, I guess, is that councilors will support this.

1:26:33Thank you.

1:26:33And support this correction of process and record.

1:26:39And if there are things for us to inform for the next time that we have those cases be made to PCL, to our colleagues, to see what will be the guiding light for the next one.

1:26:50But I think that Director Pellegrino and team, your testimony, your availability of information has been helpful throughout this entire thing.

1:26:58Thank you.

1:26:59And I appreciate that.

1:27:01And so again, I hope that colleagues will recognize the flux that this has thrown a lot of organizations into and will vote to support Councilor Novick's fix-it ordinance.

1:27:16And I think it's a good fix-it ordinance.

1:27:18So thank you, colleagues.

1:27:22Thank you, Councilor.

1:27:23Councilor Koyama Lane.

1:27:26Thank you very much.

1:27:29This is very difficult, and we've been elected to do this difficult work, and I'm grateful that we are all showing up to do that.

1:27:36Um, I would like to offer a friendly amendment to Councilor Novick's ordinance just to include 5B from my ordinance, and I can hand that language over to you, Keelan.

1:27:48Councilor Novick made a couple Adjustments, but it would read the same except instead of saying direct the allocation committee to include a summary of how it addressed, we're adding or plans to address and is adding the words to discuss how to.

1:28:11So, Councilor, I want to back up a minute so everybody can follow.

1:28:15If you look at In the Section 1, the council finds of Councilor Novick's amend— or of Councilor Novick's ordinance, Section 1, the council finds, and we go down to 5.

1:28:29Is that where you're adding this, or are you adding this after the therefores?

1:28:33After the therefores.

1:28:35So when I refer to 5B, that's in my ordinance, and it would be including that in the therefores In Councilor Novick's.

1:28:43So is this an E in Councilor Novick's therefores?

1:28:47We have A through D currently.

1:28:48We would be adding an E to the therefores?

1:28:51I would defer to Councilor Novick where he would like it.

1:28:54That sounds right.

1:28:56Okay, so colleagues, if you look at Councilor Novick's ordinance, we would be amending Councilor Novick's ordinance to add a Section E in the therefore section.

1:29:07Which would be a modified version of— excuse me— 5B in what Councilor Koyama Lane brought forward, the B therefore.

1:29:18If we look at the therefore B in Councilor Koyama Lane's ordinance, and we would be amending that in as a new E in the therefores of Councilor Novick's.

1:29:30Everything else would remain the same in Councilor Novick's ordinance.

1:29:32Thank you.

1:29:33And Councilor Cramling, can you read through what those changes are to B again so that folks can follow that?

1:29:40So B would read, direct the allocation committee to include a summary of how it addressed or plans to address concerns raised by council during the remand process, including consideration of racial equity impacts, scoring inconsistencies, and testimony from applicants.

1:29:57The summary should also describe how the allocation committee assessed whether the program served a majority of the intended demographic population, defined as more than 51%, particularly in the case of culturally specific or responsive grants.

1:30:12Okay.

1:30:12The committee shall be— shall also include a plan, and then striking for improving future processes and adding instead a plan and adding the words to discuss how to, and then would pick back up at clearly assess and Value the extent to which an applicant's leadership and board composition reflect the populations they intend to serve.

1:30:38Direct response.

1:30:39Please.

1:30:39Councilor, I had suggested direct the allocation committee to include a summary of how it addressed or has already addressed.

1:30:48How it— oh, okay, sorry, how it addressed.

1:30:50All right, sorry.

1:30:53Either way.

1:30:54Yeah.

1:30:54However you wanna say it.

1:30:55Yeah, okay, sorry, it's fine.

1:30:57Past and future.

1:30:58Right.

1:30:58Okay.

1:30:59The language we have is okay, Councilor?

1:31:00Yes.

1:31:01Are you accepting this friendly amendment?

1:31:04I would like to, I'm inclined to.

1:31:06I would actually first though like to ask Director Pellegrino to look at it and give us her thoughts on it.

1:31:13Okay, colleagues, why don't we, we're not going to recess, but why don't we sit at ease for just a moment so that the director can grab that language from Keelan and Lynley and take a look at it.

1:31:25I apologize, but we need some clarity.

1:31:27We're struggling to follow.

1:31:29So we're taking— You're taking TKLB, taking TKLB on the therefores and adding it as a new subsection E to the therefores of the Novick ordinance?

1:31:44As the words were changed.

1:31:47As written with the changes that Councilor Koyama Lane read.

1:31:53And the rest of the Novick ordinance would remain the same.

1:31:57So functionally, colleagues, I believe what we're doing— and I would look to Councilors Koyama Lane and Novick to correct this— is repealing the extension, that gap year funding, repealing the remand, approving the recommendations, and directing the staff of the Children's Levy to look at their processes and bring recommendations to council on whether changes need to be made, and if so, what those changes would be in the future.

1:32:31Is that accurate?

1:32:34Councilor Koyama Lane, is that accurate?

1:32:36I believe so.

1:32:37Okay.

1:32:38Lisa, there was a question about whether this works.

1:32:42Can you address that question before we move forward, please?

1:32:45I can do my best.

1:32:46A little, you know, given what happened last time making hasty decisions, it's hard to read and listen at the same time.

1:32:50I just want to make sure I understand what's happening.

1:32:52So you said, did you say that this would repeal the extension, correct?

1:32:57I just want to make sure I'm stepping through.

1:32:58Functionally, this would do 4 things.

1:33:00It would repeal the extension, that gap funding.

1:33:02Yes.

1:33:03It would repeal the remand.

1:33:04Okay.

1:33:05It would put in place the original allocations that were recommended by your committee.

1:33:12And it would direct you to bring us a report about how the process has already been improved or could be improved for the future.

1:33:22Yes, I think we can do that.

1:33:24I just wanted to make sure I understood.

1:33:26Thank you.

1:33:27Councilor Novick, do you accept— this has been offered as a friendly amendment.

1:33:34We're waiting to hear back from you on that.

1:33:36Yes.

1:33:36Okay, and your seconder, I believe, was Councilor Kanal.

1:33:39Councilor Kanal, do you accept this as a friendly amendment?

1:33:41Yes, and thank you.

1:33:43Okay, colleagues, we have a now amended version of Councilor Novick's ordinance.

1:33:54I don't believe we need to take testimony again, but I'm looking to Lynley to confirm that.

1:34:00I believe this is consistent with the testimony that we have.

1:34:04It is, it is.

1:34:04Okay, thank you.

1:34:06Um, And I believe Councilor Zimmerman, Councilor Koyama Lane, that those are hands from previous comments.

1:34:12Is that correct?

1:34:13That is correct.

1:34:14Okay.

1:34:14Councilor Ryan, are you in the queue to speak to the now amended ordinance?

1:34:24Sure.

1:34:25I had it up for something different.

1:34:26It just moved to the end of the queue somehow.

1:34:28You were at the start on my queue.

1:34:29I'm not sure what just happened, but—.

1:34:31I'm cool with the—.

1:34:32Go ahead.

1:34:32I've called on you.

1:34:35I appreciate that we have this dialogue.

1:34:37Thank you, Vice President.

1:34:39Thank you, Councilor Novick, for agreeing to the friendly amendment.

1:34:44I think I will look at my original comments.

1:34:49I just wanna lift, first of all, the fellow members of the Allocation Committee.

1:34:54I happen to be the Allocation Committee rep, so it's been quite a humbling process to bring this forward.

1:35:01Thank you.

1:35:02And I really appreciated that Felicia came forward.

1:35:07Tripp Folsom.

1:35:08Felicia Tripp Folsom is the OG on the Allocation Committee.

1:35:12Every word she said was true, and she wouldn't have taken time out of her busy day to come here as an equity champion for decades.

1:35:21Repeat that, an equity champion for decades, well known nationally in that regard, to come and speak.

1:35:27The way she did.

1:35:28It was so refreshing.

1:35:31And also, the testimony today was the testimony that we've been needing to hear.

1:35:37All of you, I've had the pleasure of listening to you at the allocation committee meetings, but my colleagues had not.

1:35:42And so today was probably the most thorough opportunity we've had to hear your voices.

1:35:47So thanks for showing up.

1:35:49And it is about the kids.

1:35:51So I'm in a lot of pain because of that.

1:35:54Thank you.

1:35:54And I'm also grieving right now because a family member just passed this week.

1:35:58So I'm emotional and I'm wore out because I can't even believe we're here doing this again.

1:36:05But I'm grateful.

1:36:06I also have a history of making mistakes and admitting to them.

1:36:12I'm in recovery.

1:36:13That's what you do.

1:36:14And I'm going to make more mistakes, people.

1:36:16But my job is to get it right, not to be right.

1:36:18It's the most overrated thing in the world is to be right all the time.

1:36:24And it's also usually not a good day at the office for me when someone that I know calls me and says I need to change my thinking all of a sudden when they don't have all the same information that I have.

1:36:35And one of the hardest things about being elected official is saying no to your friends.

1:36:40And I'll continue to do that.

1:36:42It's just what we do.

1:36:43But I respect my colleagues that also Yep.

1:36:48To remand this the first time.

1:36:50This is a hard job.

1:36:51We have so many things coming at us at once, in particular during the budget season.

1:36:57It was a lot.

1:36:58And so I think that today, I hope that in the spirit of my mother-in-law who came here from Mexico to raise 3 children, we just do what's right for the kids, especially those kids that are new arrivals.

1:37:14And refugee children.

1:37:18And I hope that today we, we just get this right.

1:37:22And I really want to respect the Children's Levy staff for your grace.

1:37:28You've done nothing wrong.

1:37:29You've just improved a program immensely over the last 5 years.

1:37:33And you did a lot of this work in the last awards even before the BLM movement started.

1:37:38Thank you.

1:37:39So you've been on the right side of history and you're just going to keep improving.

1:37:42And so your willingness to take feedback and keep improving, that's what we should all do.

1:37:47All of our accountability systems should have this process.

1:37:50So yeah, this has been messy, but I hope today we just get it right and we can all move forward.

1:37:57And so yes, I'm a big yes vote on this.

1:37:59Thank you, Councilor Novick, and thank you to the other councilors who've been willing to have humble conversations the last few days.

1:38:06I really appreciate it.

1:38:06Thank you.

1:38:07And sorry that I'm a mess a bit right now emotionally, but I— and I didn't know we were gonna do all this this morning, so it's rather humbling.

1:38:17And I look forward to hopefully sending this forward before we end the fiscal year.

1:38:22So those amazing decisions that were made, very hard decisions with tough trade-offs.

1:38:27And let's again remember, if we had more revenue, this wouldn't be the challenge.

1:38:32Thank you.

1:38:33We have to do all we can in this city to get the revenue back.

1:38:37Our property taxes are down.

1:38:39That's what's happening here.

1:38:41And so there's a 21% cut in one year's time.

1:38:45That's no one's fault.

1:38:47So I look forward to voting yes on this, and thank you all for your patience and your persistence and your passion.

1:38:55Thank you, Councilor.

1:38:56Councilor Green.

1:39:00Thank you, Madam President, and thank you to everyone who showed up and gave council another chance to listen.

1:39:10I'm one of the pers— I'm one of the people that voted for the remand the first time, and I got to tell you, not my favorite vote.

1:39:17I think I regret that vote, actually, and I think that it was motivated from a place of genuine concern, and I'm Happy with the amendment, the friendly amendment, I think, to Councilor Novick's ordinance here that I think will help assuage some of that.

1:39:32And I think we need to do better going forward, myself included.

1:39:37But I think, you know, the first time to not make a mistake is the first time.

1:39:41The best time not make a mistake is when you make the first choice, but the second time is when you get to choose again.

1:39:47And so I'm prepared today, colleagues, to I do want to apologize for any harm this has caused in the community.

1:39:58I know that that's cold comfort, but it's not about my ego.

1:40:02It's not about me as a councilor.

1:40:03It's about the city and the children.

1:40:06And I think this amendment is the right thing to do for these— for this city and its children.

1:40:13Thank you, Councilor.

1:40:15Councilor Clark.

1:40:17Thank you, Madam President, um, and thank you to, uh, Councilor Ryan for your participation in the Portland Children's Levy.

1:40:25And thank you to Councilor Novick for bringing forward this, um, ordinance.

1:40:30I, uh, learned a lot in this process.

1:40:34Um, what I really learned is that the Portland Children's Levy has an exceptional process, an Exceptional citizen involvement process.

1:40:44It is a model for the rest of the city.

1:40:47And unfortunately, everybody involved in the Portland Children's Levy, the grantees, the applicants, even us up here, I feel have been whipsawed, uh, through this event.

1:41:00And it hasn't, it hasn't been fun.

1:41:02It's been hard.

1:41:03And I've learned a lot.

1:41:05Um, I was one of the people that voted, uh, against the remand And I intend to vote for this measure today.

1:41:13And I just want to express my appreciation to all the people that spent all the time to come here and clarify about the process.

1:41:2290 Reviewers, amazing.

1:41:25And that you took the input from the reviewers, amazing.

1:41:28What a great process.

1:41:29This is— this should be emulated across the city.

1:41:31So thank you so much.

1:41:32Thank you.

1:41:35Thank you, Councilor.

1:41:36Councilor Morillo.

1:41:40Thank you to everyone who came and testified today.

1:41:42We've been— my office has been reading your emails.

1:41:45My chief of staff has been meeting with many of you and getting more information.

1:41:49And I do appreciate Councilor Novick bringing this forward as well.

1:41:53I know how deeply you care about it and how many of us care about this issue.

1:42:00I will say we are in a difficult budget season and it is hard that there Is actual scarcity now and the resources that we have in many ways.

1:42:11I also feel like I've been staying up at night thinking about the impacts of this, and I think that's deeply regrettable.

1:42:19But I think what I regret most is that communities who should be standing shoulder to shoulder are being pitted against one another in this process.

1:42:28And I really hope that we can examine this process in the future to avoid doing that going forward.

1:42:33Councilor Loretta Smith.

1:42:34I really do want to emphasize the feedback that we got from Empress Rules Equity Consulting, from Kayoshi Owens, who worked with the Children's Levy since 2019 to talk about an equity process.

1:42:48And they have been speaking with my chief of staff about this issue extensively, and they did not feel like their recommendations were fully taken in by the Children's Levy, and that as the years have progressed, that there has been a rollback on those recommendations.

1:43:03The 90-member committee that gathered all of the applications has been incredible.

1:43:09It sounds like it was very diverse, and that's part of the best part of this process.

1:43:13And in the final 5, there was only 1 person of color on it, to my understanding, and they received a 30-minute equity training before reviewing applications.

1:43:23So I think that there are Spaces where we can strengthen this process and make sure that all things are taken into account.

1:43:31And what our office has also heard is that there are new organizations that are doing really wonderful things, and there are legacy organizations that have built trust in the community for a very long time, and that we need to find ways to not pit them against one another.

1:43:46So I will be voting in favor of this ordinance.

1:43:50Thank you.

1:43:51Yes, on Councilor Novick's ordinance.

1:43:54And I want to ensure that in the future we are actually addressing the structural issues here because there are structural issues.

1:44:02And that was originally what this remand was about.

1:44:05And if we fail to address those structural issues, then we're not actually doing right by the community in the long run.

1:44:12So I'm gonna put a pin in that and say that that's something that my office is going to continue to look into.

1:44:17Thank you.

1:44:18And I'm grateful that we were able to have this very difficult discussion today, and I am very sorry for any harm that this caused.

1:44:29Thank you, Councilor.

1:44:31Councilor Smith.

1:44:35Thank you, Madam President.

1:44:36I just wanna thank everybody for coming and testifying and taking out of your day.

1:44:44To do something that should have been settled on June 4th, but it wasn't.

1:44:52I agree with Councilor Murillo when she talked about some of the structural issues.

1:44:58I heard some of, some of the same issues that she did, and I, I just go back to what the Portland Children's Levy director said on the record.

1:45:09Yes.

1:45:10The last time that we were here is that PCL deemphasized Black-led orgs and there not being a prioritization of Black-led organizations.

1:45:24That being said, that is structural.

1:45:27That is, uh, something that the PCL director said.

1:45:30And so I think that we would have found out some of those things.

1:45:34And as we go forward, Thank you.

1:45:35With this new amendment that my colleague put forward, we can identify some of those things and make sure that language means a lot.

1:45:47And it's important and it's critical.

1:45:49And when we say things, we have to be responsible.

1:45:53We as a group understood that there were some unintended consequences.

1:45:59So I appreciate you all coming back again.

1:46:01I appreciate what you've said to us, and thank you for coming this afternoon.

1:46:04Thank you.

1:46:09Thank you, Councilor.

1:46:10Councilor Clark, are you back in the queue?

1:46:14Okay, colleagues, seeing no other discussion, we are moving to a vote.

1:46:20This is a vote on the amended version of the ordinance which Councilor Novick brought forward.

1:46:28Because this is being brought as an emergency ordinance It requires 9 votes to pass.

1:46:35Keelan, could you please call the roll?

1:46:38Kanal.

1:46:41Thank you.

1:46:41I got it wrong on the first vote.

1:46:43I'm going to vote aye here.

1:46:44I want to thank Councilor Ryan and Councilor Smith for raising some really vital issues in this conversation.

1:46:49Councilor Smith raised concerns that I think formed part of our problem statement.

1:46:52And even if we had some other individual concerns, there were some parts that were shared.

1:46:57Some specific concerns around hunger relief, In my view, somewhat absurd idea that PCL staff could not require all applicants to disclose board and top-level leadership's demographic makeup as part of the application process, which I think the friendly amendment now covers.

1:47:11I also saw some documents that contradicted each other from staff.

1:47:16But any legitimate problem statement— sorry, a legitimate problem statement does not constitute a blanket justification for any potential action to respond to it.

1:47:25So the action I voted for to remand the decision on all 6 categories was much broader in both scope and impact than what I was trying to achieve.

1:47:32It was taking a steamroller to something that at most deserved a scalpel.

1:47:34And I think there are some places that a scalpel would be helpful.

1:47:37I agree with Councilor Murillo's point about Empress Rules' recommendations.

1:47:40And here's where I'll thank Councilor Ryan for thoughtfully raising some of these issues with me in a way that broadened my understanding.

1:47:46So I didn't know all this in the moment of the vote.

1:47:48With the benefit of the time to reflect and think about it, I did know it pretty soon afterwards.

1:47:52I took a few meetings on this in the last couple weeks and was grateful to hear that at least 5 of my colleagues were interested in a solution of this for the last week or so.

1:48:00I appreciate everyone's input and your patience with us to work through it individually and now together to come up with a better path.

1:48:06I recognize that even this vote will not be a better path for everyone, but I think I've had the chance to weigh the pros and cons and that this is about picking the best of our options today and the best outcome.

1:48:15I vote aye.

1:48:16First of all, thank you, Councilor Kanal.

1:48:21That was kind.

1:48:22And humility and vulnerability are leadership traits that we should always lift in I vote aye.

1:48:27Councilor Lane.

1:48:32I'm going to vote aye.

1:48:34Um, I appreciate Councilor Novick.

1:48:36Thank you for accepting the friendly amendment.

1:48:40Um, it's going to make it possible so we can make sure that youth can eat this summer in our community, and also we'll be able to address and hear about some of the structural Structural issues.

1:48:54I want to echo that this process has been a lot.

1:48:59It's been difficult.

1:49:01I have had a lot of conversations, and what I've noticed is I've listened to many different individuals, heard a lot of different perspectives, and it's clear that there are a lot of different— everyone has their own experience and their own understanding, and it has been challenging.

1:49:14I have heard things like you said, Councilor Kanal, where I'm hearing conflicting reports, and I know that we need to address some things, and I am happy to support this amendment and vote aye.

1:49:28Thank you.

1:49:29Yeah, I'm grateful for everyone who came and testified and who met with our office.

1:49:34I'm grateful for Councilor Novick and for accepting a friendly amendment from Councilor Koyama Lane.

1:49:40I think that the amendment makes me feel comfortable moving forward with this because I know that it means that we are going to address the structural issues within the Children's Levy in the future.

1:49:49And that is not to say, that is not a critique on individual reviewers.

1:49:53When we talk about structural issues, we are talking about structural issues that need to be changed.

1:49:58It's not a knock on any individual person.

1:50:01And so with that, I feel comfortable making some of these changes and appreciate everyone's grace in this process.

1:50:08I vote aye.

1:50:10I have to say I'm surprised and delighted by how it appears this vote is going to turn out.

1:50:16I'm really grateful to everybody who testified, and I'm so impressed that you came down here not knowing if you get a chance to testify, um, and taking advantage of that chance.

1:50:26I also want to say that, as Councilor Morillo referenced, I have something of a reputation for making mistakes and then apologizing repeatedly until I'm blue in the face.

1:50:36And I don't think that doing that is essential to being a good public official, but being willing to change your mind, admit mistakes is.

1:50:45So I really appreciate serving in a body where there are people willing to do that.

1:50:48Aye.

1:50:51Aye.

1:50:55I just want to offer this.

1:50:56You know, I think at times from the outside looking in, This is a messy body and it looks like we're sort of, um, a little chaotic, but I want to remind folks that there's 12 of us who are deeply connected to community.

1:51:11And I changed my mind because I got a lot of outreach from community, and that appealed to my values.

1:51:17Um, I think one of the things that I— that hit me the most was like the suggestion that I'm being ideologically rigid at the expense of children, and I heard that.

1:51:26Councilor And I'm changing my mind now.

1:51:28And so, um, also, I don't want to forget to mention that Councilor Zimmerman did us all a favor on June 4th by salvaging what was a gap in, in the thing that we did.

1:51:38So I, I don't want this action to look like we're undoing a poor action on his part, because I think that that was a great show of leadership.

1:51:46Aye.

1:51:48Thank you for that, Councilor.

1:51:51I vote aye.

1:51:56Thank you, colleagues.

1:51:58Um, this has been a whirlwind.

1:52:01I think that ultimately, um, we—.

1:52:05I believe that I made the best decision I could with the information that was available to me at that time, at that last meeting.

1:52:12It's clear that there has been a lot of new information, and no matter what we choose, some Someone will lose something.

1:52:19Someone will be unhappy.

1:52:20Um, it's our responsibility, of course, to make the most just decision.

1:52:23But I also just want to say that because I don't— I don't— I guess I don't appreciate the framing of this thing is anti-children and this thing is pro-children.

1:52:32I think everyone was voting with a pro-children mindset, right?

1:52:36I voted in that last amendment, uh, thinking that there were some, uh, gaps and that, uh, BIPOC children were going to be affected if I did not remand it.

1:52:46Councilor And so, but like everybody has been saying, obviously there's new information, and I'm really grateful to community that has come out and given us more context.

1:52:56But lastly, I'll just say, for me, the most frustrating thing for me about this entire thing has been the scarcity of time.

1:53:04Not enough time to review and deeply understand the implications.

1:53:07Not enough time for us as councilors to be responsive to the valid community concerns.

1:53:11It is my job to listen to the community.

1:53:12Councilwoman, I'm sorry, I have to interrupt you.

1:53:13And I didn't have enough time to weigh all of those things.

1:53:16I was rushed to a decision, not enough time to craft a solution that made the least harm.

1:53:20This is not a rubber stamp council, and I'm going to be very vocal about that moving forward, that we need to adjust our systems accordingly.

1:53:28All of that being said, I'm grateful for the discussion, and I am going to vote aye.

1:53:34Yeah, as my colleague said, I wish I knew then what I know now.

1:53:39I'm Thankful to everybody who has had this conversation today and all the groups that came forward to tell us that we got it wrong.

1:53:47I got it wrong.

1:53:48I apologize for that, and I am voting aye.

1:53:53Aye.

1:53:55Aye.

1:53:57The ordinance passes with 12 yes votes.

1:54:10I want to pause for a moment and thank our staff who just had multiple complicated new ordinances and amendments thrown at them that were not digital.

1:54:20They were all thrown on paper.

1:54:22So thank you to Keelan and Lindley and your teams behind the scenes, colleagues.

1:54:28Those, um, that ordinance and those, one of those amendments were actually able to be posted online so that folks following along could follow along as well as possible given the last-minute changes.

1:54:40And I really appreciate that behind-the-scenes work that we often don't see and that doesn't get called out in this room.

1:54:46Okay.

1:54:49Colleagues, we are over time, but we do have agreement because there was a lot of work happening behind the scenes there to run our meeting A little bit late tonight, I believe until 5:30.

1:55:02So I know some folks have conflicts, but if you are able to clear your schedule to stay, we will get through as much of what is on the agenda as possible.

1:55:13We'll continue through the order on the agenda.

1:55:16And to folks who are in the room and online for our upcoming agenda items who thought we were going to get to you earlier in the afternoon, Thank you for your patience.

1:55:27We had a little bit of housekeeping work there that took us a little while.

1:55:33So let's move on to agenda item 2.

1:55:35Keelan, could you please read us agenda item 2?

1:55:38I promise we'll let you get through the whole title this time.

1:55:42Thank you.

1:55:43Amend code to consolidate noise enforcement and improve fairness and consistency in noise regulation.

1:55:50Okay.

1:55:51We still have Councilor Dunphy with us and we have Christopher back up here.

1:55:55Fantastic.

1:55:57So colleagues, this is a first reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

1:56:04So we will not be voting today, but we will have our discussion.

1:56:08And we have a committee staff summary from Christopher Hare.

1:56:13Yes, thank you, Madam President, councilors.

1:56:15For the record, my name's Christopher Hare, Council Policy Analyst, and I serve as staff to the Community and Public Safety Committee.

1:56:21The ordinance before you, document 2025-148, was considered in the Community and Public Safety Committee on April 8th, where it was referred to council with a recommendation to pass.

1:56:31The ordinance repeals City Code Sections 14A.30.010, unlawful noise disturbance, and 14A.30.020, unlawful operation of sound-producing equipment.

1:56:43It also amends the definition of nuisance activity in Section Thank you.

1:56:47The ordinance also modifies Section 14B.120.020 definitions by removing subsection F1, which references the operation of sound-producing equipment as prohibited under Section 14A.30.020.

1:57:02These changes collectively eliminate all noise-related provisions from Title 14, Public Order and Police, of City Code.

1:57:09The ordinance additionally directs the city administrator to provide a report to City Council on the noise program's collaboration with Portland's music industry.

1:57:16The report will address the development of compliance resources and templates for Title 18 noise control and include progress on a self-reporting system intended to support Title 18 enforcement efforts.

1:57:26One person testified in committee and 8 people submitted written testimony prior to committee action.

1:57:31The general themes of testimony included consolidation of noise control enforcement responsibilities under Title 18 to improve clarity and effectiveness, consistency and objectivity in enforcement to support the city's Yes.

1:57:41Motion passes.

1:57:41Second.

1:57:41Second.

1:57:41Motion passes.

1:57:41Item 5, recommendation from the Council on Sustainability of Local Venues, Artists, and Cultural Events.

1:57:45Role of expert input in evaluating the relationship between Title 14 and Title 18.

1:57:49Strategies for enforcement during hours when the noise program is not in operation.

1:57:54Future City Council consideration of the noise program staffing capacity and resourcing needs.

1:57:59Development of a streamlined and objective framework for noise control enforcement.

1:58:02And coordination between the Portland Police Bureau and noise program staff in the enforcement of noise regulations.

1:58:08This concludes the committee staff summary.

1:58:10Thank you.

1:58:11Thank you very much, Christopher.

1:58:13And this came out of the Public Safety Committee, and I believe, Councilor Kanal, that you were presiding at the time.

1:58:19Do you have anything to add?

1:58:20Yeah, a little bit.

1:58:21Might be a little redundant.

1:58:22It was heard in committee April 8th.

1:58:24It was referred unanimously to the full council.

1:58:26It's the first item that ever came out of the Community and Public Safety Committee to the full council, and the first of 2 we'll be hearing today.

1:58:32It was referred with a do pass recommendation.

1:58:35And I think everything else that I would be saying is what Christopher already said, so I'll stop here.

1:58:40Thank you very much.

1:58:42And Councilor Dunphy, you brought this forward.

1:58:44Do you have anything you'd like to share with us about why you're bringing this ordinance to us?

1:58:50Yeah, you know, I'll try to be as brief as possible.

1:58:52And also with me, with us at the dais is my policy advisor, Evan Hoffer.

1:58:57If he can fill in any gaps because I am reporting from a hotel room in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1:59:03Colleagues, this is something I have been working with the music industry on for over 5 years.

1:59:08This is a common sense adjustment to how we regulate the noise industry.

1:59:16Ever so briefly, as we have heard for years, the city has relied more and more on police for enforcement of any sort of code.

1:59:26And as we have cut the number of staff in the noise office, Police have referred more and more to Title 14A-30, the nuisance code, and, um, it has led to some unfair circumstances in our community.

1:59:38And this is about consistency.

1:59:40This is about making sure the right folks are responding in the right ways.

1:59:47And I support this the next time it comes on a second reading.

1:59:51Um, Evan, did I miss anything that I was supposed to say?

1:59:54Do you have anything you'd like to fill in for the councilor?

1:59:58Oh, sure, absolutely.

2:00:01For the record, my name's Evan Hoffer.

2:00:02I'm Music and Arts Policy Advisor to Councilor Jamie Dunphy.

2:00:06The code change before you would— we have 2 sections in our public code that deal with noise enforcement, Title 18 and 14A-30-010-020.

2:00:20This would be repealing the sections within 14A-30-010-020 and having All noise enforcement happen under Title 18.

2:00:31Let's see here.

2:00:32Title 18 is civil code rooted in a public health approach to noise.

2:00:35It's periodically reviewed by a citizen committee.

2:00:38It lays out decibel limits, provides for exceptions, variances, and permits, and provides that while enforcement may utilize an ear test to see if something is too loud, if a technical measurement is taken, that measurement supersedes.

2:00:51Thank you.

2:00:5214A30, as I'll call it, provides only the ear test, has no nexus to Title 18 or its technical adjustments.

2:00:59The codes are separate.

2:01:00They're enforced by separate bureaus.

2:01:01There is not clear information sharing between the two, allowing us to do clear disparate impact analyses.

2:01:09And there's a history of jurisdiction shopping where complainant citizens sort of seek the preferred outcome depending on which system they would rather use.

2:01:19Thank you.

2:01:20And I can get into more of that if you would like.

2:01:23Our expectation is that repealing 14-830 should not have a significant impact, if at all, on current noise enforcement activities as far as what the community is seeing, because police are empowered to enforce Title 18.

2:01:37We would love to see more unarmed responders doing this kind of work, but that's not what we're talking about today.

2:01:44We are talking about simply removing the duplicity of these things.

2:01:47Thank you.

2:01:48We'd be moving from a criminal code to a civil code for oversight on these matters.

2:01:52So fines as necessary would come out of the administrative side, out of the noise office.

2:01:57And if an officer did need to pursue criminal charges against somebody for noise-related reasons, they would need to use a different tool for that.

2:02:04And our representatives from PPB, I'm sure, can speak more to that issue if they would like.

2:02:10I agree, this is a common sense issue.

2:02:13A clearer, more direct system will increase community belief in our noise control's ability to do a good job.

2:02:22And, you know, we started this 5 years ago trying to figure out what was causing Black-owned music businesses to close.

2:02:30And we found evidence that this was part of why.

2:02:33And so we'd be thrilled to see it removed from code.

2:02:37Thank you very much for the added detail.

2:02:40And Councilor Thank you for bringing in a staff member to support since you're not able to be with us today here.

2:02:49Colleagues, are there any technical questions about the committee work or what is in the ordinance before we move to public testimony and then to our broader discussion?

2:03:00Councilor Smith, technical questions?

2:03:06Thank you, Madam President.

2:03:08So will we have an opportunity to speak afterwards, after the public testimony?

2:03:15Yes, we generally have full discussion after public testimony.

2:03:18We just did things a little differently previously because things were brought last minute there.

2:03:22Okay, thanks.

2:03:24Okay, any other technical questions before we move into public testimony, colleagues?

2:03:30Okay, seeing none, thank you all for the information.

2:03:34Council Clerk Keelan, could you please call up our first panel of testifiers?

2:03:39Yes, thank you.

2:03:40Uh, first up we have Kevin Torres, Renee Musquiz, Mary Sipe, Derek Trost.

2:03:55Thank you very much.

2:03:56Go right ahead.

2:04:00I'll jump in.

2:04:03Good afternoon.

2:04:04My name's Mary Seipp, and I'm the chair of the city's— Portland's Noise Review Board.

2:04:10The Noise Review Board is a quasi-judicial volunteer citizen advisory body that is established under the city's noise code, Title 18.

2:04:21The Noise Review Board advises the noise control program by evaluating the effectiveness of Title 18.

2:04:28And by developing recommendations for amendments, additions, or deletions to the city's noise code.

2:04:35The Noise Review Board has voted unanimously to support this proposal to repeal these 2 provisions in Title 14, which address unlawful noise and unlawful use of sound-producing equipment, and to consolidate all noise code enforcement under our noise code Title 18.

2:04:56The Noise Review Board agrees that Title 18 is the appropriate legal frame— framework for all noise code enforcement in Portland.

2:05:03Title 18 provides clear and objective guidelines for noise enforcement using zoning and decibel levels.

2:05:12The Noise Review Board agrees that repealing these 2 sections of Title 14 will provide greater accountability, remove the potential for biased enforcement, Improve fairness and consistency in noise regulation, and provide music venues especially with consistent enforcement standards.

2:05:32We strongly encourage the City Council to pass this amendment.

2:05:40The— this proposal has been discussed at the Noise Review Board for the last 5 years.

2:05:47So this isn't just some brand new spur of the moment, uh, we've been very much involved in this.

2:05:56So I'm happy to answer any questions about the Noise Review Board, Title 18, or the noise control program.

2:06:02Thank you very much.

2:06:03We appreciate hearing from you today.

2:06:06Go ahead.

2:06:08Hi, um, my name is Renee Mooskies, and I'm a member of Portland's Music Policy Council, as well as a lifelong working musician that sings and plays guitar in 2 bands.

2:06:20In order to work on my craft and build my business, I have to rehearse, record, and teach guitar out of my home.

2:06:26I can't afford to rent a practice space, and because most apartments do not have adequate soundproofing to accommodate rehearsals, I've always had no choice but to rent a house.

2:06:37I play at reasonable levels and stop by 9:00 PM every night out of regard for for my neighbors.

2:06:42Even so, right now my neighbors can easily call the cops and silence my rehearsals without a decibel reading simply because it bothers them.

2:06:52If this ever happens, there's a good chance that that same neighbor will complain again, and I would have to seriously consider moving.

2:06:59This would be a huge inconvenience and financial strain for me and not something I can do every time a neighbor complains.

2:07:05This makes where I live a gamble each time.

2:07:07Thank you.

2:07:08This is something I've always worried about, and I shouldn't have to fear running my business when construction or yard work are also businesses with more protection from the noise code.

2:07:18The type of noise happening should not matter.

2:07:21Personally, I'd rather hear music than lawnmowers or jackhammers, but my understanding is that people aren't calling the cops on those things as much.

2:07:29It's necessary work, and so is music.

2:07:32Music is a business for tens of thousands of Portlanders.

2:07:36Including myself.

2:07:37And if the city sees value in the huge contribution that live music makes to our economy, then music should be protected by the noise code.

2:07:45We should be afforded the same protections as construction or yard work, at the very least.

2:07:49We are all businesses and we should be treated equally.

2:07:52Repealing those sections of 14A-30 is a win for everyone, honestly, and it's the right choice for Portland and for equity.

2:07:59Thank you.

2:08:00Councilmember Thank you both very much.

2:08:05And I think we had somebody online.

2:08:07Go ahead, Derek.

2:08:09Good afternoon.

2:08:10Thank you for this opportunity.

2:08:12My name is Derek Trost.

2:08:14My introduction to law enforcement as a young adult was at age 19.

2:08:18A neighbor had complained about my band rehearsing at the house I rented, and police arrived to inform us of the complaint and that if they returned Fast forward 40 years.

2:08:32With a professional degree in architecture and a specialty in acoustics, I design recording studios, live music venues, practice and rehearsal spaces, and I serve on the Noise Review Board.

2:08:43I still play in bands, and I'm still often rehearsing at home.

2:08:47And I have spent countless hours volunteering my time to help members of my community navigate the process of dealing with complaints about noise.

2:08:54Thank you.

2:08:55Connected to making music.

2:08:57We still have language in Title 14A-30 stating that sound which is plainly audible is not allowed.

2:09:05Sound is measured in decibels.

2:09:07By definition, 0 decibels of sound pressure means that a typical person can't hear that sound.

2:09:131 Decibel then is audible.

2:09:1515 Decibels is a whisper.

2:09:1770, A typical group conversation.

2:09:21All sound above a whisper is certainly plainly audible.

2:09:24There's good reason then to consider the language in Title 14A30 unreasonable, if not absurd.

2:09:31There's good reason that the Supreme Courts of the states of Florida and Texas have both deemed similar sound enforcement language to be unconstitutional.

2:09:39Meanwhile, we have a noise code, a noise office, a noise officer, and a noise review board.

2:09:46Let's finally eliminate this redundant and unreasonable code language and lean into supporting and expanding the unique resource that is our Portland Noise Control Program.

2:09:57Thank you.

2:09:59Thank you very much.

2:10:02Uh, Kevin Torres.

2:10:05Okay, we'll move on to Paul Cohn, David OG1 Jackson, Brandy Hale, Mara McLaughlin.

2:10:15Thank you for being here.

2:10:17Hi, good morning, or good afternoon, councilors.

2:10:19It's been a couple hours.

2:10:21My name is Paul Cohn, and I'm the president of the City of Portland chapter of Parteck 17.

2:10:25We represent approximately 1,000 city employees across most city bureaus.

2:10:29Our members include the city's engineers, engineering technicians, IT professionals, planners, permit technicians, botanical staff, public information officers, Portland Street response mental health workers and the city's noise control officer.

2:10:41So I'm speaking today in support of Councilor Dunphy's proposal.

2:10:45Portland has a past history of being a leader in environmental health, environmental law enforcement, and urban planning-related matters.

2:10:53The federal government funded our first research to develop our noise code about 49 years ago.

2:10:58This happened with money from the EPA, the Federal Housing Urban Development Agency, In 1976, the City of Portland operated our first noise control office with— under Dr. Paul Herman, and he had 2 noise deputies to support the noise office's environmental health efforts for our community.

2:11:16At that time, Dr. Herman and the 2 deputies responded to far fewer noise complaint cases than the current noise office.

2:11:22Dr. Herman rendered less than 50 quasi-judicial case variance decisions annually.

2:11:28Today, the noise office renders decisions on between 550 and 600 noise variances annually.

2:11:34The number of complaint cases that the office triages to find resolutions to community environmental health concerns is 10 times greater than were handled annually with 3 dedicated field staff almost 50 years ago.

2:11:48As you make current proposed changes to how noise pollution and as a human health issue is dealt with in the City of Portland, I want to take the time to remind you that we were once the national leader in this important body of work.

2:12:01Please consider ways to return the office to an appropriate level of staffing to respond in a timely and equitable manner to all Portlanders and to stop requiring such a high level of triaging by the current reduced staffing levels.

2:12:13It will be difficult to accomplish Commissioner Dunphy's goals with no— excuse me, Councilor Dunphy's goals with no field staff to support this.

2:12:20And in closing, I just want to thank you for your support for this vital program.

2:12:24Thank you.

2:12:28I guess I can go.

2:12:30My name is Mara McLaughlin.

2:12:32I'm founder of Music Portland and Music Oregon.

2:12:35Thanks for the opportunity to speak, and frankly, for your heroic work on the whole budget cycle and what I just witnessed.

2:12:41It was incredibly moving.

2:12:44For decades, Portland was consistently ranked among the top 10 music cities in the country.

2:12:49We haven't fallen off those lists because we haven't lost talent or passion.

2:12:52We haven't.

2:12:53We slipped because we lack the strategic integrated support that other far smaller cities have built into policies and civic priorities.

2:13:01Cities like Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Charlottesville, none with our cultural scope or history, have invested in their music scenes.

2:13:08They've simplified permitting, supported public and all-ages events, and worked with small businesses and partners to grow music citywide.

2:13:17Meanwhile, Portland's music scene, one of our greatest cultural and economic assets, Thank you.

2:13:21The music industry in Portland is treated like a nuisance.

2:13:22Venues and artists face punitive enforcement, overlapping policies, and a fragmented permitting system that stifles operation— opportunity and innovation.

2:13:31And yet, despite all that, Portland's appetite for music still supports nearly 300 music venues.

2:13:37That's twice as many as Nashville and 30% more than Austin.

2:13:41Over 90% of them are locally owned and independent, and together they bring more people through their doors each year than all of our professional sports teams combined.

2:13:49Thank you.

2:13:52But Portland is leaving money and cultural capital on the table.

2:13:57Music Portland— our music tourism is one of the fastest-growing travel trends.

2:14:02Cities that support music attract the young, creative, highly employable people we need to fuel our economy and revitalize our downtown.

2:14:10Portland has the talent, we have the venues, we have the legacy.

2:14:13What we need now is leadership.

2:14:15Leadership that sees music not as a problem to contain, but as an asset to grow.

2:14:19Please vote to repeal these parts of Title 14.

2:14:23It's an outdated and damaging code, and repealing it is the first step towards building a smart, collaborative music strategy that truly serves Portland.

2:14:31Thank you.

2:14:32Thank you very much.

2:14:35Uh, hello, Council, for the record, My name is Brendy Hale.

2:14:42I'm a Portland musician and a cross-country coach for Grant High School.

2:14:45Go Generals!

2:14:46I'm a member of the Music Policy Council and a representative from the music community for compliance pathways in the noise office's Title 18 noise advisory workgroup.

2:14:56When we reduce all sound enforcement to a plainly audible standard, bias flourishes—.

2:15:03Bias that has disproportionately shut down Black-owned music establishments while their white counterparts survive and thrive.

2:15:09Biases that affect musicians operating out of residential areas as opposed to venues in commercial and mixed-use zones.

2:15:16Music is not just performance, it is 90% practice, which largely happens in residential-zoned areas where you may be at the mercy of a noise-concerned neighbor.

2:15:26When a neighbor can openly submit a complaint regardless of measurements taken, and law enforcement has the power to show up on a scene to make citations without measurements taken, we have effectively extended the hand of the law to a neighbor who may be operating on their own biases.

2:15:41Biases that scream, that's noise, not art.

2:15:44That's noise, not culture.

2:15:46Complaints like these, based off of subjective experience, has been the foot in the door for venue closures, events canceled, and evictions.

2:15:55Portland is a growing and a bustling city.

2:15:57And cities have their own natural sound and rhythm.

2:16:00Portland's natural sound and rhythm thrives largely in part from its arts and music scene that is legendary across the United States.

2:16:07From the 1940s jazz boom in Northeast Albina, which came to be known as Jumptown, to the alternative darlings of rock, punk, and hip-hop today, our Portland seal is one driven by creativity and inclusivity within the scene.

2:16:21We're one of the few cities that has a dedicated noise office, and yet we're still relying on outdated nuisance codes to enforce—.

2:16:28To inform how we enforce sound in our city.

2:16:30It's 2025, and you don't need to be an audio engineer to take an accurate sound pressure reading.

2:16:36It is my hope that with the repeal of these sections of 14, that we may make strides towards more objective, data-informed methods of enforcement.

2:16:45Thank you.

2:16:47Thank you.

2:16:48Thank you very much.

2:16:50I'm speaking the testimony for David OG1 Jackson, who had to go and DJ the Blazers, so he can't be here.

2:16:58So not my name, but his name is David OG1 Jackson, who has been a music business owner in Portland for over 25 years, as well as being a celebrity DJ, Recording Academy Board music advocate representing our Pacific Northwest region.

2:17:13And he has had the honor of serving on the Music Policy Council.

2:17:19These codes, whether intentionally or not, have historically left room for enforcement agencies to disproportionately target Black and brown-owned venues, promoters, and talent, making it nearly impossible for them to build and sustain successful businesses.

2:17:33David has witnessed firsthand how subjective city codes have been weaponized over the years to systematically shut down our spaces and silence our contributions to the city's cultural and economic landscape.

2:17:42Thank you, David.

2:17:43Don't just take my word for it, look at the data.

2:17:46How many Black or brown-owned clubs and venues are operating in Portland today, like Soleil's or Alberta Street Pub?

2:17:52I urge you to make decisions that allow all of us, especially those who have been pushed to the margins, to matter in this ecosystem.

2:17:58Support the repeal.

2:18:00Let's create a fair, inclusive, and thriving music community for everyone.

2:18:07Thank you all very much for being here.

2:18:10Next up, we have Akilas Montaz and Jim Brunberg.

2:18:26Go ahead.

2:18:28Should I just begin to save time?

2:18:30Okay.

2:18:35Thank you, Council President and Council.

2:18:38Thanks for your leadership today.

2:18:39That was, as Mira said, moving to witness.

2:18:43It's an honor to be able to testify on this fiscal-neutral, pro-business, and pro-community issue.

2:18:49My name is Jim Brunnberg, and I founded the Independent Venue Coalition, an Oregon nonprofit that helps sustain and improve the role of dedicated performance spaces to bolster Oregon's economy, culture, and community.

2:18:59I'm also the Vice President of the National Independent Venue Association Board, and I co-own some venues in town, Rev Hall and Mississippi Studios.

2:19:06And I'm a lifetime musician, and, uh, it's an honor to talk about something where we're making some forward progress in a really important area.

2:19:15Art, uh, music especially, saves lives.

2:19:19Art is mental health.

2:19:21Art is societal health.

2:19:23Performing arts venues can save cities, but it can be messy and sometimes a little noisy.

2:19:29Rules regarding noise Cannot be arbitrary or rely on the discretion, or worse, cause contradiction and confusion with individuals tasked with enforcing the rules.

2:19:38The proposed repeal and improvements goes a long way to increasing access, fairness, and allowing culture to thrive in a reasonable way while still preserving the livability of our neighborhoods.

2:19:49Portland is a great music and performance city.

2:19:52Our garages, rehearsal spaces, house parties— Street fairs and other community events act as crucibles and universities for great artists and their creative and production teams that go on to spread a little of Portland's excellence and weirdness around the world.

2:20:06Artists like Esperanza Spalding, who's won 5 Grammys, the Decemberists, Thomas Lauderdale, Portugal.

2:20:11The Man, the Shins, Lifesavers, countless other bands that I'm not nearly hip enough to name.

2:20:16This goes all the way back to the beginning of rock and roll.

2:20:19Louie Louie and the Kingsmen are from Portland.

2:20:22So let's support this repeal.

2:20:23Let's work together and recognize That music and performing arts are one of the pillars of what makes Portland a great place to live.

2:20:29We look forward to working directly with the new City Council and arts and cultural offices in order to strengthen our industry and culture, which is one of the strongest attributes of Portland's thriving culture and economy.

2:20:39Thank you.

2:20:40Thank you very much.

2:20:42That completes testimony.

2:20:44Thank you to everybody who was here to testify or got their testimony to us in another way.

2:20:51Uh, colleagues, I am opening up the floor now for discussion on the measure.

2:20:56I'll note that this is a first reading on an ordinance, so while we won't vote today, this is the opportunity for discussion and any amendments that might be needed.

2:21:05Councilor Smith?

2:21:15Got it.

2:21:16Councilor Clark— or Councilor Murillo, apologies.

2:21:19I just wanted to say how excited I am for Councilor Dunphy to bring this forward and that I will be supporting it wholeheartedly and very happily.

2:21:27It's nice to have an easy decision to make today.

2:21:29We haven't had a lot of those in the past few months.

2:21:32So I actually knew Councilor Dunphy when he was working on this back when he was working in City Hall as a staffer, and it took so much community engagement, feedback, and the fact that this is going to be a science-based policy that's going to make it so that we can do enforcement in a way that is more removed of bias and actually helpful to our community, I just think is really wonderful, and I'm very grateful that he put this together and has worked for so many years with community to make this happen.

2:22:01So I just had to give him his flowers, and I'm very excited for us to move on to the stage where we get to vote yes on it.

2:22:07Thank you, Councilor.

2:22:10Councilor Clark.

2:22:11Thank you, Madam President.

2:22:12I just want to say that the first time I met Councilor Dunphy, this is what we talked about.

2:22:17So I know he's dedicated, but I'm really disappointed that Councilor Dunphy did— he forgot to provide some musical accompaniment to the hearing today.

2:22:29And I really hope that he'll overcome this when we bring this back next time.

2:22:33Thank you.

2:22:34Councilor Dunphy, I'd suggest that you talk to your colleague, Councilor Clark, Councilor Green.

2:22:44I got in the queue because I thought that Councilor Clark was going to sing, uh, so I can comment on that.

2:22:49No, I'm just kidding.

2:22:50Um, Councilor Dunphy, I really appreciate your leadership on this.

2:22:53Um, when I first met you, I too, uh, knew that if you got elected, this is one of the things that you were going to fight hard for.

2:23:01Um, I just want to note, as, as one of the co-chairs of the Arts and Economy I think this ordinance, this code change, can really provide some enabling support for that kind of arts-based economic recovery.

2:23:17And I just really look forward to that.

2:23:19I look forward to voting yes next time we take it up.

2:23:24Thank you, Councilor.

2:23:25Councilor Novick.

2:23:27In the classic children's book The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, the hero Milo, in the chapter called The Valley of Sound, I'm glad we have our own hero of sound, Jamie Dunphy, on this council.

2:23:45Why did I get in the queue after you, Councilor Novick?

2:23:51Um, I'd like to echo everything my colleagues have said.

2:23:55Thank you to Councilor Dunphy.

2:23:57I also just wanted to note that I appreciate our staff in this space represented by Protect 17 coming forward and raising their concerns.

2:24:08I hear you.

2:24:09I don't think that there is an immediate fix for the concerns that you raised, but I've noted it and it'll stick in the back of my mind as we move forward here.

2:24:18And I will make sure that either I ask or if one of our committees, maybe Arts and Economy wants to take this on, that my colleagues ask for updates on how this change affects the, any increases in the complaints that you have in your work so that we can address the need for more staff in the next budget if we do see a huge increase there.

2:24:42So we hear that you're under pressure already and that it could get worse.

2:24:46Thank you for bringing that concern forward.

2:24:52Thank you, Council President.

2:24:53I just wanted to take time to thank everybody for being here.

2:24:56And also an apology.

2:24:57I had BDS from, let's see, 2020 for 2 years.

2:25:00And yeah, I'm sorry.

2:25:02Where's Mary?

2:25:02Sorry, Mary.

2:25:03We probably should have brought that up when I had it.

2:25:04So, but I'm glad that this stays here.

2:25:08And I would like to actually propose, we don't do this often, but you're all here and this is a council that seems totally in agreement with something.

2:25:17Like 12-0.

2:25:18And thank you, Councilor Dunphy, for your leadership.

2:25:21Would you be okay if we just did an emergency ordinance to vote on this today?

2:25:25Oh my God, let's get it done.

2:25:28I would certainly be eager to get this passed into law as quickly as possible.

2:25:32However, I also understand that many of my colleagues have very principled views about the use of emergency clauses, and there's not a true emergency.

2:25:39So I would defer to the body.

2:25:43It's a friendly emergency clause because, you know, and in the spirit of Of the warmth in this room, I talked to my colleague next to me who's very principled on this issue, and I think they're ready to loosen up today on this.

2:25:57Are you?

2:25:57Can you do it, Councilor Kanal?

2:26:00Councilor Dunphy, I think this may be the proposal of a friendly amendment.

2:26:07So I would—.

2:26:08I don't know yet if Councilor Kanal's in support or not.

2:26:10I move that we vote on this today as an emergency clause.

2:26:14I would accept that as a friendly amendment.

2:26:17Did I do that right?

2:26:19Yes, we— it would be great, uh, Councilor Dunphy, if you could identify the nature of the emergency, uh, that would result— require this to be in full force and effect.

2:26:29And it could be something like—.

2:26:31It's like the 4th of July holiday's here and you need to be able to, like, and it's summer solstice season and people need to be out.

2:26:37In order to have this go into effect before summer events, is that what you're suggesting, Councilor Ryan, Yeah, that's the argument.

2:26:46The doom loop is nigh.

2:26:51Do we need to vote on this amendment or can we accept it as a friendly amendment for some reason?

2:26:56I would recommend that adding an emergency clause be voted on first.

2:27:00Have it be voted on, please.

2:27:01Okay.

2:27:01So an amendment has been proposed.

2:27:05Councilor Knoll, is there a second?

2:27:09Spell it out.

2:27:10Okay, I'll take you off the spot.

2:27:13Is there a second for that?

2:27:14Second.

2:27:16I said it the loudest.

2:27:17Let's get this done.

2:27:19I think we're gonna give that to the noisiest, Councilor Maria.

2:27:25Colleagues, is there any discussion on the amendment to add an emergency clause in order to have this go into effect before the summer session?

2:27:37Season.

2:27:37Okay, I, I'm taking— I'm sorry, I'm a legacy hand in the queue.

2:27:41Councilor Ryan, are you a legacy hand?

2:27:43Okay, seeing no one in the queue, Keelan, could you please call the roll on the amendment?

2:27:52I have been in a band that played at a July 4th event where there were threats to call the cops.

2:28:02It didn't happen, but that is why your argument did persuade me on the July 4th thing.

2:28:10So I'll vote aye.

2:28:12Ryan?

2:28:13Aye.

2:28:14Koyama Lane?

2:28:15Aye.

2:28:16Morillo?

2:28:16Aye.

2:28:18Novick?

2:28:18Aye.

2:28:19Clark?

2:28:20Aye.

2:28:21Green?