Portland City Council AM Session 10/08/25

8:00Good morning, everybody.

8:02Before we begin our meeting, Councilor Novick has asked for a pre-gavel.

8:08As you may remember, councilors have the opportunity twice a year to request a moment before we start our meeting for a conversation or presentation for up to 5 minutes of whatever they choose.

8:24So I am going to turn this over to Councilor Novick for a brief minute.

8:28Thank you, Madam President.

8:30A couple of months ago, the so-called Department of Homeland Security put out a video to the tune of a certain popular song, and CNN then had to point out to them that they must have had no idea who wrote the song or what it was about.

8:43The song was written by one of the leading anti-fascists of his day, a song— a songwriter who wrote songs supporting migrant workers like Deportee and Pastures of Plenty.

8:55A song who was for everything this administration is against and against everything this administration is for.

9:01So I wanted to take a moment— oh, and when the songwriter's family was informed of this video, once they got done laughing, and they said, well, we're just gonna have to sing the song and take it back.

9:12So to honor the Guthrie family and to put forth the vision of community and togetherness that Woody Guthrie espoused in this song, as opposed to the vision of division and hatred the current administration propounds.

9:25I thought that I'd sing it, and no pressure, but if anybody wants to sing it with me, feel free.

9:31This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to New York Island, from the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters, this land was made for you and me.

9:50As I was walking that ribbon of highway, I saw above me that endless skyway.

9:59I saw below me that golden valley.

10:03This land was made for you and me.

10:07This land is your land.

10:09This land is my land.

10:11From California to the New York island.

10:15From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters, this land was made for you and me.

10:22Sing it, Jonas!

10:23I've roamed and rambled, and I followed my footsteps to the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts.

10:31And all around me, a voice was sounding, this land was made for you and me.

10:38When the sun came shining and I was strolling, And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling.

10:46As the fog was lifting, a voice was chanting, this land was made for you and me.

10:54This land is your land.

10:55This land is my land.

10:57From California to New York Island, from the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters, this land was made for you and me.

11:16Woody Guthrie, by the way, lived in what is now District 1 for—.

11:20That is true.

11:23That is true.

11:25Thank you for pointing that out, Councilor.

11:27And Councilor Novick, thank you for starting us off this morning.

11:31I will now call us into today's City Council meeting.

11:35It is 9:37 on Wednesday, October 8th.

11:37Keelan, could you please call the roll?

11:40Good morning.

11:40Clark?

11:42Uh, here.

11:43Green?

11:44Here.

11:45Zimmerman?

11:46Avalos?

11:47Present.

11:48Dunphy?

11:50Smith?

11:51Here.

11:52Here.

11:53Ryan?

11:54Here.

11:55Koyama Lane?

11:57Here.

11:58Here.

12:00Here.

12:03Thank you, colleagues.

12:04The first item on our agenda is approval of the agenda.

12:07There have not been any requested changes.

12:10Oh, I'm sorry.

12:12Could you please read our rules of order and decorum?

12:15Yes, I'd be happy to.

12:16Welcome to the Portland City Council.

12:18To testify before council in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the council agenda at www.portland.gov/council/agenda.

12:26Information on engaging with council can be found on the council clerk's webpage.

12:30Individuals may testify for 3 minutes unless the presiding officer states otherwise.

12:34Your microphone may be muted when your time is over.

12:37The presiding officer preserves order.

12:38Disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, interrupting others' testimony or council deliberations will not be allowed.

12:46If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given.

12:48Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting.

12:51Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass.

12:54Additionally, council may take a short recess and reconvene virtually.

12:57Your testimony should address the matter being considered.

13:00When testifying, state your name for the record.

13:01Your address is not necessary.

13:03If you're a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent.

13:06Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the council clerk calls your name.

13:09Thank you.

13:10Thank you, Lauren.

13:12I think all that singing threw me off this morning.

13:16Colleagues, the first item on our agenda is agenda approval.

13:21There have not been any requested changes to the agenda.

13:25Are there any requested changes from the dais?

13:30Madam President, there is a disparity study, um, vote.

13:38It's on the second to last.

13:43Um, can we do a time certain at 12:00?

13:49Are you requesting that we not do it before 12:00 or that we do it beginning right at 12:00?

13:55Um, not before 12 o'clock.

13:57So we can switch ours.

13:59If we— let's leave the agenda as is, and if we get to 12 o'clock and we get to that item of the agenda and we're not there yet— Councilor Ryan, I hear you offering to switch the order for your 2 items.

14:12Does that work?

14:13Yeah, thank you.

14:14Okay, perfect.

14:17Colleagues, if there are no other requests, do I have unanimous consent to adopt the agenda?

14:23Okay, great.

14:24Thank you.

14:25The next item on the agenda is public communication.

14:29Keelan, could you please call up our first guest?

14:32First up, we have Catherine Jimenez.

14:36Welcome.

14:36Thank you for being here this morning.

14:38Good morning, Council.

14:38Thank you for having me, and thank you, Councilor Novick.

14:41My name is Catherine Jimenez.

14:43I would like to preface this commentary with the fact I originally submitted my inquiry back in January after Mayor Wilson affirmed the city sanctuary status.

14:51I had initial concerns about the haphazard of how these ordinances would work to protect the most vulnerable among us, given there were no clear actionable planning or public safety initiatives readily available.

15:02Fast forward 10 months, and clearly the city was not prepared for the overreach that was to come.

15:08Let me be clear, I come to you today not only as a Multnomah County taxpayer, but a born and raised Oregonian who has lived along the I-5 corridor my entire life.

15:16Like many children who grew up along this interstate, I was cautioned on the prevalence of human trafficking and various tactics yes.

15:22Of the various tactics kidnappers use to target victims, one of the most disconcerting schemes we, we were warned about entails these assailants impersonating law enforcement agents.

15:31Since January, with the gross increase in federal funding for DHS, there have been dozens of cases across the country of civilians impersonating ICE agents attacking women and immigrants, or plainclothed ICE agents impersonating local law enforcement to conduct unconstitutional arrests in sanctuary cities.

15:47Including those posed to intimidate civilians on the McAdam Street corner, I have yet to see any forms of credible identification on persons claiming to be a part of ICE or DHS.

15:57One recommendation I could offer is to follow suit with California's recent law banning agents from wearing masks while on duty.

16:02We need to know who is in our community so that they can be held liable for the atrocities they are committing against unarmed, peaceful community members.

16:10Those of us who live on the South Waterfront can affirm that over the summer, one city block has in fact been ravaged by unidentifiable masked militarized individuals since as early as May.

16:19I can assure you the only threat residents have been facing have been the constant barrage of pepper bullets, tear gas, and noxious chemical agents that are being deployed against unarmed civilians.

16:29If the city was burning, it'd be due to the perverse use of munitions being deployed in the neighborhood, often catching fire along the dry grass brushes where thankfully anti-ICE protesters are vigilant and able to help extinguish the flames before they spread.

16:42This happened multiple times over the fire season this summer.

16:46While I can appreciate this council finally taking action, it shouldn't have taken an entire summer of chemical munitions waged on civilians, 25 illegal detainments in which reports of physical abuse and sexual misconduct while in ICE custody or a school closure due to the high volume of live munitions faculty were finding scattered amongst the playground to prompt an official city response.

17:07We the residents don't need ICE out of Portland in 90, 60, 30 days.

17:11That gives those unidentifiable volatile agents and their equally manic supporters the time to further pollute, incite violence, or abuse our neighbors.

17:19We need that corrupted influence out of Rose City now.

17:24With the reprieve granted by the US District Court over the weekend, I urge this council to really think about the new origin—.

17:29Councilmember Herbold.

17:30And ordinances you plan to implement and how they will work in conjunction with other public safety offices to ensure the civil rights of your constituents are protected.

17:39When tyranny becomes law, resistance becomes duty.

17:42I hope that this council can take that duty seriously.

17:45Thank you very much.

17:47Thank you very much for being here today.

17:50Next up, we have Vitea Herman.

17:57Welcome.

17:58Thank you.

17:58And we do have your written comments posted online as well.

18:01Oh, great.

18:01Thank you.

18:02So my name is Vatia Herman.

18:05Thank you for having me today.

18:07As I put forth in the letter that I sent, my ask is simple.

18:13The path behind me and the path ahead of me is very complex with this piece of property, but I am hoping that If the council is willing to vote to have this piece of property removed from the foreclosure listing and put back with the city, that I can make progress with this property and, and move it forward.

18:35I don't know if the council has questions for me given my comments.

18:40I tried to keep them brief in the letter, but as you can see, there's a lot of history with this piece of property in Portland.

18:49So.

18:49Councilmember Herbold.

18:49Yes.

18:50Um, I guess I don't know if it's appropriate to ask if you guys have any questions of me or what I might be able to do to help, uh, convince you to vote, um, to remove it from foreclosure.

19:03I did, uh, I have spoken with the foreclosure department, um, over the last couple years, uh, starting with, um, uh, February '24.

19:13Um, unfortunately, they haven't been willing to bring it to the council because I am not able to give them a very detailed specific timeline about how and and when, and I can do all of the things with this property.

19:26And the reason being is the complications going through all of the environmental permitting.

19:34I don't know how long that'll take.

19:35The estimate I was given was 3 to 6 months.

19:38Doing the actual work has to be certain times of year.

19:41So there's just a lot of variables here in addition to me being able to fund the project.

19:47Thank you.

19:48Um, so, um, I guess I will open it up to questions if you have questions for me.

19:56Thank you.

19:56And colleagues, I don't know if you were able to, um, read the letter that Ms. Herman, uh, submitted, but this is about a property that went through the foreclosure process in February of 2024, so under the previous council.

20:16Oh, I'm sorry.

20:16No, no, that's okay.

20:18I'm not, I'm not.

20:19I just happened to be at you when I was looking around.

20:24Okay.

20:24And if you didn't have a chance to read it, um, uh, ultimately what happened, my father got sick in October of '23.

20:32He passed on February 24th.

20:41Sorry.

20:42Take your time, it's okay.

20:45The council voted February 14th of '24, and he passed on the 23rd.

20:54So I didn't have an opportunity to work with the city ahead of the foreclosure, um, to avoid that foreclosure.

21:02So I'm asking the council to give me that opportunity back and help, um, move this property forward.

21:13Thank you.

21:15I don't know, sitting before you today, where this is in the process with the city because that vote has already happened, um, but we can certainly ask some questions about where it is in the process.

21:26Um, Mr. Jordan, I don't know if you have any updates you can share with us on this property.

21:31I don't at this time, uh, Madam President, but I'll, uh, engage with Jonas and Revenue to see where it is in the status and what can be done.

21:39It has gone through the foreclosure process several times without a bid on the property.

21:47From my understanding, it will just continue to go up for auction every couple months, again, leaving me kind of an inability to do anything with it because any time or money that I spend trying to do something with the property could just be yanked out from under if it actually gets sold in foreclosure.

22:03My understanding from the Foreclosure department is the only way to, you know, kind of remove it from that group and put it back with the city and allow me to work with the city would be to have the city council vote to remove it from foreclosure.

22:16So I appreciate the, um, follow-up, and, uh, I am on the books again next month.

22:22So if we— if it doesn't end up on the agenda, I will see you next month and hope if you have any questions ahead of that, I'd be happy to answer.

22:30Thank you so much for being here today.

22:31Thank you.

22:35Next up we have Lyra Anderson.

22:43Welcome, thank you for joining us.

22:45Thank you for having me here.

22:47Um, my name is, uh, Lyra Anderson and, uh, I will be speaking on constitutional legitimacy.

22:53Um, so legitimacy, regardless of system of governance, is one of the most important foundations as it displays a bond of trust between the governed and the governing.

23:02Um, Thank you.

23:04Thank you.

23:04With legitimacy defined simply as the conformity to the law or rules, in order for a government to be considered as legitimate, it therefore stands to reason that the government must be beholden to the rules and laws it sets down.

23:16For if even they aren't beholden to their own laws, why should those they govern be beholden to their authority?

23:22In our case, the federal government is beholden to the Constitution of the United States of America.

23:27And with this current administration alone, I'm afraid to say that if I were given ample time, Thank you, Mayor.

23:33Councilor Sameer Kanal.

23:33Thank you, Mayor.

23:34I'm going to be listing every single violation for perhaps maybe a few days that have been going on since the beginning.

23:40The last time I was here, however, I had spoken about the illegal abductions by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, taking people off of the street, holding them indefinitely, or deporting them without trial, without representation, and regardless of immigration status, including 10% being American citizens and around 77.1% without a criminal record.

24:01The Fifth Amendment states very clearly that each and every person, so long as they are within the borders of the United States, are obligated to be given a fair trial, to be given fair legal representation, and to be judged by a jury of their peers, to which not a single person taken in by ICE has ever been given.

24:16A situation that we now realize has gotten much worse after the closure of the Alligator Alcatraz camp, with between 800 to 1,800 detainees having been reported as missing and all data on them having been erased.

24:28Thank you.

24:28Leaving the rest of us wondering where these people are, why they were incarcerated, and figure out how we can bring them home and return them to their families.

24:37But to this administration, what the Constitution says does not matter to them.

24:41In fact, the partisan control over Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court has actually emboldened their illegal actions, including a recent raid in Chicago with 37 apartment residents, including children, some without clothes, being abducted and arrested without warrant for such a raid on October 3rd.

24:59For our situation in Portland, I have read the letter of our Adjutant General Alan Grunwald urging his troops to follow their oath and act with professionalism.

25:07While I have heard that a federal judge has blocked the Oregon National Guard's deployment in Portland, I do agree with his message.

25:14They should follow their oath, and I wish to remind him and all military members that their oath is to the Constitution, not to the president.

25:20Second.

25:21And while the president is the commander-in-chief, it is only when he is not in conflict with the very Constitution that instills legitimacy and authority to the administration's governance.

25:29Without that, the president nor his administration has any authority or power to speak of.

25:34When he abducts his people without trial or warrant, when he makes war on American cities and the American people, and the American people, he has no authority.

25:42So I urge uphold your oath to the Constitution and ignore whatever orders the president has thank you very much.

25:53We appreciate your message.

25:57Next up, we have Robert Jennings.

26:06Good morning.

26:06Last name Jennings, first name's Robert.

26:08Um, for being here, I want to speak on the, um, The amount of vehicles, uh, in the city of Portland that do not have current registration, which for the most part means they don't have, uh, valid insurance.

26:23I've been to multiple departments here in the city as well as the county, and if anybody drives in the city of Portland in the area, you still notice, um, many vehicles without current tags, or they have the, um, The reflective plates so you can't get the plate numbers when going through a camera light.

26:47In here I have 23 pictures of license plates that I collected over a 2-week period.

26:55And of these, there's 4 of them dating back to 2021 that don't have registration.

27:02And here in the city of Portland, Um, I had, I had, um, I had put in a question of like, are vehicles allowed to be pulled over in the city of Portland by police strictly on tags alone being unregistered?

27:19And I've got an answer of no.

27:21In Portland, Oregon, police are not supposed to pull you over for simply having expired tags on your vehicle, comma, though they can cite and tow you for parking with expired tags.

27:32Um, I'd really like to see the Portland Police Bureau take a look at that policy.

27:36Um, I've tried a couple times to speak with, uh, different, um, representatives, and I, I, I keep getting, uh, well, that's something you'll have to take up with the city council.

27:47And I'd just like to know why it is that a vehicle can be towed with PBOT, which I understand controls the parking, but if a vehicle is on the road with no current registration.

27:59I've been hit twice, and one of the reactions when I got out and I asked the gentleman for insurance, he said, sorry, bro, don't have insurance.

28:08And the vehicle was out of registration for 3 years.

28:11I'm not sure which, um, which of the councilmen and councilwomen control any of the Portland Police Bureau, um, department of trying to enforce this.

28:22Uh, Because if a person comes downtown, they're driving, if they don't park, um, they're doing whatever, a public garage, there's no way to, uh, to enforce the idea of no registration.

28:34And it's losing revenue for the city and it's losing revenue for the state.

28:38So, uh, I'd just like to voice my, uh, standing on that and multiple pictures so that it is not something that I am making up on my own, that there is photographic proof.

28:49And I do know PBOT, uh, in 2024 hired more officers.

28:52Thank you.

28:53It's just moving vehicles.

28:55It's a whole different story than just parked cars.

28:59Thank you very much.

29:01Thank you for sharing those concerns.

29:03At this point, Council doesn't directly oversee the Police Bureau like the old Commission did, but we do communicate with the mayor regularly about things like this.

29:12So we appreciate you being here.

29:15Next up, we have Addie Smith joining us online.

29:22Addie, you're muted.

29:25Welcome, Addie.

29:25Go ahead and unmute and get started when you're ready.

29:37Addie, are you able to unmute?

29:41Hello, can you guys hear me?

29:43We can hear you now.

29:45Oh, can you see me?

29:47Where's my picture?

29:48Hang on.

29:52Oh Lord.

29:53All right guys, can you hear me?

29:54Can you see me?

29:56We can now, yes, both of those.

29:59I apologize.

30:00I am going to be 15 seconds over, so I'm sorry, and it's going to sound dispirited and mean, but I've been waiting, so I'm sorry in advance.

30:10Okay.

30:12Hello, my name is Addie Smith.

30:13Today is October 8th, 2025.

30:16I'm speaking before the Portland City Council.

30:19I signed up to speak in July of 2025 for the next City Council meeting.

30:23It is October.

30:25This needs to change.

30:26I've said this before, if it doesn't change and voters have to continue to wait 3 months to speak to City Council, we will vote you out.

30:33This is intentional.

30:34It should not take 3 months to speak.

30:36Anyone signing up should be able to speak each week.

30:39I will be pivoting several times during this address.

30:42First, where did the $750 million go that was supposed to be used to fight homelessness in Portland?

30:48How much of that was used to help with rental assistance to keep people in their homes in Portland and Multnomah County?

30:53Where is the budget?

30:55I would like to review the variance report.

30:57I'd like someone— Oh my God.

31:02I'm so sorry, y'all.

31:06I'm so sorry, I'd like to review the variance report.

31:09I'd like someone to email this information to me.

31:12Second, there is a reason Governor Kotek is saying that we don't need Trump to send troops to Oregon.

31:17It's because the Democrat-led state legislature and the governors are doing the same thing to Black and brown people that these troops would do.

31:24In silence, Black, uh, Biden and Obama deported just as many people as Trump.

31:28Councilmember Black people represent 1.7% of Oregon's population, but 9% incarceration rate.

31:34This doesn't mean we're guilty of anything.

31:35This is systemic and structural racism.

31:38The Democrats like their racism in hateful, deceptive silence, like a wolf in sheep's clothing.

31:42They like to attack you when you're not watching.

31:44Then they use their police and courts to make you disappear.

31:47But they don't like Trump's loud, vulgar racism.

31:50It's not classy and dignified.

31:52Third, Governor Kotek has appointed racist judges to the bench, like Michael Riedel and Elizabeth Lemoine.

31:58Reedle grants motions when defendants haven't been served at all.

32:02Never mind quote-unquote proper service for court.

32:04I mean not served for court at all.

32:06Lemoine grants motions when defendants don't have an attorney present at status hearings and trials.

32:12Former Governor Kitzhaber appointed Judge Ricardo Menchaca, and like Nick Fuentes, he is a vicious, disgusting, lying, untrustworthy, violating, vile, white-assimilating racist.

32:23Thank you.

32:24Kate Brown appointed Judge Eric Boucher, who is so racist and white supremacist that Washington County is being sued because he and the deputies in his courtroom discriminate against the Black attorneys that come in there to represent their clients.

32:37The Democrats endorsed Sheriff Caprice Massey.

32:39This white woman is married to a Black man, and I can only assume that she is not racist at home, but when she leaves that door, she turns into Caroline Livid and Stephen Miller.

32:49Judge Monica Horance and Judge Mark Peterson are judges in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

32:53They are violating housing laws.

32:55People facing eviction are being discriminated against and their rights under the law are being violated by these judges.

33:00I'm almost done.

33:01They both need to be voted out of office.

33:03Democrat governors are appointing these racists to office and their targets are Black and brown people.

33:08The Oregon State Legislature with Ben Bowman, Julie Fahey, and others is a failure.

33:13Black people are not considered at all in any of their legislation.

33:16Almost done.

33:16Thank you.

33:17I will let Trump burn this country down.

33:19He's well on his way.

33:20I will not vote for Democrats who support Israel, full stop.

33:23I will not support Democrats who refuse to write legislation that stops violence against Black people.

33:28Fourth and final for now, Sargent's Towing is stealing cars that belong to Black and brown people.

33:34They are targeting our neighborhoods.

33:36Sargent's Towing—.

33:36Thank you, Addie.

33:39Thank you very much.

33:41Thank you very much for sharing all of those concerns with us.

33:44We appreciate hearing from you.

33:50That completes communications.

33:51Thank you, Keelan.

33:59A lot to follow up on.

34:00Councilor Smith, did you have a, a comment at this time?

34:03Yes, Madam President.

34:05Um, what is the, uh, process for, for being able to get on our public docket?

34:11Um, I'm trying to understand what the previous—.

34:18I'm going to let Keelan answer that.

34:21And I'll say first, I know that because we moved from weekly to twice-a-month meetings when we switched to the new form of government, there was a bit of a backlog because the public had previously had twice as many opportunities for public communication because it occurs at every meeting.

34:42By moving back to weekly meetings, one of the benefits I hope is that we won't have the same backlog that we have had for members of the public who are hoping to take advantage of those public communication slots.

34:55But I want to let Keelan speak to the sign-up process because I believe that our clerk's office has also made some adjustments in the sign-up process to help ease the tension there as well.

35:05Thank you, Madam President.

35:06Yeah, thank you, Council President.

35:08Thank you, Councilor Smith.

35:09Thanks for that question.

35:11We are in the process of making a change to how folks sign up for communications.

35:15So instead of reserving in advance, starting— we're looking to start this in December.

35:25People will be able to sign up for a communication when the agenda is published on Friday.

35:30So they'll be able to sign up on Friday for the following week's meeting.

35:34There will still only be 5 spots available.

35:37So it'll be first come, first serve.

35:38Okay, so it's 5 spots.

35:405 spots.

35:41And then, um, folks can only provide a communication once every month.

35:47Okay.

35:48And if they want to speak on a particular agenda item, are they prohibited from speaking on a particular agenda item?

35:56No.

35:57Okay.

35:59So I just wanted to let the public know and to address what Addie Smith was talking about.

36:03We are no relation, but I wanted to make sure that people know the process and what that looks like.

36:10Yeah, and we will be updating all of our, um, like, communications on our website.

36:15We'll be sending out a notification to our email distribution list so that people understand the, the different way that will be available for them to sign up.

36:25Excellent, excellent.

36:26Thank you.

36:27Thank you.

36:29Thank you for asking that question, Councilor.

36:31I know this is a process that has been an— I would call it an inadvertent issue raised by some of the changes in moving to this new form of government, and I hope we're getting back on track for members of the public.

36:47Keelan, thank you for the update for everybody.

36:49Thank you.

36:51Colleagues, the next item on our agenda is the committee referral list.

36:55The only item currently on the committee referral list since last week is accepting the Bull Run Treatment Project's 2025 annual report, which has been referred to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

37:06I will note that I am expecting to see a number of other things over the next couple of days, so we will likely have a longer list next week.

37:16Keelan, that moves us to our regular agenda.

37:20Could you please call the first item on our regular agenda, item number 4.

37:24Authorize the Bureau of Transportation to acquire certain temporary rights necessary for construction of Northeast 122nd Avenue Safety and Access Beach Street/Wasco Street project through the exercise of the city's eminent domain authority.

37:42Thank you, Keelan.

37:43And colleagues, this is a second reading.

37:47So if there is not any discussion, we will move to a vote.

37:51Seeing no one in the queue, Keelan, could you please call the roll?

37:58Clark.

37:59Aye.

38:02Zimmerman.

38:02Aye.

38:03Avalos.

38:03Aye.

38:04Smith.

38:05Aye.

38:07Now.

38:08Aye.

38:08Aye.

38:13She had to step out, sorry.

38:16Uh, Maria.

38:17Aye.

38:18Novick.

38:18Aye.

38:19Pirtle-Guiney.

38:20Aye.

38:21The ordinance passes with 10 aye votes.

38:24Thank you.

38:24And I'll note we had a number of first readings last meeting, so we have a, a number of second readings to whip through this meeting.

38:30Keelan, could you please call the next item on our agenda?

38:36Item 5, declare property at an unnamed road off Northeast 33rd Drive as surplus and authorize the Bureau of Transportation to dispose of the property by sale to WPC Marine LLC.

38:50Thank you, colleagues.

38:51This is another second reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

38:55Seeing no discussion in the queue, Keelan, could you please call the roll?

39:02Clark?

39:03Aye.

39:04Green?

39:04Aye.

39:05Zimmerman?

39:06Aye.

39:06Avalos?

39:08Aye.

39:09Smith?

39:10Aye.

39:11Aye.

39:12Aye.

39:12Aye.

39:14Aye.

39:15Aye.

39:17Aye.

39:18Aye.

39:19The ordinance passes with 10 aye votes.

39:23Thank you.

39:24Could you please read our next agenda item?

39:28Item 6, vacate a portion of an unnamed road near the intersection of Northeast 33rd Drive and Northeast Colleagues, this is a second reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

39:47Seeing no one in the queue for discussion, Keelan, could you please call the roll?

39:54Clark.

39:56Aye.

39:56Green.

39:57Aye.

39:57Avalos.

39:58Aye.

39:59Smith.

39:59Aye.

40:01Aye.

40:01Ryan.

40:02Aye.

40:04Aye.

40:04Aye.

40:04Aye.

40:05Aye.

40:05Aye.

40:06The ordinance passes with 10 aye votes.

40:11Thank you.

40:13Could you please read Agenda Item 7 for us?

40:18Authorize exception to Title 17 Underground Wiring District Code to allow for the placement of decorative lighting across Portland Bureau of Transportation designated pedestrian plazas and the Skidmore Old Town Historic District and the new Chinatown Japantown Historic District.

40:39And colleagues, this is the first of 2 ordinances that were part of that package on, um, changes to our City Plaza program.

40:47We voted on the resolution last week and we have the 2 ordinances today.

40:51This is a second reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

40:53Seeing no one in the queue for discussion, Keelan, could you please call the roll?

40:57Clerk.

40:58Aye.

40:58Aye.

40:58Green?

40:59Aye.

41:00Zimmerman?

41:01Aye.

41:01Avalos?

41:02Aye.

41:02Smith?

41:03Aye.

41:04Aye.

41:05Ryan?

41:05Aye.

41:07Murillo?

41:08Aye.

41:08Novick?

41:09Aye.

41:10Pirtle-Guiney?

41:11Aye.

41:11The ordinance passes with 10 aye votes.

41:16Thank you.

41:17And Keelan, could you please call agenda item 8?

41:20Amend transportation fee schedule for FY 2025-26.

41:25Thank you, colleagues.

41:30Seeing no one in the queue for discussion, this is another second reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

41:35So, Keelan, could you please call the roll?

41:38Clark.

41:39Aye.

41:40Green.

41:41Aye.

41:42Zimmerman.

41:43Aye.

41:43Avalos.

41:44Aye.

41:44Smith.

41:45Aye.

41:46Kanal.

41:46Aye.

41:47Ryan.

41:48Aye.

41:48Murillo.

41:49Aye.

41:50Novick.

41:50Aye.

41:51Aye.

41:52Aye.

41:53The ordinance passes with 10 aye votes.

41:56Thank you.

41:58Could you please call agenda item 9?

42:01Establish a charge to fund city payment of the flood safety benefit fee to the Urban Flood Safety and Water Quality District.

42:11Thank you, colleagues.

42:12This is another second reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

42:18Seeing no one in the queue for discussion, Keelan, could you please call the roll?

42:21Clark?

42:23Aye.

42:23Green?

42:24Aye.

42:24Zimmerman?

42:25Aye.

42:25Avalos?

42:26Aye.

42:26Smith?

42:27Aye.

42:28Noll?

42:28Aye.

42:29Aye.

42:29Aye.

42:31Aye.

42:31Aye.

42:32Aye.

42:33The ordinance passes with 10 aye votes.

42:38Could you, Keelan, please call agenda item 10?

42:42Authorize Bureau of Transportation to acquire certain temporary rights necessary for construction of the Northeast Shaver Sidewalk 102nd to 115th Avenue project through the exercise of the city's eminent domain authority.

42:58Thank you, Keelan.

42:59And colleagues, I am in the queue for discussion.

43:02I got a request on this item from the Public Works Service Area to add an emergency clause today.

43:14So that they can begin work on this project immediately.

43:19A non-emergency ordinance generally takes 30 days to go into effect, and our bureaus are hoping to begin this work this month and not have to wait 30 days for this ordinance to go into effect.

43:31You will see posted online a proposed amendment, Pirtle-Guiney 1, which would add a Section 2 to the ordinance to say the council declares that an emergency exists in order that the Northeast Shaver Sidewalk Project may occur without delay.

43:49Therefore, this ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage by council.

43:54I'd like to move this amendment and would request a second.

43:58Second.

43:59I think that was Councilor Ryan.

44:00Thank you, Councilor Ryan.

44:01Councilor Smith, do you have discussion on this amendment?

44:04Yes, Madam President.

44:06I need to find out what is the What is the cost of this project, and is this being paid for with PCF dollars?

44:16Oh, uh, Mr. Jordan, I don't know that we have anybody here today since this is a second reading.

44:22Um, do you know the answer to that question?

44:25I don't think we have anybody from the Public Works Service area.

44:29Councilor, do you need the answer to that question before you vote?

44:32Because we could delay this vote.

44:33We're not voting today, are we?

44:34This is the second reading, so we are voting.

44:37Madam President, I think somebody might be able to comment on the project.

44:40Okay, perfect.

44:42Please come up, go ahead and introduce yourself for the record.

44:45I'm Marty Maloney.

44:46I'm a PBOT right-of-way acquisition supervisor.

44:48I'm not the project manager, but I do know— I believe this is Safe Routes to School money from ODOT grants, and that's why we're trying to get going as quick as possible, just because of that funding.

45:05Perfect.

45:05Thank you.

45:06Thank you so much for jumping in on that one.

45:08We appreciate it.

45:11Councilor Smith, anything further?

45:12No, thank you.

45:13Okay.

45:14Councilor Zimmerman?

45:15Yeah, the presentation has $2 million from ODOT.

45:18Fixing Our Streets is $1.5 million.

45:20PSIF Sidewalks to Schools, $1.4 million.

45:23Total, $4.9 million.

45:26Thank you very much for pulling that out of the presentation.

45:30Colleagues, is there any other discussion to the resolu— or to the amendment?

45:36Okay, seeing none, Keelan, could you please call the roll on the amendment, Partal Guinea 1, to the underlying ordinance?

45:44Clark?

45:45Aye.

45:46Green?

45:46Aye.

45:47Zimmerman?

45:47Aye.

45:48Avalos?

45:48Aye.

45:49Smith?

45:50Aye.

45:50Kanal?

45:51No.

45:52Ryan?

45:53Aye.

45:56Aye.

45:57Novick?

45:57Aye.

45:58Pirtle-Guiney?

45:59Aye.

46:01The amendment is approved with 9 yes votes and 1 no vote.

46:05Thank you, Keelan.

46:06Colleagues, is there any other discussion to the now amended ordinance?

46:13Okay, and because this added an emergency clause, we are able to pass the ordinance although it was just amended.

46:18So Keelan, could you please call the roll on the now amended ordinance?

46:37Aye.

46:38The ordinance as amended passes with 10 yes votes.

46:46Thank you.

46:48Keelan, could you please read our next agenda item?

46:52Item 11, amend city code to adopt State of Oregon building codes by reference.

46:59Thank you, colleagues.

47:03This is a first reading.

47:05We have a committee staff summary from Christopher Hare, who I believe is filling in for a colleague today.

47:13Yes, good morning, Madam President, councilors.

47:16For the record, I'm Chris Verheer, Council Policy Analyst, and sharing the committee staff summary on behalf of Claire Adamsick, who is staff to the Homelessness and Housing Committee.

47:25The ordinance before you, document number 2025-374, was heard in the Homelessness and Housing Committee on September 23rd, where it was referred to council with a recommendation to pass.

47:35The ordinance amends 4 city code chapters related to the administration of state building codes by replacing date-specific references that require periodic thank you.

47:44The ordinance includes a series of specific updates with references to the corresponding Oregon Revised Statutes and Oregon Administrative Rules.

47:50These changes allow for continuous alignment between city code and corresponding state building codes.

47:56The relevant chapters, as amended in Exhibits A through D, include Title 24 Building Regulations, Title 25 Plumbing Regulations, Title 26 Electrical Regulations, and Title 27 Heating and Venting Regulations.

48:09The full impact statements on this item includes information on financial and budgetary impacts and analysis, economic and real estate development impacts, and community impacts and community involvement.

48:19No verbal testimony was submitted on the item prior to committee action.

48:232 People submitted written testimony prior to committee action, and 1 person submitted written testimony prior to council agenda posting.

48:30General themes included ensuring that adopted references to state statute and administrative rules are clear, consistent, and stand up over time.

48:37Thank you.

48:38General concerns regarding enforcement of city rules for landlords regarding property maintenance and building code compliance.

48:44This concludes the committee staff summary.

48:46Thank you.

48:48Thank you so much, Christopher.

48:49Uh, Councilor Avalos, do you have anything to add to that?

48:53Yeah, thank you.

48:54Um, this came to the committee where it was reviewed and approved.

48:57I'm pleased to support it.

48:59Um, these amendments are a straightforward but important step.

49:02They bring our city code into alignment with state law by referencing the Oregon Building Code directly rather than listing year-specific additions.

49:09That change eliminates unnecessary procedural steps, ensures Portland remains in compliance with state requirements, and it simplifies the work for staff and council alike.

49:18So that is my comment.

49:20Thank you.

49:20Thank you, Councilor.

49:22Councilor Kanal, do you have any technical questions?

49:25Is that why you're in the queue here?

49:27Questions about the committee report?

49:29I don't have questions about the committee report.

49:31I would like to I wanted to just ask something before we do testimony though.

49:35Okay, go right ahead.

49:36Councilor Dunphy's not present right now, so I wanted to just formally introduce his amendment, which is attached down at the bottom, and yield the floor to his staffers when it's appropriate to explain that.

49:50Thank you.

49:51Let's see if Councilor Smith has any questions for Mr. Hare, and if so, do that, and then we'll invite up Councilor Dunphy's staff.

49:59Does that work, Councilor?

50:01Thank you.

50:01Thank you, Madam President.

50:03Um, quick question, have other jurisdictions around the state done the same thing to comply with the state, uh, codes, or are we the first?

50:14That's an excellent question, Councilor Smith.

50:15Uh, I might defer to bureau staff, uh, to answer that question.

50:23Sure.

50:25Welcome.

50:26Thanks for being here to take this one.

50:28Go ahead and introduce thank you.

50:30Jodi Orson with Portland Permitting Development.

50:33Um, yes, actually a lot of them have already done this, and they actually did it quite a while ago.

50:37We were one of—.

50:39We're not the only one who's still referencing the specific year, but there's lots of other groups around Oregon that already don't do that.

50:47They go straight to the OARs and ORSs.

50:49Okay, okay, perfect.

50:50I was just trying to figure out where we were in the queue and what it looked like around the state.

50:55Thank you.

50:58Councilor, anything further?

51:00No.

51:01Okay.

51:02Colleagues, Councilor Kanal, I believe, has formally moved Councilor Dunphy's amendment.

51:08And because an amendment motion often comes with an explanation of the amendment, before we take a second, I'd like to invite up Councilor Dunphy's staff to give us an overview of what we have before us.

51:21Are they in the room?

51:23I got a message saying they were coming.

51:29Why don't we, while we wait for—.

51:31I'll just second it for a point of get to the discussion.

51:33Second.

51:34Okay, I think before we discuss the amendment so that we can hear the reason for the amendment, let's take public testimony first.

51:42That'll give his staff a— oh, we've got it.

51:46Perfect.

51:48We would love to hear about the amendment before us.

51:50Yes, thank you so much.

51:51So this amendment—.

51:51Can you introduce yourself for me?

51:52Oh, sorry.

51:55Madeline West, Councilor Dunphy's Chief of Staff.

51:58This amendment is in response to our well-known colleague Terry Harris, who comes frequently, who is a code expert and likes us to, as code changes come up, align code with best practices around streamlining.

52:16He identified some specific issues in this code that weren't As smooth or as applicable to law as they could be, including removing RV language because in 2019 RVs were taken out of the jurisdiction of permitting and placed into ODOT.

52:36So we don't need to be responding to outdated code changes or state level—.

52:41Sorry, state level changes.

52:45Thank you.

52:47And did Terry do his testimony on this yet?

52:53We have not yet heard public testimony, no.

52:54We're hearing the explanation of the amendment first, and then we'll move to public testimony.

53:00All right, so yeah, it was in response to Terry.

53:02We worked with PP&D.

53:04They were like, they were actually really appreciative of the testimony that Terry brought to committee and went through with PP&D.

53:10They went through with a fund, with a fine-tooth comb in response to his notes and responded as they could to streamline the language, make it more clear for the public, and to remove the language that wasn't applicable.

53:24So that's the kind of context in general.

53:27And if Terry is here to testify, I'm sure he can share more.

53:31Perfect.

53:31Thank you so much for that overview.

53:33Um, I believe we have a motion from Councilor Knoll, a second from Councilor Zimmerman.

53:38Councilors, I would like to hear Our public testimony before we move into a discussion.

53:44But if anybody has questions for Madeline while she's here, let's get those in.

53:49Councilor Zimmerman, are you in the queue to ask Madeline a question?

53:52Yeah, I have lots of questions.

53:53So it's actually not for Madeline, it's more about our permitting staff in terms of why these changes were not— I'm not— I've seconded it.

54:00I'm unlikely to support this, but I'm trying to get myself there.

54:04I'd like to know why they were not already included.

54:07These amendments look particularly technical, and to take them, uh, in consideration kind of from the, from the dais is leaving me wanting for the reason here.

54:20I'm not—.

54:21That was not conveyed yet, so I'm looking for our permitting staff to comment.

54:25Perfect.

54:25I believe we have somebody coming up right now to answer that.

54:32Jodi Orson, Portland Permitting Development.

54:36So the question is, why were these amendments not included the first time?

54:42We added the ORS and the OARs.

54:47One of the concerns was that the references in the Oregon statutes and administrative rules would change and that we would be in the same spot we are right now.

54:57Okay.

54:57Right now where we'd have to come back and start keep changing title.

55:01So we took them down as slim as we felt like we could, which was just to the OARs.

55:06So we took out all of the ORS references.

55:10In terms of the recreational vehicle part, honestly, we just didn't see that.

55:15That wasn't the focus of what we were trying to do with the ordinance.

55:19So we incorporated that sort of work project with this Okay.

55:30And for Councilor Dunphy's staff, you referenced a member of the public quite a lot as an expert.

55:36So you're making that assumption, but I, I don't know what that means in this respect for a member of the public as an expert on permit and development code.

55:44Is that what you're asserting here?

55:46Because you're asking a lot of faith in this, but I don't know what that means.

55:47I'm not asking for But I'm— yeah, no, I understand why this came, because I sit on that committee and I, I don't think these were ever brought to me.

55:53So I'm—.

55:54It was brought to us when it came to, uh, homeless and housing.

55:58The, um, testimony was given that day in written form.

56:03There wasn't time to make such a technical adjustment on the dais.

56:07So after that conversation, we reached out to PP&D, went through a process where we worked collaboratively to incorporate those recommendations and to analyze whether those recommendations were accurate to code.

56:21Terry Harris is a member of GTAC.

56:24He—.

56:24That has nothing to do with permitting development though, right?

56:27Right, but he is a code expert and an attorney who like dives deep into the weeds of this and compares city and state code frequently.

56:39If he is here today, he said he would be here to testify.

56:42I'm sure he can Tell you a little bit more about his history and expertise before you vote on the amendment, if that's possible.

56:50Yeah, anything else?

56:51Well, just one other piece.

56:53These changes do not affect the codes that Portland Permitting Development is implementing or regulating.

57:01It is only the way that we're pointing to those.

57:03So that's not— it's almost more of a title language type of game of streamlining, and you can continue streamlining and streamlining and streamlining.

57:13This is where we, we proposed a certain level of detail, and the recommendation was to go even slimmer.

57:22We're not against that.

57:23It goes along with what we were originally trying to do, so we took it down to as slim as we thought that we were comfortable with.

57:30And again, the reason it's kind of not a Portland permitting specialty is because the codes themselves are not changing.

57:40And Councilor Dunphy's overall perspective is if, you know, code changes are coming to this body, we might as well slim them down, make them as clear and understandable as possible as we take those bites at the apple.

57:53Although I'm sure there could be a much larger project in terms of unifying code across the body, we just don't have those resources at this thanks.

58:02I find that part of this conversation far more compelling.

58:05I think that citing an individual member's take on something put me in a strange position interpreting this, and that was too heavily weighted in your introduction of this amendment.

58:14And so, uh, I think it sounds to me like this amendment could have been introduced as a bureau amendment just as much as it was introduced as a Councilor Dunphy amendment.

58:24My understanding is we're not allowed to that's okay.

58:28Yeah, I understand that.

58:30But we are in support of it.

58:31Okay, thank you for that.

58:33I appreciate it.

58:33No other questions.

58:35Councilor Green, thank you, Councilor Zimmerman.

58:37Councilor Green, are your questions ones that you'd like answered by the folks who are up at the table right now?

58:41Okay, go right ahead.

58:43So I just wanna make sure I've got the kind of the process clear.

58:46So what I'm hearing is there was a code change brought by the Bureau.

58:52Said we need to align, we need to fix this sort of, we should have like dynamic referencing basically.

58:58And then because this was in committee and we had the public there to engage with this and think about it, we had a member of the community who says, you know what, I've got an idea.

59:06I've got some expertise in this and some experience.

59:09Reached out to a councilor on the committee, said, hey, would you carry an amendment?

59:13Then there was some interplay between the bureau to say, actually, this makes some sense.

59:17And then it comes back as an amendment to council.

59:19Thank you.

59:20Is that— that's how the process went?

59:22Correct.

59:23That's, I think, colleagues, how we envisioned the new form of government to work in the legislative process.

59:28So, um, that's kind of what I'm seeing with this.

59:31Um, I just want to clarify that.

59:32Thanks.

59:33Thank you.

59:35Thank you, Councilor.

59:35Councilor Kanal, are your questions for this group before we hear public testimony?

59:40Yeah, my question is for, uh, Madeline.

59:42Thank you so much for being here.

59:44Um, so what What it sounds like to me, and I'm just gonna pick the first of these references to use as an example here, and this is within the 2490-020.

59:55It says regulation under this chapter covers all installation or alterations of manufactured dwellings and accessory structures.

1:00:02And then in between those 2, it currently has recreational park trailers and other recreational vehicles, and this amendment would remove that text.

1:00:10So my understanding is that effectively we're saying the chapter doesn't actually regulate that because the state law no longer regulates that.

1:00:17Since 2019.

1:00:18And so we're effectively harmonizing our text to align with accurately describing the state law.

1:00:24Is that correct?

1:00:25Correct.

1:00:26Okay, thank you.

1:00:30Thank you, Councilor.

1:00:30That's exactly the portion I had questions on as well.

1:00:35Um, Councilor Zimmerman, are you back in the queue?

1:00:37Go right ahead.

1:00:39All right, so help me out here a little bit.

1:00:42So if, if If a— I'm looking at 24.90.020 scope on this recreational vehicle piece.

1:00:58I want to make sure I'm understanding.

1:00:59We're specifically talking about the trailer or the vehicle, not the park in which they exist?

1:01:05Correct.

1:01:05We still—.

1:01:06Yeah, we still have permitting and development scope and control within your bureau as it relates to manufactured home parks, RV parks, if they existed in the City of Portland, etc., but not the actual vehicle themselves.

1:01:19We've placed the vehicle itself into the Transportation Bureau's authority.

1:01:24That's correct.

1:01:25We do the parking spots, and then those vehicles, the alteration and construction of those recreational vehicles, is outside of the scope for us.

1:01:34Okay.

1:01:43Okay, thanks.

1:01:45Thank you, Councilor.

1:01:47I actually do have a, a question, um, for the Bureau.

1:01:53Every public body has a different style book for how we write our code, and I'm trying to understand if this cleanup keeps us consistent and in line with our style book, or if this cleanup is perhaps more streamlined, perhaps a direction some people would like us to go, but inconsistent with how we normally write our codes and with what our style books at the city would say.

1:02:31My interpretation of that is because our code has been written by so many people over so much time that it's not incredibly consistent across permitting code, but I would go to the body.

1:02:44Maybe I'll look to Lauren on this as our attorney here for this meeting.

1:02:49Generally, right, a public entity has a style book.

1:02:52Our attorneys have a way that they draft things when we as councilors bring things forward.

1:02:57I'm still getting used to the city's style book.

1:02:59It's not what I'm used to, and I've had a few moments where I've read things and said, well, this doesn't make sense, I don't like how it's written.

1:03:06But at the end of the day, I want our code to be consistent.

1:03:09So I have set aside my own style to defer to the city's style book, and I, I would like to understand if these changes made in line with our style book, or if these are changes that are in line with what somebody else thinks is the best practice, but that move us away from what we currently consistently do.

1:03:32So our office has historically taken the position that when we're referring to state law, we need to then update based on— update the code to reflect state law.

1:03:44So it would be kind of this ongoing process.

1:03:47And I think generally, that still is our position.

1:03:50I think the legal advice on this one is a little different because the city is bound to apply the state building code, and so we don't need to come back and readopt, if that makes sense.

1:04:02So if the zoning code is referring to state law, and state law might evolve, we have to always come back and update that state law.

1:04:10This might be a little different.

1:04:11So it's not really a style issue so much as whether or not this is a mandate under state law.

1:04:15Thank you.

1:04:15Does that make sense?

1:04:19So this feels like it is in line with our style guides.

1:04:25This does work, and where it's creating inconsistencies, that's justifiable.

1:04:30The main effect of this, it sounds like, is that in future years we won't have the discussion in committee about what the changes were at the legislature that we then need to update.

1:04:41Takes some work off our plates, makes things move more smoothly.

1:04:44On the other hand, perhaps we miss that opportunity to say, by the way, here's the updates the state made, we need to be in line with those.

1:04:50Is that accurate?

1:04:51I think that that's an accurate summary.

1:04:54Okay, thank you.

1:04:55Yeah, go right ahead.

1:04:57Um, the piece that we are taking out is the year, and the administrative rules we're pointing to only have in them the year, the effective date and the mandatory date.

1:05:08So there's not other content in there that would be part of the discussion in a normal— like what we just did with the energy code where we changed that 2023 to 2025.

1:05:20Got it.

1:05:20Thank you very much.

1:05:20And also, to be clear, our staff didn't make any of these changes.

1:05:24This was all in collaboration with PPD staff, and they are the only ones who redlined or touched this in this amendment.

1:05:31So It wasn't our staff coming in and having our own interpretation of style.

1:05:36It was in collaboration with the department and their interpretation of their own style.

1:05:42Thank you.

1:05:42Yeah.

1:05:43Councilor Zimmerman, did you have another comment?

1:05:45Thanks.

1:05:45So I appreciate the ease and clarity and making it easier.

1:05:49So help me out a little bit.

1:05:51In subparagraph 020, we're keeping the term accessory structures in the paragraph, and then in subparagraph 030, we're getting rid of the term accessory structures, and then in subparagraph 070, we are keeping in the term accessory structures.

1:06:09And so—.

1:06:10I need to be able to look at it.

1:06:11Of course.

1:06:12So, uh, I'd like to know if that was intentional or a scribner's error, because clarity of accessory structures being in this or not in this is probably important.

1:06:27And I can't tell yet from this document.

1:06:34We'll give you a minute to pull that up.

1:06:36Scope, scope, and then adoption of codes and regulations, and then in permit application.

1:06:45Those are the 3 major sections of this where the red line does or does not include accessory structures, and it doesn't for me doesn't look consistent, and I'm wondering if it's just because in the middle it is because of ORS 455-170, or if it's something different.

1:07:03I was just able to look at the scope question, and the part that remains there is the part recreational vehicle park.

1:07:08So it's still the parks, like the park themselves, PP&D still has.

1:07:16I'm talking about specifically, it's just 2 words, accessory structures.

1:07:20Ah, sorry.

1:07:21It remains in there in the scope paragraph.

1:07:24It does not remain in there in subparagraph 300— excuse me, 030C.

1:07:32If you go down to that red line, you've removed the word accessory structures.

1:07:36And then further down in the 070B— excuse me, A— not A, just the opening.

1:07:44I think you've got—.

1:07:45You've checked it.

1:07:46Okay, so I can, I can, I can—.

1:07:49There's more detail than I expected to get to this morning, but here we go.

1:07:53Sure.

1:07:54So in the first one, we've left it in because we are still looking at accessory structures to manufactured dwellings.

1:08:01So we want to leave in that piece of the accessory structures.

1:08:05Then in the next section where we've struck it, it's still a couple of pieces earlier in C. So it says for maintenance and alteration of manufactured dwellings and accessory structures.

1:08:22So that accessory structures has stayed in like the first sentence of C. That paragraph C breaks it up into each of the different scope items.

1:08:33So it's got manufactured dwellings yes.

1:08:37So it has development and maintenance of manufactured dwelling and accessory structures as the first item, then development and maintenance of parks, manufactured dwelling parks, and then it has development and maintenance of recreational parks, picnics, and organized camps.

1:08:50But what we took out was the maintenance and alterations of the park trailers and recreational vehicles and accessory structures just to those.

1:09:05Can you articulate a bit of the reason around that?

1:09:08Because I thought we were dealing with the parks.

1:09:12We still have the parks.

1:09:13Yeah.

1:09:15And if there was an accessory structure that was large enough to— so over 200 square feet— to trigger the regular residential building code, we would use that.

1:09:27But part of how this all came up is, um, OAR 918-525 was removed because that 2019 legislation said that BCD could not have any admin rules for the construction or alteration of recreational vehicles or park model recreational vehicles.

1:09:49So that, um, we would have nothing to point to in terms of what the requirements are, even if we left that piece in.

1:09:59Okay, thanks for that clarity.

1:10:01I appreciate helping there.

1:10:05Okay, I think that's it.

1:10:13Councilor Knoll, did you have additional comments there?

1:10:15Yeah, just to put a finer point on it, where it says it earlier in the paragraph, it references ORS 446-250 and 446-253, which do still yes.

1:10:28So the reference makes sense.

1:10:31And then down below where it's removed, it talks about ORS 455-170, which I don't know about old versions, but the current version does not reference accessory dwellings in any way.

1:10:40So when it says, we can't say as authorized in X if X doesn't authorize it.

1:10:46So just that's the particular reference part of it.

1:10:51And it's in actually 6 places in there, and it's only removed in this one place because that's, I believe, where the 2019 change occurred.

1:10:59Thanks.

1:11:01Thank you, Councilor.

1:11:02I'm not seeing anybody else in the queue for questions, so let's invite up our members of the public who are here to testify.

1:11:10And then if there is additional discussion, we'll call you both back up.

1:11:14Keelan, could you please call up our testifiers?

1:11:16Terry Harris.

1:11:19Mr. Harris, welcome.

1:11:21I'm sorry we didn't get you up sooner.

1:11:23I wanted to make sure we had those technical pieces answered, but please go ahead and introduce yourself and let us know what we're looking at.

1:11:29Okay, I'm Terry Harris.

1:11:33I'm over in Hillsdale.

1:11:35And as always, thank you for this opportunity to provide comments.

1:11:40I support the goal of this legislation, namely, To provide clarity, to make code maintenance easier and more efficient.

1:11:52Deep appreciation to Councilor Dunphy and his team for acknowledging my written comments.

1:11:57I was unable to make the Housing Committee meeting and following up on the concerns.

1:12:03This is stuff that's really in the weeds, as you are now well aware of.

1:12:11So I appreciate his efforts, and I strongly supported the amendment.

1:12:18Okay, so I'm not a code expert or practitioner.

1:12:23As members of the Governance Committee knows, I'm a non-Oregon retired attorney cursed with an interest in good government and also cursed with a compulsive need to read the stuff.

1:12:43So also, as Councilman Ryan knows, almost exactly a year ago I was testifying before the old city council as city code came up to the council for realignment with the new form of government.

1:12:59I found myself reading and then skimming and then largely not reading or skimming thousands of edits on thousands of pages of city code presented to the old council for approval.

1:13:17And so trust me when I say there are lots of problems like this one scattered throughout the city code right now.

1:13:25So let me just zero in here.

1:13:28This incorporation by reference problem Is a problem elsewhere in the code, and it's something that I'm sensitive to.

1:13:36It's trickier than it seems, as you're now aware of, and these kinds of code repairs are necessary throughout the code.

1:13:44Title 14 is filled with them.

1:13:47My favorite was found in Title 19, the harbors, where it specified a specific code— Coast Guard document on navigation that has been superseded since 2014.

1:14:01Thank you.

1:14:02It's a totally different document.

1:14:04Not only that, that document changed last year.

1:14:09It's impossible to keep up with these incorporations by references.

1:14:13So anyway, the general idea here, these code changes are only as good as the stability of the reference.

1:14:21The State Administrative Code is dealing with it now.

1:14:26City legislation that you're going to hopefully pass will make a more stable reference.

1:14:32Adding the term as amended from time to time might be some good practice on other things too.

1:14:39Give me another minute and I'll finish up here.

1:14:43Adopting by reference is only as good as the accuracy of the reference.

1:14:48So when I was going through this, reading it, there, there were 2 typos that didn't line up with the with the state code.

1:14:59So that's what triggered the rest of my view here.

1:15:03And Mr. Harris, I do need to ask you to wrap up so that I can be consistent amongst all testifiers.

1:15:09I'm sorry.

1:15:09Right.

1:15:11So anyway, to sum up, code hygiene and maintenance is a huge boring chore, but it's necessary.

1:15:19The very rushed top-to-bottom overhaul last year only made it more obvious.

1:15:24The city needs to weigh— needs to find a way to do this methodically and accurately without taking away from the important things you guys need to be doing.

1:15:33But it's your responsibility.

1:15:35You're in charge of the code.

1:15:37Um, very much.

1:15:41That completes testimony.

1:15:45Okay, colleagues, we have an amendment with a second open on the table.

1:15:50Is there further discussion to the amendment?

1:15:57Okay, seeing none, Keelan, could you please call the roll on the amendment?

1:16:04All right, Clark?

1:16:07Aye.

1:16:07Green?

1:16:08Aye.

1:16:09Zimmerman?

1:16:09Aye.

1:16:10Avalos?

1:16:10Aye.

1:16:12Smith?

1:16:13Kanal?

1:16:14Aye.

1:16:15Ryan?

1:16:15Aye.

1:16:20Aye.

1:16:20Oops, sorry, I just lost my—.

1:16:24Uh, Morillo?

1:16:29Aye.

1:16:30Aye.

1:16:31The amendment is approved.

1:16:34Thank you, colleagues.

1:16:35Is there any discussion to the underlying ordinance?

1:16:39And I will note this is a first reading, so we are not voting today.

1:16:42But we have the opportunity for discussion.

1:16:44Councilor Kanal.

1:16:45Thank you.

1:16:46Yeah, I fully agree with the general sentiment behind this ordinance and the idea that we should be cleaning it up.

1:16:53I think the exact level of specificity and light to heavy touch, where on that spectrum this lies, is actually also correct.

1:17:02I think we've seen last fall where there was larger scale changes to the code That often ended up with some unintended consequences that had to be undone previously.

1:17:16Not coincidentally, Councilor Dunphy's office found a portion of code that related to fair wages for contractors that had sort of been the bathwater that was thrown out with the baby, and we got that back in earlier this year.

1:17:30So I think finding the right level of—.

1:17:33Yes.

1:17:34Of how to trim and adjust code is good.

1:17:37And I think this is a really good example of collaboration as well between the Bureau and a councilor's office on the amendment side, but with the Bureau alone on the original.

1:17:48So thank you so much.

1:17:49I'll be very happy to support this next week or next meeting.

1:17:55Thank you, Councilor.

1:17:55Councilor Avalos?

1:17:58Yeah, just one quick comment to say that per the conversation, it sounds like with our new form of government, the executive branch, the enterprise, we should— I would appreciate seeing from the mayor's office an effort to unify the bureaus and the codes, make sure we have good nomenclature and naming conventions.

1:18:21It just feels like it's going to keep coming up and is a good opportunity right now to start finding these, to start creating the systems and structure for what they look like to unify them.

1:18:32So I just wanted to add that comment, and I'll follow up with the mayor's office about that thought.

1:18:38Thank you, Councilor.

1:18:41Colleagues, seeing no other discussion, this will move to a second reading.

1:18:46I'll note that this will likely not come on second reading next week.

1:18:49Next week is our evening meeting.

1:18:52Uh, we are going to have a very full agenda with things that I expect will Um, have a, a fair amount of public testimony, so I'll be moving second readings likely to the week after that today.

1:19:05Keelan, could you please call— um, you know what, we are holding— Councilor Smith asked us to hold on the next agenda item if she wasn't back yet.

1:19:15Um, so we are going to, per her request, switch the order on agenda items 12 and 13.

1:19:23Councilor Ryan, that works for your folks, correct?

1:19:25Yeah, let's do it.

1:19:27Okay.

1:19:28Keelan, could you call agenda item 13?

1:19:32Require city administrator to develop a plan that establishes a storefront support program.

1:19:40Thank you.

1:19:41And I believe we have Chris here as well in a place of a, of a different colleague to give us our committee staff summary.

1:19:50Go right ahead, Mr. Harris.

1:19:51You're back.

1:19:52Thank you, Madam President, Councilors.

1:19:54For the record again, Christopher Hare, Council Policy Analyst, and sharing the committee staff summary on behalf of Craig Cook, who is staff to the Arts and Economy Committee.

1:20:03The resolution before you, document number 2025-370, was heard in the Arts and Economy Committee on September 23rd, where it was referred to Council with the recommendation to be adopted.

1:20:14The resolution requires the city administrator to support Yes.

1:20:18The resolution requires specific elements to be included in the report, including identification of staff and financial resources needed, articulation of standardized data collection methods to collect, track, and report data regarding vacant storefronts and the reasons businesses close and/or leave Portland, identification of coordinated response systems and processes to ensure crime, vandalism, and chronic nuisances issued reports made by local businesses receive a coordinated city response.

1:20:53Development of processes, practices, and standards to ensure coordination, clear lanes of responsibility, transparent process and systems for communication with businesses impacted by crime, vandalism, and chronic nuisance issues.

1:21:07Inclusion of appropriate stakeholder and bureau-level technical expertise to support cross-disciplinary planning, collaboration, and oversight.

1:21:14Inclusion of options and opportunities for funding the Storefront Support Program, inclusion of a proposal for monitoring, communicating, and updating council and other stakeholders, and recommendations for how and when to convene city, Prosper Portland, and community stakeholders to operationalize the plan elements.

1:21:33The report must be submitted to council no later than January 31st, 2026.

1:21:38The resolution also requires the city administrator and chief financial officer to develop proposed strategy for resourcing and funding the Storefront Support Program to be incorporated in the FY26-27 budget development process.

1:21:52The full impact statement on this item includes information on financial and budgetary impacts, economic and real estate development impacts, and community impacts and community involvement.

1:22:0211 individuals provided verbal testimony and 7 people submitted written testimony prior to committee action.

1:22:08General themes included small business owners' sense of a lack of support from the city, importance of identifying what city and council means by storefront support, need for the Restore Grant Program to be made permanent, negative impacts from empty storefronts on neighborhood business districts, difficulty of doing business in Portland due to taxes, graffiti, retail theft, and threats to security and safety of employees, unsustainable costs for, um, need for more police resources to make the security and safety of small businesses a priority.

1:22:41Shift from in-person economic activity to online resulting from pandemic.

1:22:46Negative impact of parking and transportation policies on small businesses.

1:22:50Downtown safety issues causing small businesses to relocate or close.

1:22:55Altercations and drug use in and around small businesses.

1:22:58Second.

1:23:00Thank you, Christopher.

1:23:14Councilor Green, I believe you chaired this committee.

1:23:17Is there anything you'd like to add?

1:23:19Co-chaired.

1:23:20I co-chaired it.

1:23:20I presided over the meeting.

1:23:22Um, uh, there was robust public comment.

1:23:25We spent, I think, a good almost, what, 70 minutes talking about this.

1:23:31We heard from the community.

1:23:33This was a unanimous support base in the committee to say, you know, we think that it is urgent to have the city present us with a plan on how to best support our storefronts.

1:23:45And so, yeah, we were all grateful for the councilor for bringing it forward.

1:23:49Thank you.

1:23:50Councilor Green, Councilor Ryan, this is your, um, this is your resolution.

1:23:57Would you like to share anything with us about it?

1:23:59I would.

1:24:00I'd like the opportunity to frame it further.

1:24:02Thank you, Co-Chair Green.

1:24:04Thank you, Madam President.

1:24:05And thank you, Chris.

1:24:06Good to see you.

1:24:08Good morning.

1:24:09As promised, I'm back with part 2 of supporting our most cherished and most vulnerable businesses in our city, our storefronts.

1:24:17Those that hug the public right-of-way and as such are the first responders to our public.

1:24:23And with today's action, we can prove that this council is united.

1:24:27Let me repeat that.

1:24:28This council is united to prioritize our storefronts.

1:24:31We showed that support for them when we passed Part 1 in the budget by insisting the mayor and Prosper Portland continue to provide resources for repairs to windows and doors from our repair grants legislation.

1:24:43Thank you, Mayor.

1:24:44That received unanimous unanimous support.

1:24:47Today, I return with full support from the Arts and Economy Committee.

1:24:51It has been universally supported because it's common sense policy.

1:24:54This resolution will have real positive impact for our public-facing storefront merchants.

1:25:00Going back a few years ago, bear with me.

1:25:03As a commissioner, my team would constantly hear from storefronts about the challenges they faced post-pandemic.

1:25:09I took those stories we heard to the mayor, my council colleagues, to the affected bureaus, and other issues and crises would demand our focus, and responses to businesses was isolated, not strategic nor systemic in practice.

1:25:24Since elected as a councilor in January, my focus in this community-facing elected public servant role has been to go out and listen more in the neighborhoods that I represent in Northeast Portland.

1:25:35Thank you.

1:25:36From St. Johns to Northeast Broadway, Cully to Kenton, and I'll add from Beaumont Village to Mississippi.

1:25:43You name a neighborhood in District 2 North and Northeast, and I heard some of the same stories on every street as I did when I was listening to stories downtown or Old Town or Pearl or Inner Eastside or Hawthorne.

1:25:56There's a deep pain from these voices who have demonstrated commitment to our city.

1:26:01And many of them are not making any profit while spending time and money on security, safety, and livability issues.

1:26:09Many small businesses are having an increasingly difficult time staying afloat just from the higher cost of employees, supplies, and products.

1:26:19Many of the businesses talk about how they are 1 or 2 months before they would have to close up their shop.

1:26:24The feedback goes something like this.

1:26:26It seems like the only time I hear from the city is to nudge me on a new fee or regulation.

1:26:32The city is asking for more money from me as I'm receiving less services from them.

1:26:37I love this city.

1:26:39I'm an original Portland liberal, and it pains me to complain about conditions.

1:26:43We need help as the conditions on the street are sadly not improving, and we are a target.

1:26:50I don't want to quit, but the reality is I just can't survive much longer.

1:26:54Thank you.

1:26:56Longer.

1:26:56To put a fine point on it, the city economist has shared that our business license tax is coming in more than $12 million below last year's forecast.

1:27:04Repairs for vandalism and crime are costly and often not insured.

1:27:09The streets and sidewalks are littered with trash and human waste.

1:27:13These are all reports from everybody across town.

1:27:15There is visible drug use and dealing and individuals in mental health crisis and active addiction.

1:27:22Thank you.

1:27:24Frankly, we haven't figured out how to manage the humanitarian crisis on our streets, and we need to intellectually be honest that our neighborhoods and businesses are negatively impacted as well.

1:27:35We can and should acknowledge the differing needs of all in our community at the same time.

1:27:42I want the legislation brought forward today to say to our local businesses, our storefront We hear you.

1:27:48In fact, the entire council is listening to you.

1:27:51You, the innovative, creative, full of grit storefront owners, you represent the hopes and optimism of the city.

1:27:58You are renters, you're owners, you're parents, you're singles.

1:28:01I've heard many who represent every political angle you can imagine.

1:28:05And yes, I've heard from many who didn't vote for me.

1:28:08And that doesn't matter because to me, these are all of our constituents.

1:28:11Thank you, Mayor Wilson.

1:28:12We know we need the city to be a partner as you face challenges keeping the businesses afloat while facing greater headwinds.

1:28:20We have shared responsibilities to ensure Portland is a city in which businesses can not only survive but grow and thrive.

1:28:28The resolution does 3 concrete things to help our local businesses.

1:28:32It'll track vacant storefronts and businesses across the city, mapping them so we identify if real-time concentrations of vacant spaces which are targets for crime.

1:28:41It will gather data from business owners who leave the city or close their business, which is useful data to us as city councilors and the mayor and the administration.

1:28:50This will inform smarter strategic decisions to retain businesses.

1:28:55Last but not least, this resolution looks to formalize and streamline the service model between our city bureaus who work on crime and livability issues.

1:29:04This includes PMO, police, PBOT, Portland Solutions, Prosper Portland, and others.

1:29:10We need to build structure and systems to clarify shared and intersecting responsibilities.

1:29:17I envision this team to also include handpicked storefront owners from each district, and I'll be adding an amendment to that point when we go further.

1:29:27So today we are here to talk about the fundamentals and impactful ways that this council can help our local storefronts.

1:29:35We need to act with urgency and intention.

1:29:40I look forward to supporting our city administrator's office as they develop the plans to align city services for improved responsiveness to issues facing our business community and the creation of data resources that will inform council's decisions making issues that are impacting our storefronts.

1:30:00Portland, we have a revenue problem.

1:30:04We must stop the for lease signs growing across our city, and we as a city must show up.

1:30:12I'm delighted we have many storefront owners who have been wanting to testify.

1:30:17I just want to say how big it is for many of them to peel away from their storefront offices to come down here.

1:30:23And I want to make sure that we welcome them and thank you in advance for your passionate love for your city.

1:30:28Thanks.

1:30:31Thank you, Councilor.

1:30:33Colleagues, if we do have a number of people signed up, I believe over a dozen, to testify, if there are comments or technical questions that you'd like answered before we hear public testimony, we'll take those now.

1:30:48I do want to make sure we get to that public Public testimony before we get into a full robust discussion so that we can hear from members of the public.

1:30:55Councilor Murillo, would you like to speak now or later?

1:30:59Now.

1:30:59I just have a few questions on this.

1:31:01Thank you, Councilor Ryan, for bringing this forward.

1:31:03As I'm sure you recall during the budget season and as you announced, you had unanimous support on your amendment to support small businesses.

1:31:11And as a socialist that believes in using government funding to support people, you know, I love doing that for businesses too.

1:31:19I do have a question on this resolution as far as, is there an implicit cost for staffing or anything to look into this?

1:31:28And can you explain a little bit how this is different than what PMO is already doing?

1:31:34Yes, thank you.

1:31:35We have a plan that will come back from Mike Jordan and his team at the end of January.

1:31:41At this moment, I do I think what, like, some of our best solutions have been is where we have people in place, but we could think differently and we could break down some silos and respond in a, in a better way.

1:31:54And so I think there will be some innovation in how Michael Jordan and his team will set up the bureaus that were mentioned and also really partnering with Prosper Portland.

1:32:04As you know, they've been building a small business office.

1:32:07I think this gives them a roadmap on how they could be yes.

1:32:10To be actively engaged with the city in something that's really relevant and current problem and challenge.

1:32:17And so I look forward to that.

1:32:19Do I think that there could be resources once the plan is figured out?

1:32:23Absolutely.

1:32:24And, but I want to hear what they can come up with as they are in charge of their budgets at the moment.

1:32:30And I look forward to some adaptive thinking.

1:32:33And you said this is what PMO, yes, but PMO can't do it alone.

1:32:37Who'd you say I was just asking how this is different.

1:32:44You know, some of what's written here is about people going and addressing concerns that small businesses have, which sounds all good and well.

1:32:51I just thought that was something that PMO maybe already does since they address different neighborhood concerns.

1:32:56So I was just curious what is specifically being asked of that's different than what we already have.

1:33:01I like that question because I've heard people say that.

1:33:03I've heard this say, isn't this what the police are supposed to do?

1:33:06Isn't this what Portland Solutions is supposed to do?

1:33:08Isn't this what this new small business is supposed to do, Office and Prosper?

1:33:12So after hearing all that, I thought, can you all get together?

1:33:15Like, can we herd these cats and figure out what your plan is and how you guys work together and not do this in the process?

1:33:26So.

1:33:27Gotcha.

1:33:27Okay, so what I'm hearing is this is sort of a plan to create a plan.

1:33:31Well, I had to push back quickly on that.

1:33:33It is a plan.

1:33:35It's a strategic plan.

1:33:36It's trying to bust the silos that currently exist to actually do some systemic change on how we respond to our storefronts.

1:33:44So I feel like plan to plan made it sound such like a bad idea.

1:33:48So that's why I got defensive right away.

1:33:50I didn't put any judgment on it, but I appreciate that.

1:33:54Thanks.

1:33:55You're welcome.

1:33:57Thank you, Councilor.

1:33:59Councilor Kanal, did you have questions for before we hear from the public?

1:34:03Yeah, I have a question and a quick note.

1:34:05The quick note is I did post 3 potential amendments, which I haven't moved yet.

1:34:12I'm gonna discuss them after testimony, but I did wanna daylight that in case any testifiers wanted to note anything on that.

1:34:18My question was about the, Number 1 in the second category, be it further resolved, which is just the date.

1:34:26And I wanted to ask Councilor Ryan if you could just speak to why that specific date.

1:34:32Why the specific date of January 30th?

1:34:35Because I wanna make sure that this is urgent.

1:34:38And when we put a date that I felt like it was as quick a date as we could get, as soon a date as possible by managing expectations of something really complex and necessary.

1:34:49I thought when I talked to— I did have conversations with City Administrator Jordan about this, and I thought that if I put a later date, it would get too close into the budget challenges.

1:35:02And I wanted to make sure that we had some clarity going into that that was daylighted to all of us before we got into the details of the '26-'27 budget.

1:35:11Thanks.

1:35:12You're welcome.

1:35:14Thank you, Councilor.

1:35:15Councilor Novick, do you have questions for this time?

1:35:17Yes, thank you, Madam President.

1:35:20Councilor Ryan, I appreciate the fact that in— you've got certain language which says that the city and Prosper don't have the current ability system or resources to do things you'd like to do.

1:35:33And part of the plan is identifying options and opportunities for funding the Storefront Support Program if the plan identifies cost for the program.

1:35:40But I was just wondering if you're saying that some of the things that are listed here, like identification of coordinated response systems and processes to ensure crime, vandalism, et cetera, receive a coordinated city response, and development of internal processes, practices, and customer service standards across the city to ensure coordination, et cetera, et cetera, do those things not cost any money?

1:36:04I just, I'm trying to figure out the extent to which we're saying if anything costs money, we need to figure that out, and instead we're saying yeah, good question.

1:36:14Big picture civics lessons.

1:36:15So with this legislative body, our job is to signal to the operations, which is all controlled over by those 2 boxes, and wanting them to focus on something.

1:36:27So this is, in my opinion, how we're supposed to move work in this new form of government.

1:36:32Do I think that each of those entities that you mentioned would have an answer to how they're responding is probably yes, but have they coordinated those responses?

1:36:43But the question I'm asking is, do you think— you acknowledge in this document that there might not be the resources to do what you're asking to be done.

1:36:52I'm asking, are you sure that the things that you're telling the administration to do in terms of planning don't cost any significant money?

1:37:02I don't know yet.

1:37:03That's why we have a plan coming out on January 30th.

1:37:06Again, this is legislation asking for that.

1:37:09I think that each of them would answer that they do have a plan within their own bureau on how they respond.

1:37:16Collectively, it would be helpful if they were at the same table coordinating that response.

1:37:22And from there, I trust that they will come back with what the expense would be for resources to improve it.

1:37:28But do you think that the things that you're instructing them to do as part of creating a plan have a cost?

1:37:34Particularly, I'm looking at items 3 and 4 of the resolved.

1:37:37Do I think that—.

1:37:39Yeah, the things that you're telling, as opposed to the things that the plan would cost, what would it cost to do the things you're telling them to do in pursuit of a plan?

1:37:48I don't know until I hear from them what they're already doing.

1:37:51I think to say that there needs to be resources for this when some are already perhaps doing that, I don't— we don't know yet.

1:37:59We're hearing that each one has their own practice, if you will, that does some of this.

1:38:07And so it'll be important to hear what the delta would be from the resources they currently have and how working more efficiently and more creatively together as a team, what that gap would be in resources.

1:38:20Okay, I think I might have a question for the city administrator actually.

1:38:23Before that, I just wanted to note that the whereas about the tax although I'm not disputing the accuracy of what you're saying, I feel— I would feel weird voting for something that includes that language if we're not planning to cut somebody's taxes.

1:38:39I hear you.

1:38:40I think what I am accustomed to with resolutions— this is an ordinance, it's a resolution— is to plainly speak the problem.

1:38:47And so for me, after listening to all of them complain about the extra tax burden, I couldn't help but add that in.

1:38:56And it is statewide, and I could have— I should— I need to find data that just says Portland.

1:39:01So if that's a friendly amendment, I'll welcome it.

1:39:04I'm actually not sure what my amendment would be, but—.

1:39:07You sounded like you didn't feel comfortable with the specific language about the state taxes.

1:39:12Is that true?

1:39:13I've heard that from one of the—.

1:39:14Well, it says that they found that local taxes on businesses increased by 82%.

1:39:18So we're going to focus on that.

1:39:20I just feel funny saying that when we don't have any plan to cut those local taxes.

1:39:26It's a problem.

1:39:27So again, in the problem statement, which is what motivates one to do a resolution to ask the operations of the city to focus, I felt it would be untrue to not list that.

1:39:41I would ask the city administrator, and tell me if it's an unfair question, do you think reading this document that thank you, Councilor.

1:39:59Can I stipulate that that's an unfair question?

1:40:01No, I'm kidding.

1:40:04There— I don't think there's any question that developing the plan that is laid out within the resolution will take city resources to do.

1:40:14So we will be in a discussion of breaking some certain folks loose to be able to work together to try and fulfill the plan that the resolution is attempting to get us to do by January the 31st.

1:40:28I totally understand and quite frankly agree with the motivation of choosing the date in that if we can fulfill the intent of the resolution, There would be something for council to consider in the context of a future budget where I think everyone is well aware that there will be very difficult trade-offs to be talking about.

1:40:53This is one choice that council could consider with the background of the plan that's envisioned by the resolution, but it will take resources to do it.

1:41:02Yes.

1:41:03Thank you.

1:41:05Councilor Novick, is that all you have?

1:41:09That, that is.

1:41:10Okay.

1:41:11Councilor Avalos?

1:41:13You want to wait till after the testimony?

1:41:18Okay.

1:41:18Councilor Green?

1:41:20I have just a very quick clarification question.

1:41:22I'm going to hold my response to the discussion till after the testimony in fairness.

1:41:26Um, uh, Councilor Ryan, I thought I heard you say that you're going to bring another amendment to put a, um, handpick yeah, maybe we should put them into the record so that people testifying can hear those.

1:41:42I'm waiting for staff to send out an email specifically about this.

1:41:47But basically mine would be under the be it resolved, inclusion of storefront representatives from each Portland district.

1:41:57Okay.

1:41:57To provide feedback and ensure equitable citywide access is included in program implementation recommendations.

1:42:07See, I do listen to you.

1:42:09Okay, so I'll look for that and we'll kind of think through that as we hear the testimony.

1:42:14Thank you.

1:42:16Would it be fair for you to read in what you're considering as well?

1:42:19Okay.

1:42:20Councilor Kanal is next in the queue, so why don't we hear from him?

1:42:24Yeah, 2 quick notes.

1:42:26I think what Councilor Novick was talking about might be covered in part in, or maybe not exactly the same way, in the first of the 3 amendments I'm gonna talk about here.

1:42:36And secondly, I do think it's appropriate for us to have a conversation later on about it.

1:42:41I don't think we can allow the idea that asking the information, asking the administration for information might cost money.

1:42:48If that was the situation, we'd be doing everything through ordinance and I think that's a little bit of a slippery slope.

1:42:57So just wanted to flag that.

1:42:59The 3 amendments I'm putting forward, I'm going to go in reverse order here.

1:43:03One might also overlap with what Councilor Ryan just said.

1:43:06I would add a new number 1 under the first, now therefore be it resolved, that says, adds, so it leads in that the report will include but is not limited to, and it would add, definition of storefront business and criteria for businesses that would qualify for the storefront support program, including a plan for how support would be equitably distributed across Portland districts.

1:43:30The reason for this, in brief, is because although it references the businesses above, the closest thing I have to a definition of what is or is not included is actually something Councilor Ryan said verbally at the beginning of this presentation, which is those that hug the public right-of-way.

1:43:45And I think it's just— I would love to have an understanding of the scope.

1:43:48We have a lot of different types of businesses in the city, and just having that definition be something that I'm sure Councilor Ryan would work with the administration on so that that's written in whatever plan we have.

1:43:59The second proposed amendment is to the 6th whereas clause, which currently reads, whereas decreased health and vitality of our business districts directly correlates to the city's declining overall economic health, reputation, and identity.

1:44:13It would remove the word declining and replace the word decreased with the, so that it would say, whereas the health and vitality of our business districts directly correlates to the city's overall economic health, reputation, and identity.

1:44:26The purpose of that is to continue the idea of linking these 2 concepts, which I think is really important, and I'm grateful that Councilor Ryan did do that without necessarily prejudging the outcome of that.

1:44:37Or indicating a negative confidence level in, in that, uh, in those business districts.

1:44:43Um, and then the third proposed, uh, amendment is to remove entirely the fourth whereas clause for the exact reason that Councilor Novick identified, which is we're talking about taxes, but we don't do anything about the taxes in the later portion of it.

1:44:58I understand that it is a contextual statement and businesses are, are obviously dealing with that's part of the context in which business operates.

1:45:06Businesses are also dealing with several other things.

1:45:09Our council staff, council operations staff noted, I think 11 individuals gave verbal testimony and gave a lot of other things that are not referenced in here.

1:45:19If we're talking about let's lay out the entire context of businesses' situation, we would be talking about things like shift of in-person economic activity to online.

1:45:30Yes.

1:45:30Negative impact of parking and transportation policies.

1:45:33But because we're not doing anything about that, if we approve this resolution in the therefore be it resolved, I think that's the reason why those aren't referenced in the whereas.

1:45:41Similarly, I agree with Councilor Novick.

1:45:43If we're not going to do something about the taxes, it doesn't necessarily relate.

1:45:47So those are the 3 amendments that I will likely be proposing.

1:45:50And if in a portion of them, I think a portion of them may be friendly, so I might break those up after.

1:45:55Thank you.

1:46:02Thank you, Councilor.

1:46:04Councilor Smith, do you have any questions for before we hear from the public?

1:46:08Yes, I, I have a question on whether or not I should add an amendment to this before or after testimony.

1:46:15Is when—.

1:46:17If you have an amendment to propose, why don't you do so now so that members of the public who are testifying know everything that's on the table?

1:46:24Thank you.

1:46:25And since my colleague Councilor Kanal took out 4, I have a provision for 5 in the provision of financial assistance.

1:46:34And let me give you the backdrop on this.

1:46:36I, I do have an e-council for last couple weeks, an ordinance that's called the Small Business Mediation and Crime Prevention Ordinance, and I was thinking there's a way that we can merge these 2.

1:46:50And what that provision would say under number 5 would be provide a provision for financial assistance for small business storefronts covering operating costs related to security upgrades, crime prevention measures, recouping financial losses due to theft, vandalism, drug activity, human trafficking, homelessness, and resolving public safety incidents on adjacent properties adjacent to them.

1:47:18And where this came from, I, I had Coffee with a Cop, a monthly Coffee with a Cop, in the last month.

1:47:23We talked about this in my office, in my district office, and there is a lot of conversation going on behind the bottle drop.

1:47:30And there's a lot of drug activity, there's a lot of criminal activity, theft, vandalism of houses and businesses yes.

1:47:43That are taking place.

1:47:44And there is no fund at the City of Portland to be able to remediate any of these things.

1:47:52Now, there are funding sources at Prosper Portland, but as we said before, there are no economic development funds that we have specifically dealing with this kind of issue.

1:48:02And I think adding a friendly amendment and identifying funding that we can attach to this Is, is a better opportunity to get this passed if we identify funding.

1:48:15And I'm looking for that right now, and I have some proposals to come up during the town hall.

1:48:22I want to just say thank you to my colleagues who have offered friendly amendments.

1:48:26I think it's important for those who testify to hear them, and I appreciate, Councilor Sawant, that you acknowledged we did pass the repair grant which gets to some of what you're speaking to, and you're asking it to go further.

1:48:38So I did hear that.

1:48:39I want to acknowledge Councilor Knoll and others who have added some friendly amendments before we get to the people who are here to testify.

1:48:46Thank you.

1:48:47You're welcome.

1:48:48Thank you, councilors.

1:48:50Councilor Murillo, did you have something additional?

1:48:52Yeah, I had 2 further questions.

1:48:54Um, one question is the amendment that we passed during budget was that not related to helping storefronts with some physical aspects?

1:49:07Like if they had a broken window, the city helps to fund those repairs?

1:49:11Okay, so we do have funds that exist to help businesses right now, and I believe Prosper Portland also has a grant program to help with some things like this.

1:49:20So there are repair grants and things that exist in the city, correct?

1:49:23We asked in our budget process We put money back into that.

1:49:28$100K, I believe, is where we landed.

1:49:30It was higher at one point.

1:49:31It was higher.

1:49:32Yeah.

1:49:32Did it end at $150K?

1:49:35I believe we ended at $100,000 to refill the storefront repair bucket, which runs through Prosper Portland.

1:49:43And as you noted, Councilor, is funding for various repairs or reimbursements after weather emergencies.

1:49:55Okay, so I guess, you know, I just want to point out that we do have funds at the City of Portland to support small businesses, it sounds like, and I'm just putting that out there as we're talking about the budget deficit that we're facing and my constituents who had a loss of any rental service assistance who are ending up on our streets.

1:50:15So as we're balancing these priorities, I just want us to think about that because I voted in favor of the emergency ordinance that of the amendment to support small businesses during the budget cycle, and there were other needs that were not addressed that many of our constituents are facing right now.

1:50:31And so if we can find a pot of money that I'm unaware of, then that's fantastic.

1:50:35I'm excited to learn about it.

1:50:38I wanted more clarity on your amendment to your proposal, Councilor Ryan, about this small group of selected business owners that would advise the city on business would this be specifically small businesses, and how would that be defined?

1:50:54And also, how is that different than what the Portland Metro Chamber already does for the City of Portland?

1:51:00It's quite different.

1:51:01So I think what matters is that we have their voice included in the development of this strategic plan that will offer better response times for storefronts.

1:51:11I think when you go around town and you meet the storefront owners, It's, again, it's everybody.

1:51:17It's renters, it's people who own homes, it's people from every political category.

1:51:23And so I think it's important to have that style of person involved, those that are actually facing the sidewalk that have been dealing with the issues, not someone that's on the 10th floor of a building.

1:51:35It's quite different when you're experiencing that on the ground in our main streets and downtown.

1:51:40Thank you.

1:51:41Yeah, I agree.

1:51:43But I just, I thought the Portland Metro Chamber, they convened businesses and then gave us feedback on things already.

1:51:48Yeah, but you know, it's not a monolithic world out there.

1:51:51So what I've noticed when I go around to the storefronts, I don't know the percentage that are members of the chamber.

1:51:57I'm sure some are, but many are not.

1:51:59Many of them are closer to the work of mobilizing within their own main streets.

1:52:05So St. Johns has a community Mississippi Street has a community.

1:52:10And so that's what I experienced.

1:52:11And so I wanted to make sure that type of voice was at the table as opposed to what I think is a more formalized group that you're mentioning.

1:52:18And how will the voices be selected?

1:52:20Well, that'll be fun.

1:52:22We will have to figure out how we will— I will conduct— we'll start with the committee.

1:52:28And District 3 doesn't have anyone on the committee, and I'm aware of that.

1:52:32So you could probably help me with how we select Okay.

1:52:37The other folks are on the Arts and Economy Committee, so it's a little bit easier for me to figure that out, how to move it forward.

1:52:44Okay, thanks for that clarification.

1:52:45I just want to ensure that they were at the table.

1:52:51Thank you, Councilor.

1:52:52Councilor Ryan, I think you'll have a lot more questions, um, after the public testimony.

1:52:57I'm just glad we're all engaged on this.

1:52:59Why don't we move forward?

1:52:59We move to hearing from members of the public.

1:53:02Mr. Hare, thank you for being here today for that introduction for us.

1:53:09Keelan, could you please call up our first set of folks who are here to testify today?

1:53:15Yes, thank you.

1:53:16First up, we have Jonathan Juwaid, followed by Steven Lean, Steven Cook, Karen Chire.

1:53:28Please go ahead and state your name for the record and begin.

1:53:39My name is Jonathan Jouade, and I live here in Portland, Oregon.

1:53:41Thanks for hearing my testimony today.

1:53:44I'm here to speak in strong support of the Storefront Support Program.

1:53:49I'm the co-founder of Baseballism, a national baseball apparel brand with 10 retail stores around the country.

1:53:56Several are in downtown locations of major cities like Atlanta, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Chicago.

1:54:03I've seen firsthand how small business can revitalize neighborhoods, create jobs, and energize communities.

1:54:13I've also seen how COVID and the homeless crisis has made it extremely difficult to sustain those same businesses.

1:54:21Especially in San Francisco and here in Portland.

1:54:24Locally, I'm a partner in 5 Portland bars: Two Wrongs, Cutie's are in the Pearl District, Jackie's in the Central Eastside, Sugar Hill on Southeast Belmont, and Hide-A-While in Multnomah Village.

1:54:39Each of them have their own strengths and challenges, but all could use a little more focus and partnership from the city.

1:54:46At Jackie's, for example, we have a homeless camp directly behind our building on 9th and Sandy.

1:54:50Aye.

1:54:51Some customers no longer feel safe walking past the tents to enter.

1:54:55We've had to increase our monthly security budget just to maintain a welcoming environment.

1:55:01Last February, the weekend of the Super Bowl, someone from the homeless camp lit a large fire right outside our fence, causing thousands of dollars in damage and forcing emergency repairs before our biggest day of the year.

1:55:16At Cutie's Bar, which we opened less than 2 years ago on 14th and Northwest Flanders, We've experienced— we've already experienced 4 break-ins.

1:55:24Each one is costly and disruptive.

1:55:27If we report the damages to insurance, we risk losing coverage altogether.

1:55:31We've actually been dropped a few times from insurance carriers, so we just absorb the losses ourselves.

1:55:38We've asked— we've even asked Portland Police to park a squad car outside of a few of our establishments around closing time just to deter crime and noise and be good neighbors.

1:55:54Officers are stretched pretty thin and understandably focused elsewhere, but that leaves us again to pay for private security, cutting deeply into our small margins.

1:56:03The Storefront Support Program gives me hope.

1:56:07It signals that our city government truly values small business that are the heartbeat of our Portland neighborhoods.

1:56:14Without targeted help, more storefronts will go dark.

1:56:17Thank you.

1:56:17But if we invest in supporting and filling those vacancies, we'll create jobs, generate tax revenue, reduce crime, and bring new life to our commercial corridors.

1:56:28I urge you to vote yes on the Storefront Support Program.

1:56:33Portland's small businesses and the communities they anchor need your partnership.

1:56:38Thank you.

1:56:40Thank you very much.

1:56:41Go right ahead.

1:56:48Good morning, councilors.

1:56:49I'm Steven Lin.

1:56:50I am the founder of Under U for Men retail stores.

1:56:53I live in District 2.

1:56:55I'm a member of the Clean and Safe board.

1:56:57I'm also a member of Bricks, Meat, and Mortar.

1:57:00I'm one of the very, very few members of Portland Metro Chamber in the small business category.

1:57:06There's not many of us, and I have decades of retail experience in downtown Portland.

1:57:12Some of you may know that I'm in the process of closing our downtown Portland store, 6,000-square-foot store at Park and Washington, but I didn't give up on downtown Portland.

1:57:22I've recommitted to downtown by opening a new store that's going to carry on the legacy and be owned and operated by my employees at 10th and Morrison.

1:57:33I want to focus on really the third section of the resolution and how important it is.

1:57:39Having a focus, having a focus on data collection and being able to address where budgets go and where resources go is critically important.

1:57:53Businesses across the city are experiencing issues like the broken windows, the graffiti, the mental health crises, especially with SUD issues.

1:58:04These events and interactions, for the most part, go unreported.

1:58:09Because they're unreported, you don't see where the resources need to go.

1:58:13Just in the last week, I personally stopped multiple shoplifters.

1:58:19I recovered the goods.

1:58:21I called PSR, Portland Street Response, for a person in mental crisis, and I convinced a homeless homeless person to move a tent twice.

1:58:30None of the—.

1:58:30Most of these things go unreported.

1:58:33There's no police reports for this stuff.

1:58:35You don't get to see where to direct your resources.

1:58:39There's no way to report a shoplifter that we stopped and recovered the product from.

1:58:45My staff runs out the door and grabs the stuff and we get it back.

1:58:48We don't get to report that, even if it's a repeat person.

1:58:53We need that ability to report, and I think this resolution helps the city try to get the resources in place for a GIS livability reporting system.

1:59:05That's the tool that small businesses need.

1:59:07We're frustrated we can't report.

1:59:09I will not report a shoplifter even if we let them go out the door.

1:59:13It takes too much time.

1:59:15It's too difficult.

1:59:17I I'm not here to be the police force, but I could click on an app like they do in so many other cities.

1:59:26A GIS livability reporting system is a tool that this city needs so that you can address the resources appropriately.

1:59:34Thank you.

1:59:36Thank you very much.

1:59:39Stephen Cook.

1:59:41Hello, can you hear me?

1:59:44We can hear you.

1:59:46Okay, hi, Stephen Cook from Vinyl Resting Place.

1:59:50My shop has been open for 28 years now, and I'm looking at— if I don't have a successful holiday season, I'm gonna relocate.

2:00:03I'm gonna be one of those next stores to be gone from Portland.

2:00:09I mentioned this because it was mentioned about Portland's reputation, I was voted one of the top 3 record stores and also used as a Jeopardy clue.

2:00:20But meanwhile, just in the past year, in one year— and I need to point out my shop is directly across from an elementary school— had 2 burglaries in a week, and me and another business owner had to chase down the guy ourselves because the police weren't going to come out.

2:00:43And eventually we waved down an officer and they made the arrest.

2:00:48I've replaced a total of 9 windows, 3 locks from attempted break-ins.

2:00:54I've been spit on, been punched twice, once resulting in a black eye.

2:01:01I had a man masturbating in my window.

2:01:04I've had a gun pulled on me twice.

2:01:06Once was last week.

2:01:09I had a knife pulled on me, and also I've had a customer tell me that the same person did it to them in a— on a different time.

2:01:20I've been followed home twice.

2:01:22Once resulted in an attack where I had to fight the person off.

2:01:27I've had to cancel events due to people having mental breakdowns in front of my shop and scaring off people.

2:01:35I've witnessed drug deals, which I have on camera, right in front of my shop.

2:01:41At this point, my credit cards are maxed, my loans are maxed, and I'm one of those businesses that where I haven't paid your taxes because I can't afford it.

2:01:54And as far as the grants, I've applied and was turned down because the invoices from the contractors didn't meet the requirements, which is something I can't control.

2:02:07I have nothing to do with the way they write an invoice.

2:02:15The last thing I'll say is that the whole thing always comes up about, you know, whether it's an emergency or not.

2:02:22And I feel like when I'm found dead in my shop, then I'm going to be like, I told you so.

2:02:30These are emergencies.

2:02:32It's a ticking time bomb.

2:02:41Thank you very much for sharing that experience with us and, and helping us see what's happening at your place of business.

2:02:49Karen Sheerith.

2:02:53Good morning.

2:02:58Um, I could say ditto to everything that, um, Stephen just said, um, in regards to my business.

2:03:06My name is Karen G. Ray, sorry, owner of Stadium Superette, uh, member of Stadiumhood, and, um, I am in District 4.

2:03:15Uh, yesterday I spoke at the homeless Committee meeting, and just soon after that, I went to my store to work from.

2:03:28No.

2:03:28And hello.

2:03:32In doing— am I still talking or no?

2:03:34You are.

2:03:34Somebody was inadvertently off mute, but please go ahead.

2:03:38Okay, sorry.

2:03:39Um, this is— I, uh, witnessed a shoplifter in my store, went to go get my item back and he ended up assaulting me as he was leaving the store with my stolen item.

2:03:54I did call 911 and had to follow the man until police were able to catch up to us and arrest him.

2:04:06My arm now is injured.

2:04:08I have been icing it since last night, and I have his arraignment today, which I will be speaking at.

2:04:14Thank you.

2:04:15But this is just like, it's seriously ongoing.

2:04:18And I think that this, uh, this resolution, this committee is going to be super helpful for us.

2:04:25But I also feel like, um, that we need more resources to apprehend these criminals that are walking around on our street.

2:04:35And I know the judicial system is not your, your guys's fault, but you have voices more important than our voices that potentially could be talking to the county and telling the county, and especially JVP, that she needs to step up her programs to help the community as well, because it's not all the city's fault.

2:04:57The county is responsible for these people, for the homeless, for the criminals, for the justice system, and we just— we can't do it alone.

2:05:06Councilor Loretta Smith.

2:05:07You know, like, I, I'm not a police officer, but to hell with these people coming into my store thinking that they could steal or damage or whatever and get away with it, because I won't let them get away with it.

2:05:19So, and I, I, I'm going to say it again to Councilor Ryan, I want to be involved in this program from the get-go.

2:05:28I will volunteer all my time, as much time as I can.

2:05:32Thank you.

2:05:32To get this program up and running.

2:05:36Um, but it just— we need to save our businesses because it's just going to get worse and worse and worse.

2:05:44So thank you for listening.

2:05:46Thank you very much for being here today.

2:05:50John.

2:05:53John Blumenauer.

2:05:55Um, good morning.

2:05:57I'm pleased to speak today in strong support of the Storefront Support Program.

2:06:01Uh, thank you, Councilor Ryan, for your leadership on this issue and for other councilors I've had a chance to meet recently to listen to the challenges that small businesses are facing across our city.

2:06:11For those I haven't met, my name is John Blumenauer and I own The Joinery.

2:06:15For over 40 years, The Joinery has created handcrafted furniture that's here for good.

2:06:20Here for good is a reference to the exceptional quality and lifetime warranty on our furniture, and it's also a reference to our business practices.

2:06:30We operate with a deep commitment To our employees, to community engagement, and to environmental performance.

2:06:37And as a certified B Corp since 2010, we walk the walk.

2:06:41We are a model of responsible business.

2:06:44I've made a deep commitment to Portland, locating our manufacturing facility in the underserved community of St. Johns and activating long-vacant retail storefronts in the heart of the city, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.

2:06:57In property improvements, which has added tremendous value.

2:07:01But we have paid a heavy price for that commitment.

2:07:05Our business has been devastated by the epidemics of homelessness, drug abuse, mental illness, and lawlessness, leading to a climate of fear that hurts our entire community.

2:07:16This has decimated our customer foot traffic, which is the lifeblood of our business.

2:07:21Over the most recent 5-year period, from 2020 to 2024, Our foot traffic has dropped by 84%, an astronomical number compared to the previous 5-year period.

2:07:32That's 65,000 fewer customer visits.

2:07:36And there is a straight line from a massive drop in foot traffic to a massive drop in revenue to a massive drop in employment.

2:07:43We've lost over 35% of our jobs compared to pre-COVID levels.

2:07:48And our team that's still with us pays a heavy price.

2:07:51Thank you.

2:07:52For the first time this year, I'm unable to give annual wage increases, and our entire team of skilled woodworkers, which make up over half of our, of our team, are on the Oregon WorkShare program with their hours reduced by up to 50%.

2:08:06And yet they stick with us.

2:08:12More than half of our employees have been with us for at least 8 years, drawn by the purpose and meaning our work provides.

2:08:18They're here for more than a paycheck.

2:08:19But they need a paycheck too.

2:08:21The city's long-term instability causes stress, uncertainty, and significant financial burden.

2:08:27And while they've suffered, new duties have been added to respond to the daily reality of working in Portland.

2:08:32They must deal with and report campers, theft and vandalism, drug use, drug overdoses, and drug deals, trespassing, threatening behavior from people brandishing weapons.

2:08:42They must manage the cleanup of drug paraphernalia, feces, urine, and vomit.

2:08:45Thank you.

2:08:46And repair damage caused by vandalism and graffiti.

2:08:49These are not the jobs they signed up for.

2:08:52They spend time addressing these challenges, which detracts from running our business, and it frightens customers away.

2:08:59Thank you for your time.

2:09:02Thank you very much for being here.

2:09:05Next up, we have Albert Escobar, Tanya Hartnett, Justin Youngers, Bianca Youngers, And LeJean Thorson.

2:09:23Thank you all for being here.

2:09:26Albert.

2:09:28That's my father.

2:09:28Hey, George.

2:09:30George Escobar.

2:09:31My father owns Milo City Cafe on Northeast Broadway.

2:09:35Um, yeah, we just, uh, been dealing with a few incidents in the past couple years.

2:09:43Homeless, people breaking in, things like that where it's been really difficult to stay open.

2:09:50And we're, yeah, we're just asking for help.

2:09:54Yeah, the thing is, I would like to know if the law can be a little more tough because the people break in my restaurant 5 times already.

2:10:02And I called the police department and police show up and I asked the officer and he told me if he caught them, Who's inside the restaurant is going to be 24 to 72 hours, and after they had to release.

2:10:16And he said, so he make a mess, I had to pay from my pocket because insurance cost me more money to fix whatever they do in my business.

2:10:25And I'm not talking for myself, it's all Broadway.

2:10:28Every single restaurant, every single business, they have the same problem.

2:10:33And my question is, why the law can't be a little more tough?

2:10:36Councilor Herbold.

2:10:38They say it has to be some amount of money to be called crime.

2:10:43And I think it's not fair for business.

2:10:46And I hear you have $1,000, $100,000 to replace glasses, door, or whatever vandalism is.

2:10:52That money can use it more for make focus on the law.

2:10:56We use the money for hospital, police department, better salary, and they don't use the money for replacing whatever they make a mess.

2:11:03Councilor And they will say, we need every single small business owner, we need help because a lot of people make— in going to restaurant, make a mess.

2:11:17And it is not fair.

2:11:18We need to survive our business.

2:11:22We want Portland like I used to— peaceful, safe, and beautiful.

2:11:27Not anymore.

2:11:28And I know you can do it, right?

2:11:29Councilor Sameer Kanal.

2:11:31It's on your hands.

2:11:31You can do that better for every single one.

2:11:36And the only thing what I can say, thank you.

2:11:41Thank you.

2:11:44Uh, good morning, councilors.

2:11:48My name is Tanya Hartnett.

2:11:49I am the executive director of Working Waterfront Coalition.

2:11:53Uh, thank you, Councilor Ryan, for putting this important issue to the forefront.

2:11:57I will be addressing the empty storefront point, which is a huge issue for almost all small business districts in Portland.

2:12:07In the over 3 years of working as district manager for Venture Portland, I was able to see and hear firsthand the issues that empty storefronts have on the business districts.

2:12:16Every time there was staff meetings to discuss the challenges that a business district faced, the amount of empty storefronts was always at the top of the issue list.

2:12:23Councilmember Herbold.

2:12:25Having an abundance of empty storefronts in a district due to the following: without a business in a building, more nefarious activities like camping, drug use, and fires in doorways occur.

2:12:36With these activities, there is always trash and debris left behind, making the area and sidewalks look messy.

2:12:42With the attraction of the above said nefarious activities, this tends to lead to crime and vandalism to the nearby businesses.

2:12:49Empty storefronts usually have no lighting, making the area darker and unwelcoming.

2:12:54So people avoid the area, detracting from businesses that are there with less foot traffic and community.

2:13:00If there is crime, vandalism, and an empty building, police response seems lower.

2:13:04And when a potential business comes to the area to look at a space, they all— they see all the above, and it tends to detract them from wanting to set up shop there.

2:13:13And honestly, it feels that empty storefronts begets empty storefronts.

2:13:17If a larger space has a business move out, it feels like it's not too long before the rest of the businesses on that block leave.

2:13:24These are all just a few examples of how empty storefronts affect entire business districts.

2:13:29The way Portland is made up, with the neighborhoods built around and depending upon the vitality of the business district they live in, it is vital that something is done to activate filling the spaces for the economic safety and livability to all.

2:13:44Thank you.

2:13:45Thank you.

2:13:49I can do it.

2:13:51Hi, I'm LeJune Thorson.

2:13:53I'm president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, and I'm speaking on behalf of the DNA.

2:13:59Um, I am very saddened by what I'm hearing.

2:14:03Um, I live downtown, I walk downtown, I see these things.

2:14:09I don't experience them the same way these testifiers do, but I'm very saddened.

2:14:18The DNA believes this resolution is an important step in revitalizing downtown and other commercial neighborhoods in Portland.

2:14:25In addition to all the whereases in this resolution, the Storefront Support Program has the potential to create excitement and community in some of our forlorn areas.

2:14:37We appreciate that in number 8, be it resolved, you propose that community stakeholders thank you, Councilor Ryan, for including the community.

2:14:49The Downtown Neighborhood Association wants to be helpful and involved.

2:14:53I have an idea to share that I hope can be part of the mix.

2:14:57How about activating storefronts with performances?

2:15:01Magicians, dancers, cooking demonstrations, and local musicians are some ideas that come to mind.

2:15:07Thank you.

2:15:08And I might add, Councilors Novick and Clark might agree to sing as they did earlier in this meeting.

2:15:17Remember all the funky jazz clubs and other clubs we used to have, like Jazz Diopas, Brasserie Montmartre, Jimmy Mack's, and the Candlelight Room?

2:15:26We can bring back that same kind of accessibility to local music.

2:15:31Since many of our local musicians have been priced out, Providing a place to perform would be uplifting for everyone, a win-win.

2:15:38Please consider this suggestion, and please keep in mind the DNA wants to help.

2:15:43Um, and in the meantime, support the small venues that still are here, like Wilf's and Kelly's Olympian, just to name a couple.

2:15:52Thank you for listening.

2:15:55Thank you very much.

2:15:59Okay.

2:16:00Hi, good morning.

2:16:00My name is Justin Youngers.

2:16:03Um, I'd like to thank Dan Ryan for bringing this resolution to the table.

2:16:07My wife Bianca and I opened Binks Bar on Northeast Alberta Street in 2001.

2:16:13We've seen a lot of changes, but the security situation is worse now than it's ever been.

2:16:19Serious neighborhood issues, street parties, drinking and smoking on the street, booming music, drunken street racing, domestic violence, sexual assaults, arguing, Flashing guns and sometimes shooting them, harassing, intimidating, scaring off our patrons, hospitalizing our patrons multiple times.

2:16:38And these troublemakers are not our customers.

2:16:41They are just people on the street.

2:16:43It's just a scene in the neighborhood on a Friday and Saturday night.

2:16:47My bartenders have been punched, spit on, robbed at gunpoint, called every name in the book trying to control the scene.

2:16:54It's scary for me and my staff because the helpers themselves are getting stabbed to death.

2:17:13There's an article in today's Willamette Week about a fellow helper, street bar owner, getting killed.

2:17:20Councilor Mitch Ellis, trying to help, trying to help down at Dawson Park.

2:17:26So what we've had to do is hire lawyers, security consultants, doormen, all to navigate the maze that city is right now, to the tune of $10,000 a month alone.

2:17:42This—.

2:17:42These bills are not something that we had a year ago or 2 years ago.

2:17:45They're new.

2:17:47Uh, we need more police.

2:17:50We need more police.

2:17:51That's just true.

2:17:53Remember all the— but remember all the talk in recent years about how we can't expect one police officer to be an expert in not only law enforcement but in mental health crises and social worker— in social work for the homeless?

2:18:04We can't expect police officers to be drug counselors, etc., etc., etc.

2:18:09Well, what is happening right now is that that's right.

2:18:11But that stuff has just been outsourced to the small business owner, and we can't expect that of the city police, but we are sure as heck expecting it of every small business owner in this city.

2:18:23And I don't know where we're headed as a society when all these problems are forcing small businesses out, but wherever it is, I'm taking my taxes with me.

2:18:32I suppose that's obvious, but it matters when there's 2,000 other liquor licenses in the city.

2:18:38And unless something actually changes here, the tidal wave of businesses leaving will continue until there are only those who can't leave.

2:18:47All the things we're doing, like spending that money, I want you to know that I can't do them permanently.

2:18:52It's just not worth it.

2:18:54Small businesses need help.

2:18:56I'm doing these things temporarily because I believe that the city will get its head screwed on straight.

2:19:02I want to be part of the rebirth of this city, and I'm doing them because I don't want to leave Portland worse off than when I found it.

2:19:09We need to make safety and security a priority.

2:19:13We had a brawl inside the bar recently.

2:19:15A group that terrorizes us came in.

2:19:17I didn't even serve them, and they came in, and I showed the footage of an attempted murder to the police and got no response.

2:19:24So after that, I don't want to hear—.

2:19:25I know this is important, but we do need you to wrap up.

2:19:28I'm sorry.

2:19:28Okay, I just want to know that the city cares.

2:19:31That's what this is about.

2:19:33Show us you care, please.

2:19:34Thank you.

2:19:36Thank you.

2:19:39Uh, good morning, City Council members.

2:19:42My name is Bianca Youngers.

2:19:43My husband and I have banks on Alberta.

2:19:45We've had it for 25 years.

2:19:47We've raised our 3 children here.

2:19:49We've built deep roots.

2:19:50We've poured everything we have into this city, and I'm here today because of the first time in a long time I feel a small ray of hope in Councilman Dan Ryan, and his proposal gives me a reason to believe that change is still possible.

2:20:04So please, please consider this.

2:20:08We have to pass this program.

2:20:10And I have to be honest, I have never felt so unsafe in this city.

2:20:16A few months ago at our bar, there's a group of people that will descend.

2:20:21We have to shut down all the time.

2:20:22Councilwoman Loretta Smith.

2:20:2345 People.

2:20:252 Women in the group started breaking glass in our bar, stabbing each other.

2:20:31Our bartender called us.

2:20:33We pulled up the security cameras live.

2:20:35She was screaming.

2:20:36Blood splattered on the security cameras.

2:20:40The police came.

2:20:41No name was taken, no report, no accountability.

2:20:45And it's not an isolated incident.

2:20:47We've had people that have been 86.

2:20:49They come back with guns in hand, standing a foot off of our sidewalk hours every single weekend.

2:20:55Every single weekend.

2:20:57Our staff is terrified.

2:20:59We've endured break-ins, vandalism.

2:21:01We've been held up by gunpoint, and it feels like no one is coming.

2:21:07What is going to happen?

2:21:08How is this acceptable?

2:21:10We need more trained police officers.

2:21:13We need them like a ton.

2:21:16We are small business owners.

2:21:18We are the heartbeat of Portland, and we are hanging on by a thread.

2:21:21Thread.

2:21:21And at the same time, I am trying to grow my art business, something that brings me joy and hope.

2:21:26I spent months trying to lease a studio downtown, and, and it's unbelievably affordable— 75 cents, a dollar a square foot.

2:21:33And everyone said the same thing to me.

2:21:35I tried to bring other artists on.

2:21:37No, it's too dangerous.

2:21:38We're not going.

2:21:39We're not going to do it.

2:21:41And landlords were begging us to sign in.

2:21:43I finally took a space, and within weeks, all I see is the coffee shop leaving.

2:21:48Everybody's leaving.

2:21:49I'm like, where are you going?

2:21:50I'm going to get a coffee shop.

2:21:50We're leaving Portland.

2:21:52We're out of here.

2:21:53And Councilman Ryan has shown us that he's willing to ask, and I am begging for that same urgency and courage from all of you.

2:22:00This isn't abstract.

2:22:02This is seriously life or death for our employees, for our customers, for my family.

2:22:08If my husband or one of our bartenders ends up killed, or a customer, who is going to be accountable for this?

2:22:15For the first time, we are seriously talking about leaving Portland.

2:22:19Selling the building we own, a legacy we have hoped to pass to our children.

2:22:24But at this point, I don't even know if we can sell it.

2:22:26I mean, I— nobody can sell commercial property right now.

2:22:30It's, it's ridiculous.

2:22:32This is not politics.

2:22:33This is an emergency.

2:22:35We are out of time.

2:22:36We needed help yesterday.

2:22:38You have to pass this program.

2:22:40You have to stop giving us cards, giving us lip service, telling us that, I'm sorry, ICE is here.

2:22:47We need help or we are going to die.

2:22:50Thank you.

2:22:51Thank you.

2:23:00Next up, we have Brian Owendoff, Tony Burch, Laura Streib, Charles Froelich, Omar Valencia.

2:23:10Councilors, Dan Ryan, thank you so much for your leadership on this.

2:23:13I'm Brian Owendoff, live and work in District 4, very heavily involved in retail in downtown Portland since 2008.

2:23:21In 2019, Portland had one of the lowest retail vacancies in the nation, just at 2.9%.

2:23:27Today, the figure has climbed to 8%, the highest vacancy rate of any submarket in the greater Portland area, per data from CoStar.

2:23:36This sharp rise in vacancies is driven by multiple challenges.

2:23:39Office occupancy is still just 50% 59% of pre-pandemic levels.

2:23:44Tourism has not fully recovered.

2:23:47Ongoing safety concerns and open drug use continue to deter both visitors and potential tenants.

2:23:52We just heard from several people, real-life situations.

2:23:56While it's encouraging that Downtown Portland Clean and Safe reported record post-pandemic foot traffic this summer, the number of office workers downtown remains significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels.

2:24:07From January through August, foot traffic downtown was just 70% of pre-pandemic levels.

2:24:13Fewer, fewer office workers means fewer customers for downtown retailers and restaurants are all feeling the squeeze.

2:24:19If we want to revitalize Portland's economy, we must start at street level.

2:24:23Welcome, active, and safe storefronts are essential to rebuilding community, restoring pride, and creating vibrant public spaces.

2:24:32Portland needs a bold, coordinated strategic plan.